Opinion on Most Complete University

Student Lounge College Life
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<p>Michigan just happens to have 40k undergrads, hence the huge number of students/alums who boost it on these boards. </p>

<p>Stanford has better undergrad/grad/professional programs, better weather, similar quality sports, much more prestige, and better exit opportunities. </p>

<p>I don’t go to Stanford, nor did I apply. I just think that if we’re choosing the “most complete university” and not the “most complete university I could have had a shot at attending” then Stanford takes the cake.</p>

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<p>So Michigan switches to common app</p>

<p>Acceptance rate falls</p>

<p>USNWR rises as a result</p>

<p>More high schoolers and Asian parents think Michigan is a great school.</p>

<p>Perception evolves into Michigan being on Stanford “level”</p>

<p>Michigan is now perceived as one of the top schools in the US</p>

<p>And over this whole time nothing actually important (quality of education, recruiting opportunities, etc.)and changed. Crazy huh?</p>

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<p>It would take a huge shift in public opinion for any public university to be considered Stanford level. It seems impossible to match Stanford’s quality of students considering the huge 40,000 undergrad enrollment. So yes, your post is very crazy indeed.</p>

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<p>Michigan is nowhere near Stanford level in terms of academics. It’s not even close.</p>

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<p>Short List:</p>

<p>Stanford- Gorgeous Weather, all around good at sports (though not necessarily the most important/well known ones), and obviously stellar academics in a very wide range of programs.</p>

<p>Cornell- Ithica is a gorgeous campus, and it is probably the widest ranging IVY(maybe with the exception of UPENN) in that it is less LA focused then HYP and has some great pre-prof programs.</p>

<p>UMICH- Has some outstanding programs, obviously with a less intellectual vibe, or at least you have more vibes you can choose from. This may make it MORE complete depending on how you look at it. If your not from the Great Lakes or Upper Midwest the weather can be a drag. Sports are generally great.</p>

<p>UT Austin- Similar pros and cons to UMICH, with a few programs better, others worse. I have not experienced either, but I get the idea that UT has a better party scene, and the weather is obviously 180 degrees opposite. Depending on what your used to its a toss up in that department. </p>

<p>UNC Chapel Hill-Good weather if you like the South, and beautiful campus, great sports if you disregard football, and a decidedly academic vibe compared to other top-tier public schools.</p>

<p>Duke- UNC but with a private school academic vibe. Same weather, gorgeous campus, great environment and school pride.</p>

<p>UCLA- Similar pros and cons to the other public schools, with the advantage of being in Cali and being slightly more competitive. (All have competitive programs but UC’s are overall competitive)</p>

<p>CAL(Berkley)- UCLA, but you sacrifice some sports prowess for a bit stronger academics.</p>

<p>Notre Dame- Absolutely beautiful Midwestern campus. The safest of these school along with Cornell. Great academics and school pride. Most sports a very good, though not as huge as they once were.</p>

<p>That short list got a bit long. Personally I’d pick Stanford if the urbaness of the outside area doesn’t bother you. It is a massive campus, and one of the nicest looking anywhere. The party scene is one of the best at any super-competitive school. They have always placed well in the NCAA all around championships, Capital-One cup etc, though the lack of prime-time Football and Mens BBall teams means that this is less obvious to those off campus. And its Cali weather, which is the selling point for me.</p>

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<p>While I don’t agree with PurpleDuck’s premise, I’d agree that an arbitrary increase in usnwr rankings - the same one that ranked Michigan and Berkeley ahead of schools like Dartmouth and MIT in the late eighties / pre-private biased formulation - wouldn’t change the school itself. You’d still have the B-school kids vying for Goldman and McKinsey, Engineering kids going for Google and Apple, and pre-law/med kids getting sweaty about Michigan and Harvard - and football saturdays would still be football saturdays.</p>

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<p>“though BC isn’t even in Boston”</p>

<p>BC’s campus literally straddles the Boston/Newton line. There is no municipality of Chestnut Hill…it’s a neighborhood. </p>

<p>BC has won 3 hockey national championships in the last decade, and has been to bowl games every year for longer than that. Its hoops team often makes the tournament.<br>
Very few schools have 3 major sports teams (football & basketball; baseball, hockey, or lacrosse) that are that proficient. </p>

<p>BC also has none of that “don’t walk around alone at night” stuff. In one recent study, Newton was rated THE safest city on the country. And the part of Boston the campus extends into is also really safe.</p>

<p>Ann Arbor is indeed a great college town, but it’s not a great city like Boston is. You can do everything in Boston/Cambridge without a car, too.</p>

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<p>Ann Arbor isn’t Boston …</p>

<p>… my mind = blown</p>

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<p>PurpleDuckMan are you out of state for michigan?</p>

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<p>Man this topic is still going? It’s safe to say that the most complete university is the university that is the best fit for your interests, whether social, academic or cultural.</p>

<p>Sent from my iPhone using CC</p>

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<p>Out of State</p>

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<p>Hows the financial aid? That’s just what’ll kill me.</p>

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<p>If Michigan is too expensive, check out Wisconsin. The 2 schools have a lot of similarities.</p>

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<p>This is completely unrelated to anything, but how do I post a question on this website? Thanks!</p>

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<p>“If Michigan is too expensive, check out Wisconsin. The 2 schools have a lot of similarities.”</p>

<p>And if Wisconsin is too expensive, check out Minnesota.</p>

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<p>I agree with Zelda on “I don’t understand why anyone in their right mind would openly PREFER cold, harsh weather that literally kills people (every year, too!) over moderate, mild temperatures.” Subjective or not, unless someone is already a residence there in that region, personally I wouldn’t consider going or sending anyone to a snow blizzard land for the winter. </p>

<p>PurpleDuckMan, How many people do you know by choice would rather be trapped in a snow blizzard or be killed by tornados over other places with better weather conditions?
I know you love Michigan, but I’d be baffled if someone sends me to a cold harsh place to live when I actually wanted good weather. I wouldn’t want to be stranded there and can’t get home for the holidays. California by far has better weather and also has four seasons. We seldom have big earthquakes and the building codes are safer. Wildfire season affects the canyon or the forest areas only. Colleges in SoCal such as USC and Chapman are located away from the canyons so they wouldn’t be affected.</p>

<p>If you really care about D1 sports that much, USC football has more Rose Bowl wins. </p>

<p>Quote:
“And in you response to m4dskillz I gotta say this. That sounds just like something someone from a tiny D3 school would say.”</p>

<p>Before you bash Chapman or any D3 schools out there, many of the D3 schools have better merit-aid scholarships than the bigger schools. They choose to be D3 because they would rather spread the wealth around for academic purposes. Not every student wants to be a football player. For those students who want to get involve with sports can actually have the opportunities to play the game and will have a better chance of playing. </p>

<p>Quote:
"You’ll never be able to turn on the TV and see your school team playing in a big game. And if your team is on ESP 8 The Ocho the mist common response would be “where the hell is Chapman?”</p>

<p>D3 schools are being featured on TV as well, not just the D1 schools. Perhaps you were out on Father’s Day. Recently, the Chapman baseball team was featured on TV. Here’s an article.</p>

<p>"June 17, 2011
Chapman baseball to be featured in CBS special
ORANGE, Calif. - Set your DVRs for Father’s Day. The Chapman University baseball team will be among a handful of collegiate programs featured in the NCAA spring championships special to air on CBS at 4 p.m. (Eastern) on Sunday, June 19. The program follows some of the finalists at the NCAA championships throughout all divisions and sports.
The Panthers were the runner’s up for this year’s NCAA Division III baseball championship in Appleton, Wis. just last month. It was Chapman baseball’s fourth top-three finish since 2000.
For the ninth consecutive year, all 88 NCAA championships will receive television exposure, including 18 spring championships being featured in the one-hour special.</p>

<p>CBS Sports Presents Championships of the NCAA will feature dozens of NCAA student-athletes as they follow their dreams in rowing, lacrosse, water polo, tennis, outdoor track and field and baseball. For the 2010-11 academic year, CBS Sports featured 50 of the NCAA’s 88 championships in its three seasonal shows.
by Doug Aiken
Sports Information Director"</p>

<p>Have a nice day!</p>

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<p>Michigan is already perceived as one of the top schools in the US (perhaps not top 5, but still).</p>

<p>But the process you describe doesn’t actually work like that. For one, US News doesn’t determine prestige, and even if it did, the acceptance rate barely affects the US News ranking anyway (like 2.5%?). </p>

<p>Let’s face it, money determines prestige. It affects the factors that make a school more prestigious in the general public, like research, placement in public offices, etc. (though I’d say research is most important for layman’s prestige - which is why schools like Swarthmore aren’t well-known). Money means better facilities and the ability to attract/retain the strongest faculty, to do the most influential research, to attract the strongest students to attend, etc. It’s no surprise that surveys of prestige look almost identical to a ranking of endowment/assets, or why the US News ranking looks almost the same.</p>

<p>Considering that Michigan has the largest endowment after HYPSM, give it a few years and Michigan will be among the very top in prestige.</p>

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<p>@lukebbuff: I would swap out both Cal and UCLA for USC, otherwise it’s a solid list.</p>

<p>Cal will stick up at the top for many more decades, but UCLA is slowly slipping in the rankings and is overrun with problems. The UC regents have done a horrible job of managing the school(s) and it’s taking a toll on the academics, resources and money being pumped into places like UCLA. Many, many UCLA students are transferring to USC, where the academics are progressively betting better instead of falling apart at the seams.</p>

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<p>What? Palo Alto is a pretty boring area. It’s not urban at all.</p>

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<p>That’s why you go to SF from PA.</p>