I’m an out of state student planning on majoring in Economics and have been accepted to both schools. I recently visited Ohio State and really liked the atmosphere on campus, all the city has to offer such as the Short North and the arts scene in Columbus, along with the campus itself. Michigan is the cheaper option of the two for me, but I haven’t visited campus and I’m not sure how much I will like the school, where as I know I will like Ohio State based on what I have seen. I guess I’m interested in what the comparison is between the two cities/campuses. I understand rankings and what each school offers, so I’m more interested in having that all around great experience and the intangibles each school has to offer. I was accepted to the Morrill Scholars program and the Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship scholars at OSU. Any information/advice would be great. Thank you!
Then you should choose Michigan. It is a better school, in almost every respect. The UM campus is actually even nicer than OSU’s. Physically UM is more spread out, and it has its own bus system (really!). OSU is quite crowded by comparison.
I live in Columbus, and it does not offer more in the arts than Ann Arbor, even though C-bus is much larger. Ann Arbor is considerably cleaner and safer than the OSU vicinity.
Columbus is significantly larger than Ann Arbor, and not quite as pleasant or quaint. OSU and Michigan are both large, both public, both research-intensive, both Midwestern etc…
There is too much in common between those two schools for it to come down to fit. In this case, it really should come down to cost of attendance and quality. Michigan wins on both fronts.
@Alexandre, you are right about fit being similar but quality and cost of attendance being the main differences. However, in my opinion, Michigan loses on cost of attendance, at least with respect to out of state students. $42,000 tuition per year for Literature, Science and the Arts and $46,000 per year for Ross, with about $12,000 additional for room and board, plus travel expenses make this exceptional University unaffordable for mostly all very talented out of state students except the very poor, who get need-based aid, and the wealthy students whose parents can afford full pay. In contrast, Ohio State tuition is $26,500 for out-of-state, but the $12,000 National Buckeye scholarship for high achieving out-of-state students and additional smaller merit aid offered makes it affordable for high quality out-of-state students who are middle class and could not otherwise get the opportunity to attend and experience what a flagship Big 10 large research University has to offer. My son, who is frim New York, got into Michigan but we can’t afford it. None of the SUNYs offer the combined academic, big-time sports programs, recreational & social experience of any of the BIG 10 schools. So from a cost perspective, I’m glad he can go to OSU. And the quality of Ohio State, while not Michigan, is still very solid, and top-notch for specific academic programs.
The best information at this time would be for the OP to clarify his actual cost of attendance at both schools now. I don’t see how Michigan would end up cheaper if the schools are both full-pay for OOS. If it is even close, I can’t see how Michigan would not be the superior option. If tOSU is much less expensive – at the stated sticker price – then tOSU would be more sensible.
I’d also add that from a cost perspective, some of the departments at Wisconsin, and Minnesota as well, will offer more bang for the buck coming OOS compared to SUNY offerings.
Thank you all for your input especially @NROTCgrad and @Alexandre for helping me with what I wanted to know. To clear things up ( @anhydrite @trackmbe3 ) after gift aid it would cost a little over $8000 to attend tOSU and a little over $2000 to attend UMich (These are based on the Estimated Cost of Attendance obviously). I would have the opportunity to do work-study at UMich to help cover this cost as well.
I would attend U.Michigan in a heartbeat at that price. Congratulations! U.Michigan is generally regarded as one of the four or five best state schools in the country. It is essentially elite.