My DS was all set on going to the University of Michigan…until he found out yesterday that he was accepted to Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern. Now, he is so torn and I am wondering how he will decide. Clearly, Medill is one of the best journalism schools in the country and Northwestern is a highly ranked school. He is very interested in a career in sports — at first, his focus was narrow - sports journalism/broadcasting. He is a talented writer and is sports editor of hs paper, enjoys it, etc. However, as he has gone thru this college process, he has expanded his view of careers in sports and may be interested in sports analytics, sports management, etc…he wants to take classes in communications but also statistics, management, even Spanish – he has though about minoring in Spanish. I am not sure how flexible his curriculum can be if he is in Medill - I guess he will need to explore. He has loved University of Michigan since he was young and we have a lot of family who has gone there and he has grown up on Michigan sports. He is a huge college football/basketball enthusiast and definitely wants a school that has huge school spirit and focus on sports. I am not sure if one can turn down an acceptance to Medill though.
Does anyone have any perspective/insights into either of these schools?
As an accepted student at Medill, he can take courses in Weinberg. Your son can double or triple major at Northwestern or take a minor or two in Weinberg.
Your son has two outstanding choices so it is easy to understand why the choice is difficult.
The whole school spirit thing at NU is pretty underwhelming. The students get to go to all home games for free, & still the turnout is small & some leave at halftime. Some of the students simply dont’t care about sports, & others take their academics so seriously that they won’t spare a couple hours for a game.
NU students tend to take 4 classes per quarter, so that results in 12 classes per academic year…as opposed to (I’m guessing) typically 10 classes per academic yr at Michigan. That would tend to make dabbling in classes outside one’s major a bit easier at NU (depending on # of required classes).
Some students might pick NU over UM due to the proximity of Chicago, but in reality a lot of NU students are so busy they barely get to know the city during their time there.
I think you have to take a lot of classes outside Medill as a Medill major.
The Michigan vs Northwestern decision is always tough. I always recommend going with fit if financial concerns are addressed.
Current Michigan student here. If he is set on Journalism, definitely NU. If he is set on sports-related careers, definitely U-M. This is all not considering major fit issues.
In any other case, either school is a pretty rational choice - congratulations to you and your son!
Home football games are free at Northwestern? Are basketball games free? If so, wow.
https://nusports.com/sports/2015/3/18/GEN_201401014.aspx
Fulltime undergrads get in all home sporting events free. Just show ID. Sometimes they are so eager to get students to attend they even give them a free tshirt
I would encourage Michigan. If he loves sports that much, NU will not satisfy him.
Some people are going to assume NU is more elite because of its higher ranking in some lists, & its lower acceptance rate. But some international rankings have UM ranked higher, & my kid who graduated from NU recently said it was not unusual to meet students there who had been rejected by Michigan as out-of-state applicants.
@moooop : International rankings are usually based on graduate research. Michigan has the second highest research budget–behind JHU–among US national universities. Therefore, for undergraduate study, the international rankings are
largely irrelevant.
If still undecided, then buy sweatshirts from both schools, try them on & go with the better fit.
I’m aware of that. Also aware that the difference in ranking in undergrad -focused rankings like USNews is usually small enough to be not very significant either. It’s just that some impressionable people here are easily swayed by rankings, & I was making sure they knew that even with rankings there isn’t a clear-cut favorite between these two.
Thank you all for your input. We are going to Admitted Students Day at Northwestern in 2 weeks and have already visited Michigan. I think he will make decision based on fit and feel after that.
@slb176 - Both are great schools. I would recommend Northwestern because it is more exclusive / elite at the undergraduate level. Most students at Michigan cannot get into Northwestern, except maybe the top 10-20%. Top 10 in USNews vs. Top 30. And now to SAT / ACT scores, Northwestern has had significantly higher scores for many many years compared to Michigan. About a 100 point difference in SAT average until the last year, when scores have been re-centered (causing the scores to converge towards the top). And it is not just about test scores when it comes to exclusive, elite admissions - Harvard could enroll a class with a 1600 perfect SAT average. They are looking for very talented, unique individuals. Northwestern / Duke / Dartmouth, Stanford, etc. could similarly enroll a class with a 1550 SAT average if they wanted to but UMichigan could not. Go look at the RD decisions threads for these schools and you’ll see a ton of students with 1500+ SAT scores / 34+ ACT scores (with perfect grades) rejected on the regular.
Northwestern is significantly more impressive on the pedigree level / resume. Why would you pay the same amount of $$$$ to go to a large public school (which is still awesome but not quite the same level as NW) when you can go an elite private school with more resources, a higher caliber student body, smaller classes, etc. It is extremely easy to switch out of Medill and go into WCAS. I think this is a no brainer to go Northwestern if money is no issue. If Michigan was giving a large scholarship, then I would say Michigan could be a great option. But, in this instance, I would go to Northwestern and switch to WCAS after a quarter. Or double major, etc. UMichigan alums will disagree here but if money is not a factor, 90% of students are choosing NW over UMichigan. Good luck and congrats on the acceptances.
“Northwestern is significantly more impressive on the pedigree level / resume.”
NU is not Stanford.
“UMichigan alums will disagree here but if money is not a factor, 90% of students are choosing NW over UMichigan.“
I also disagree with this statement. Michigan offers enough things that NU cannot match. You make it sound as if these schools are not comparable in any way. I’m not saying that perhaps the majority of students accepted at both places might choose NU, but you make it sound like it’s not even close. Furthermore, the nonsense about Michigan being a public school so therefore it cannot compete with a private school is ridiculous.
I’m also in the go by fit camp. Academics will be solid at both but there is a big difference in feel of the school and location.
The ol’ “state schools can’t compete with private schools” thing is a Northeast cliche that people there grow up believing because their state schools are all outclassed by a few local privates.
My kid loved Northwestern, & as a parent I have nothing but great things to say about it. The administration is courteous & efficient; the president is visionary and inspiring. But several of kiddo’s friends spent weekends in Ann Arbor visiting high school chums who were attending UM…they all came back raving about how great the town & people were. Evanston is beautiful, & Chicago is spectacular. But neither has a college town atmosphere like Ann Arbor has, so in many ways NU & UM are apples & oranges. But, they are in the same league, literally & figuratively.
I went to NU and as a non-journalism major, I was still active at WNUR Sports. One of my fraternity brothers is a major personality on ESPN. Another guy down the hall from me sophomore year is now a major anchor on the Big Ten Network. Point being that if you work hard (and those guys really did), you can be a very successful sports journalist coming out of Northwestern,