<p>I was accepted to both University of Michigan and Michigan State University. Throughout my whole college search it was between those two and decided the Umich would be better, but I recently received a letter from the MSU honors college, which re-ignited the question what choice would be better? I am undecided now, but I think I am leaning towards environmental sustainability or business. Both are of comparable price, so that is not an issue. Umich is more prestigious and ranked higher, but the HC at MSU offers many perks such as special housing, smaller honors classes, closer relationships with professors, ability to work around prerequisites, option to take some graduate courses, unlimited study abroad, along which other things that all sound very appealing. It's a really touch choice because both are good schools and I like them both a lot. If you could please post what choice you think that you would make and why, along with the pros and cons of the decision I think that would really help me out a lot! Thank you very much!</p>
<p>Avoiding the inevitable Go Blue, go green argument, you need to decide how important the perks really are to you. Housing? Certainly a benefit given the spread out nature of MSU. Smaller Honors Classes? How many do you take in a given semester? Does that perk get you out of many large sized intro prerequisite classes? Relationships with profs? Always good to have; how many can you generate on your own at Michigan? Unlimited study abroad? Seems a little odd to choose a college based on the idea that you’ll have extra opportunities not to attend it.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Business School:
Getting admitted to Michigan’s Ross School of Business for UG is fairly challenging. The competition is very tough.</p></li>
<li><p>Caliber of students /Academics/UG Research
The caliber spread of students attending Michigan is fairly narrow – Academically most of the admitted students are fairly accomplished; getting into Dean’s list will be that much tougher at Michigan. At MSU, you are likely to come across a wider array of students. IMHO, MSU student atmosphere appears to be more laid back; however, MSU, like U of M, is considered a leading research university - two from Michigan among 60 national universities ([Association</a> of American Universities](<a href=“http://www.aau.edu/about/article.aspx?id=5476]Association”>http://www.aau.edu/about/article.aspx?id=5476)). You are likely to have opportunity to participate in undergraduate research opportunity (UROP) at both the univs. </p></li>
<li><p>Scheduling of classes:
If you like guidance in your first 2 years that comes from smaller classes at the Honors program, MSU is a good choice. Also, Honors folks get first choice in scheduling classes, which makes the overall 4 year planning easier.
If you are self-directed, then Michigan is for you.</p></li>
<li><p>Alumni network:
U of M does have a distinct advantage in terms of huge alumni network spread throughout the US, and more across the globe. </p></li>
<li><p>Return on investment:
Nationally Business Week ranks U of M (58) ahead of MSU (185) in terms of ROI.
[What’s</a> Your College Degree Worth?: Best Undergraduate ROI: Michigan - BusinessWeek](<a href=“http://images.businessweek.com/ss/10/06/0628_payscale1/24.htm]What’s”>http://images.businessweek.com/ss/10/06/0628_payscale1/24.htm)</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Michigan is a top 20 university, located in one of the best cities in America. It has a great reputation, and an incredible alumni network. Even with the invitation to MSU’s HC, it’s very difficult to justify passing on Michigan.</p>