Northwestern Vs U Michigan

<p>Hello Guys,</p>

<p>I have already been accepted to both Northwestern and U Michigan as a transfer student for Industrial Engineering! The question is, which university should I attend. Fortunately, cost is no problem, so that will not influence my decision. What I really want is to be immersed in a university that really wants to teach. I am frustrated of professors who do not care about teaching and would rather research. I also want to be surrounded by supremely intelligent students that will fuel my intellectual drive. Which university do you think that will be?</p>

<p>There’s a thead below that discusses NU vs. Michigan. I would just read through that if I were you. They’re both top schools for industrial engineering.</p>

<p>Hard choice good luck on the decision! lol</p>

<p>My advice would be to take the comments you receive with a grain of salt. Some people are very biased to their particular school.</p>

<p>Grain of salt here it is.</p>

<p>I would personally choose Northwestern.</p>

<p>If you want a more well-rounded education, go to Northwestern.</p>

<p>Summary of the whole thread below. NU has more academic prestige, has better students surrounding you, and is a nicer size (to many). Michigan has better grad schools on average, and better sports and such large school offerings. It became a comparative contest similar to two children arguing.</p>

<p>In your case, there would be more intelligent students surrounding you on average at NU, and the undergraduate teaching there is generally considered better.</p>

<p>^ I would argue that the Michigan CoE students are nearly on par with McCormick students. Knowing students at both schools, this is what I’ve heard.</p>

<p>@Pat1120, that is about to change with the class of 2017. Just kidding ;-)</p>

<p>For undergraduate I would go with Northwestern. Contrary to what a certain few on the Umich forum insist, I do not believe Umichigan is quite on par with Northwestern at the undergraduate level, and I feel like overal Northwestern is regarded as a more prestigious university.</p>

<p>I don’t think you’d go wrong with either though.</p>

<p>I did water my post down a bit on the Umich forum just because I don’t want to start conflict.</p>

<p>First of all, since this is the Northwestern forum, this thread will probably be fairly biased towards it. If I get into Northwestern (tomorrow / Friday?) I will be in the same situation you are in, but honestly, this is a pretty good predicament to be in; you really can’t go wrong with either school. In terms of rankings (USNews), Mich is ranked higher on the engineering charts, but Northwestern is higher on the overall charts. In terms of academics they are probably very similar for engineering, but I’d give a slight edge to Northwestern for the prestige factor, which can really give you an edge when job searching.</p>

<p>Besides academics, the rest really boils down to what you are looking for in a college. Do you want a medium sized school, or a large school? Are sporting events important to you (obviously both have them but Mich wins here)? Do you want to live close to the city? Do you want cold weather or colder and windier weather?</p>

<p>I can’t speak for teachers prioritizing teaching over research (perhaps you can find a current student to talk to), but as far as surrounding yourself with smart students, I think Northwestern has the lead. UMich students are definitely smart, but it has a higher acceptance rate and, being a public school, has to accept a certain number of students from Michigan.</p>

<p>I haven’t visited Northwestern yet, but from what I’ve read, Northwestern seems slightly more competitive while UMich seems more liberal. Choose wisely, but remember, there is no wrong choice!</p>

<p>OP </p>

<p>First of all, you are in a no-lose situation. NU and Michigan are both excellent schools, each has a strong IE program and each will prepare you for a future career. We could argue all day about which has the better reputation, stronger department, etc. (and we have, many times between these two schools).</p>

<p>At the end of the day – the schools have a very different feel to them. UMich is huge, NU is somewhat more intimate and has many fewer students. If you can visit both, there is a good chance that you will develop a strong preference of one over the other. Most on this board either have, or are close to someone who has chosen NU. Go to the UMich board and the opposite will be true.</p>

<p>My advice – visit and go to the one that you like better.</p>

<p>Even at the graduate level, NU matches UMich in IE. UMich is ranked #2 and NU is ranked #3. So this becomes non-issue.</p>

<p>You should pick based on personal fit and which curriculum/program(s) seem to suit your academic interest the most. Note that the names of the departments are different: at NU, it’s Industrial Engineering & Management Sciences; at UMich, it’s Industrial Engineering & Operations Research. The difference may be semantics or may be more than that - that it reflects different foci.</p>

<p>At NU, there’s a 4-yr dual-major in IEMS & econ. </p>

<p>For additional business-related programs:
At UM, there’s a Engineering Global Leadership Honors program (extra year).
At NU, there’s Kellogg certificate (no extra year) and MS in Management Studies (extra year)
[EGL</a> Home | Michigan Engineering](<a href=“http://www.engin.umich.edu/academics/honors/egl/]EGL”>http://www.engin.umich.edu/academics/honors/egl/)
[Managerial</a> Analytics Certificate - Certificate Program for Undergraduates - Kellogg School of Management - Northwestern University](<a href=“http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/Certificate/academics/managerial-analytics-certificate.aspx]Managerial”>http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/Certificate/academics/managerial-analytics-certificate.aspx)
[Russell</a> Fellows | Kellogg School of Management | Northwestern University](<a href=“http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/Programs/russell-fellows.aspx]Russell”>MS in Management Studies | Kellogg School of Management)</p>

<p>NU…Michigan has relaxed it admission standards recently to bring in out-of-state money…</p>

<p>I would give NU the slight edge. Michigan relaxes its admission standards occasionally to bring in more out of state tuition money…</p>

<p>^ Ummm, if applications to Michigan are increasing and admission rate is declining, how does it follow that Michigan is relaxing their admissions standards?</p>

<p>I’m not saying that admission standards are relaxing, but it is possible to increase apps and decrease admission rate. Imagine thousands of students at some county in Ohio get told to apply, but the school district doesn’t have the most intelligent students. They all apply and get most get rejected. Apps went up, admission rate went down, but other than just that influx from that district, the standards could have relaxed. So it is possible.</p>

<p>Crimson is correct. Also, from my high school (which is not in Michigan) a large number of people were accepted (even with 26 & 27s on the ACT with no hooks). I think it largely depends on the financial condition of the State at the time…Of course, you will find no stats on this…</p>