Michigan or Alabama

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hey, im a high school senior who lives in Michigan and got accepted to both michigan and alabama. michigan only gave me a $1,500 scholarship for 1 year while alabama gave me free tuition for all four years (i still have to pay for dorms etc.). i can afford michigan without loans but the free tuition is very compelling. michigan has the precise program i want and it has a much better reputation which makes this choice much more difficult. i have been a michigan fan my entire life and i know the area well and would rather stay in state, but in todays world of extremely high education costs the full tuition deal at alabama is also very compelling.</p>

<p>What do you guys think?</p>

2

<p>It’s hard to beat an education at Michigan. Personally, I would go to Michigan. The only exception being financial impossibility or hardship which would prevent me from doing so.</p>

3

<p>I would go to Michigan.</p>

4

<p>Some more information will be helpful.</p>

<ol>
<li>Major?</li>
<li>Whether accepted into honors college at either of the universities? (if applicable)</li>
<li>Any overnight stay at both universities? Feedback, if any.</li>
<li>Any confirmed undergraduate research opportunities at either of the universities?</li>
<li>What is the GPA requirement for continuation of fee waiver at Alabama?</li>
<li>Will Alabama fee waiver include paying for study abroad?</li>
<li>Number of on-campus recruiters coming to visit in your area of major at both locations, # of offers, competition for being recruited? (information available from placement center).</li>
</ol>

5

<p>And another question- are you planning on grad or med school? That’s an instance where keeping undergrad expenses to a minimum really matters.</p>

6

<p>Sometimes we all have to pay a bit of a premium to get what we really want in life. You want Michigan. You earned attending Michigan. You get instate tuition at Michigan. Go to Michigan. Also be honest with yourself, would you ever have even considered Alabama for college if they weren’t giving you a free academic ride? It’s not like you’re comparing academic institutions that are similar. Michigan is definitely a significant step up from 'Bama. There are other costs involved with going to Alabama too such as transportation back and forth from home that will not be an issue if you stay. That in itself could add up to thousands over the years.</p>

7

<p>I generally vote for the school that has the lowest net cost, but in your case…it has to be Michigan! Lucky You!</p>

8

<p>What is your major and career interest? There certainly are majors/careers where a degree from UMich will not be an advantage or at least of any significance. My son just went thru the med school app process with his Michigan-Bama classmate. They both were accepted to several med schools; the Mich-Bama student was accepted to UMich SOM, but has declined and will be attending UAB SOM with a generous merit scholarship. </p>

<p>*5. What is the GPA requirement for continuation of fee waiver [full tuition scholarship] at Alabama?</p>

<ol>
<li>Will Alabama fee waiver [full tuition scholarship] include paying for study abroad?*</li>
</ol>

<p>To keep the Bama full tuition scholarship the student must have a 3.0 GPA computed after the whole year. If the student fails to have a 3.0 after one year, then he’s given the next semester to get the 3.0 for that semester only. It’s really easy to keep the scholarship. </p>

<p>YES…the scholarship can be used for a semester abroad and is VERY generous. The OOS student is given about $11,000 towards the semester abroad. That not only covers tuiton, but usually covers R&B and some spending money. OOS kids do very well financially with study abroad semesters at Bama. </p>

<p>The student certainly qualifies for the Honors College at Bama since he was awarded the Presidential.</p>

<p>There are other costs involved with going to Alabama too such as transportation back and forth from home that will not be an issue if you stay. That in itself could add up to thousands over the years.</p>

<p>UMich’s tuition is about $15k per year (so about $60k for the 4 years - not including UMich’s higher upper-division tuition). At Bama, the tuition would be 0. Even if the student spent $1500 per year on travel, that would only be $6k for the 4 years.</p>

9

<p>Not sure how much longer Alabama will be able to bribe better students to their campus. That is another concern I would have if I attended there. Sooner of later the freebies have got to end, and they could end at any time without much notice.</p>

10

<p>

At Michigan, you can do research as a first semester freshman; all you have to do is sign up with the UROP program. At Michigan, you have the opportunity to do cutting edge research with professors who are leaders in their fields.</p>

<p>

Thousands of companies, including leading national/international companies in every fields and industries recruit at Michigan. Here’s a list for just engineering:
[Annual</a> Report | Engineering Career Resource Center](<a href=“http://career.engin.umich.edu/annualReport/index.html]Annual”>http://career.engin.umich.edu/annualReport/index.html)
<a href=“http://career.engin.umich.edu/employers/companies.html[/url]”>http://career.engin.umich.edu/employers/companies.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Michigan has extensive industrial connections and alumni networks, both nationwide and internationally. You can take advantage of the resources and have access to some of the more lucrative non-entry level job opportunities.</p>

<p>[Office</a> of Financial Aid: Cost of Attendance](<a href=“http://www.finaid.umich.edu/TopNav/AboutUMFinancialAid/CostofAttendance.aspx]Office”>http://www.finaid.umich.edu/TopNav/AboutUMFinancialAid/CostofAttendance.aspx)
Tuition/fees is $12,994 for lower divisions and $14,644 for upper divisions. With the $1,500 scholarship, your total tuition cost is $44,000 over four years.</p>

<p>

How important is that to you?</p>

11

<p>*Not sure how much longer Alabama will be able to bribe better students to their campus. That is another concern I would have if I attended there. Sooner of later the freebies have got to end, and they could end at any time without much notice.
*</p>

<p>Bama won’t likely be stopping the offers until it gets to the point that it wants. Why would it? It has a goal, and this is getting them there. Why would then stop short of their goal? That would make all their efforts fruitless.</p>

<p>If you’re trying to scare the OP into thinking that all of the sudden he’s going to be in classes that lacks high stats students, that’s not likely. Even if for some unforeseen reason, the scholarships ended in a couple of years, this student would be in upper-division courses and his classmates would have matriculated during the scholarship years. </p>

<p>Do we know what the OP’s major or career interest is? </p>

<p>I take exception to your use of the word “bribery.” Do you say that about all schools that offer merit aid? After all, that’s why they all do it.</p>

12

<p>“Bama won’t likely be stopping the offers until it gets to the point that it wants. Why would it? It has a goal, and this is getting them there. Why would then stop short of their goal? That would make all their efforts fruitless.”</p>

<p>Then I suppose it will offering these scholarships for many years.</p>

13

<p>“I take exception to your use of the word “bribery.” Do you say at about all schools that offer merit aid? After all, that’s why they all do it.”</p>

<p>Alabama seems to do it more than any other school in the country. I just wonder how they can afford it? Why would anyone want to pay regular price to attend a school that has so many give aways? Can you really see top students ever paying full freight to attend Alabama like they do at many other schools?</p>

14

<p>If you can afford Michigan, there is absolutely no reason not to go there. That’s the difference between a top 25 school in the nation and a top 150 school in the nation. As long as your major is logical, you’ll be reaping the benefits of Ann Arbour forever. And that’s coming from a Badger fan.</p>

15

<p>I generally go for cost too, but in-state Michigan is nothing to sneeze at. Another vote for Michigan here.</p>

16

<p>As a member of a big family of Michigan fans, I always pushed myself to get into U of M. I was so happy when I did, but I also recieved a scholarship from Alabama. I visited campus and absolutely fell in love with it. Everyone was so kind and welcoming (gotta love southern hospitality!), and campus was exceptionally beautiful and well maintained.</p>

<p>Having the opportunity to be in the honors college at UA is also an amazing perk with smaller classes, priority registration and the nicest dorms I’ve seen on any college campus. Plus, I got to meet the Dean of the business school who is also extremely kind and seems to really care about every student. </p>

<p>Overall, Alabama just felt right for me. I was more comfortable on campus, and I know I will do really well there academically as well as in all other aspects of my life in college. I won’t lie, it took me a little while to get over the whole ranking/reputation debate. In the end though, I know Alabama will offer a great education (especially with the honors college) as well as the best living environment for me to succeed. Plus, UA is working really hard to improve their academics which is why they are so generous with scholarships, and more and more highly competitive students enroll each year. Even without the scholarship they offered, UA would be at the top of my list. With Michigan, I felt like they treated you as though you are lucky to get their attention whereas UA has been so welcoming and really seems to appreciate everything each student has to offer. Michigan is an amazing school, but it just comes down to where you fit and where you feel comfortable. Feel free to PM me if you want to know anything else about how/why I made my decision! </p>

<p>P.S. The weather is also wonderful, so that’ll be really nice coming from the North! Haha. :)</p>

17

<h1>*“I take exception to your use of the word “bribery.” Do you say at about all schools that offer merit aid? After all, that’s why they all do it.”</h1>

<p>Alabama seems to do it more than any other school in the country. I just wonder how they can afford it?</p>

<p>Why would anyone want to pay regular price to attend a school that has so many give aways? </p>

<p>Can you really see top students ever paying full freight to attend Alabama like they do at many other schools?
*</p>

<p>Seriously? You wonder how Bama can afford these merit awards? Have you been living under a rock? Take a really wild guess. lol</p>

<p>Why would anyone ever pay full price? Well, since far more OOS students pay full price then get merit, I guess you could ask them. About 55% of the frosh are from OOS. That’s well over 3000 students. Only about 600 get the big merit, that means that a whole bunch are paying full price. </p>

<p>Can I ever see top students paying full price like they do at other OOS publics? Sure, once Bama reaches its goal, then top students would pay for the same reasons that they pay at other schools.</p>

<p>You must not understand what the vision is regarding these large merit awards. The plan was put into place about 10 years ago. You must think that there isn’t a long term effect. The merit awards are one aspect of a well-thought out plan that also included remodeling existing bldgs and adding over 45 completed bldgs (including an 800,000 sq ft Science & Engineering Complex, which when added to the existing (remodeled) science & engineering bldgs, gave the school over 1.5M sq ft of STEM academic space. </p>

<p>Once you have the high-tech academic facilities, and you have the high stats students, then it becomes easier to attract the best profs, who get the best research grants. The school’s ranking goes up, the alumni are happy and donating, and the cycle continues. About 10 years ago, Bama’s ranking was more than 20 spots lower. It will continue to move up as the plan continues. </p>

<p>Don’t know why Post #14 mentions “top 150” school. Bama’s ranking is within the top 80. to put “top 150” is misleading.</p>

18

<p>

</p>

<p>Alabama is actually #75.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>If they did stop the full-ride scholarships while the OP was attending, I think s/he would still get the full-ride, Bama would probably just stop offering it to newbies coming in. </p>

<p>Just trying to make it fair here.</p>

19

<p>*If they did stop the full-ride scholarships while the OP was attending, I think s/he would still get the full-ride, Bama would probably just stop offering it to newbies coming in. *</p>

<p>Absolutely. Those who are holding scholarships would NOT lose them if for some reason offers for future applicants ended. I hope Rjk wasn’t suggesting that a current student holding a merit scholarship would suddenly lose their merit if the school stopped offering to future applicants. </p>

<p>BTW…the full tuition scholarship covers up to 20 credits per semester. That’s almost unheard of.</p>

20

<p>I assume the OP is not going to locate to Alabama when it is time to look for work. Whether the Alabama posters want to believe it or not, the Michigan brand is significantly stronger when applying for that all important first job out of college. There is no question that Michigan trumps Alabama for prestige.</p>