UNC vs Umich, which one should I pick?

I’m not expecting to get a job straight after graduation. Applying for graduate school is still my priority. So does prestige matter in graduate admission? Would Umich brings me an edge over UNC in the admission? If so, I think I will heavily lean with Umich

Everyone’s thought is pretty insightful… Tough decision to make…

I’m a nitpicker from WAY back. :wink:

Best math programs in the WORLD, since OP will be studying math/statistics as an undergraduate:

UMich #23
UNC #72

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/mathematics

UNC’s graduate biostatistics program is ranked HIGHER than Michigan’s. A UNC undergraduate degree would give you an advantage when applying to the UNC graduate program. The $60,000 you save over 4 years at UNC can be used to pay for grad school.

US News has UNC in a 3-way tie at #8 and the next program is UMich ranked at #11. IMO, that’s irrelevant.

According National Research Council UMich is rated #4 and UNC at #5. Either way, both graduate programs are excellent.

https://www.chronicle.com/article/nrc-rankings-overview-/124660

But, how often do students change majors? We were told 75-85% of freshman change majors at least once. What’s the likelihood you’ll find another highly-rated department at UMich vs. UNC? See my post above re: LSA at UMich.

Also, with an $11-12 Endowment vs. $3 Billion, which school can survive the pandemic better with the least amount of disruption to academic programs?

More “nitpicky” rankings. :smiley:

R&D expenditures:

UMich #2
UNC #11

https://ncsesdata.nsf.gov/profiles/site?method=rankingBySource&ds=herd

Here’s a fun one. 2018-2019 Directors’ Cup rankings:

UMich #2
UNC #10

https://s3.amazonaws.com/nacda.com/documents/2019/6/27/June28DIOverall.pdf

Unfortunately, the U.S. News global mathematics rankings you provided have nothing to do with the quality of undergraduate mathematics major programs at either university. The ranking is based on the number of research papers cited in major scholarly journals worldwide - papers which are typically produced by postgraduate researchers:

“These subject-specific rankings – which are not of academic majors, departments or specific schools at universities, such as business or medical schools – are based on academic research performance in those subjects. U.S. News has used various bibliometric measures, including publications and citations, as well as indicators for global and regional reputation in each specific subject…The bibliometric indicators are based on data from the Web of Science for the five-year period from 2013-2017. The Web of Science is a web-based research platform that covers more than 18,000 of the most influential and authoritative scholarly journals worldwide in the sciences, social sciences, and arts and humanities.”

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/articles/subject-rankings-methodology

A brief look at your link reveals the ranking is for doctoral programs only, and is dated September of 2010. The OP is looking for a master’s program, so outdated doctoral program rankings aren’t relevant to the conversation.

This discussion of rankings between two top public universities is silly.

@HeavenGuard1 you have been accepted to two wonderful schools…congrats! Gillings is outstanding should you go that route, but so is Michigan.

Your acceptance to graduate school will NOT be based on whether you graduated from UNC or Michigan. That’s ridiculous. Nobody is going to say hmm… school A is ranked 2 spots higher than school B…therefore we will accept more applicants from school A.

Your acceptance to grad school will be based on what YOU accomplish during these four years. YOU are responsible for your grad school admissions.

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@HeavenGuard1 Hi, I’m also an international transfer and I wonder about your final decision. Thank you very much!

The OP is a transfer student, so it would only be for two years, not four for comparing costs. Also UM can be picky in accepting transfer credits, so that would be the other thing to look at.