As above.
If cost or weather isn’t an issue.You just want the best education that places you in industry.
Assuming you mean for engineering, CS, Math etc.
Small vs Large
Mostly Male vs 50-50
Warm - Cold
Mega-city - Mid Size Town
Ultra-Intensive vs Intensive
Extremely expensive vs expensive/inexpensive (out/in state)
Tiny Alumni network vs Huge one
I don’t think you could go wrong at either, it’s just a matter of which fits the student better.
Caltech is not as well known in many parts of the US- particularly east of the MISS, so if you plan on living in the West - ie. Calif, Wash, etc, go to CT.
If you plain on living in the east -go to Mich.
Caltech is more like a LAC. 7 houses are quite near each other. At Michigan, your dorm could be a mile from main campus. There are so many differences. If the OP is still reading this thread, I can go into details.
@bookworm I am still reading this. Please speak more about it.
And yeah @TooOld4School I am looking at Mechanical Engineering (Product Design) w/ Entrepreneurship
If that’s what you’re interested in, I’d go with Michigan, honestly. Stronger industry ties, probably more faculty doing what you’re interested in, and a greater breadth of classes within your desired subdiscipline.
The only way I’d say go to Caltech (as an alumni) is if your real interests are in fundamental science. and you have a strong interest in grad school.
have you applied to Stanford too?
“I am looking at Mechanical Engineering (Product Design) w/ Entrepreneurship”
they have what you want.
in spades.
The area Cal Tech is in does not feel like mega-city. At all. That is simply not an issue. Mega-city is simply not the same in the American Southwest as it is on the east coast.
To qualify: What do you mean Cal Tech is not really known outside of the West? Are you talking about to the cousins and neighbors?
@RacinReaver has an excellent point. At Michigan your could double major in ME in engineering, and Business/Entrepreneurship at Ross. The Engineering school at Michigan is very focused on new business formation as well, there are student incubators, consultants and mentors and the Ann Arbor area has a thriving startup community.
You could achieve the same thing at Caltech and many students do via internships, or via grad school or outside classes, but Caltech is very focused on cutting edge basic research and the synthesis of multiple, seemingly unrelated research in all sorts of fields. It’s small size means you get to know your professors and fellow students extremely well and many are plugged into the angel and venture communities.
Actually, since it’s still application season, you should take a look at Carnegie Mellon. They have superb mechanical engineering, design, and business programs. 
@menloparkmom I am an international student from Singapore so cost and as to whether I will live in the East/West isn’t that much of a deciding factor as of now.
@RacinReaver Thank you so much for your honest comments. That’s exactly my thoughts too. I most probably am not looking to do a PHD in a near term so I find that the Caltech curriculum which focuses a lot on fundamental math and science in preparation for grad school may not entirely suit me. However, the small class size and opportunities associated with Caltech does make a difference.
I will take a look at Carnegie Mellon as well.
@TooOld4School You seem to know both Michigan and Caltech very well! I’m certainly considering Majoring in ME & Minoring in Entrepreneurship or Multidisciplinary Design or Double Majoring in ME and Business. I certainly love the work that the Centre of Entrepreneurship is doing too!
As for Caltech, I’ve heard that very few undergrad students engage in entrepreneurship as many don’t have the time/ workload to, but I do know of a few people who were engaged in start-ups and have very strong connections with huge VCs and start-ups in the Bay Area. And to quote them, the name Caltech opens up a new world of opportunities.
@bookworm I would love to hear more from you.
Thank you all for your help!
Are you in a position to actually choose at this point? Have you gotten into either school?
I think of Cal Tech as a place that trains/educates very elite engineers (plus a few other areas in STEM) -the people who will change the world-like MIT and then there are the rest of the schools. I would think CalTech would have narrow appeal but strong appeal to those destined to be there.
@lostaccount I certainly hope to be one of the elite engineers/technology entrepreneurs who can make a positive impact on how people live. I’m not sure if Caltech is in fact as much like MIT as MIT do have a large variety of other schools and programmes which assist students in other areas unlike Caltech.
So according to your past posts, you were accepted to both schools last year, but appeared to have financial issues with Michigan. I don’t see how you could still be holding admissions to both schools now – you have to accept a spot to defer a year as I understand it. Or did you double deposit and defer?
Things to consider about Caltech:
Caltech’s freshman classes are taken together with the other freshman. So you take your freshman classes with 200 other students. You are definitely expected to sacrifice sleep.
Caltech can be a disadvantage because the school is so small and doesn’t provide a number of services that are regularly found at other universities.
Caltech is a research-based institution, so if you’re not planning on further studies, it’s probably not a good fit.
Professors lecture at Caltech but the Graduate Assistants do everything else. They develop the tests and score/grade the students.