<p>The quality of Michigan’s students varies. In 2008, one of the top four math (high school) students in Michigan went to Michigan, where two others went to Stanford and one went to Yale (my son was one of them). My son’s other schoolmate from his elite prep school who got 2400 on SAT also went to Michigan. A lot of top students in Michigan prefer to stay in Michigan.</p>
<p>For out of state students, I can only say what I know in some of the areas in New Jersey: Michigan competes with NYU, USC, and clearly loses to Rice, JHU, Northwestern, etc. The sample is about 20 kids I met who went to Michigan in the past few years. I think that USNWR plays an important role here.</p>