Hi,
I really like the U of M and ann arbor in general, i’ve lived here all of my life. That is a problem for me when it comes to choosing u of m because I’d like to get away from home. What are some other colleges that are similar to u of m in terms of academics, and the city life?
University of California, Berkeley; University of Texas, Austin; and maybe some drop in academic “rankings” but big campus in vibrant city: University of Washington, Seattle.
Wisconsin and UVa are two other state universities with excellent academic reputations and vibrant college towns. One with a lower ranking, but vibrant town life, is the University of Colorado at Boulder.
In most cases you will pay a big price premium to attend an out of state flagship university. The sticker price will be much higher for OOS students; you probably won’t get enough financial aid to compensate. At other than a few state schools like Berkeley or UVa, or in some specific departments, the academics (or at least the academic reputation) won’t not be as strong as Michigan’s.
If your qualifications are very strong, you might find equally good academics (or better), and (depending on your family’s financial circumstances) competitive net prices after aid, from a selective private college such as one of the 8 Ivy League schools. I can’t think of a selective private research university that offers a college town quite like Ann Arbor, Charlottesville, or Boulder. You might like Cambridge, Mass (home to Harvard and MIT). If you don’t want to go too far from home, check out Northwestern.
^^^^UVA is not strong across all disciplines like Michigan.
schwal: Living at home and living in a dorm are quite different experiences. Keep that in mind when trying to justify paying OOS costs for schools that are, in the vast majority of cases, not as strong.
Of the Ivies, I think Penn and Michigan (Central Campus) have a similar feel having been to both, and perhaps comparable academics. While Philadelphia is obviously much larger than Ann Arbor, the University City area is Penn’s Ann Arbor (and then the rest of Philadelphia is easily accessable; Center City within walking distance).
Check out the University of Toronto - yeah it’s Canadian, but it’s the top Canadian school out there (yes, higher than McGill). Great city life, ranked in the global top 20, beautiful campuses, and cheaper than a lot of schools in the U.S. ($33,000…but that’s Canadian…so that drops to 26,000 in USD.
The University of Wisconsin and its host city Madison are most similar to the University of Michigan and Ann Arbor in “feel.” Like Michigan, Wisconsin also has strong faculties across the board, but it is somewhat less selective than Michigan, and also has a somewhat lower graduation rate and a somewhat higher student-faculty ratio. Madison is also a somewhat larger town than Ann Arbor. All in all, though, a good school in a great college town, also with a great Big Ten sports tradition. Cornell in Ithaca, NY is another school/community combination that reminds me of Michigan and Ann Arbor in some ways, though Cornell is somewhat smaller than Michigan and Ithaca is considerably smaller than Ann Arbor. Ivy League sports can be intense, but you won’t find anything resembling a football Saturday at the Big House. Great school ion a great college town, though.
rjkofnovi: with that in mind, I have really explored ann arbor a lot (i live IN ann arbor).One thing I would like is to explore and make new memories with my friends that I meet in college. Will I still experience that even know I know the city relatively well?
^^^I would not worry about that and I would not hesitate to go to a strong in-state option… My S went to college about 20 minutes from our home and dormed thee. He absolutely had a full college experience. He did tons of things in the city with friends that we had never done as a family (and even things we had done already he experienced them in a whole new way on his own with friends). Before my son chose that college (a school he loved that was excellent in his field) we sat down as a family and talked – his dad and I promised to treat him as if he were hours, not minutes away (ex. we never “just stopped by”, we did not expect him home for minor things, etc.) and in turn he promised to not use being close to home as a crutch (ex. not to stop by and drop of laundry etc.) and it worked out perfectly. (And then he went to grad school halfway across the country!)
What are the OP’s stats, etc.? Are you a likely candidate for admission to some / most of these top schools? And what is the financial situation – could you afford OOS tuition if you’re a likely UM admit?
I’d second the following schools as similar feel and opportunities to UM, with more minor than major differences: Toronto, Berkeley, Wisconsin, UT-Austin, UW-Seattle. Cornell is the ivy closest to feel and offerings compared to AA and these other, excellent flagships (Cornell has three “state” schools out of seven total; it is also a land-grant institution, in addition to Cornell’s relatively large size and strengths). UVa isn’t really similar in size, research strengths or overall feel compared to these others. It does, however, offer a strong undergraduate education with its own unique feel and advantages, and it is very selective for OOS admission.
A minor quibble with the otherwise nice description of Wisconsin: student / faculty ratio is highly dependent on the chosen discipline. If you end up in a small, specific discipline, your advanced classes tend to be rather small indeed, and comparable at times to a LAC. Thus simple student / faculty ratios at schools with 30,000+ undergraduates don’t tend to scale very well. Berkeley, Michigan and Wisconsin are schools that offer an enormous amount of what you might call “boutique” majors and disciplines – many of which are highly focused, low in enrollment, and with collegial atmospheres.
If you want to attend an out of state school with academics at least as good as Michigan’s, consider the following private universities:
Cornell
Duke
Harvard
Northwestern
Notre Dame
UPenn
Vanderbilt
Washington University in St. Louis
All of these schools have excellent academic reputations. Most are ranked even higher than Michigan by both USNWR and Forbes (based on factors such as selectivity, class sizes, faculty resources, graduation rates, and alumni outcomes). None of them can perfectly replicate the combination of Ann Arbor plus Big Ten sports. All of them have some combination of pretty good campus/city life or decent sports scenes. The most selective private schools try to build entering classes of interesting students from many states.
For middle class families (~$60K/year), these universities may have lower net costs of attendance than Michigan. For example, according to College Abacus the net costs would be ~$11,600 for Michigan but about $9,800 for Northwestern, $8,200 for ND, $7,800 for Duke, or $7K for Vanderbilt. OOS public school costs in many cases would be much higher. If your family income is lower, the private schools may have an even bigger cost advantage over Michigan. If it is much higher, they would not.
schwal: There must be someone you know who grew up in A2 and also attended U-M. Try to seek their opinion. If you don’t know of anyone personally, perhaps a high school counselor can suggest someone they know. The bottom line is that you want to attend the best school you can without suffering too much financially. Don’t sacrifice quality wherever you decide to attend!
“All of these schools have excellent academic reputations. Most are ranked even higher than Michigan by both USNWR and Forbes (based on factors such as selectivity, class sizes, faculty resources, graduation rates, and alumni outcomes).”
…and most of them are ranked lower than Michigan on international ratings. Once again, Michigan has no academic weaknesses. There are very few schools that can say as much. That’s not the point in any case. The OP is looking for a similar experience as the one he/she knows in Ann Arbor. He/she is not going to find it at most of those private schools mentioned.
The international ratings generally emphasize factors, such as faculty publication/citation volumes, that tend to be associated with graduate programs, and which may be less important to many undergraduates.
No college is consistently excellent across all undergraduate programs (and certainly not in all course offerings). Virtually all research universities have some overly-large classes and mediocre professors; most have at least a couple of relatively mediocre departments. Posters might be able to offer better-tailored recommendations if we knew more about the OP’s interests (intended major, etc.) The OP might also want to be more specific about what elements of the AA/Michigan experience s/he wants to replicate, how closely s/he wants to replicate them, or how important campus atmosphere is compared to academics or cost.
I wouldn’t necessarily recommend the private schools above over Michigan for a Michigan resident, especially if the net cost were higher. My main point is that, if the OP is a very strong student bent on getting out of Michigan for college, s/he probably should at least be looking at private universities like the ones I listed (because they might offer higher academic quality and lower net costs than some of the OOS public alternatives that have been mentioned above).
“No college is consistently excellent across all undergraduate programs (and certainly not in all course offerings)”
Michigan is top twenty (by graduate rankings where they exist) in virtually every discipline offered. If that isn’t overall excellence, then you’re right it doesn’t exist.
“I wouldn’t necessarily recommend the private schools above over Michigan for a Michigan resident, especially if the net cost were higher. My main point is that, if the OP is a very strong student bent on getting out of Michigan for college, s/he probably should at least be looking at private universities like the ones I listed (because they might offer higher academic quality and lower net costs than some of the OOS public alternatives that have been mentioned above).”
That I can agree with. Your initial statement that those universities mentioned ranked higher than Michigan by certain ranking sites, is why I interjected.
How about Ohio State? Academics similar, fun city of Columbus, far superior athletic teams. 
No one who grew up in AA could likely stomach Columbus
I can add some more info if it’ll help. A lot of what youve mentioned is really nice though. I’m an IB diploma canidate and i should be getting it based on my scores Ive gotten on my finals and tests. My gpa before this semester unweighted was 3.85 and is a 3.7 unweighted now. I haven’t taken the ACT yet but I’m in a class and have a private tutor for it so I’m hoping for somewhere in the 30’s. So when it comes to those ivy leagues and others I’m not sure how likely acceptance is.
In terms of what I’m looking for that I like in ann arbor. I don’t really care about sports teams all that much. I’m in band and marching band and would like to stay in those if I can. The big(ger) city life is what I would prefer. And the high population/college town where I can really explore my options is what I’m going for.
When it comes to majors, I am clueless. I’m about average in all of my classes and none stand out to me as a potential for my future yet.