<p>Are you planning on being a doctor, or a scientist? If you are going for the MD, U of M is the one. Research PhD or Professor, MIT.</p>
<p>Wall Street? No brainer. MIT.</p>
<p>I am not sure I agree with Wall Street. Michigan is one of Wall Street's 10 most heavily recruited schools.</p>
<p>"I am not sure I agree with Wall Street. Michigan is one of Wall Street's 10 most heavily recruited schools."</p>
<p>Are we talking by ratios or what? It was my impression that Mich is much larger than most schools in America so even if it had a very low ratio of students going to Wall Street, that number could still equal that of a school like MIT (with a much higher ratio).</p>
<p>It depends from which college. From Ross, over 30% of the students end up in Wall Street, mostly with the most prestigious IBs like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, Citigroup, Lehman, Lazard, UBS, Credit Suisse, Merrill Lynch etc... Another 10% end up at top consulting firms like McKinsey, Bain, BCG, Booz Allen and Mercer. So the ratio of students who end up in either top IBs or top MCs from Ross is close to 50%. </p>
<p>From the college of LSA and Engineering, I'd say the number drops top 10% of the students joining the IBs and MCs. But one must understand, LSA students and Engineering students are more likely to go straight into top 25 Law schools, top 25 Medical schools, top 25 graduate Engineering schools or join companies like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Ford etc... In all, I'd say roughly 20% of Michigan students go straight into top 25 graduate schools and another 10% join manufacturing elites such as GE, Being, Lockheed etc... But most students at Michigan who wish to join an IB can do so, assuming they have the ability and the drive.</p>
<p>magic, both of these options are great options. I would pick MIT because I havent heard of anyone not getting a good job out of that school...</p>
<p>What a choice, magic_cactus!</p>
<p>The large state u's offer some great opportunities and Michigan is one of the best.
If you want to be an academic, your grad school name is more important than undergrad. I'll bet grad school at MIT is more fun than undergrad.
My son is at Penn State's honors college and is having a fantastic experience. He got a job in a lab freshman year and a great summer job at a chemical company owned by a PSU alumnus. The program also has a 100% placement to grad school.</p>
<p>Let us know what your decide!</p>
<p>Ryan, if you take the top 30% of Michigan students (the ones that are MIT material), they have similar placement outcomes as MIT.</p>
<p>By the way, I want to make it clear that MIT IS better than Michigan. It is more prestigious and it has more resources, better students and a better faculty in the sciences and Engineering. MIT is unquestionably one of the top 5 universities in the nation. I am not questioning that and I want to be clear on this point. </p>
<p>This said, it is also important to understand that Michigan is one of the top 15 universities in the nation and offers a more balanced undergraduate experience than MIT. Top students at Michigan will benefit from close contact with some of the most amazing faculty, resources and facilities to be found anywhere and when they are done with their studies, will have access to any professional or academic path they may wish to follow. </p>
<p>If the above is not enough to convince you of Michigan's incredible academic prowess, just check out where MIT's presidents from 1970-1980 (Jerome Wiesner) and 1990-2004 (Charles Vest) completed their studies! That's right, the MIT president for 25 of the last 35 years has been a Wolverine! hehe</p>
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Mich is much larger than most schools in America so even if it had a very low ratio of students going to Wall Street
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Ross is about the same size of Sloan. Thus it's fair to compare the number (or %) of Ross grad and Sloan grad going to Wall Street.</p>
<p>I think it's pretty much like this: You were qualified enough to get into MIT. Even if you choose Michigan (which is not as academically prestigious as MIT), you are good enough on your own to succeed. I think it's really the person, not the school, that will make the difference. If you go to Michigan, I bet you could do the same things (probably even more) as if you chose to go to MIT. If you have the same level of drive and ambition, you will get somewhere, and the school name won't be able to hold you back. In fact, Michigan is still quite prestigious. I also think Alexandre is right about how Michigan is more "complete" and offers a real college experience. With that in mind, I think Michigan with a lot of money can be just as worthwhile as, if not more than, MIT.</p>
<p>Good question to ask here. Do you think a person who is of MIT/Stanford/Harvard caliber should go to a less prestigious school like Michigan (relatively people!)? Michigan has a lot of knocks about its cutthroat competitiveness/unfriendliness among students and bureaucracy -- all facets of a large public school. So would a person who is of such a high caliber still do well even in different environments?</p>
<p>I'm not so sure. I guess it depends on person to person, but I would tell the OP that MIT will definitely be smaller and more accessible than Michigan. Especially in the first two years where it matters. However the other posters make good points about social scene/sports/activity in college. Michigan has it hands down. What do you want from a college? What goals do you have in the future? Go from there.</p>
<p>Stanford_dude, the "knocks" on the competitiveness are untrue. I actually only hear people who never attended Michigan say that Michigan is cutthroat. Michigan students are in fact quite laid back and easy going. Sure, there is some unhealthy competitiveness among pre-med students, but that's the case everywhere. I have heard of students in every major university resort to unfortunate measures for the sake of competitiveness. Let us face it, students at Harvard and MIT did not get to those schools by settling for finished second. </p>
<p>And yes, Michigan has a lot of red-tape, so do all major research universities, including MIT. Once a university has more than 10,000 students, it is going to face major problems in that regard. But MIT has over 10,000 students too, and as such, is faced with similar problems that plague Michigan. Obviously not to the same extent, but the problem still remains. I don't think there is a need to bring forth the myths surounding universities. Those are blown out of proportion. For example, MIT, like Harvard and Cornell have a reputation for suicide. But in reality, their suicide rates are only slightly higher than the national suicide rate. </p>
<p>In short, MIT is more prestigious than Michigan and it has a stronger science/Engineering faculty. MIT is also wealthier than Michigan. Those are facts than cannot be disputed. Michigan is a more well-rounded institution and has a more pleasant overall college atmosphere. That too is a fact. The rest is merely a question of degrees rather than absolutes. </p>
<p>Furthermore, I honestly don't think future goals should play a role in the decision process when chosing between MIT and Michigan. Both schools will open the same doors. When chosing between two top universities, I think one should merely go to the schools that fits one's personality best. The rest willl take care of itself.</p>
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<p>Wait, weren't you waitlisted at MIT last year? They didn't take anyone from the waitlist last year.</p>
<p>I would take MIT over Michigan. The Cambridge / Boston area is the college town.</p>
<p>I made my decision to take Michigan over MIT before that waitlist decision was issued.</p>
<p>This is not even a comparison. MIT hands down, what are you smoking?</p>
<p>Look at it this way. At Mich you have to go out and "get" jobs! At MIT those jobs are for you to lose by being an idiot.</p>
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Look at it this way. At Mich you have to go out and "get" jobs! At MIT those jobs are for you to lose by being an idiot.
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</p>
<p>Sounds like somebody has some preconceived notions. Have you graduated from both schools and found getting a job from MIT was much easier? If not, there's really no basis for that.</p>
<p>Polo, you make a very sweeping generalization. Top talent from Michigan and MIT will usually have no problems landing a job. The difference is that only 50% of Michigan students can be classified as "top talent". At MIT, I'd say 90% of the students are "top talent". As such, 50% of Michigan students will probably struggle finding jobs and getting into top graduate programs...but the remaining 50% of the students will have no problem landing jobs with exclusive firms and getting into elite graduate programs. At MIT, since 90% are "top talent", only the bottom 10% will struggle. But make no mistake, that has nothing to do with the university. The same employers who recruit at MIT recruit at Michigan. The key is to be good enough. At Michigan, 50% of the students are good enough...at MIT, 90% are. But for the individual, it makes little difference wich of those two schools she/he goes to. A university does not make a student better. It is up to the student to learn and take the initiative.</p>
<p>Whoa.</p>
<p>One what basis do you believe that the 50% who aren't the top talent "struggle" to find jobs?</p>
<p>That's a rough estimate hoedown. Of course, there is no exact percentage really. But I'd say that 50% of students at Michigan graduate with sub 3.0 GPAs. Those students will generally find it harder to get jobs because most companies these days check on a student's GPA before offering them jobs. Note that I said that those students will "usually" struggle. That is not always the case. And I guess I must define "struggle". By struggle, I mean that they will probably not have many options and some will not secure a job until they have graduated. I must agree, my post above was vague and potentially alarming. I should have phrased it in another way.</p>
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A university does not make a student better. It is up to the student to learn and take the initiative.
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</p>
<p>Perhaps you're right that what I've heard about U-M being super competitive is from anecdotes. However, they are anecdotes by both students who have not attended U-M and those who have. I have heard several people say the reason they turned down U-M for MSU was because they felt the undergraduate institution (not the grad schools) was too arrogant/pretentious/uncaring. In fact, I know one such person who took MSU over U-M and has the enviable decision of choosing between Harvard, Duke, Wash U, and Michigan for medical school. So I definitely agree that it is the person not the university that truly decides what kind of doors will be opened in the future.</p>
<p>However, this example of my friend getting into top med schools from MSU is something he feels could not have been replicated to the same degree had he gone to Michigan. The reason being Michigan has the largest pre-med body in the nation as well as being a top, difficult university. Put those two together in today's insanely competitive medical school applicant pool and you have a mixture for disaster. Too many pre-meds + very tough academics = only the best will make it. </p>
<p>From what I have seen as well, I have found Michigan students to be a mixed bag -- competitive, academically focused, but some are laidback. I cannot deny that Michigan is a top school, but for pre-med, I think other schools would be more conducive to student success. </p>
<p>Again, I am not saying that premed students do not need to work hard at other schools. They still need to, but I think other schools would encourage and shape a student better than Michigan can. This is my own humble opinion from what I have seen, heard, or known about U-M. It is a fantastic school for anything outside of pre-med, and students who work hard there will really have the world as their oyster.</p>