<p>I have to send in my apps by Dec THIS YEAR! so yeah, this is pretty urgent. I just went to the college fair today and fell in love with USC. But the rankings say that UMich is better! Where should I apply to?
Since I attend a British school, I'm only allowed to apply for 6 universities, so I have to choose between UMich or USC! Please help!!!!!!!!!
Btw, I'm thinking of doing architecture or engineering!!!!!!!!! PANIC!</p>
<p>Only 6 schools? What a strange rule...</p>
<p>I'm partial to USC for engineering (and overall experience), but the Michigan name is probably a tad bit better. </p>
<p>I would say that with two schools of such similar calibur, you need to consider what you want in a location.</p>
<p>USC= Los Angeles= no seasons, perpetual spring/summer
Michigan= Ann Arbor= real seasons, cold winter. </p>
<p>Both are great schools, and I think you should look at the externalities a bit.</p>
<p>Both schools are good. Michigan is indeed ranked higher, but if you feel you would be happier at USC (assuming you visited both campuses and really did your homework on both schools), then you should apply to USC.</p>
<p>Alexandre,</p>
<p>What's your opinion on the weather in Ann Arbor? As bad as I've been told?</p>
<p>hoenstly... i liek what both schools offer. i hear that they both provide a wide range of activities in which i can participate. usc seems liek it has more school pride, but then again, umich has distinct seasons, which i prefer to just moderate climate of cali. the pros and cons of both schools just balance each other out! so if i want to go for engineering/architecture (either of the two) where should i go?</p>
<p>That's still tough. Both are fairly similar in terms of quality in both. I would consider actually looking into local activities more.</p>
<p>Neither town really strikes me as a place with exceptional mass transit (LA I know for sure doesn't have jack.) However, I would argue that while you may not (in theory) like LA's moderate weather, you may not be saying that when it's freezing cold in the winter.</p>
<p>Even though everyone says that LA's weather is "boring," nobody complains in the winter.</p>
<p>UCLAri, Michigan's winter's are cold and long, but they are not bad at all. I grew up in the UAE. I had never seen cold weather in my life. I was used to 100+ temperatures for 80% of the year and my winters were 65-85 degrees. So to answer your question, no, Michigan winters are not bad at all.</p>
<p>Jenni, I doubt any university in the World has more spirit or pride than Michigan. USC and Michigan are pretty equal when it comes to alumni relations and school spririt and school pride and both are unbeatable in that respect.</p>
<p>The only short answer to this question is too drop both and apply to Stanford ;)</p>
<p>Really, both school are on par with each other when it comes to those areas of study, UMich has one up when it comes to engineering.</p>
<p>I'll tell you that both schools are extreme when it comes to pride, you wont see a shortage of Wolverine fans in any sport, but for football, USC takes the cake.</p>
<p>Really, it will come down to campuses, atmosphere, and whether you're partial to LA or Detroit.</p>
<p>Cre8tive, I agree with much of what you say. However, there are two points I do not agree with:</p>
<p>1) USC is in LA, but Michigan is not in Detroit. Ann Arbor and Detroit are completely different.</p>
<p>2) USC does not take the cake when it comes to Football. USC has done great the last 4 or 5 seasons, but the 90s and 80s were nothing special. USC is special when it comes to football (and other sports too), but is no different from Alabama, Michigan, Nebraska, Notre Dame and Texas and several others.</p>
<p>For further information and somewhat biased opinions why don't you pose your question here:</p>
<p>For USC--<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/forumdisplay.php?f=401">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/forumdisplay.php?f=401</a>
For Michigan--<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/forumdisplay.php?f=47">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/forumdisplay.php?f=47</a></p>
<p>Note that Alexandre is the mod for the Michigan forum.</p>
<p>Jenni, choose USC. You can't beat the weather. The campus is a perfect size. It's beautiful and warm most of the year. School spirit is enormous. Every type of student you can imagine, you'll find there. L.A. has problems but if you want to be in a place that's on the cutting edge of the way the world is going, and you don't mind traffic and all the aspects of big city life, chose L.A. any day. That's what I told my son and he chose Wisconsin?!? O.K. as an SC alum, I've had my say.</p>
<p>Sort of the opposite here.</p>
<p>My money comes from Wisconsin, but it goes to USC (with my son.)</p>
<p>How's USC on par with Michigan in engineering and architecture?</p>
<p>In California, the best engineering schools are Stanford and Berkeley. The best architecture school is probably Cal Poly SLO.</p>
<p>Michigan is a traditional engineering powerhouse and ranks somewhere between 5th and 15th in architecture. USC trails in both fields.</p>
<p>Engineering fields are not one and the same. Good engineering schools are not equally strong in all engineering. What engineering are you interested in?</p>
<p>Having said that, if you feel that you will be happier at USC and southern california, go to USC.</p>
<p>p.s. How is it that USC has more school pride? You will have a hard time telling that to the 117,000 fans filling the Big House every Saturday.</p>
<p>OKAY, let me chime in.</p>
<p>I've lived in Ann Arbor for 18 years. It's not bad weather. I have a friend who moved up from Florida and was surprised that it's not as cold as he thought it would be. You get to experience it all here, you get to go sledding (yay!), yet in the summer go to a lake. In L.A., it's just all the same.</p>
<p>Ann Arbor isn't Detroit. It's 45 minutes west of Detroit. It's not even a suburb of Detroit. It's it's own town basically, centered around the university, yet big enough to offer more than just the university. It's a much wealthier and prettier place that Detroit.</p>
<p>Don't go by school rankings! The college that is best is the one that you want to go to the most. Michigan and USC are both very good schools. If you want engineering, then obviously Michigan will be better. But if you are undecided, both schools have a plethora of majors to choose from.</p>
<p>Also, about the school pride. Michigan football games are practically silent. Besides the 10,000 students, everyone is just old alumni who talks about their jobs and what they did over the summer. It's not an intimidating place. Hockey games are 10x better!</p>
<p>
[quote]
In California, the best engineering schools are Stanford and Berkeley.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>True, but the the OP wasn't asking about UCB or Stanford. What you didn't point out is that USC's graduate program was rated 7th nationally one step below Michigan. I believe the undergrad program is somewhat lower, but I don't know the rank, and I don't know where Michigan's undergrad program ranks.</p>
<p>
[quote]
US News & World Report Ranks Viterbi School</p>
<h1>3 Among Private Schools and #7 Overall
[/quote]
</h1>
<p>Bottom line--there isn't much difference between the two schools academically or in terms of school spirit although Michigan is probably better overall academically. Choose which one feels right to you.</p>
<p>Rankings aren't that important. There is very little difference between the top 10 and the next 15 or so programs. At the undergraduate level, Michigan is generally ranked anywhere between #5 and #8 (#6 according to the 2006 USNWR undergraduate rankings), USC is generally ranked anywhere between #25 and #35 (#31 according to the 2006 USNWR undergraduate rankings). </p>
<p>I agree with Tsdad, one should go for fit.</p>
<p>
[QUOTE]
1) USC is in LA, but Michigan is not in Detroit. Ann Arbor and Detroit are completely different
[/QUOTE]
I know that University of Michigan is not in Detroit, just like Boston College is not in Boston, both schools are less then ten miles from their respective city.</p>
<p>If you're speaking of downtown, that is different, but Ann Arbor is next door to Detroit, like Newton (BC) and Cambridge (Harvard, MIT) are next door to Boston, like Long Island is next door to NYC.</p>
<p>For instance, you can say American University is in DC, but your roughly 5-6 miles from the Capital, once you get past Georgetown, it doesn't even feel like Washington D.C. anymore, or atleast what you're expecting.</p>
<p>Few would ever consider UMass Boston to be in Boston, you're in Dorchester, nothing like Boston, but what you consider Boston varys to many, same with many other cities like NYC and San Francisco.</p>
<p>It all depends on how this guy envisions being in a city... metro area, downtown urban campus, proximity, for most, being on the outskirts with subway/transit access means you're in the city. To others, if you want a school in NYC, St. Johns wouldn't count b/c it's not on Manhattan Island, go figure.</p>
<h2>I'm in Framingham, a good 45 minute drive to downtown Boston, but we are still in Boston Metro, the T-Station is down the street. Whether I am a Bostonian is debatable.</h2>
<p>
[QUOTE]
2) USC does not take the cake when it comes to Football. USC has done great the last 4 or 5 seasons, but the 90s and 80s were nothing special. USC is special when it comes to football (and other sports too), but is no different from Alabama, Michigan, Nebraska, Notre Dame and Texas and several others.
[/QUOTE]
</p>
<p>I was speaking in terms of school pride and spirit, both have great school pride but only a handful of schools can show more pride at a college football game than USC, Michigan is not one of them.</p>
<p>Botton line, what I just spouted is meaningless, all is debatable and up to personal opinion, and the one whose opinion matters is Jenni's. :CRICKET SOUNDS: Tsdad basically summed it up, you will get quality from both schools, we need to know what will fit you, so tell us mroe about what you want.</p>
<p>You are wrong Cre8tive. Downtown Ann Arbor is more than 50 miles from downtown Detroit. You have to drive on a major highway for close to an hour at 75 miles an hour to get to Detroit from Ann Arbor. Comparing Ann Arbor/Detroit to Chestnut Hill/Boston or Evanston/Chicago or Berkeley/San Francisco or Cambridge/Boston is not correct. Ann Arbor and Detroit are not connected in any way.</p>
<p>Let me put it another way. Detroit's Westernmost suburbs are about 40 miles away from Ann Arbor's Easternmost suburbs. </p>
<p>As for football spirit, I guess we will have to disagree. I think Michigan and USC both have a lot of school spirit when it comes to football.</p>
<p>This reminds me of a conversation I had with a young man who was trying to chose between Stanford and Princeton. All I said, was why would you go to Princeton when you can go to Stanford. Why would you not want to be in Ca? He went to Stanford and I still get gifts sent to me from his Mom. He was one happy guy. California culture and the weather can't be beat. I don't live there. I like to experience other things. Now if you are a Californian, go to Michigan or Princeton. But if you have never been there......</p>
<p>Why don't you apply to both? They are both extremely competitive. USC has the best football team in the country, hands down.</p>