<p>@mbarri, we’re from NJ, so cold doesn’t usually bother my son either… I just think the fact that he, for whatever reason, didn’t bring a warm coat definitely contributed to his not being wowed as much as I’d expected him to be!! As I said before, if he’d gone in the fall I’m sure his reaction would’ve been similar to your son’s! 
Your son certainly got into some impressive schools… It’s great to hear that UM is at the top of the heap for him. Did he visit the others as well?</p>
<p>Many Michigan students choose it over other top universities such as Chicago, Northwestern, WUSTL and the Ivies. Last year, the top 25% of Michigan’s incoming Freshman class scored over 1500 on the SAT and over 32 on the ACT. Most of those students also came in with very high GPAs. That’s 1,500 Freshmen. It is safe to assume that hundreds of them had such decisions to make. Many of them are OOS students, and to most of those, Michigan was not the cheaper option.</p>
<p>@shorner
We are not only in state, we are in town. 
She wants to study ChemE. We will see which program she ends up with in a year. UMich is not the cheapest option for us unless she commutes. NU is only a couple thousands more per year for her while UIUC really sucks at aids (even worse than UMich oos). It was a tough decision between NU and UMich but my D likes UMich more. </p>
<p>billcsho, the Michigan vs Northwestern scenario is very common. That is indeed a difficult choice until one visits both campuses. Then the decision is easy since most people usually come away liking one more than the other. </p>
<p>@billcsho, wow, I (obviously) had no idea you live in AA! Very cool that your D is so in favor of her hometown school… My stepsister went to Northwestern and liked it overall, but my son felt like Michigan had the stronger engineering program and didn’t end up applying there (he also considered UIUC at one point, as a matter of fact!)… All in all, I think UM will be the best choice – and I’ve felt that way for a while (even sight unseen!)… Looking forward to getting out there to see it for myself soon!!</p>
<p>@Alexandre
UMich and NU indeed have very different campus setting. Although my D like the first year engineering design program at NU, she does not like the campus and the trimester system (some people may just think the opposite).</p>
<p>I agree billcsho, some prefer the Michigan/Ann Arbor vibe while others prefer the NU/Evanston vibe. One little correction, it is Michigan that operates the trimester system. NU works on a quarter schedule. I prefer the trimester system to the quarter system myself, and that is certainly one of the things to consider when choosing between Michigan and NU.</p>
<p>NU is on the quarter system. Michigan is set up as trimesters. Oops. Just read Alexandre’s coments above mine. ;-)</p>
<p>Btw, I really dislike the quarter system because, at least in the case of NU, your calendar year ends ways later than other peer schools.</p>
<p>Yeah. I just mixed it up and said the opposite way. 
My D does not like the late summer break exactly as rikofnovi said. Someone may like it that all breaks line up with the holidays and after finals. However, each term is shorter too. When I was in graduate school, my school has a 5 term calender with 1-2 weeks breaks in between. I had mid-term and final exam every other month. The quarter system is almost like that.</p>
<p>Glad you brought up the academic calendar… I was confused by that. Do kids have summer vacation? Based on what I see, fall term this year was 9/3-12/20, winter term is 1/8-5/1 and spring/summer is 5/6-8/15… Does that mean they literally go to school year round?</p>
<p>They don’t have to go year round. The primary academic time includes Fall and Winter terms. The Spring/Summer terms are optional- not typical- although I think a lot of students do end up taking a course or two at least once in Spring/Summer. It can help them take a lighter load during the regular academic year. Course offerings for Spring/Summer are much more limited. </p>
<p>Thanks so much for confirming this for me, @2016BarnardMom! Makes complete sense now…</p>
<p>Good luck to you and your son, shorner. My daugher is a Junior at Michigan (we are from Illinois) and she loves it so much. FYI, if your son decides to attend, there is a Facebook page (closed group) for parents of students. This Facebook page has been a tremendous asset to me. There are hundreds of wonderful parents who are there to support you through the challenges of having a college student – everything from how does my student find a tutor to my child is sick, what do I do? I attended a private university and was a little uninspired by my daughter’s original interest in Michigan. Boy, was I wrong. The resources and opportunities there are amazing. I love visiting Ann Arbor – fabulous town and great restaurants. Find an excuse to go whenever you can. Is UMich perfect? Nope. Although my biggest beef with the school – housing – appears to be improving. And, it’s a city – you need to be smart and be careful. But, in terms of the people, I don’t think they come any better. My daughter has made so many lifelong friends and is already grieving that she will need to leave them and AA in another year. Good luck.</p>
<p>Housing in Ann Arbor is expensive relative to most of the Midwest, but no where near as expensive as California or most of the East Coast. </p>
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<p>I’m not saying the material is bad. I think it’s very interesting and important, but I think it’s suffered from being too dumbed down, which hurts its respect. I’ve never heard of an IOE undergrad getting more than 75K starting for an IOE job. I’ve never heard of a CSE undergrad getting less than 75K starting. There’s a reason. </p>
<p>Keep in mind, I did major in IOE. And yes, it is easy, at least at the undergrad level. It’d be nice if it was harder, then people could use their IOE degree as proof of some intelligence or ability. But we can’t. </p>
<p>@AnonMom13, so sorry for not responding to your great post yesterday… The day got away from me. Anyway, I wanted to let you know how happy it made me to hear about your daughter and her experiences at UM. I also attended a private university (actually a very small private liberal arts college!), so the whole Big 10, large state university thing is completely foreign to me! So happy to know that your daughter’s time there so far has been so positive and that you’ve been impressed with the quality of the education she’s received… I also really appreciate the information about the Facebook page for parents – no one had mentioned that to me! I can see that being extremely helpful in situations such as you described above! This is my first baby going off to college, so I’m going to need all the support and advice I can get!!! Thanks again so much for taking the time to respond! :-)</p>
<p>@Vladenschlutte
I know several IOE students. One was graduated ~3 years ago got multiple offers before graduation at ~$80k (one was overseas). He picked the one in DC, but he has changed job and moved to Texas last year earning even more now.</p>
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<p>What was he doing? Trying to probe at whether this was really an IOE job or not.</p>
<p>Even if it was, it’s believable that someone who I just didn’t know got more than the people I did know. That’s still not common, and much more common is in the low 60s. </p>
<p>I don’t know his exact job title as he is my friend’s son. The only thing I know is his job is more like a business major than engineering. He did several interns when he was in college. Two of them actually offered him a job before graduation. His younger sister will also be graduating with IOE but at Northwestern. She also got a couple job offers already but I don’t know how much she gets.
He was getting a good salary mainly because of the two company competing in offers. It went back and forth a couple times before he decided. The job he took requires a lot of travel and works very long hours. That’s why he change job within a couple years.</p>
<p>I believe bearcats was an IOE major. Perhaps he can chime in…</p>