<p>Like greetasola, I also went to Michigan many years ago, also was in the LS&A Honors Program. I never felt “lost” or “like a number”–not even once. I quickly made close friends in my residence hall, mostly on my floor which was part of an Honors house in a larger residence facility, so I was taking classes with the same people I lived with and played with. (Literally played; we had touch football games before dinner just about every afternoon, except in deep winter). Some of those people became lifelong friends and remain among my dearest friends to this day. I ended up gravitating toward a department (philosophy) where all the upper-level classes were small, and I spent most of my time in small classes, got to know my professors quite well, and they got to know me. That opened up tremendous opportunities for me at the graduate school level because Michigan’s philosophy department was then, and remains to this day, one of the very best in the country and in the world, so I was getting strong recommendations from some of the very top people in the field. And I absolutely loved every day I spent in Ann Arbor. Leaving there was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, and I know many, many Michigan alums who felt much the same.</p>
<p>I will also say that there is a large, strong, and loyal network of Michigan alumni that has opened up both social and professional opportunities for me at many stages of my life. Heck, I ended up marrying another Michigan grad, someone I didn’t know in college but who I met through mutual friends who were also Michigan grads, working in the same or related fields at the time. That social-professional network is so strong in some places (Chicago and DC come immediately to mind) that it sometimes is known as “the Michigan mafia,” which can be seen as a bit of a pejorative but ultimately I think is said with envy by those who are not part of it. </p>
<p>I don’t believe I could have gotten a better education, or had a better social experience, anywhere in the country; equal, yes, better, no. </p>
<p>I do agree with greetasola that in my profession, my graduate school credentials ultimately mean much more than my undergraduate credentials, but that is true for absolutely everyone in my field, whether they went to Harvard or an obscure liberal arts college or a big state university as an undergrad. </p>
<p>But people are different. My D1 had no interest in big schools–not just big state schools, but any research universities. She much preferred the small, intimate, nurturing setting of a small liberal arts college, and she chose, and was chosen by, one of the best. She’s getting a great education, and it’s a great fit for her. I would have found that smallness suffocating, and I would have chafed at the more limited range of course offerings. I would have also found it a bit boring because at a small college you just don’t get the same kaleidoscopic whirl of events and activities and student organizations that a bigger school can support. You get some, to be sure, but just a much more limited range of choices. I don’t doubt that my daughter made the best choice for her. And I’m just as certain I made the right choice for me.</p>