“Case Western is in Cleveland and that is similar to Michigan academically with the sports dialed down. Same with University of Rochester.”
With respect: both schools are significantly smaller and more bounded not just as to population, but as to academic offerings. In aggregate, grad + undergrad, neither is close to Michigan, excepting selected departments. Certainly, at the graduate level, Michigan has a far stronger reputation (101 departments in the top 10 nationally).
“Michigan is such an experience on all levels the only peers really are Notre Dame and Stanford.”
Again, with respect: Notre Dame isn’t in the same class as either Michigan or Stanford as to total mass/spread/diversity of academic offerings; Notre Dame research is a rounding error in Michigan’s research budget. In comparison to Michigan, Notre Dame is a boutique…strong but much more limited than Michigan. The generally accepted aggregate graduate ranking: Berkeley, Harvard, Stanford and then Michigan. At the undergraduate level, Michigan’s top quartile (maybe top half) is as qualified as Stanford (in size, the top quartile is as large as Stanford is in aggregate at the undergraduate level), but Michigan’s much larger size means that the bottom of the class is not as strong.