<p>Hello, I will be applying for college in the upcoming fall/winter and the top two schools on my list are UNC-CH and Michigan (I live in MD so I'm OOS for both schools). Assuming (fingers crossed) I'm admitted to both I'm going to have a really hard time choosing which one to go to. I've visited both campuses and I absolutely adore both schools. I've had discussions with my friends/relatives and I'm under the impression that academically/prestige-wise UNC-CH is superior to Michigan, however I feel that Michigan will offer me a better social life. UNC has a 30% acceptance rate while Michigan tends to hover around 50-60% so it seems to me that UNC is much more exclusive. USNews has Michigan at 29 and UNC at 30, but Michigan has been trending downward recently so I wouldn't be surprised if UNC comes out higher in the near future. Will I be shooting myself in the foot by picking Michigan over UNC? By the way I plan on double majoring in engineering(electrical, chemical, or nuclear) and math, and have been told that both schools excel in these subjects. Right now I'm leaning toward UNC... please help!</p>
<p>***…UNC doesn’t even have an engineering school. UNC is more selective than Michigan, but probably not as reputed (at the undergrad level, I’d say they are about equal in prestige. But at the grad level, Mich trumps UNC). Domestically, this is kind of regionalized however.</p>
<p>OP is so full of factual errors it is hard to even respond. Is it that important to be exclusive?? UNC is so because it only takes a small number of OOS so most get rejected. Big deal. The instaters are good but not super competitive. Throw all this “exclusive” stuff out the window where it belongs. BTW overall UM has more academic chops than UNC by a good margin. UNC is a bit overrated due mostly to the OOS exclusivity thing. And maybe the weather which is better.</p>
<p>Well UNC doesn’t have engineering aside from a few odd affiliated majors. Michigan is larger and more of a football school opposed to UNCs basketball program. Weather is better at UNC IMO. UNCs instate selectivity is outpacing M (in addition to OOS) largely because people are leaving the state and moving to places like NC. UNC is much cheaper but Michigan has engineering. So I’m not sure UNC should be on your small list in the first place if you know that’s what you want to do.</p>
<p>CollegeBound - Prestige is really not an issue - there are probably no more than a dozen prestigious schools in the country (in the sense that the prestige would cause one to get your resume an extra or a longer look) - but FWIW, Michigan’s much more highly regarded than UNC. UNC is required by state regs to be at least 83% in-state, so out of state admissions there are artificially made more selective. But Michigan, Berkeley and UVA are probably the only 3 public Us in the country that generate a similar “Ooh” factor to some of the top privates.</p>
<p>Why is UNC more selective than Michigan? Do you mean that UNC has higher quality students? How do you measure that?</p>
<p>It’s not, ignore.</p>
<p>I’ve never seen UNC ranked ahead of MI in any academic or prestige way.</p>
<p>^^I have in a few areas, but Michigan overall is academically superior to UNC.</p>
<p>
Engineering at UNC is far more selective than Michigan engineering. Among the elite universities, only Chicago and Emory have more selective engineering programs than UNC.</p>
<p>^^^hehehe^^^</p>
<p>^Try US News which the OP already cited. It’s true. For one reason or another in this oft cited but usually useless metric, Michigan has been on the downward trajectory for a while now. On the otherhand, UNC hasn’t been going up really though.</p>
<p>UNC accepts way less than Umich with a comparable applicant pool. It is therefore more selective.</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“College Search - BigFuture | College Board”>College Search - BigFuture | College Board]College</a> Search - University of Michigan - U of M - SAT®, AP®, CLEP®<a href=“around%2050%%20accepted%20for%202010%20total.%20I%20heard%20around%2030%%20for%20out%20of%20state.”>/url</a>.</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“College Search - BigFuture | College Board”>College Search - BigFuture | College Board]College</a> Search - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill - UNC - SAT®, AP®, CLEP®<a href=“32%%20of%20all%20applicants%20accepted.%20%20Something%20like%2022%%20of%20Out%20of%20state%20applicants%20accepted”>/url</a></p>
<p>Michigan has slightly higher SAT’s (by 30 points) but they have the same ACT range.</p>
<p>For about the zillionth time it needs to be said that people in Michigan are often mindbogglingly immune to seeing college as a source of prestige, and therefore a surprising % of even top students in the state couldn’t care less that U of Michigan has a great national and international reputation. Here are some examples:</p>
<p>There is currently a radio ad in the Detroit area for a community college which starts out “Harvard, the University of Michigan, Michigan State, Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan, Central Michigan, Wayne State…what do these colleges have in common? They are all places that graduates of XYZ Community College have transferred to.” </p>
<p>Also, the other day in suburban Detroit I saw a car with an “ITT Technical Institute” decal on the back window.</p>
<p>I occasionally see cars with an “Academy of Court Reporting” decal on the rear window.</p>
<p>It’s a big deal to go to a post-secondary school here; whether it’s Harvard or Acme Barber College doesn’t seem to make much of a difference to a lot of people in an area where tens of thousands of high school grads who are/were hourly workers for the auto companies have nice homes, cars, boats, and cottages “up north.”</p>
<p>Sent via vacuum tube.</p>
<p>I’m surprised Alexandre hasn’t shown up yet. :)</p>
<p>The paramedics are still trying to revive him.</p>
<p>Sent via a Post-It note stapled to the tail of a three-toed sloth.</p>
<p>UNC does not excel at Engineering and Michigan is slightly stronger than UNC in Mathematics. Also, do not confuse Michigan’s downward trend in the USNWR with the university’s actual standing. Michigan has actually improved significantly, even relative to its peers, in recent years. As far as undergraduate education goes, both are excellent, but in your specific fields of interest, I think Michigan wins out.</p>
<p>
UNC admits mostly from in-state (>82%). And there are only 48 students from NC in Michigan. It’s safe to say that there are few North Carolinian at Michigan and vice versa. So how’s the applicant pools comparable?</p>
<p>And since we are quoting USNWR, here are the enrolled student stats from the two universities:</p>
<p>MICHIGAN
SAT: 1830-2130
ACT: 27-31
Top 10% class rank: 92%
Selectivity rank: 26</p>
<p>UNC
SAT: 1790-2090
ACT: 26-31
Top 10% class rank: 80%
Selectivity rank: 34</p>
<p>So how’s UNC more selective? What are your metrics?</p>
<p>p.s. I agree with warblesrsrule though, UNC engineering is definitely more selective. I haven’t heard of anyone admitted to that program.</p>
<p>I plan on double majoring in engineering(electrical, chemical, or nuclear) and math, and have been told that both schools excel in these subjects.</p>
<p>Who have you been talking to? </p>
<p>I think UNC is limited to: computer engineering, biomedical engineering, and comp science. I don’t think it has EE, ChemE, or NucE).</p>
<p>BTW…since you’re OOS, is your family willing to pay full freight for UMich (about $50k per year)? UNC does give OOS FA, but you must QUALIFY for it based on income and assets and I think it may use CSS Profile as well.</p>
<p>What are your stats? UNC is hard to get into OOS. Usually you have to have top stats to get in as an OOS student (so effectively the need-based aid has a merit component.)</p>
<p>
For mathematics, USNWR ranks Michigan 8th and UNC 30th. NRC rankings are similar. I know these are graduate rankings. But as an aspiring mathematician, you are not very smart if you don’t take that into consideration.</p>
<p>Your US News stats are outdated by one year (technically 2 if you include this last 2010 to 2011 admissions cycle). </p>
<p>Let’s compare the more updated enrolled students stats from college board (for the 2009 to 2010 admissions cycle):</p>
<p>UMich:
UMich acceptance rate: 50%
Percent of students who return for sophomore year: 96%
SAT Critical Reading: 590 - 690
SAT Math: 640 - 750
SAT Writing: 610 - 710
ACT Composite: 27 - 31
84% in top 10th of graduating class
63% had h.s. GPA of 3.75 and higher
27% had h.s. GPA between 3.5 and 3.74</p>
<p>UNC:
Percent applicants admitted: 32%
Percent of students who return for sophomore year: 97%
% of students ranked in top 10%: 78%
SAT Critical Reading: 590 - 700
SAT Math: 610 - 710<br>
SAT Writing: 590 - 690
ACT Composite: 27 - 31
95% had h.s. GPA of 3.75 and higher
2% had h.s. GPA between 3.5 and 3.74</p>
<p>Similar SATs, equal ACTs. Umich has a slight edge with students in the top 10% (96% submitted rank at Umich while 81% submitted rank at UNC. Based on GPAs, UNC would likely have a higher percentage if mroe students were ranked.), but UMich also has a significantly higher acceptance rate and students with lower GPAs. More importantly, since the OP is out of state, UNC is more selective since they have to take more in-state students relative to Michigan.</p>