UCLA or UMich

College Search & Selection
1

Hey guys help me out here,

I’m an intl student and I am quite stuck between these two school. engineering department

I’d want a school that:

  1. provides fin aid for intl student (I guess neither can so just ignore this line)
  2. is reputable in engineering yet is famous generally (UCLA ranks higher but UMich has better engineering department. Plus UCLA's admission rate 22% and UMich 43%. I think I'm way better than that. I mean, I got waitlisted by UChicago and Dartmouth)
  3. is located in a big city where there's lots of fun (not a party guy but still doesn't want to study in a forest)
  4. is located in a big city where there's lots of job opportunity post-graduation (is Michigan a big city like LA?)
  5. isn't devoured by Asian culture (well obviously I'm talking about UCLA. No offense I'm an Asian too but I'm not trying to spend 55k to go to a place where feels like an English-speaking version of my country. To me it's the only downfall of UCLA)
  6. has huge campus, nice dorm, etc
  7. has a good sport team (I know UCLA has multiple but UMich? I know this is a weird requirement but I think a sport team can really bring everyone together.)
  8. generally, is AWESOME.

FYI There are also Purdue, U of Illinois Urbana Champagne but they’re not my top choices

2

About (5), UCLA is about 34% Asian; Michigan, 12%. Numbers tell that UCLA is more heavily Asian. In my experience, it also depends a lot on discipline. At UCLA the overwhelming majority of my science classes did seem Asian. The only times when I felt like Asians werent at least the majority were in general education (GE) classes in the humanities (North Campus classes). Howeverrrrrr, it did NOT feel like English-speaking version of Asia. I felt completely American.

About (4), the University of Michigan is in Ann Arbor. While I dont have first hand experience with it, it is situated in a more isolated area within the Midwest. I hear Ann Arbor is a nice college town, but outside of that, I would be unsure. Although its near Detroit, Detroit is definitely past its prime.