<p>Any insight would truly help me.</p>
<p>Yes, I know based on rank that Northwestern is number 12 and University of Michigan is 27. Yet, I have a hard time justifying my decision just on that.
I'm going for biomedical engineering, and NU is 12 for that with UMich being 9. Again, numbers don't do it for me.</p>
<p>Can anyone tell me why they are picking NU, even if not in comparison to UMich? Or say something that could possibly help me? </p>
<p>Thanks so much in advance :)</p>
<p>Size and location are very different between the two. One’s a state school, one private. Classes will be smaller at NU and the campus is much smaller. I really didn’t like the idea of having to take a bus on a highway to get around campus at Michigan. NU also has a great city, Chicago, nearby. </p>
<p>If you haven’t visited you should really try to get to both, meet with students and profs in your area, etc. Only you can decide what’s important to you.</p>
<p>There is no “highway” from North Campus to main campus. It is a 5 - 10 minute ride on city streets, (10 minutes if you get caught at every one of the three lights).</p>
<p>The engineering schools are of comparable quality; Chicago is a great city, Ann Arbor is a great college town. Barring anything else, look at which one will cost more/leave you with more debt upon graduation.</p>
<p>All things bein equal, Northwestern is the clear choice.</p>
<p>how about for pre-med (bio major)? I think umich might be better for biology? Which school do you think is better overall?</p>
<p>I’m in the same boat…Northwestern or UMich.</p>
<p>Overall: Northwestern>Michigan
LSA/CAS: Northwestern>Michigan
Engineering,Business: Michigan>Northwestern</p>
<p>just my opinion.</p>
<p>I’m a junior at Northwestern, and I grew up not too far away from Ann Arbor. Partly, that was to get away from my parents :). Mostly, though, I just felt like Northwestern has a better setting.</p>
<p>Downtown Evanston and downtown Ann Arbor have a pretty similar feel-- not-quite-urban, not-quite-suburban, very college-y. Ann Arbor caters to the college town thing a little more than Evanston, but Evanston has easy public transportation access to Chicago, which counts for a lot.</p>
<p>Part of my problem with U of M is that it sometimes feels like I’m not really on a <em>campus</em>, I’m just in a place where there’s a college in the city, broken up into a bunch of pieces. You know when you’re on Northwestern’s campus-- there’s a clear distinction, without actually being separated by distance or walled-off like some schools. I like that a lot.</p>
<p>Also, Lake Michigan counts for a lot, at least for me. Michigan might be the Great Lakes State, but the University of Michigan isn’t situated to take advantage of that.</p>
<p>As far as academics, class sizes will probably be smaller at NU and will almost always be taught by professors, not grad students. But the truth is, you’re going to get exactly what you put into it at both schools. NU probably has the edge in terms of opportunities available to you, but it’s still up to you to seek out those opportunities. And if you’re willing to seek them out here… you’ll probably be able to find a way to do them at U of M, too.</p>
<p>And if you’re a big sports fan, well, Northwestern’s football in recent years is light-years ahead of Michigan!</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/908822-northwestern-vs-wash-u-vs-university-michigan.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/908822-northwestern-vs-wash-u-vs-university-michigan.html</a></p>
<p>Please Help!</p>
<p>Are you in-state for UMich? 'Cause UMich is an amazing state school, and, for IS students, probably less than half the price of NU.</p>
<p>The biggest difference between the two that I can see is that NU is much smaller than UMich. UMich will probably feel much more “alive” but then at the same time, may feel much more “you’re on your own.” I attend a big state school myself and really wish I went someplace smaller and more close knit, with smaller, more discussion-based classes (esp. humanities classes). And better advising and general guidance. Omg is the advising terrible haha. Small schools are better for that kinda thing.</p>
<p>NU is also located near Chicago…while Ann Arbor is more of a traditional college town. I would say Ann Arbor > Evanston, and Chicago is > Detroit, obviously.</p>
<p>I don’t think there is a clear choice here (the people on the NU board are crazy haha…). I think you should visit each campus (if you can) and see what the vibe feels like at each. The vibe of the students, vibe of the city, etc.</p>
<p>For example, UVa is a GREAT state school which my parents literally begged me to apply to. However, I couldn’t STAND the campus vibe. I found the kids to be way too preppy, and overall not diverse enough. Though very friendly :). I found University of Maryland to feel more diverse and “chill”.</p>
<p>You may similarly find a big difference between how you “feel” at UMich and NU…at this point the choice needs to be in your hands…</p>
<p>I think ucmp is right-there is not clear choice. Very dependent on personality, major and what you want from a four year undergrad college. My niece expected to love Northwestern as her mom graduated from NU but went yesterday and did not connect with the vibe at all. She left disappointed. She has decided to attend a school with similar rank to UMich. So rank or reputation is not the reason to attend. Go visit. I think there is one more admitted students day at Northwestern. Unless financial or geographic difficulties prevent a student from visiting a potential college I would never decide on something this important without visiting and experiencing what one can “first hand”. Compare that to other factors important to your college experience and then decide.</p>
<p>I would visit Ann Arbor before you decide one way or the other. Ann Arbor is a decent town but the location alone would have personally been enough for me to choose Northwestern in this situation. Plus it’s huge, which some people like, some don’t. I’ve never personally heard of anyone who got into Northwestern and Michigan OOS that chose to go to Michigan.</p>
<p>Michigan is a great school, one of the best of the state Universities. It is not comparable to Northwestern,however, and unless your decision is impacted by financial considerations there really is no reason not to choose Northwestern.</p>
<p>You’re on the NU forum. People here are going to pretty much say that NU is incomparable/better than UM. Their response is bias. So is it on the UM board. I think the best thing to do is actually do more research on the schools. Visit them, see how they are. But here is one this. If NU is more expensive, definitely go to UM. The education is pretty much the same. The rankings are flawed, US News doesn’t like public schools very much. They rank public schools lower than private. Michigan and NU are the same pretty much. If you look at grad school rankings, UM is higher than NU in some places and vice versa. So really you shouldn’t rely much on these biased posts, instead, you should decide. Also just my input but UM engineering is great. People say that UM is huge. But they didn’t look at the break down. UM engineering is a lot smaller than LSA and UM’s engineering has a large faculty with many of whom that are nationally recognized.</p>