UMich vs. UVA

<p>I was admitted to UMich as an OOS under EA, and also applied to UVA as a VA resident. Both schools seem pretty similar. Anyone's experiences at either (or better, both) of these schools would be very much appreciated in the event that I had to decide between the two!</p>

<p>First of all, congrats on getting accepted.
But if you can attend UVA with in-state tuition (~$10,000), I don’t think there’s much need to seriously consider attending UMich for the OOS tuition (~$30,000).
there aren’t any advantages that UMich has over UVA, that is worth the extra $80,000 over the 4 years.</p>

<p>Engineering at UVA is mediocre. If you’re an engineer, than Michigan is one of the best in the country and should be considered heavily. UVA’s strengths are business, religion, history…those types of things. The best engineering school in Virginia is Va Tech. Michigan’s engineering schools rank among the top 10 in pretty much every field. There’s no contest if that’s your thing.</p>

<p>If I go to UMich, it will be on a NROTC scholarship. Money basically is not a factor in my decision. I applied to LSA at Michigan and CAS at UVA (math is not my thing!). From what I’ve heard, UVA has more prestige but I don’t want that being a major factor in deciding.</p>

<p>If by more prestigious you mean placed slightly higher in one very specific and arbitrary list of college ranking, then yes, UVA is more prestigious. In the real world, it isn’t.</p>

<p>If you get into UVA instate, I see no real reason why you should attended Michigan. Unless your a die hard Wolverine of course.</p>

<p>Even if your field was engineering, Michigan is good but it isn’t MIT or Stanford. Save your money and go to Virginia.</p>

<p>Seeing that cost isnt a factor, then going to UMich is a no-brainer to me.</p>

<p>xojvb, since cost of attendance is not an issue, I would recommend you go for fit. Did you visit both campuses? Both are very good and prestigious universities. </p>

<p>Academically, they are both excellent in the Humanities and Social Sciences, with UVa having the edge in English while Michigan having the edge in most other discipline. </p>

<p>If you are pre-law or pre-MBA, both schools will serve you equally well.</p>

<p>In terms of prestige, on the East Coast and in the South, UVa is more prestigious than Michigan, although in NYC, both are equally prestigious. In the Midwest and West Coast, Michigan is more prestigious than UVa. Internationally, Michigan is also more prestigious than UVa.</p>

<p>^Personally, I agree with Swimmer and disagree with Cloudy. IF you are an Engineering major, I’d fork over the extra money to attend Michigan. In some areas of Engineering such as Industrial and Mechanical, I believe Michigan is ranked higher than Stanford.</p>

<p>Alexandre, I could be wrong, but from what I’ve read, people seem to give a lot more respect to Michigan regarding it’s (undergraduate) business school than to Virginia’s. Since getting top jobs is one of the main factors in getting into a top Business School (at least if you’re coming from a traditional route) then Ross’s great placement would a huge plus. Sure there is going to be some redundancy in getting both a BBA and MBA, but that doesn’t count as a negative (from the school’s perspective), does it?</p>

<p>EDIT: It seems like it would be in the school’s advantage to admit a BBA that got a job in a niche market, because it would then improve the school’s placement.</p>

<p>“Even if your field was engineering, Michigan is good but it isn’t MIT or Stanford. Save your money and go to Virginia.”</p>

<p>Michigan is a heck of a lot closer to MIT and Stanford in engineering than is UVA.</p>

<p>^ Which is pretty irrelevant when it comes to engineering. Its not like business, where your school’s prestige is everything. </p>

<p>Unless you want to go into consulting or investment banking, your local state school will do just fine in the engineering world.</p>

<p>Michigan (10char).</p>

<p>Money is not a factor for the OP. He wrote:</p>

<p>“If I go to UMich, it will be on a NROTC scholarship. Money basically is not a factor in my decision.”</p>

<p>CloudyCloud, that’s not entirely true. Where you go to school does affect your job prospects, because companies go recruiting at schools. Top schools get top companies to recruit their students. Obviously, if the OP isn’t too worried about working for Google or Microsoft, any decent engineering school is going to land their students some gig that pays well. Engineers are always in demand.</p>

<p>“Unless you want to go into consulting or investment banking, your local state school will do just fine in the engineering world.”</p>

<p>I agree somewhat. Like in the case of a public school in Virginia, I would definitely recommend VaTech over UVA for engineering. :-)</p>

<p>^ I can agree to that as well.</p>