<p>My son is still trying to decide which college to attend. He will probably be going in as Undecided and his interests are sciences and theatre/singing. He will also be singing in the choir. I realize that the various departments within the schools have their own reputation and then there is the reputation of the school overall. How would you rank the following schools that he was accepted into. Yes, I realize that they are not the top schools in the state, but with a 3.2/29 ACT, this is where the cards fell. Money matters greatly to us so I included that. I guess what I'm wondering is whether there is a big difference in academic reputation between all these schools that would make a difference.</p>
<p>Oakland University (1,000 per year scholarship) - Would probably live at home for the first year or two. My son is leaning to this one since he wouldn't need any loans and he loves their choir.</p>
<p>Eastern (4,000 per year scholarship) - he's not too excited about this one despite the money</p>
<p>Western (no scholarships) - he loves this place. His sister goes there and in in a program that is the top in our state. However he has about zero chance of being accepted there for theatre (but he does have an audition scheduled).</p>
<p>Central (no scholarship) - he's not that interested</p>
<p>Grand Valley (no scholarship) - probably the best school he's been accepted at but he really disliked the atmosphere</p>
<p>MSU - waiting to hear back though I honestly don't think he liked this one as much as I thought he would.</p>
<p>MSU is by far the best out of these 5 options but as for the other 4, I would choose based on fit for you son.</p>
<p>Yes MSU is the best academically. But he has to get in first. ACT score is definitely good for MSU but I think the GPA might be a bit on the low end. I would go to Western if I were him. From what I can tell, its music program is one of the best in the state. It does have a party school reputation–people call it “Wastern”. But lots of kids go there from my school in western Michigan and they all seem to like it.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice! Yeah, MSU is waiting for “7th Semester grades” before they give the final decision but I think he has a good chance since he’s got a good upward curve and has almost all A’s this term (going into exams this week). My husband and I would like him to go to MSU if he gets in simply because it’s just got that much better of a reputation. Our son however, thought it didn’t ‘feel right’ for him. He liked Western a lot more. So who knows? we may have two kids at Western at the same time.</p>
<p>My vote is for WMU; Kalamazoo is a great under appreciated city, a lot nicer than Ypsi, the university has fine resources and a good faculty. Some students don’t take their studies seriously but those who do can have an excellent experience. I know faculty there and graduates and can vouch for this.</p>
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<p>I agree; and one could make the same statement about almost any college.</p>
<p>My daughter is at Western right now studying Speech Pathology and she loves it. I know for MI it’s rated the highest for that particular program (UM and MSU don’t offer it at the UG level) so it was kind of a no brainer that she would go there. I just wasn’t really sure about how the schools compared since in her case once she was in at WMU she didn’t bother with the rest.</p>