<p>Hi! I was wondering if anyone could provide me with some useful insight to help me make my university attendance decision. </p>
<p>I have to make a difficult decision between attending U of M or MSU. If I choose the MSU route, I will be a member of their Honors College and the James Madison College (a unique public policy residential program). If I decide to attend U of M, my primary goal will be to seek acceptance into the Ross School of Business. If I wont be accepted into Ross, I will either go into the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy or the LSA Department of Economics. </p>
<p>My ultimate aspiration is to attend a top 20 law school by the time I graduate; I wish to enter the field of corporate law and possibly the political world in the future. Im struggling with my decision because I grew up as a wolverine fan, but I began to question my opportunities until this year. Moreover, I honestly don't know how to evaluate all the factors of my decision properly, such as the outcome of my GPA by the time I graduate, especially if I attend U of M. Any suggestions?</p>
<p>“My ultimate aspiration is to attend a top 20 law school by the time I graduate.”</p>
<p>Law Schools care about prestige. MSU is just your typical state flagship university, Michigan is an lvy-league backup school. I wouldn’t get hung up on honors colleges or any other sort of fluff. Look at the core program. Ross is a very good business school and I’m sure some of the lessons you’d learn would help you in corporate world. Not to mention the name Ross itself helps. Plus the students you’ll meet will mostly be a cut above what you’ll meet at MSU. It’s an obvious choice IMO.</p>
<p>As everyone said, attend UofM. UofM definitely has more than MSU in terms of prestige. However, if you get a lot of scholarships and financial aid from MSU (I think MSU is more generous in this area than UofM), and if finances is of concern to you, then go for MSU. While UofM is better than MSU, going to MSU will not hurt your chances to a top 20 law school that severely.</p>
<p>I just answered this question on another Michigan v. Michigan State thread. I wrote about my undergrad experiences getting a BBA in Michigan and applying to top law school. Can someone link that response to this thread or I will try to do it myself.</p>
<p>I went to Michigan in the '80s and was accepted into the business school (before it was named Ross - but it sill had a top ranking). The grading in the business school was extremely competitive. The curve in many classes was set to only give out 1-2 A’s per class. And you are with some of the smartest students at Michigan. Back then BBA was only junior and senior year and my GPA went from a 3.8 my first 2 years, to around a 3.1 so that I graduated with a 3.4. My LSAT score was very high (different scale then but people with my score from Michigan got into Harvard and Michigan law schools). I did not even get waitlisted at Michigan for law school. Had I stayed in LSA and continued to take classes I enjoyed and could do well in, I would have gotten into a much better law school (Wisconsin was the only top 20 law school I was accepted to).
My advice would be to do some research into grading at Ross, as well as how important grades are v. course rigor and prestige of school at the law schools you are applying.
I know I could have gotten into Michigan Law with an easier courseload. I don’t know how much things have changed, but it is worth looking into.
As an aside, my brother went to Michigan State, Wayne Law School for one year, was third in his class and transferred to Michigan Law School for his last two years.</p>