The one you can afford.
Both schools will get you to where you want to go. Both are national brands especially for engineering.
We came down to UIUC (instate), Purdue and Michigan. All excellent schools for in our case, engineering.
For our family paying a bit more for Michigan was the correct decision. For other families the other 2 are the correct decision. It’s kinda hard to tell others what to do when we don’t know the personal things involved.
Yeah. My grandson was accepted to Purdue but, of course, his first choice is Michigan. Still waiting to hear. My view is that for some reason you decide not to stay in engineering, the Michigan degree in other majors (e.g., economics, political science, biology, etc.) carries a lot more weight than from Purdue. But, what do I know. I graduated from Michigan in 1980 with a PhD.
Purdue Aerospace best in the country. Most number of astronauts from Purdue
Purdue was my D’s #1 choice through her whole process (she’s a junior chem e now). She was deferred in EA from Michigan and opted not to send a LOCI or midterm grades because they weren’t her top choice and she’s have to “lie” that she was still interested (her word, not mine).
FWIW, I think she had a silly reason for putting Michigan at #2 on her list - she didn’t like the split campus. She had a very long commute in HS and hated the idea of having to go back and forth between main and engineering for a couple of semesters. Also didn’t help that she grew up in OH which has an intense rivalry with “that school up North”. ; ).
There were other reasons too which I’m happy to answer in a PM and not take up space on the UM thread but carry on!
I think that’s definitely true. At Purdue, engineering is the center of their universe. If you have a student not 100% sure on Engineering (or CS), Michigan is much more well regarded in their other majors. I also believe they make it easier to switch as well.
No question. But it’s not Michigan’s sucks either… Lol… 2 years ago I met students that made an augmented reality helmet prototype for Nasa. I got to try it and play with it a few days before it was sent to Nasa. Nasa gave them a large grant to develop this for them…
My son also got into GT engineering so we are in comparison mode. He is leaning towards U-M at this point but it’s hard to ignore the lower cost of GT. We are OOS for both schools.
When my older child went through the process a few years ago, the accepted student days really helped tremendously. Walking the campuses, sitting in the classrooms, and interacting with potential classmates really helped us all evaluate “fit”. The 2021 kids are really missing out by doing this evaluation virtually. (No fault of the schools…totally understand why it’s got to be this way.)
As for GT vs U-M…we’d be OK with paying more for Michigan if it truly is a better fit for him. The challenging part is trying to figure that out from a screen in our living room!
Michigan is top 10 in about 40 majors. It’s not just known for engineering, business and medicine, law . This is what makes it a special public school and an absolute instate bargain.
Pm me if you need some help. GT is amazing. To me it comes down to costs that you can afford. BTW - my son was wait listed by GT and to us that was a win 
. Now he just signed for an engineering job and GT has an internship there. So maybe this Michigan grad can help educate a GT student that the school rejected. It all comes full circle… Lol. OK, way off topic… 
D21 was accepted to Purdue Engineering and Honors College, deferred from UM. Both are OOS for us. There was a time when she preferred one over the other; as she has learned more and considered both schools, it’s a toss up. The extra $80K+ for UM stings a bit, especially since her anticipated major (Industrial Engineering) is essentially ranked the same at both schools. Part of me wants her to get in to UM, part of me doesn’t. Financially, Purdue is the clear winner. Academically, I’m not sure - she’s used to being around academically competitive students, which she’ll find throughout UM, but I think Purdue is providing her with a good opportunity to have that environment in her everyday world. Of course, if she ends up switching majors, we’ll have wished she had gone to UM. The struggle is real!
Pm me. My son is now graduating in Industrial at Michigan. Purdue this year took Michigan’s #2 spot in Industrial… They paid off someone since Michigan had that forever… . GT is #1.
I know more about industrial then I should… So if you need information pm me
Funny this is my issue also with Purdue. It is phenomenal for everything Engineering l, my kid is in for CS so similar result but it just doesn’t seem versatile enough. My son is less interested in Michigan however I think UM may offer him more options and the campus is also a lot more diverse which is also something I like. On the flip side, Purdue is smaller and did Covid right!
My son also doesn’t like the idea of engineering at UM being on a different campus. But they assured us on our tour when my other kids looked it’s not a big deal. Although our drive over did seem longer than it should be so who knows? Maybe it was my driving lol.
So getting from North to Central campus. It all depends on perspective. It’s about 20 minutes via the busses that run a lot more busses now. We live in the city of Chicago. Both my kids took a El Train to a bus daily about 45 minute each way. So taking a bus 15 - 20 minutes is actually saving him time. It seems suburban kids that drive everywhere have a bigger issue with this actually.
But it’s a small price to pay for some of the best research facilities anywhere…with opportunities to match.
If I sent you pictures of my son’s on North campus walk to classes you would think you where on vacation. It’s actually very woodsy and beautiful. Not going to see actual deer on Central campus walking to classes now are you. 
Any idea when deferred decisions are expected to start coming out?
Either this Friday with the wave of Ross decisions or next Friday. Really hoping it is this week.
How would you rate UM for pre-med?
How is UMich for pre law?
Well, according to this link, there are 45 LSA programs that are among the Top 10:
And that doesn’t include Ross, CoE, Nursing, Kinesiology, etc. all of which are top notch as well. So, I’d think they’re OK for pre-med and pre-law, which BTW, aren’t majors.
My two cents on interviews just as an FYI. I have a good friend who is a regional interviewer for Dartmouth - he’s an alum - in Florida. He will tell you his interview recommendation will not get a kid accepted, BUT he can absolutely torpedo your chances if you’re rude, uninterested or unprofessional. His recommendation is always take the opportunity to interview if offered, be on time, be professional and prepared, ask good questions and be yourself.
I will also tell you three interviewing tips to share with your kid that I advise everyone to practice in a working environment, as well. 1 - show enthusiasm and interest in the school/job/opportunity. 2 - be prepared to conduct your own interview - these people tend not to interview for a living so have questions ready to go to help get the ball rolling or ask clarifiers to keep the conversation on topic. 3 - try to make it a discussion - you shouldn’t feel like you’ve been interrogated and you shouldn’t feel like you conducted an hour long lecture, it should be a back and forth discussion of sharing and learning.
Excellent tips!!!