I’m an international student and just got off Wesleyan’s waitlist several days ago. I find it really difficult to decide between U-Michigan and Wesleyan University (intended major: Political Science/Government, probably double major in Economics or Statistics).
On the one hand, Michigan’s political science department is ranked 4th in the US. But it’s graduate school ranking and I’m afraid its undergraduate program is not that strong due to large number of students. Its faculty is great but I’m afraid professors will focus on their research and don’t care much about undergraduates. On the other hand, Wesleyan is a small private liberal arts college with 1:8 faculty-student ration and much more small classes. But I also fear this kind of school is too ‘elitism’ for an international student. I prefer Wesleyan due to its high-quality undergraduate education. (Although I like Wesleyan’s CSS major a lot, I probably can’t major in CSS since I’ll enter into Wesleyan as a sophomore and students need to apply for CSS at the second semester of their freshmen year.)
In the future, I’ll probably go to law school to pursue a JD or graduate school to purse a PhD in Political Science. I’m not sure whether a big public university or a tiny liberal arts college can make me better prepared for my future? Maybe being a undergraduate at Michigan makes it easier for me to get into Michigan Law School?
Maybe Wesleyan is more prestigious among YLS, HLS and NYU law school in New England?
I think Wesleyan’s major disadvantage in political science major is limited course selection compared to Michigan and lack of quantitative methodology course in political science. (Michigan has courses like quantitative empirical methods, intro to game theory, mathematics for political science etc.)
For the tuition, I don’t have financial aid as an international students and Wesleyan’s cost of attendance is about 6000usd higher than Michigan’s annually.
I know it’s difficult to compare between a big public university and a small liberal arts college. But if possible, could anyone give some suggestions on how to chose?
Thank you so much!!!
Congratulations! You have two awesome options. You cannot go wrong here. Academically, Michigan offers the PPE major (similar to Wesleyan’s CSS major), and while classes will be larger in some instances, in others, there won’t be much of a difference. That being said, LACs definitely have the edge where class size and interaction with faculty is concerned. Michigan will offer more academic options and more breadth and depth in your major. Neither will prepare you better for graduate school. Only you can determine your graduate school readiness.
If cost is not a concern (and Michigan is more than $6k cheaper than Wesleyan the first year…more like $10k cheaper when you factor in cost of living), I would go for fit.
Wesleyan does have a Quantitative Analysis Center which is a combined effort across many disciplines to support teaching and research using computational and data analysis:
http://www.wesleyan.edu/qac/
There is an entire part of the course catalogue devoted to QAC:
https://iasext.wesleyan.edu/regprod/!wesmaps_page.html?crse_list=QAC&term=1179&offered=Y
You may find GOVT367 of particular interest:
https://iasext.wesleyan.edu/regprod/!wesmaps_page.html?crse=014482&term=1181
This is a tough call. Academics at both schools are great, but delivery is quite different.
Also - the cultures and atmospheres at the two schools are very different. Do not underestimate the impact of Student Life on a great college education.
@circuitrider Thanks for your note.
@Alexandre I’ve heard that in Michigan, almost all essays are graded by Graduate Student Instructor (GSI), not by professors. Is that really true since I believe professors’ comments on essay are probably the most important thing for improving the essays in the future.
@yikesyikesyikes Can you explain a little bit more, such as the atmosphere in these two schools?
RMC, GSIs are part of life at any major research university, whether it is Michigan or Penn or Harvard etc…
That being said, at a top department like Michigan’s Political Science department, GSIs are as knowledgeable about undergraduate courses as professors. They are usually 3rd or 4th year PHD students who graduated from college with near 4.0 GPAs and really know their stuff. GSIs will usually not be involved in advanced classes, only in larger, intro-level classes.
@RMCFRAUL7
Some big differences in student life include the party culture: It will be more varied at Michigan (big school, so many different groups of people). It will be louder at Michigan (B1G major football school, very active Greek Life). Athletics will overall be a bigger part of the culture at Michigan.
Also, there will be a larger range and magnitude of student organizations at Michigan, and (in many cases) more members in these student organizations. At Wesleyan, you will know more of the student body, and anonymity will be less of a thing.