<p>Clarification to the above statement. Michigan has over 460,000 living alumni now.</p>
<p>and the football stadium only has 104,000 seats.</p>
<p>There will be over 108,000 seats when renovations are completed. Actual the capacity of the stadium now is 106,201.</p>
<p>
Choosing Michigan for undergrad makes sense in the Midwest, but will you seriously choose Michigan over Berkeley for graduate/professional study?? Berkeley has top-5 programs in almost every single field. ;)</p>
<p>UCB, I know you were pulling Tenisghs’ leg, but I think Ross and Michigan Law do ok against Haas and Boalt. With the exception of Electrical Engineering, Civil Engineeering or Chemical Engineering, I would pick Michigan’s professional programs over Cal because they are equal in terms of quality and I prefer Ann Arbor to Berkeley. Furthermore, for several Social Sciences (Anthropology, Political Science, Psychology and Sociology) and Humanities (Classics, Philosophy and International Studies), I would also say Michigan would hold equal appeal to Cal. Finally, Michigan excels (top 5 nationally) in several specialty professional programs, such as Social Work (which Tenisghs is enrolled in), Public Health, Music, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Nursing, Public Affairs and Library Science.</p>
<p>Plus Michigan has it’s own top rated medical school. We don’t have to claim a campus in another city as our “de facto” college. ;-)</p>
<p>^ Haha…well, that’s true…but UCSF is top 5. </p>
<p>Alex, thanks for the Michigan PSA. ;)</p>
<p>Anytime UCB! hehe! Actually, now that I look back on post #65, I feel like I really did a poor job making my case. I am losing my touch.</p>
<p>In the real world, there is very little difference that separates Berkeley and Michigan. They’re like Oxford and Cambridge or Princeton and Yale or UCLA and USC or Chicago and Northwestern. It’s only on CC that people seem to put more emphasis on minute differences. :)</p>
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<p>I’m not underestimating Michigan at all. I have typically been a Michigan “defender” on CC. It’s a great school. I am making the point, however, that it comes across more than a little silly when people who live in one region of the country assume that the big names in their region are universal. “Look, I go to Michigan – why, everyone just bows down to Michigan!”</p>
<p>Pizzagirl doesn’t seem to recognize that there’s a difference between “someone disagreeing with me” and “someone asking me to bowing down”. It seems to be one of her most favorite phrases…</p>
<p>As an east coaster UVA was a shade more prestigious for undergrad but overall the win went to Michigan.</p>
<p>Pizzagirl, I don’t believe Michigan is universally received as the best university in all regions. I believe Michigan is perceived as having a good national academic reputation. My incoming graduate school peers (who are coming from places as far as Maine, California, India, and China, too many to list) in my two programs proves I am correct. They believe the Michigan degree will carry them far and well after they graduate. I can be in California, New York, Florida, and Texas, and recruiters know that Michigan is a top university. Michigan alumni are virtually everywhere. I can’t say the same for schools such as UVA and UNC (excellent in the east, but their reputations are more regional and lack top professional programs.)</p>
<p>^ eh. Georgetown is wonderful if you want famous people in politics, but I’m willing to bet it’s list is not quite as impressive when looking for top scientists, top doctos, top mathematicians, top writers, top historians, top archaeologists, etc.</p>
<p>Part of the reason why Georgetown is not nearly there yet for being considered on the same academic prestige levels as, say, Duke or Stanford. It does have quite a lot of celebrity-like politicians and diplomats…but outside of that realm, it’s really not very known for producing academics, which is where primary-academic prestige comes from.</p>
<p>Of course, it is a great school and in the larger scheme of things, it is definitely as prestigious as the ivies.</p>
<p>However, just felt like pointing that out </p>
<p>edit: academics also include faculty which have academic prestige. </p>
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<p>Last edited by Hope2getrice; Yesterday at 03:24 PM</p>
<p>I wonder if this poster would actually have the guts to go up to John Guare, Douglas Brinkley, Solomon Snyder, Alan Von Eshenbach or Susan Hockfield and tell them how second rate they are since they are alumni of Georgetown.</p>
<p>Wahoo - I agree, Michigan was so easy to get into, it kind of surprised me. I’m OOS (int’l) and wrote my app the day before the rolling deadline (feb 1) on a whim because every other Asian in my grade was freaking out over their decisions, and I had space to apply to another school. I have great grades and my SAT was okay but I wouldn’t consider myself one of the top students at my school. I got in before everyone else did, all the 3.9-ers and what not, and some of them even got rejected. I was flattered and considered possibly going there but it didn’t seem like they put much thought into reading my app. I was actually a bit put off…there were grammar mistakes all over my essays, and I didn’t put in THAT much effort. Then again this is coming from someone who likes a challenge.</p>
<p>Also, coming from an Asian who lived overseas, Michigan is well known for sure, but its international reputation mostly came from experiences based on its strong graduate programs. Lots of Asians (disclaimer: I’m only speaking for the greater Chinese population though) head over to the US for grad school, and with it’s top grad programs, Michigan is a natural choice along with the Ivies, Berkeley, Stanford, etc. And then of course if you add in the typical stereotype of the neurotic Asian parent who studied in the US or have relatives/friends who studied/knew people that studied in the US, the word about Michigan gets around pretty fast. While I agree that Mich is a top university in the US, one of the best publics even, I feel that its undergraduate reputation can be bit overrated. Just my two cents.</p>
<p>"California Institute of Technology
Duke University
Johns Hopkins University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Northwestern University
Stanford University
University of California-Berkeley
University of Chicago
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
University of Virginia</p>
<p>Honorable mention
Georgetown University
New York University
Rice University
University of California-Los Angeles
University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
University of Notre Dame
University of Southern California
University of Texas-Austin
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Vanderbilt University
Washington University-St Louis"</p>
<p>Not a bad list. I would move Georgetown up into the first list, and I’d move UIUC, UW-Madison, and UT-Austin off of the honorable mention list entirely… I would put them a step lower (in terms of prestige only) with some of the other “public ivies” and lesser known privates like UWashington, George Washington, UFlorida, Penn State, etc.</p>
<p>Oh and about the whole overall national/global reputation thing…true, going to a big-name school might mean better job prospects or grad school placement. Might. I love to learn, I’m in college right now with the purpose of learning and exploring new things. It would be great if I do end up getting hired by Merrill Lynch or some big firm in the future, but that’s not my main purpose for going college. That’s just me though. If you want pick colleges according to how much money they can get you in the future, then go ahead. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. But a name can only get you so far. After you’ve gotten whatever your dream job may be, it’ll be up to you to stay there and climb up that ladder…and that’s when the knowledge and skills you cultivate in college will come into use. So in my opinion, the educational quality is just as important as the name behind the brand. It’s important to look into that too. </p>
<p>Plus, arguments about prestige always end up in circles. The Ivies always come up top, along with the same string of schools, the same old same old. And who doesn’t have school pride? (See: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/university-michigan-ann-arbor/1788-michigan-weak-any-way.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/university-michigan-ann-arbor/1788-michigan-weak-any-way.html</a> …sorry if it seems like I’m picking on Mich, I just happen to have personal experience.) Of course everyone will say their school is the best. This guy has been doing it on one thread for 4 years. What’s in prestige anyway? So we can boast about it to everyone we come in contact with? Invite praise? You might as well ask which school educates you the best. It’ll stir up an equally heated, subjective debate but at least have a bit more merit than prestige. Seriously, just go wherever you like.</p>