Hi All! Seeking advice for this dilemma. Here are our facts. Admitted to OSU, Fisher, Honors Program, good scholarship $$, OOS. Admitted to Michigan LSA, denied for Ross, denied for Honors, denied for scholarships, OOS. Seems like a no-brainer for OSU, but that Michigan name has incredible pull. Plus after a grueling college process with rejections from Duke, Gtown, Vanderbilts, my son needs some validation for all his work in HS and perfect ACT score. Also complicating issues, he doesn’t know what he wants to study. His heart says Michigan. His head says OSU. Help, please!
@hugebig10girl, I know you posted about this last year. Can you please tell us what decision you made and how it’s going?
Are both schools affordable? What is the cost difference between Michigan and that school down south? Is that significant for you? What kind of career or academic plans does your son currently have?
@PasstheWine My son faced the same dilemma four years ago. Accepted Michigan LS&A, denied Ross, no need-based or merit scholarship to Michigan but $15,000 (buckeye and provost) to Ohio state and direct admit to Fisher and the Honors Program. He chose Ohio State Fisher because our family could not afford Michigan without taking on substantial debt. It made the decision easier to rationalize because he also wanted to study business, although not sure which aspect to major in. Economics was not too interesting for him. Ohio State Fisher has numerous excellent business programs one can choose to major in. It’s Supply chain management and logistics programs are recognized nationally as one of the best.
My son participated in the industry immersion program which was a highlight of his time at Fisher. Checkout https://fisher.osu.edu/undergraduate/leadership-engagement/experiential-learning/industry-immersion-program Honors was good for the first two years because he has smaller class sections and early registration for courses. But he didn’t want to stay with honors in his upper class years because he had priority for registration due to his upper-classmen status and he felt his courses were challenging enough as is without the additional challenges of his honors courses. He also didn’t want to do the additional research and writing for an honors thesis.
In sum, Ohio State offers the same “full college experience” as Michigan but at a lower, more affordable price level for out-of-state students. It has all the bells and whistles of Michigan —excellent campus, student union, academic, recreational and dorm facilities, nice strip of restaurants and stores along NHigh Street adjacent to campus, nice Greek life if your son wants to explore that, and lots of extracurricular activities to pursue, and rah rah spirit associated with top Big 10 division one sports—football, basketball and hockey.
Thank you so much, @trackmbe3, for this very thoughtful, detailed and helpful response! Can I inquire how your son’s experience has been with getting interviews, internships and jobs?
A few other differences for your consideration, although I’d pick the cheaper option with auto admit to Fisher.
Overall Student/Faculty ratio (not honors specifically):
UMich 15:1
OSU 19:1
of Undergraduates:
UMich 29,000
OSU 47,000
OOS %
UMich 45%
OSU 25%
Endowment
UMich $11 Billion
OSU $5 Billion
“In sum, Ohio State offers the same “full college experience” as Michigan but at a lower, more affordable price level for out-of-state students. It has all the bells and whistles of Michigan —excellent campus, student union, academic, recreational and dorm facilities, nice strip of restaurants and stores along NHigh Street adjacent to campus, nice Greek life if your son wants to explore that, and lots of extracurricular activities to pursue, and rah rah spirit associated with top Big 10 division one sports—football, basketball and hockey”
…without the same level of prestige and overall academic excellence.
I’m sorry, I missed this comment in the OP.
One advantage to UMich, if your child isn’t too sure what he/she wants to study yet, is that UMich LSA has 40 programs that are ranked in the Top 10 by USNWR. Also, the Math department is ranked #12, so I’m sure there are other departments that aren’t too far behind.
I’m a parent of a current UMich LSA freshman. The one thing that we were told in orientation last summer was that something around 75-85% of LSA students will change their major at least once during their 4 years. Something to keep in mind.
The head is the part of the body that makes better decisions. Prestige is just an emotion, and rankings are just subjective opinion based on someone else’s thoughts. A scholarship at OSU is DEFINITELY validation. I would take the scholarship!
Funny - you imply emotion is not good for decision making, but then tout validation (which is an emotional response).
OP still has not clarified how important money is and what her son might want to do post-grad (which can and probably will change). Also, the fact that OP’s son does not know what he wants to study makes pigeonholing himself in a UG business program potentially disasterous.
Picking the right college is a bit more nuanced than just running to where the most immediately economical option is.
@PasstheWine Regarding interviews, internships and jobs: If your son goes to Ohio a state I highly recommend him enrolling in the Second Year Transformational Experience Program (STEP) —it involves attending weekly meetings in the Fall of sophomore year and developing a proposal for a summer internship abroad. Checkout https://step.osu.edu/program-overview/step-participant-requirements/ STEP gives up to $2,000 fellowship which my son obtained and used for his summer internship following his sophomore year. The STEP program in conjunction with the Fisher Office of Global Business helped my son get a summer internship working in the financial unit of a company in a foreign country in Europe. https://fisher.osu.edu/global-opportunities/undergraduate/global-internships
He was given a choice of three companies to interview with over Skype —each was located in a different country. He picked the company that he thought was the best fit and indeed had a great experience. This experience helped him market himself during interviews during Junior year to help him get an internship the summer after Junior year. Ohio State’s Office of Career Management had lots of employers come to interview students. https://fisher.osu.edu/careers-recruiting In looking for a job upon graduation my son could have gotten a job with a Columbus Ohio company through on campus interviewing but was able to ultimately get a job with a company located in NY on his own via using Linkedin to get in touch with hiring directors. Self motivation and networking is important in that respect. I think the brand name of the school plus his internship experiences helped him land his job. I have to say that most of the recruitment and hiring for permanent positions are from the Ohio and Midwest regional area. This appears to be borne out by the statistics. checkout https://fisher.osu.edu/careers-recruiting/salary-outcome-data. One of my son’s friends from NY was interviewed by one of the 4 Big Accounting firms in Columbus (they hire a lot of Fisher accounting grads) and will be working there to get a foot in the door for career start.
Thank you all for these insightful and helpful comments.
To answer your questions, @yikesyikesyikes, there is a significant price difference between the schools. With the OSU scholarships, the difference will be about $35K per year. Multiplied by 4, the savings from OSU would allow our son to have funds available for undergrad plus 2 years of grad school! It’s hard to walk away from numbers like that. The problem is that he isn’t sure what he wants to study, so we don’t know if grad school will even be necessary. In an ideal world where post college jobs aren’t at issue, he’d be a history major, but his practical streak steers him toward a business major of some sort.
@trackmbe3 raised the point that her son decided not to pursue the Honors Program all the way through graduation, something I could see our son doing as an “efficiency” move. But then, his OSU degree will be without distinction or honors, in which case, a similar Michigan degree would carry more weight for post grad plans (employers/ grad school).
My son and I have been flip flopping between the schools daily, while my husband thinks OSU long run will serve him best. In this regard, @coolguy40 and my hubs are on the same page. We so appreciate all these competing thoughts, as they’re helping us hone in on what’s important, so please keep them coming!
@trackmbe3, our last posts crossed in cyberspace. Thank you for this invaluable tip about STEP. We will definitely look into it. This is a huge plus in the OSU column!
The big differences between the two great opportunities your son has:
OSU Fischer: Will save A LOT of money (allows you to help him out if he goes to the grad school route among other things - 140k is a lot)
Michigan LSA: Significantly more prestigious (this matters A LOT for investment banking/private equity/management consulting, if he wants to go that route)
@PasstheWine Since the issue of “prestige” has been raised in this thread, you may find the following thread interesting to read concerning the prestige of Ohio State, how one might measure it in comparison to Michigan and other Universities. It is an old thread from 2014 and 2015 around the time my son was considering whether to attend. Checkout
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/ohio-state-university-columbus/1658278-is-ohio-state-becoming-a-more-prestigious-public-university-p1.html
“Also, the Math department is ranked #12, so I’m sure there are other departments that aren’t too far behind.”
Actually sushiritto, the Mathematics ranking you mention above is an aberration. For the past 30 years, virtually every source, including the one above, has ranked Michigan’s Mathematics department between #6 and #10. I realize I am splitting hairs here, but Michigan’s Mathematics department is widely regarded as one of the top 10 in the US. Its undergraduate mathematics sequences are as highly regarded as Chicago’s and Harvard’s, and it is one of just a handful of US universities to have produced a Fields Medalist.
However, as you point out, there are several departments in LSA that are ranked close to the top 10, but not quite there, such as Biology, Chemistry, Economics and Physics.
All in all however, I would say all of the following departments are ranked among the top 10 nationally:
Anthropology
Classics
Computer Science
English
History
Mathematics
Modern Languages (most European, Middle Eastern and Asian languages)
Philosophy
Political Science
Psychology
Sociology
If he wants to study history, let him do it, and have him do a business minor. History majors are among those who read and write the most, they’re especially good at going through a document quickly to extract what matters - skills that matter in the business world (and also explains why history is a preferred field for law school). It won’t be as linear as a business school degree but probably more satisfying if it’s his interest - business majors are on the opposite end of the spectrum, among those who read and write the least among all majors.
The opportunities he will be offered in an honors college far outweigh any difference in prestige IMO. A kid with a perfect SAT score has likely had good outcomes when going with head over heart – trust that.
OP wrote:
OP’s son may or may not finish with the honors distinction at OSU.
Additonally, a student can apply/re-apply for honors at UMich if so desired; however, the feeling that I get is that the honors distinction at UMich isn’t “all that” for lack of a better term or phrase: The big plus as I see it is that you get to live in South Quad, but that only matters freshman year. Registration and advising for the most part appear similar to me. Excellent either way.
https://www.applytohonors.lsa.umich.edu/current-u-m-students
@Alexandre FYI, the only reason that I even took the time to look up the UMich’s math department ranking is because my kid decided to minor in math. I will say that math at UMich is like “running the gauntlet.” Lots of “gunners” out there! 
@sushiritto <<the honors="" distinction="" at="" umich="" isn’t="" “all="" that”="" for="" lack="" of="" a="" better="" term="" or="" phrase.="">> As an honors graduate from Michigan, I can attest that the honors degree is worthwhile. For Honors graduates with an AB (bachelor of arts) Michigan awards a degree either with Honors, High Honors or Highest Honors to Honors graduates based on the quality of their research and honors thesis. This is in addition to the diplomas noting degrees either with Distinction, High Distinction and Highest Distinction for students who attain the highest grade point averages (irrespective of honors). IMO for liberal arts majors the honors Distinction gives an edge for graduate school and employment. It did in my case many years ago. An honors degree shows ability to do unique research, lots of reading, writing and analytical ability and use of statistics. All employable qualities. I don’t think Honors is as important if one majors in a pre-professional degree such as engineering or business.
@PasstheWine I think @MYOS1634 suggestion to major in History (your son’s stated interest) in honors at Ohio State and minor in the Fisher school of business is a good one. And with the money saved your son can work for a few years and then pursue an MBA. Or if he changes his mind about business then as a history major (with a business minor) he would be in a good position to apply to law school to pursue a law degree.