U of M vs U of Alabama

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Michigan
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<p>Wolverine, to address your first post, I’ve seen the BYU network work wonders for both current and recently graduated BYU students in California and Oklahoma so it certainly extends beyond the PNW/ Mountain West region. </p>

<p>As per the second question, I’m only familiar with Harvard-Westlake, so I can’t comment on the other schools. However, Harvard-Westlake is not a typical private school. From a purely college matriculation stand point (accounting for regional differences in perception of quality), it ranks among the best schools in the country.</p>

<p>Here’s the college matriculation data of a pretty good (nominally religious) prep school in my area:
<a href=“http://www.smes.org/main/upper/college/documents/2013placement.pdf[/url]”>http://www.smes.org/main/upper/college/documents/2013placement.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Now here’s Harvard-Westlake’s:
[url=&lt;a href=“http://www.hw.com/abouthw/SchoolProfile/Matriculation.aspx]Matriculation[/url”&gt;http://www.hw.com/abouthw/SchoolProfile/Matriculation.aspx]Matriculation[/url</a>]</p>

<p>Notice how many more students at the more typical prep school opt to go to a UC or better Cal State than do the students at Harvard Westlake. And to further refute that Bama supporter’s BS, notice how many students at H-W are going to Alabama.</p>

<p>Also 2prepmom, Colorado College and University of San Francisco are both private. Are you sure that you didn’t just look at the students accepted to the various schools? I have a hard time believing that Exeter would send even its worst student to University of Nevada.</p>

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<p>Those are indeed popular schools for wealthy kids but I’d characterize the wealthy prep school kids that go to these schools as slackers, generally. Most of them don’t have the option to attend anything exclusive, because the effort, grades or overall intelligence isn’t there. So they go to a really expensive school to be around kids of similar means.</p>

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<p>whenhen: Thanks. Those data are useful. I guess I am not too surprised regarding Harvard-Westlake relative to the other schools I mentioned: the Santa Monica-Palisades area probably is more likely to send more kids out of state. Still, I am surprised by the relatively low number of matriculants to Cal – as well as the relatively large number of matriculants to Michigan (the second most of any school over the last five years). I knew many kids from California at Michigan, but most were from Orange and San Diego counties or the Bay Area rather than west LA.</p>

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<p>West LA is an extremely wealthy area. I’m not surprised that students who couldn’t get into Berkeley or UCLA (or for the latter didn’t want to go because of the proximity to home), went to Michigan.</p>

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<p>“Prep school grads would prefer to attend Pepperdine, GWU, or UMiami over almost any public school besides UVA. They could care less about “academic reputation”.”</p>

<p>As always, goldenboy makes generalizations about public universitiers, and about Michigan, that are not grounded in reality.</p>

<p>EXETER (matriculations)
Duke University 6
George Washington 10
Northwestern 5
Pepperdine 1
University of Miami 0
University of Michigan 11
University of Virginia 2</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.exeter.edu/documents/2010_-_2012_matriculation.pdf[/url]”>http://www.exeter.edu/documents/2010_-_2012_matriculation.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>ST PAUL’S
Duke University 4
George Washington 5
Northwestern 1
Pepperdine 0
University of Miami 1
University of Michigan 10
University of Virginia 7</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.sps.edu/podium/default.aspx?t=6543[/url]”>http://www.sps.edu/podium/default.aspx?t=6543&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>ANDOVER
Duke University 8
George Washington 3
Northwestern 3
Pepperdine 0
University of Miami 2
University of Michigan 1
University of Virginia 1</p>

<p>[Phillips</a> Academy - College Matriculations & School Profile](<a href=“http://www.andover.edu/Academics/CollegeCounseling/Pages/SchoolProfileCollegeMatriculations.aspx]Phillips”>http://www.andover.edu/Academics/CollegeCounseling/Pages/SchoolProfileCollegeMatriculations.aspx)</p>

<p>COLLEGIATE
Duke University 2
George Washington 2
Northwestern 5
Pepperdine 0
University of Miami 2
University of Michigan 2
University of Virginia 2</p>

<p>[Collegiate</a> School ~ College Guidance](<a href=“http://www.collegiateschool.org/podium/default.aspx?t=114062]Collegiate”>http://www.collegiateschool.org/podium/default.aspx?t=114062)</p>

<p>HOTCHKISS
Duke University 8
George Washington 0
Northwestern 5
Pepperdine 0
University of Miami 2
University of Michigan 4
University of Virginia 8</p>

<p>[The</a> Hotchkiss School - Academics - College Advising - Matriculation List](<a href=“http://www.hotchkiss.org/academics/college-advising/matriculation-list/index.aspx]The”>http://www.hotchkiss.org/academics/college-advising/matriculation-list/index.aspx)</p>

<p>LAWRENCEVILLE
Duke University 31
George Washington 20
Northwestern 12
Pepperdine 0
University of Miami 0
University of Michigan 9
University of Virginia 24</p>

<p>[The</a> Lawrenceville School: Matriculation](<a href=“http://www.lawrenceville.org/academics/college-counseling/matriculation/index.aspx]The”>http://www.lawrenceville.org/academics/college-counseling/matriculation/index.aspx)</p>

<p>DALTON
Duke University 15
George Washington 10
Northwestern 17
Pepperdine 0
University of Miami 6
University of Michigan 10
University of Virginia 0</p>

<p>[Dalton</a> School ~ College Counseling](<a href=“http://www.dalton.org/program/high_school/college_counseling]Dalton”>The Dalton School | College Counseling)</p>

<p>THE HILL
Duke University 3
George Washington 21
Northwestern 2
Pepperdine 0
University of Miami 1
University of Michigan 3
University of Virginia 5</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.thehill.org/collegematriculation[/url]”>http://www.thehill.org/collegematriculation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>TAFT
Duke University 5
George Washington 27
Northwestern 5
Pepperdine 0
University of Miami 0
University of Michigan 6
University of Virginia 11</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.taftschool.org/academics/pdfs/SchoolProfile2012_13web.pdf[/url]”>http://www.taftschool.org/academics/pdfs/SchoolProfile2012_13web.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>HARVARD WESTLAKE
Duke University 15
George Washington 10
Northwestern 24
Pepperdine 3
University of Miami 8
University of Michigan 73
University of Virginia 7</p>

<p><a href=“http://students.hw.com/Portals/44/profile20122013.pdf[/url]”>http://students.hw.com/Portals/44/profile20122013.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>TOTAL
University of Michigan 129
George Washington 108
Duke University 97
Northwestern 80
University of Virginia 67
University of Miami 14
Pepperdine 4</p>

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<p>The data I cited can be found here:
[The</a> Exonian](<a href=“http://theexonian.com/new]The”>http://theexonian.com/new)</p>

<p>the full matriculations are a PDF link on mid page</p>

<p>(And I am still poking around in past years, because Alabama has been there)</p>

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<p>Come on, Taft and The Hill really doesn’t belong with the rest, and they together account for 48 of GW lol. </p>

<p>And Harvard Westlake accounts for 73 out of 129 Michigan students. No wonder you include them :p</p>

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<p>“West LA is an extremely wealthy area. I’m not surprised that students who couldn’t get into Berkeley or UCLA (or for the latter didn’t want to go because of the proximity to home), went to Michigan.”</p>

<p>Nor am I (as my comment clearly suggested – of all the schools that I mentioned, H-W was the most likely to send kids out of state). But at the numbers that the matriculation data suggest? I would not have supposed Michigan to outperform other comparable schools by orders of magnitude. Would you have?</p>

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<p>bearcats: Yes, H-W is very strongly represented. But you also have to account for Dalton and Exeter. If you were to look only at H-W and Dalton, it would seem that the LA and NY regions are very strongly represented at Michigan. (I guess it’s no surprise regarding the latter given UM’s historical pull from the city.) And if we were to add in Chicago’s north shore suburban public schools and UC’s lab schools, I would think the numbers would be roughly comparable.</p>

<p>Does anyone have data on Cranbrook, Brother Rice, and Powers, regarding in-state privates?</p>

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<p>Definitely not. I’m not familiar with the culture at Harvard-Westlake so it’s hard for me to come up with plausible explanation as to why so many students at the school enroll in Michigan.</p>

<p>The other one that surprised me was USC although that may be because I went to a public high school where college costs were a huge concern.</p>

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<p>

If you subtract Harvard Westlake, GWU far outplaces Michigan though. Also, you only looked at Northeast prep schools which explains why Pepperdine and UMiami do so poorly. If you looked at prep schools in the Southeast and in California, you will find out that these two private schools matriculate more grads than Michigan.</p>

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<p>Is it true that GWU is for wealthy slackers who want to be in a neat urban city but don’t have the grades for any Ivy or even Georgetown? I’m puzzled by their uncanny ability to draw so many wealthy students.</p>

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<p>In the meantime, Michigan > Alabama for a strong instate student.</p>

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<p>My son didn’t apply to Michigan, but he was accepted at Wisconsin, Minnesota and Alabama. He liked Minnesota but he didn’t like Wisconsin. In the end, he chose Alabama over Minnesota because it was considerably cheaper and he had a lot more opportunities.</p>

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Very possible</p>

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Ha</p>

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<p>He’s in the honors college, he’s in a STEM MBA program that begins freshman year and will enable him to get his an MBA in 5 yrs or less, and he’s in a special undergraduate research program.</p>

<p>Therefore, a lot more opportunities at Alabama for about a 1/3 to 1/2 the cost of Wisconsin and Minnesota (at the in-state rate).</p>

<p>My assumption here is the UM is roughly similar to Madison and Minnesota.</p>

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<p>“Therefore, a lot more opportunities at Alabama for about a 1/3 to 1/2 the cost of Wisconsin and Minnesota (at the in-state rate).” </p>

<p>You cite one area that your son is involved in and just assume that there are more opportunities at Alabama from that? Also please forgive my snobbery, but a degree from the UA is just not that impressive IMHO. There are trade offs to be concerned about. A tuition free education to Alabama is nice, but it does have its drawbacks. For example in the area of business, where one attends school is very important for that first job interview.</p>

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<p>“My assumption here is the UM is roughly similar to Madison and Minnesota.”</p>

<p>…and my assumption here is that UA is roughly similar to Mississipi and Arkansas. See how that works?</p>

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<p>rjkofnovi, actually I cited three special programs that he’s in at Alabama (and he’s investigating a fourth). None of those options existed for him at Madison or Minnesota, hence more opportunities at Alabama.</p>

<p>I said 'roughly similar". Michigan is slightly better rated that Madison and Minnesota, but I would put them in the same general category as “public Ivies”.</p>

<p>Does Michigan have a better academic reputation than Alabama? Certainly. But, he’s in CS and employers of CS grads tend not to be brand conscious, and he will likely get his terminal degree from another institution. </p>

<p>You may not be aware of this, but Alabama is attracting a lot of top notch students.</p>

<p>[Quick</a> Facts: Did You Know? - The University of Alabama](<a href=“Page Not Found | The University of Alabama”>Page Not Found | The University of Alabama)</p>

<p>“UA ranked 2nd in the nation among public universities in the enrollment of National Merit Scholars in 2011 with 181 scholars in the freshman class.”</p>

<p>“The University of Alabama led the nation with a record 10 students named to USA Today’s 2010 All-USA College Academic Team. UA has had great success in placing students on this national team that honors the “best of the best” undergraduate academic all-stars from across the nation, having placed 46 students on the team since 2003. In addition to this year, UA also had the most students on the list in 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2009 and tied for the top spot in 2007.”</p>

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<p>I’d disown my parents if they ever told me I had to go to Alabama. It’s not just 4-years in Tuscaloosa, that crap degree only has regional value. It might as well be a life sentence to the deep south.</p>