Michigan or MSU

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Michigan
1

I realize choosing between these two schools is not an uncommon topic! My S has been admitted to several schools including Michigan, MSU, Wash U in StL, and Wake Forest. He has received merit money at all schools applied. Wash U and Wake ended up being way too expensive. He has narrowed his choices to UM or MSU. His school of choice as far as I can remember has always been Michigan. His bedroom walls are painted maize and blue. We are in-state.
He really enjoyed his visit to MSU and has said that he wouldn’t mind going to school there.

Although we do not qualify for any federal aid programs our money is still tight. He knows cost is an issue as well, we have been up front with him throughout the college search process.

The question is this: Is Michigan worth 5k more per year and if so why? If he chose Michigan he may have anywhere from 10-15k debt after graduation.

My S has been offered a place in the honors college at both schools. He says that if goes to Michigan he is not going to do honors but at MSU he will. I’m not sure why this is but it’s his decision. At MSU he has also been offered a professorial assistantship. He is not quite sure what he wants to do for a career as he has many interests.

My wife and I are willing to help out as much as we can for whichever one he chooses. Our S is very easy going and is confused because of the difference in cost. He’s having difficulty making up his mind.

Any help would would be appreciated.

2

Honestly, if you’re already full pay and the 10-15k debt is the determination, that should not be the deciding factor.

Personally, I chose MSU over U of M a few years ago for undergrad (I’m now at U of M for a Masters and PhD programs) and I have never, ever regretted my choice.

IMO, it should come down to wherever he feels more comfortable at U of M or MSU. The PA at MSU is a very nice program.

Best of luck! I’m sure he’ll excel no matter where he chooses.

3

If he is a fan of Michigan, then yes, Michigan is $5k better than MSU. $10-$15k debt is not ideal, but it is manageable. I don’t understand why he would not take the Honors route if he goes to Michigan.

At any rate, I think he will find Michigan more rewarding intellectually, academically and socially, and the opportunities for networking and placement (graduate school and professional) will likely be greater at Michigan.

4

as someone who is very involved in recruiting/hiring process for gainful employment, this is a no brainer to me.

5

As someone who recently finished the recruiting/hiring process for gainful employment, this is not a no brainer to me. I had the option of transferring to Michigan for economics, or MSU for business. Like romani, I picked Michigan State, and I do not regret my decision at all. I received offers from several F100 firms (going toe-to-toe with Michigan students, both from Ross and engineering in several interviews as well).

Michigan may be the better option for your son, but it’s not a no brainer.

6

TheSpartan, you are quite right. It really depends on the major and career interests. For example, someone interested in ILR (HR), Supply Chain Management or Accounting would be as well served going to Broad as going to Ross. In such an instance, should the student prefer MSU’s laid back environment to Michigan’s more intense environment, going to MSU makes perfect sense. But for someone who is undecided, and who likes Michigan and MSU alike, it is indeed a no brainer as Michigan is a significantly better university and opens more doors.

7

As a non-graduate of either school, I think that U of M has an overall better reputation. The students are generally much brighter at U of M than at MSU, and there is a larger percentage of bright out-of-staters and international students. To an extent, MSU is back-up school for people who cannot get into Michigan. I have seen U of M graduates with the same grades as MSU graduates get into better graduate schools and have better private sector positions.

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Another thing is that if your son goes to U of M and is unhappy, it is easier to transfer to MSU ,if he did decently, than the other way around.

9

Depends on the major which is “better.” Depends on what a student wants to do "next’ after undergrad. As with almost all selective colleges the caliber of the incoming students is continuing to rise at both MSU and UofM. The percentage of out of state and internationals is increasing at both universities. For in-state kids with need, UofM guarantees to meet need and MSU does not so the final costs is going TBD an individual’s financial situation and in the OPs case UofM would probably be slightly more as I believe the COA is slightly higher since the OP states there is no need on paper.

MSU has “spring” admits for those they can’t fit in for freshman fall and I don’t believe this is something that UofM does. Both have living learning communities, MSU has more residential colleges. i believe Romanig loved her residential college at MSU and is attending UofM currently for grad school. So I don’t think it’s necessarily an “easy choice” and we are blessed to have two very good unis in our state. Without knowing what the OPs son is interested in studying it is actually difficult to say which school would be ‘better’ to be honest. There are majors that “overlap” and are offered at both unis and some that are unique to one or the other. I know a few esteemed people who say for example that Physics is better at MSU…it’s not really cut and dried and it’s not a “no brainer.”

MSU has a much lower Greek presence. Ann Arbor has a “funner/more interesting” town. MSU has one walkable campus and a great residential experience and fabulous food service. UofM has very distinct neighborhoods and less homogeous dorms. UofM has football and basketball spirit. MSU has football and basketball spirit. They are both about the same “size” for undergraduate + graduate populations.

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Thanks for the time you have all taken to respond to my post. Your advice and input has been very helpful.
He has taken 4 years of Mandarin at his high school and wants to continue doing so in college. He is considering trying German or Russian as well. He has tossed around the idea of international law as a potential career. As previously mentioned he does have many interests and enjoys biology as well.

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"I know a few esteemed people who say for example that Physics is better at MSU…it’s not really cut and dried and it’s not a “no brainer.”

momofthreeboys, I agree with much of your post, but it should be noted that Michigan is in fact equal to MSU in Physics. Where MSU is better than Michigan is in Nuclear Physics specifically (MSU is #1 in Nuclear Physics, but Michigan is #1 in Nuclear Engineering). :wink:

“As with almost all selective colleges the caliber of the INCOMING students is continuing to rise at both MSU and UofM.”

I don’t know if that is accurate…not statistically anyway:

Admissions date 2010:
Number of applicants
Michigan 31,500
MSU 27,000

Number of Applicants admitted
Michigan 16,000 (51% acceptance rate)
MSU 19,000 (70% acceptance rate)

Mid 50% ACT
Michigan 27-31
MSU 23-28

Mid 50% SAT
Michigan 1230-1440
MSU 980-1280

http://opb.msu.edu/institution/documents/CDS2010_2011.pdf
http://obp.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/pubdata/cds/cds_2010-2011_umaa.pdf

Admissions date 2014:
Number of applicants
Michigan 49,000 (56% increase in the number of applicants since 2010)
MSU 33,000 (30% increase in the number of applicants since 2010)

Number of Applicants admitted
Michigan 16,000 (33% accepted, a slight but clear drop from 2010))
MSU 22,000 (67% acceptance rate, virtually no change from 2010)

Mid 50% ACT
Michigan 29-31 (2 point increase since 2010)
MSU 23-28 (no change since 2010)

Mid 50% SAT
Michigan 1280-1480 (60 point increase since 2010)
MSU 970-1270 (10 point decrease since 2010)

http://opb.msu.edu/institution/documents/CDS_2014-2015.pdf
http://obp.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/pubdata/cds/cds_2014-2015_umaa.pdf

As the figures above show, MSU has not become more selective over the years, and the caliber of the students coming in has not improved. Michigan on the other hand has become more selective, albeit by a small margin only. Where there was at least a good overlap in the strength of the mid 50% of the student body in 2010, that overlap has completely evaporated by 2014.

“MSU has a much lower Greek presence.”

While that is true, Greek life does not dominate the social scene at Michigan. I would guess that 7% of MSU students belong to Greek life, compared to 17% of Michigan students.

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Many thanks @Alexandre, I know far more about UofM than MSU, so appreciate the distinctions especially on the Physics issue. i have a number of NucEs in my history and they were from UofM. But the people that raved about MSU physics never differentiated that it was Nuclear Physics.

This year seems interesting at MSU so the stats might be interesting, my money is on the median ACT shifting upward and I actually thought that had occurred last year. Very few kids with less than a 25 get in for fall…it might be the spring stats that are driving that down. Alls good…we’re still pretty lucky in this state as far as access to college education for our state’s young people. Indiana seems to supercede MSU as the “go-to” Big 10 school for OSS kids that can’t get in to UofM or Madison or are disinclined to spend four years in Champaign-Urbana. I just flew to SanFran with a young Chapaign-urbana student who was gritting her teeth about 4 years there.

The Greek houses are way bigger and more substantial and prominent in AA than the houses in E. Lansing so perhaps Greek “feels” bigger than it is?? :slight_smile: Anecdotally, my sibs and I think MSU “feels” more like the UofM we were familiar with in our youth but that could be because of the growth of the Med campus and North campus in AA and the dominance of good basketball and football at MSU :slight_smile: and the percentage of IS/OSS in Lansing these days. Though I must say the number of Ferarris and luxury cars driven by the internationals in Lansing is awe inspiring. I can totally “get” why in-state kids are attracted to MSU even though I bleed blue and gold. My dog has an MSU college and a UofM leash so I’m equal opportunity these days as a Michigander! The food is much better in AA if you are a foodie. But I don’t know very many twenty year olds that can afford to be foodies regardless of family income unless they are trustifarians.

I would say to the OP to let him make his choice based on his major and then don’t look back. If I had a kid with his heart set on banking it would be a true no-brainer, but after that well…

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Blue and GOLD :-/

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Michigan is maize and blue.

The University of Florida at Lake City had school colors of Blue and Gold

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Lol maize gold…potato Potatoe after 4 generations we apparently don’t get hung up on semantics in my family

16

Yes I absolutely loved my Residential College experience at MSU.
I was a GSI for a RC class at U of M and it simply wasn’t the same despite the fact that they were supposed to be comparable programs. I still loved the RCAH at MSU model much more.

FWIW- MSU has a much larger study abroad program and “international” is really is woven into the very fabric of the school. At least from my experience.