<p>I've narrowed my college choices down to University of Michigan and Lehigh University. I'm having a really hard time trying to predict which college will be the right choice. I plan to study engineering. Lehigh has the advantages of being a smaller school, with smaller classes. Michigan has the advantages of having a significantly higher ranking. It's seventh in the country for engineering, and Lehigh is 37. I live in PA, so Lehigh is much closer and the out of state tuition for Michigan will be roughly the same as Lehigh. I strongly dislike the partying/drinking reputation of Lehigh. I realize that partying/drinking is at every college, but the fact that Lehigh has a huge reputation for it worries me. It's not my idea of fun, and I've often heard that it is pretty much the only thing most students do on the weekends.</p>
<p>What really draws me to Michigan is the unrivaled school spirit. Everyone there loves going to see sports, especially football. This is a category where Lehigh just doesn't compare. I once spoke with someone who had one son who went to Lehigh and another that went to Michigan. He spoke very favorably about Michigan because it is one of the few schools that has great school spirit and athletics as well as excellent academics. I've visited the campus twice and liked it, especially the college of engineering on north campus. Lehigh obviously has a spectacular campus as well.</p>
<p>I realize that small class sizes are beneficial, but I'm not convinced that I am the type of person who would really take advantage of this type of environment. I tend to be someone who would rather get help from fellow students, and Michigan facilitates this well with discussions/study group sessions for each class.</p>
<p>I know that I'm going to have to make this decision myself, but any sort of insight that you could provide would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Yea, it's really a myth that classes are big at Michigan, the intro classes are sort of big, but there are discussion sections.</p>
<p>My calc 1 and calc 2 classes at Michigan had 15-20 people, they are taught by Graduate students, but these are very senior PhD students and best in the country, i think they are perfectly qualified to teach calc 1 and 2. Both of my teachers for calc 1 and 2, were in their senior year of PhD and were interviewing for tenure-track positions at elite Universities. After the intro classes, rest of your classes throughout the 4 years will be small, again this depends on your major. And there are plenty of 300, 400 level liberal arts classes with less than 20 students per class, with no pre-reqs, I took one freshman year and it was a great class. </p>
<p>I was an engineering major, ChemE, BME, Materials, Nuclear, Civil are all very small majors by any standard. I believe Material science has only less than 100 undergraduates total. </p>
<p>Michigan and Ann Arbor has a lot of things to do, and the beauty of it, is that Michigan can accomodate a broad range of personalities, as opposed to many other colleges out there that has a very distinct vibe and niche that you have to fall into. </p>
<p>And finally, there are only 10-15 schools in the US that has Michigan's academic reputation. And in engineering, unless you get in Stanford, MIT, or Caltech, Michigan's name is as good as it gets.</p>
<p>Lehigh grad here checking in to offer another view. First, Michigan is an awesome school and it would be hard to turn them down. I personally think Michigan is as good as it gets for engineering. Still, Lehigh is a wonderful school too. Depending on what branch of engineering you are looking at, you might very well be better off at Lehigh. If structural engineering is in your future, Michigan has nothing comparable to Fritz Lab and ATLSS...it may be offer the finest program in the world. It's been a while, but I found my classroom work at Lehigh harder than my studies at MIT...so you will find Lehigh extremely demanding by anyone's standards.</p>
<p>Also...I am always a bit amused and befuddled about the frat/partying/drinking reputation. Remember, two-thirds of students are unaffiliated, so you will have plenty of non-frat peers to hand around with if that is your desire. Some people consider any frat as a "negative", but I think that is narrow-minded, as a frat presence just gives you more options, and Lehigh has a good balance in that regard.</p>
<p>After reading your post, I think you've pretty much answered your own question. I can't tell you what to do or tell you what's best for you, but by reading that it just seems like you'd really prefer Michigan.</p>