<p>Honestly, I think the answer is pretty simple: follow the money (financial aid). </p>
<p>Both schools are peers, and you will receive an excellent education no matter where you go.</p>
<p>tenisghs has attended/is attending both schools. His opinion is solid!</p>
<p>
Thanks for the shout out, novi. :)</p>
<p>
“Peer” seems to be the current buzzword on CC…sorta like “space” on HGTV and “dish” on Top Chef/Food Network. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>rjlk, do you really need me to do the math for you? I’m not saying that the endowment per capita necessarily translates to dollar consumption on students but there is damn good correlation. northwestern’s endowment per cap (6.3B/16K students) = ~400K. umich endowment per cap ($6.6B/42K students) = ~160K. Difference, huge. Students have access to smaller classes, better resources, etc. You’re getting something for NU’s higher tuition bill. We haven’t even mentioned that you’ll have slightly better peers to work with at Northwestern - admissions to UMICH isn’t exactly competitive relatively speaking.</p>
<p>^ You also need to add UMich’s subsidy from the state, then you’re comparing apples to apples. If, for example, UMich receives $100 million a year from the state, a comparable private would need ~ $2 billion additional endowment earning about 5% annual returns to generate that income that the private doesn’t receive.</p>
<p>you have a point although i’m too lazy to look up this information. as far a fed grant money goes, i could imagine both institutions receive similar amounts (which again, means more $ per student at NU). also, if you were to account for donations in any given year that are subject to immediate spending, NU probably gets more $ than umich. there’s a lot of unknowns and the best proxy here is total endowment.</p>
<p>“Students have access to smaller classes, better resources, etc”</p>
<p>Most entry level courses at most top research universities are quite large. Does it really matter if the lecture is in front of 100 people or 300 people? Either size precludes much interaction except during the smaller discussion sessions that are oftentimes present. Upper level and/or less popular classes at Michigan will be comparable in size to those at Northwestern. I can’t say for sure that the so called resources, whatever that means exactly, will be that much stronger at NU than UM. While the student body is marginally stronger overall at NU, would that really mean a good student would be hobbled at a school like Michigan? The answer is no. I could just as easily say that Michigan has a much, much larger alumni body and is superior as a network to NU because it is truly well represented throughout the world. There are pluses and minuses both ways.</p>
<p>“also, if you were to account for donations in any given year that are subject to immediate spending, NU probably gets more $ than umich.”</p>
<p>You think that is a bonus for Northwestern? I would look at it more as a weakness.</p>
<p>" I would rather spend an additional 10-20K in tuition cost and get 10x back in resources (think ROI)."</p>
<p>This is the statement that I really have a problem with. Even tenisghs, a proud alumnus of Northwestern, would disagree with this one:</p>
<p>"Honestly, I think the answer is pretty simple: follow the money (financial aid). </p>
<p>Both schools are peers, and you will receive an excellent education no matter where you go"</p>
<p>I would take the words of someone who has attended both schools over any others. tenisghs went to NU because it actually was cheaper than going to U-M thanks for financial aid and/or scholarships. Northwestern is a great school, but it is not greater overall than Michigan IMO. They are indeed academic peers.</p>
<p>“We haven’t even mentioned that you’ll have slightly better peers to work with at Northwestern - admissions to UMICH isn’t exactly competitive relatively speaking.”</p>
<p>They will dip below 40% this year and will continue to drop now that the school has joined the common application.</p>
<p>you haven’t said anything but to inject subjectivity into everything which we’ve ALL received plenty of. i can have a reasonable conversation with UCB and we’ll all note each other’s perspective - you however, just want to argue with people.</p>
<p>edit: i will note that you do have a point on the bigger network.</p>
<p><a href=“post%20#27”>quote</a> As for your question about Engineering, I’d say Northwestern still has stronger programs. Especially based upon which field of Engineering you want to pursue. Northwestern has this awesome Architecture & Architectural Engineering degree.
[/quote]
You lost me here. I thought you were gonna discuss the various fields of engineering, you picked as an example an unconventional engineering concentration. First of all, Northwestern does not offer an “Architecture & Architectural Engineering degree”. It offers an Architecture Engineering & Design concentration in the Dept of Civil and Environmental. And why is it “awesome”? Northwestern doesn’t even have an architecture school and the program is not ABET accredited. Btw, if you are interested in architecture, go to Michigan. Michigan has the #1 ranked 4+2 architecture program.</p>
<p>" i can have a reasonable conversation with UCB and we’ll all note each other’s perspective - you however, just want to argue with people"</p>
<p>I thought this was a reasonable conversation. I guess not.</p>
<p>
Says who? Can you quote any credible sources that may support your “fact”? As a high school student, what makes you an expert in ranking engineering programs?</p>
<p>Michigan has a long history of being an engineering powerhouse … longer than Cornell and Northwestern. Michigan has the strongest industry connection and alumni (both grad and undergrad) network among the three.</p>
<p>“As a high school student, what makes you an expert in ranking engineering programs?”</p>
<p>Here is your answer:</p>
<p>“And yes, I do know a lot about Engineering programs, especially since that’s all your family talked about while your older brother was applying to Engineering schools, and that’s all your family still talks about ever since your brother was accepted into Columbia Engineering.”</p>
<p>Now who could argue with this logic? Then again I have been told repeatedly by said poster that I have a reading comprehension problem, so I guess I’m not qualified to comment.</p>
<p>Sorry rjkofnovi, I assumed you went to Novi HS since MrPrince somehow jumped to that assumption.</p>
<p>Also I regret assuming Novi was in Wayne County. I got confused since it borders Northville, which is in Wayne.</p>
<p>Who’s better-looking: Halle Berry or Cameron Diaz? I suppose a lot of people would have differing answers, none of them inherently wrong.</p>
<p>^^^Good point gadad. I knew you were thinking of N’ville and not Novi liv. Btw, N’ville High is located in a very affluent area, albeit in Wayne Co. :-)</p>
<p>[File:Northvile</a> High School.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Northvile_High_School.jpg]File:Northvile”>File:Northvile High School.jpg - Wikipedia)</p>
![http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Northvile_High_School.jpg]File:Northvile](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Northvile_High_School.jpg%5DFile:Northvile){kind=link}
<p>I was there once, and I agree that it seemed nice. Did you go to a private school then?</p>