<p>Why does it seem that a lot of very bright students choose MSU over UMICH? I know several people that got 31+ ACTs and chose MSU over Michigan. Could it be that Michigan's "we know people will go here because we're a good school" attitude is finally catching up with them, while MSU attracts students with their "we want you to go here" attitude?</p>
<ol>
<li>Scholarship money</li>
<li>Medical Scholars program</li>
<li>Vets/geneticists</li>
</ol>
<ol>
<li>Journalism</li>
</ol>
<p>MSU is less competative than Michigan. Several people from my school choose MSU (and Wayne State) over Michigan for this reason...mostly premeds.</p>
<p>I know for me that financial reasons was an issue, I chose Michigan over Berkeley because it was more affordable. Or maybe, they want someplace more social.</p>
<p>Some of the people I am referring to did not get any money from MSU, and were not in any of those programs listed above. Also, they got into Michigan so competition is not an issue--unless you are talking about competition within the school, which brings up an interesting question. Would it be advantageous to go to MSU because it would allow for more options academically? For example, at Michigan, it is extremely difficult to dual enroll and double major, in say, engineering and biology, unless you are a top student. At MSU, programs aren't so cut-throat competetive as to keep many students out of a program that they want to major in. </p>
<p>Also, Spartans would argue that the parties are better and so are the girls. :)</p>
<p>Just some food for thought, I don't go to MSU or UMICH, but just wanted to bring this up because I know people at both places.</p>
<p>I'm going to make a very incorrect statement, but logically I would deduce:</p>
<p>Girls who study less are generally hotter, and generally would be highly concentrated at State but less so at Umich.</p>
<p>I know I'm wrong but I can see the logic behind that :)</p>
<p>people who don't want to be challenged go to state.</p>
<p>Epsilon, your not completely off. Look at schools like Arizona State, Pepperdine, and FSU. They're aren't exactly known for their academics as well they are for the girls.</p>
<p>I know you said money wasn't something, but one of my friends was basically offered John Hopkins (*** is that how you spell it?) or a full ride to MSU. He chose MSU.</p>
<p>It's Johns Hopkins. I'm guessing his girlfriend decided on MSU or something like that.</p>
<p>forgiven - "people who don't want to be challenged go to state."</p>
<p>That's a silly statement and has no merit.</p>
<p>I think forgiven's statement does have merit. A lot of kids go to less rigorous schools because they want to be able to invest more time in their social life, want easy A's, etc. People don't always choose their colleges primarily on academic prestige even though they probably should. Some of my friends back in Cali chose schools like USC and Pepperdine over schools like Berkeley, Claremont Mckenna and Stanford.</p>
<p>AzureK, I'm sorry but I don't buy it. Forgiven makes a blanket statement about ALL MSU students, and that's just plain silly. If one says SOME students choose MSU because of the perception it’s less competitive, or that MSU is, in fact, less competitive in their opinion, that's fine with me. But you can't just make a blanket generalization that 30,000+ undergrads come to MSU to party and care little or nothing about academics – it’s a false stereotype while, at the same time, I’ll be quick to acknowledge a lot of students at MSU like to party. But on a Friday night if you go to MSU’s libraries, study lounges and coffee houses in East Lansing, you’re also going to find a large number of students with their noses buried in their books or notebook computers. (and for the record, for people who make a big deal of such things, MSU hasn’t made Playboy or Princeton’s top-20 ‘party school’ list; Wisconsin did, though; do you think UW is strictly a social school of no academic prestige or merit? I sure hope not)… AsureK, I appreciate your comments and, yes, some students do place social life over academic prestige, at MSU and elsewhere. But don't fall into the mindset that, while MSU may not be as prestigious as U-M, that MSU is totally lacking prestige and high quality programs or that many, many students (present company included) choose MSU because of such prestige.</p>
<p>Forgiven's comment was more of an attempted put down, and that's uncalled for in the context of an intelligent conversation.</p>
<p>I know of too many competitive programs that attract students from Michigan and beyond; from all over the world. I actually tend to get tired of these threads, like this, where someone notes that a bright student chooses MSU over U-M as though it's some kind of 'dog-bites-man' newsflash. It is not. I knew of such students who did so before I attended (late 80s early 90s) and continue to be aware of such students -- many, many of them. It's really no big deal to me.. And yet, when someone does choose to make a big deal of it, inevitably some U-M person like forgiven feels obligated to jump in and start trashing Michigan State...</p>
<p>... and to me, this backfires as it reflects more poorly on U-M rather than on MSU.</p>
<p>[deleted] bump</p>
<p>Have you actually read the Playboy top-20 party school list?</p>
<p>"Michigan State University will no longer be considered for our annual list of party schools because we feel it is unfair to include professionals on a list of amateurs." -Playboy</p>
<p>Thought not.</p>
<p>One of my teachers is a freelance journalist, who focuses mainly on sports. He said he went to most of the libraries, coffeeshops, and bars after the MSU vs U of M game in Ann Arbor one year and East Lansing the next year. He said he found people studying at every place he went in Ann Arbor the night after the game, whereas for East Lansing there were only a few individuals in the libraries.</p>
<p>Yes, MSU has some very strong subjects (that are better than U of M), and some people choose MSU over U of M for various reasons, but when you look at the big picture the two aren't even close. There's a reason MSU considers Michigan their biggest rival and always try and compare themselves to Michigan, whereas people at Michigan quite frankly don't care about MSU that much.</p>
<p>^Good for your teacher. Obviously, he and I (and a lot of other people at MSU) have had different experiences, at least in E. Lansing; I don’t go to Ann Arbor enough to know... yes, there are too many MSU people preoccupied with U-M because, frankly, there are a lot of other good schools to which MSU can compare; U-M just happens to be nearby... But as to U-M people who allegedly 'don't care' about MSU, that's false based on the many U-M people -- forgiven being but one -- who work overtime to put MSU down all the time... If U-M was really as 'great' as you/they say, they wouldn't need to exert such energy for this ‘fact’ would be self evident, wouldn't you agree?</p>
<p>deleted, bump</p>
<p>There are many good reasons to chose MSU over Michigan.</p>
<p>1) MSU's school of Education undergraduate program is more hands on and believed to be better than Michigan. </p>
<p>2) MSU offers major programs that Michigan does not, such as Hotel Management, Industrial and Labor Relations and Agriculture. </p>
<p>3) MSU can cost anywhere from $40,000-$80,000 less for in-staters. </p>
<p>4) Some speciaties at MSU, like Supply Chain Management and Nuclear Physics, are second to none. </p>
<p>5) For better or worse, MSU and Michigan offer completely different environments and some people are better suitted for one school over the other.</p>
<p>We've seen that 8 out of 10 students who are admitted to both will choose Michigan over MSU. But there are plenty of bright students who would have been admitted to both (had they applied to U-M) but didn't bother--they only applied to MSU. Some people have sounds reasons--academic ones included--to prefer MSU over U-M, as has been noted here.</p>
<p>anyways, i'm not saying that EVERY SINGLE MSU student chooses to go to msu over michigan because they don't want to be challenged.</p>
<p>but for the students that got accepted into both MSU and UMICH (usually michigan residents since OOS people don't really apply to MSU), they decide to go to MSU so they don't have to work so hard. think about it.</p>
<p>and actually all of my friends here that are michigan residents have told me this of all their state friends. so it's not like i'm just making this up.</p>