Which one should I choose? UMich or WUSTL

College Search & Selection
21

<p>

Michigan is superior to most universities in most subjects, but its yield is still 40%. Graduate rankings aren’t everything.</p>

<p>WUStL isn’t exactly chopped liver, you know. It has a top 15 political science program, and the econ program is top 30. WUStL may not be taking the Supreme Court by storm, but I think you’d find a hefty percentage of seniors and graduates regularly find jobs. </p>

<p>Just going by rankings alone, Duke would likewise be an “obvious” choice for someone instead of WUStL, but they are entirely different universities and should be treated as such. I would be loath to adamantly insist on someone choosing Duke, because though I love it dearly, it (like any school) is not for everyone. Simplifying such a complex process as college selection into a one-size-fits-all approach is absurd.</p>

<p>Soundwave - As UCBChemEGrad rightfully pointed out, finances are a key factor, especially since you seem to be OOS for Michigan. How do the packages compare?</p>

<p>In the end, none of us can tell you where to go. Visit both. Go to the open houses. Stay with a current student. Talk with professors and fellow admitted students. You are almost certainly bound to like one more than the other.</p>

22

<p>I am aware that there are a lot of factors to consider in choosing a college. However, when it comes down to subject rep alone, it is clear that UMich is superior to WUStL on areas that the OP are particularly interested in. WUStL is a fantastic school for undergrad, and maybe is a more desirable school for the OP if s/he is looking for a small crowd school. But that’s not what I was talking about. I was merely pointing out the strength of the programs/fields in which UMIch is stronger.</p>

23

<p>

Uh… What does that mean? Is Michigan’s yield good or bad? Here’s how Michigan compare against some of its peers (source: USNWR data):</p>

<p>% Yield
Dartmouth 49%
Michigan 46%
Cornell 46%
Duke 40%
Northwestern 32%
WUSTL 30%
Emory 28%</p>

24

<p>Both schools are excellent. In such a case, I recommend the student visit the campuses and go with fit.</p>

25

<p>very sadly… I am an int’l, which means costs are same and I can’t visit the campus.</p>

<p>That’s why I turned to your guys for suggestions</p>

26

<p>But anyway, thx guys for the useful suggestion.</p>

<p>As some said, it is me who decide which to go, so I think I’ll figure out</p>

27

<p>“Michigan is superior to most universities in most subjects”</p>

<p>What I’ve been stating here on CC for three years…</p>

28

<p>"So how exactly cold Michigan will be during winter? From the place I came from, 42F is considered as the lowest temperature… "</p>

<p>42F would be a nice warm day high in the middle of January. There is no denying that Michigan is cold in the winter, but St. Louis is also in the midwest and it doesn’t exactly have mild winters either. It’s funny how so many people bring up how tough the weather is here, but ignore similiar weather conditions on the east coast. How do people stand Harvard and MIT when the weather gets rotten in the Boston area?</p>

29

<p>If you are an international student, I would recommend Michigan over WUSTL. </p>

<p>Michigan: Better international reputation, larger international student population, traditional college experience, downtown Ann Arbor has many diverse restaurants and shops, renowned international institute + top-ranked area/language studies majors</p>

30

<p>And Detroit Metro usually has much better connecting flights with international destinations, including nonstop flights to many parts of Asia (definitely Shanghai and Tokyo) and Europe (Paris, Amsterdam, London and Frankfurt). This may not seem like a big deal, but after a 7-13 hour flight across the Atlantic or Pacific, the last thing you want to do is get on a 3-4 hour flight from one of the Coasts to get back to campus.</p>

31

<p>Alexandre, u r so right.</p>

<p>Last time when I was an exchange student in Portland, no direct flight from my city to there. It took me 20 hours on planes and it devastated me.</p>

32

<p>Ok. another question, about internship.</p>

<p>I know Detroit is kinda going down now, so is it easy to find internship in UMich? How about WUSTL?</p>

33

<p>Soundwave, most U-M students have no difficulties finding internships. Although I’m a graduate student, my peers have secured national and international summer internships easily due to U-M’s excellent academic reputation. Therefore, its location is not a detriment to finding work.</p>

34

<p>Can those ppl who claimed that UMich is better than WUSTL in those two areas that OP is interested in post a link to support the statement? I just want to make sure that we’re not talking about graduate programs.</p>

35

<p>To the OP, why are you choosing to attend college? Do you want to get a job right after or join a graduate program?</p>

<p>If it’s the former, then I would suggest WUSTL since it’s a more prestigious school than UMich and its name will carry more weight than a UMich degree since employers know they are dealing with smarter kids. If you want to go to grad school in political science or economics, then I would suggest Michigan because it has a stronger faculty/department in your two areas of interest and that should be of great help.</p>

36

<p>lesdiablesbleus, can you provide evidence of WUSTL’s clear reputational superiority? I have not seen a single “prestige” ranking that places WUSTL over Michigan, let alone by a significant margin.</p>

37

<p>I know that Wash U sends more kids to the to top med school than Michigan on an absolute basis and blows UMich away on a per capita basis. I will provide the data for Harvard and JHU med when I get some time to corroborate my claim.</p>

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<p>lesdiablesbleus, the OP never said he was pre-med. Therefore, your statement is irrelevant here.</p>

39

<p>lesdiablesbleus, I look forward to your numbers for Medical school admissions. While you are at it, keep in mind that 50 or so Michigan students enroll into its own, top 10 Medical school each year. Finally, per capita numbers are not indicative of quality because do not factor in the schools’ varrying undergraduate academic focus. I am almost certain that WUSTL has far more premed students than Michigan. Only 10% of Michigan students are premed.</p>

<p>But even then, I find it hard to believe that WUSTL is much better at placing undergrads into top graduate schools. Michigan’s placement into top Law schools competes nicely with the likes of Cornell, Georgetown and Penn. Below is a comparison of admissions into the top 14 Law schools in the nation:</p>

<p>YALE UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL:
Cornell University: N/A
Georgetown University: 49 applied, 1 admitted, 2% acceptance rate
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor: 33 applied, 3 admitted, 9% acceptance rate
University of Pennsylvania: 62 applied, 5 admitted, 5% acceptance rate </p>

<p>HARVARD UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL:
Cornell University: 138 applied, 14 admitted, 10% acceptance rate
Georgetown University: 114 applied, 14 admitted, 12% acceptance rate
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor: 104 applied, 17 admitted, 16% acceptance rate
University of Pennsylvania: 152 applied, 21 admitted, 17% acceptance rate</p>

<p>STANFORD UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL:
Cornell University: N/A
Georgetown University: 74 applied, 5 admitted, 7% acceptance rate
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor: 54 applied, 6 admitted, 11% acceptance rate
University of Pennsylvania: 98 applied, 8 admitted, 8% acceptance rate</p>

<p>COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL:
Cornell University: 186 applied, 31 admitted, 17% acceptance rate
Georgetown University: 142 applied, 33 admitted, 23% acceptance rate
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor: 129 applied, 22 admitted, 17% acceptance rate
University of Pennsylvania: 217 applied, 51 admitted, 23% acceptance rate</p>

<p>NEW YORK UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL:
Cornell University: 185 applied, 40 admitted, 22% acceptance rate
Georgetown University: 133 applied, 36 admitted, 27% acceptance rate
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor: 131 applied, 25 admitted, 19% acceptance rate
University of Pennsylvania: 196 applied, 63 admitted, 32% acceptance rate</p>

<p>UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-BERKELEY LAW SCHOOL
Cornell University: 125 applied, 18 admitted, 14% acceptance rate
Georgetown University: 101 applied, 9 admitted, 9% acceptance rate
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor: 109 applied, 12 admitted, 11% acceptance rate
University of Pennsylvania: 111 applied, 21 admitted, 19% acceptance rate</p>

<p>UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO LAW SCHOOL:
Cornell University: 98 applied, 23 admitted, 23% acceptance rate
Georgetown University: 76 applied, 11 admitted, 14% acceptance rate
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor: 100 applied, 16 admitted, 16% acceptance rate
University of Pennsylvania: 96 applied, 34 admitted, 35% acceptance rate</p>

<p>UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA LAW SCHOOL:
Cornell University: 152 applied, 31 admitted, 20% acceptance rate
Georgetown University: 100 applied, 16 admitted, 16% acceptance rate
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor: 100 applied, 13 admitted, 13% acceptance rate
University of Pennsylvania: 251 applied, 64 admitted, 25% acceptance rate </p>

<p>UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN-ANN ARBOR LAW SCHOOL:
Cornell University: 133 applied, 28 admitted, 21% acceptance rate
Georgetown University: 88 applied, 21 admitted, 24% acceptance rate
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor: 324 applied, 91 admitted, 28% acceptance rate
University of Pennsylvania: 113 applied, 36 admitted, 32% acceptance rate</p>

<p>NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL:
Cornell University: N/A
Georgetown University: 94 applied, 20 admitted, 21% acceptance rate
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor: 135 applied, 23 admitted, 17% acceptance rate
University of Pennsylvania: 104 applied, 31 admitted, 30% acceptance rate</p>

<p>UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA LAW SCHOOL:
Cornell University: 128 applied, 32 admitted, 25% acceptance rate
Georgetown University: 101 applied, 22 admitted, 22% acceptance rate
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor: 95 applied, 25 admitted, 26% acceptance rate
University of Pennsylvania: 101 applied, 22 admitted, 22% acceptance rate </p>

<p>CORNELL UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL:
Cornell University: 229 applied, 70 admitted, 31% acceptance rate
Georgetown University: 74 applied, 31 admitted, 42% acceptance rate
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor: 78 applied, 22 admitted, 28% acceptance rate
University of Pennsylvania: 87 applied, 29 admitted, 33% acceptance rate </p>

<p>DUKE UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL:
Cornell University: 147 applied, 50 admitted, 34% acceptance rate
Georgetown University: 94 applied, 31 admitted, 33% acceptance rate
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor: 95 applied, 28 admitted, 29% acceptance rate
University of Pennsylvania: 120 applied, 40 admitted, 33% acceptance rate</p>

<p>GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL:
Cornell University: 245 applied, 66 admitted, 27% acceptance rate
Georgetown University: 323 applied, 95 admitted, 29% acceptance rate
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor: 194 applied, 39 admitted, 20% acceptance rate
University of Pennsylvania: 241 applied, 84 admitted, 35% acceptance rate </p>

<p>[Law</a> School Admission Statistics for Georgetown Students (2007/2006)](<a href=“Cawley Career Education Center | Georgetown University”>Cawley Career Education Center | Georgetown University)</p>

<p>[Career</a> Services, University of Pennsylvania](<a href=“http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/gradprof/law/law_stats.html]Career”>http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/gradprof/law/law_stats.html)</p>

<p>[College</a> of Literature, Science, and the Arts | Students](<a href=“http://www.lsa.umich.edu/advising/advisor/prelaw/um_stats]College”>http://www.lsa.umich.edu/advising/advisor/prelaw/um_stats)</p>

<p><a href=“Career Services | Student & Campus Life | Cornell University”>Career Services | Student & Campus Life | Cornell University; (scroll to the bottom of the document)</p>

<p>I do not have similar stats for admissions for WUSTL, but I doubt that they do much better than Michigan, since Cornell, Georgetown and Penn do not. </p>

<p>I also do not have similar data for Medical school admissions, but I know that a ridiculously high number of Michigan students enroll into Michigan’s top ranked Medical school annually.</p>

<p>Although I cannot find the link, I remember seeing Michigan among the top 10 most represented undergraduate institutions at HBS, Wharton MBA and Kellogg. WUSTL did not do as well.</p>

<p>Finally, there was also a WSJ survey on placement into top 5 MBA programs, top 5 Medical schools and top 5 Law schools conducted back in 2004. I think the study was very superficial, but if memory serves, Michigan did slightly better than WUSTL. That study alone does not prove anything, but given the fact that Michigan’s undergraduate student population (like Cal, Caltech, Cornell, Rice etc…) is not very pre-professional, its doing as well as it did was impressive.</p>

40

<p>

U-M Medical School class profile:</p>

<p>Number of students in the class: 170 </p>

<p>Undergraduate Colleges Attended:
MI Institutions Represented: 10
University of Michigan Students: 51
Harvard: 9
Duke: 8
Notre Dame: 6
U Virginia, MIT, U Wash, MI State, Yale: 4</p>