<p>I would have to agree. I have been to both campuses, and all things considered, I think NU is above UM academically so that’s where I (me not others) would choose.</p>
<p>
I don’t know where you got that info. Intro chem at Michigan has ~450 students sitting in the same lecture hall. At NU, the same class is about 150.</p>
<p>NU has twice the faculty:student ratio vs Michigan. It’d be very difficult for your statement to be true. It’d mean something like tons of NU faculty not being required to teach. With such a sweet deal, UMich faculty would have flocked to NU any way they could since NU offers higher average salaries. LOL!</p>
<p>I think some of the Michigan fans here confuse sports spirits with pride. Why would I be less proud of going to the 12th ranked school than if I were to attend the 27th ranked school?</p>
<p>Funny - part of the Mich campus day was a walk through of the ACTUAL Intro chem class, in the auditorium, with less than a hundred students…</p>
<p>And I’m not suggesting NU students don’t, or shouldn’t have pride. What is obviously different is the outward and explicit EXPRESSION of it. Maybe NU is more humble??? or its hard to get riled up about a great test result.</p>
<p>giterdone,</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>At UM, one of the five sections in the fall is the special one capped at 100 students. It meets 4 times a week instead of 3 like the other four, allowing slower pace and more Q&A, likely for slower students. </p>
<p>You might have visited that one.</p>
<p>The number of sections reduces to three in the spring.</p>
<p>At NU, there are 4 sections in the fall, 3 in the winter, and 2 in the spring (the accelerated sequence concludes at the end of winter). Here’s another difference: UM’s menu has the slow and regular sections while NU’s menu has regular and accelerated.</p>
<p>Given that UM undergrad is slightly over 3 times the size and the number of sections offered at each school, you should be able to finish the rest of the comparison.</p>
<p>Perhaps, they did a good job showing only the best to (fooling?) prospies. ;)</p>
<p>By the way, this is a classic example of something too good to be true if you just step back and look at the big picture. You probably just happened to be at a class that’s not representative. The big picture is NU’s faculty to student ratio is twice that at Michigan. For UM to close the class size gap, let alone have smaller class size than NU (like you first thought), profs would have to have much heavier teaching load while have the same pressure to research. But people respond to incentives; profs would have left UM and found somewhere else if they could teach less while getting the same and more pay (average salary for professors at NU is one of the top-10 highest in the nation).</p>
<p>could be - I don’t want to be in a position of arguing NU vs. UMich in academic quality. I think they both have earned their reputation in the marketplace and we can let that speak for itself. The real difference between the schools is the “environment” and on campus experience. If you don’t value athletic achievement, or see a difference between Ann Arbor and Evanston? then it will be a tougher choice.</p>
<p>Also; faculty to student ratio is not the end all/be all. Freshman intro courses are NOT the most valued assignment on any campus.</p>
<p>Just to offer a different perspective, both D and a friend from the opposite side of the country attended and enjoyed a prestigious summer program at UMich, but both (independently) decided to apply ED to Northwestern. In their minds it was no contest. I would add that neither of them particularly care about athletic prowess, though D has enjoyed singing before ESPN-televised events at NU.</p>
<p>IMHO Evanston is fantastic. I like Ann Arbor, but it’s got nothing on Evanston… which has the added advantages of being smack on the shores of Lake Michigan AND near to Chicago. </p>
<p>Vive la difference! ;-D</p>
<p>Precisely! although, for 7/8ths of the school year Lake Michigan is a frozen weather maker ;-)</p>
<p>@mom knows my D is still in the running for NU and Mich. And for her? NU is fading fast. I made the mistake of taking her to the Mich/Ohio BB game at Crisler, while visiting for campus day… there is no option for that kind of emotion from a rivalry and charged atmosphere for an NU student. There just isn’t. I personally like the idea of her being closer, but it ain’t my choice. Which brings us back to the gist of this thread. The choice between these particular schools is a personal one. Nobody is getting a job because they went to NU over UMich. Both students will get INTERVIEWS, and if you flub there? it doesn’t matter where you went.</p>
<p>NW basketball has never made the NCAA tourney. The ONLY major conference team that’s never been there.</p>
<p>
I am pretty sure I feel more proud of having gone to Northwestern than if I went to UMich. I could have gone to UMich if I really wanted to at the undergrad level; it’s not that hard to get into. I got that option again for graduate school but my top-4 were MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, & GA Tech. Getting riled up with sports doesn’t mean more school pride. You confused the two. Most elite colleges don’t have big athletics programs. </p>
<p>As for the UMich/OSU rivalry, most people could care less. If that’s so important for you D, great.</p>
<p>I don’t know if we are more humble; but maybe since our school is ranked in the top-15 consistently with one of the most difficult admission, we don’t feel as much need to express it. :)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Every Friday and Saturday night, that’s exactly what we celebrate.</p>
<p>@Sam - your jealousy is showing… NU is a great school. But there are great schools with great athletic and rivalry experiences as well. You don’t have to enjoy athletics at UMich, but they’re there for you if and when you want them. That aspect will always be lacking at NU. I 'm sure you got a good education, but you got no more than you would’ve received elsewhere, and with fewer EC options. As you’ve admitted, you have to like it - you picked it. It’s called “rationalization.” Some still have the choice to make… if you can have it all? why settle for less??</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>UMich admits ~41% of applicants, while NU admits ~16% of applicants. UMich 50% ACT scores are 28-32, while NU’s are 31-34.</p>
<p>If academics play a role in school selection, as for so many they do, there is very little contest. We know many kids who are very happy at UMich, but I’m pretty sure that EVERY student at NU was or could have been admitted to UMich, and I know for a fact that the reverse isn’t true. ;-D</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Always? Never say never, my friend.</p>
<p>[1995</a> Northwestern Wildcats football team - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1995_Northwestern_Wildcats_football_team]1995”>1995 Northwestern Wildcats football team - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>It has happened before, and will happen again. And the tourney well… I’m still holding my breath this year.</p>
<p>Again, I think it’s ridiculous that we’re taking giterdone seriously when his/her entire argument implicitly states that quite literally everyone at NU would (should?) be happier at UMich. </p>
<p>Sort of pretentious though. It’s adorable in a very 5th-grader sort of way.</p>
<p>@giterdone,</p>
<p>I only heard of people getting “jealous” of others at schools they couldn’t get in. Getting jealous of a school that’s easier to get in is new to me. I am not sure where/how you got that idea.</p>
<p>
Tell that to someone that went to other elite privates like Penn, Cornell, Harvard or Yale…etc also. Keep in mind although UMich may have more to offer in shear number, it’s spread over even much bigger student population. In a per person basis, it’s probably thinner and less, like faculty:student ratio. You may concentrate on the shear number; others’ foci may be on per capita basis. Different strokes, as others have mentioned. You don’t need to keep cherry-picking what NU lacks on NU board. It gets kinda tacky after a while; UMich board is probably a better venue for you to do that, IMO.</p>
<p>True - my bad, and apologies. I forgot where I was.</p>
<p>My parting advice is; to stay grounded. What you do with what you’ve been taught, is way more important than where you were taught it from. Look around you, at your parents, aunts, uncles, friends parents, where did they go to school? I got my lousy BA from a “no name” state school and have steadily risen through the ranks of the worlds largest consulting company, remaining gainfully employed through the worst recession ever. All the while, I know grads from the schools you mention, who have struggled to re-enter the workforce, been foreclosed upon, been down sized or “right sized” - there are no guarantees. Enjoy the ride. Peace.</p>
<p>@mom - we’ve “had fun” before. But I can’t let you suggest that admit rate comparisons of schools with enrollments over 3 TIMES apart? are material.</p>
<p>The thing I don’t understand is, why do people from other schools all feel compelled to come here to tear down NU- I don’t see NU posters in the other school subforums doing likewise.</p>
<p>Agree on the point though, giterdone- what you do is far more important than where. My slacker friends from NU do all have jobs, but nothing they couldn’t have gotten anywhere else.</p>
<p>There’s really no comparing the strength of NU’s student body w/ UM’s - but that’s fine b/c UM is a state university and thus has a mandate to educate students from Michigan.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Eh, to me Evanston and Lake Michigan is nicer than AA; plus I’d much rather go into Chicago for fun than Detroit.</p>
<p>As for valuing “athletic achievement” - how about valuing academics for (revenue-sports) athletes?</p>
<p>NU FB and BB can’t touch many of the recruits that UM get b/c they simply can’t pass admissions and NU doesn’t have a program like kinesiology for UM to hide athletes.</p>
<p>And despite it’s high academic bar for athletes, I think NU is doing fine w/ regard to its sports, including FB and men’s BB where for the [4th straight year, both programs will be playing in the post-season; UM can’t claim that.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>So FB, BB and other sports aren’t available for NU students to watch and enjoy?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Which plays into NU being better academically.</p>
<p>No athletes who barely pass the NCAA minimum academic standards at NU.</p>
<p>UM is better athletically than Harvard as well - congrats!!</p>
<p>But still, both NU FB and BB will have gone to the post season for 4 years in a row, that’s something that UM students haven’t been able to enjoy.</p>