<p>Out of state for both so Wisconsin is much cheaper. So I liked the campus at Michigan more but Ann Arbor seemed soooo dreary! Madison was incredibly nice although a little more urban. So I'm going to do either chem or econ, so I have a feeling Michigan's LSA might be better but I'm not 100% sure. I posted this in the Michigan forum as well so I just wanna know which you guys think would be better</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-wisconsin-madison/1102389-hilarious-spoof-um.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-wisconsin-madison/1102389-hilarious-spoof-um.html</a></p>
<p>Dept by dept UM might have a slight edge in L&S but for econ and chemistry UW has the edge being Top 10 in both currently. Both are great schools with UW being a littler more easy going–less stessed. The Union/lakefront terrace combo at UW beats anything on the UM campus as a place to relax and enjoy the beauty.</p>
<p>[United</a> States Universities in Top 500 - 2010](<a href=“http://www.arwu.org/Country2010Main.jsp?param=United%20States]United”>http://www.arwu.org/Country2010Main.jsp?param=United%20States)</p>
<p>You can’t go wrong with either major at either school- great academics at both places. I know from getting my annual Badger Chemist (my undergrad degree) that UW pays attention to the undergrad chemistry education. Don’t let rankings fool you- the differences are not that great. Therefore the decision comes down to the intangibles. Go with your gut feelings. If you think you will enjoy the UW campus you definitely will. If you go to Michigan comparing it to UW you may enjoy it less. Whichever school you choose have no regrets/second thoughts- go forward.</p>
<p>Students from either campus will be in love with their school and be happy to tell you why theirs is better/best. One advantage UW has is the contiguos campus- no separate areas with a shuttle bus between them. Same weather. Demographics- Michigan has a higher percentage of Blacks- more diversity, but otherwise most students will be from Michigan if there or Wisconsin if here. Sports- both passionate if that’s your thing. No substitute for the lakeshore and hills of Madison.</p>
<p>I’m a biased UW alumnus- but will tell anyone who would rather go to Michigan- Go, let someone who will appreciate UW more than you take your spot.</p>
<p>Look at the graduation requirements for each school. Check the courses required for each major. See the available courses in departments that interest you. That may not make your decision any easier. See how many credits/hours per week are offered for some Chemistry courses. For example an Organic Chemistry lab will be 2 credits and 8 or 9 hours per week at UW versus far fewer at some schools, Calculus or intro Chemistry 5, not 4, credits and other differences. You want more time given, not less. You may not take most of the courses available, but the big research schools like Michigan and UW-Madison offer so much more than other schools. At UW you will have the opportunity to take Honors intro Chemistry (115-116) and work in grad labs along the way as an undergrad.</p>
<p>On Econimics, I thought U Michigan is better and Chemistry Madison has an edge?</p>
<p>Michigan <was> better or tied with UW in in econ in the last few US News reports. They have lost most of their top people and replaced them with asst. profs. UW has done the opposite including hiring one of UM’s top 3 econ profs.</was></p>
<p>Be sure to take rankings with a grain of salt and keep in mind they reflect graduate level departments. Be sure the attention paid to undergrads is as good (I know the UW Chemistry department is good for undergrads). Both schools are comparable and will serve you well academically. Choose the school for all of the other factors that make up your college experience.</p>
<p>I have almost the same decision. I got into the honors program at UW and into the general university at Michigan, but am thinking about studying psychology. Michigan is pretty expensive out of state though, not sure if its worth it.</p>
<p>Both have great psychology departments going back to the early days. UW’s has won numerous undergrad teaching awards while ranking high in research.</p>
<p>[Psychology</a> Department - Introduction](<a href=“http://glial.psych.wisc.edu/index.php/splshmndeptoverview]Psychology”>http://glial.psych.wisc.edu/index.php/splshmndeptoverview)</p>
<p>i think the michigan name has more prestige… i would prefer michigan if it were the same price but wisco is definitly more affordable. however, if you ask the new england private school crowd, michigan def is looked upon more favorably</p>
<p>It is interesting to see the decline of U of Michigan. It may have something to do with the decline of our auto industry and thus decline of revenue source for the funding of the state university. On the other hand, what makes Wisconsin better, or it is just a fluke? I don’t see any reason for the increase of our tax base.</p>
<p>See the Madison Initiative. More tuition money buys more good people. Especially when others are not doing as well. Also UW’s fundraising and research growth have been excellent (as have UM’s–they are neck and neck all the time).
UW was never that far from UM. Look at any ranking back to the 1920’s. Nor do I think UM has declined overall–econ just has problems as do some UW depts. The major UM advantage was they invested more in their professional schools and still do. UM also sells itself much better. UW was afraid to claim excellence as being eilte is close to elitism which is a dirty word in Wisconsin but not Michigan which seems to have more of an eastern US attitude about that. Or at least tolerates UM’s elitism better than Wisconsin would. A soon as the the idea of spinning Madison out from the UW System came out one of the first charges was “eltitism at UW Madison”. It is very hard to be excellent without being elite. The new admin has been less afraid to press for better undergrad students and that was reflected in the sacking of the old admissions director. The new one came from U Chicago which as just gone through a similar transformation from accepting lots of students to being highly selective.
The fact is that the best students want to be with other top students. This year could transform the image of UW from easy to get into to very competitive. Gresham’s law in reverse at work.</p>
<p>Very interesting comments. Thanks!</p>
<p>Better summary of recent hiring of UW econ dept. </p>
<p>"Senior hires were Randy Wright, Lones Smith, Ken Hendricks, Alan Sorensen.</p>
<p>They also have an offer out to Dean Corbae and I am hearing rumors about an offer to Robert Staiger.</p>
<p>They hired like 5 or 6 juniors last year when most department were not hiring."</p>
<p>From econ job market website.</p>
<p><a href=“https://4450676921955953997-a-1802744773732722657-s-sites.googlegroups.com/site/deancorbae/home/vitanw7.pdf?attachauth=ANoY7cog1a2RnJmBAWOh4xyNYOrBkD7YbQ6MuAnQc5hJr3_OWcuO1e0rk_8cnJhaRuCXtVyFtjlb_cz35PE2KgNylCiMKeIb3b1dEAhzLiifXXyL0ZMBb-PLZUhVI2PQh4IHqA5mHZjriqyh3VrllWYHzGVHd5jtpBt_26QuaeRC1Re9VwvGV8aG6mtVmF5PWvcqfyvg6850ztk58Hqp9nt0fefkx5VB3Q%3D%3D&attredirects=0[/url]”>https://4450676921955953997-a-1802744773732722657-s-sites.googlegroups.com/site/deancorbae/home/vitanw7.pdf?attachauth=ANoY7cog1a2RnJmBAWOh4xyNYOrBkD7YbQ6MuAnQc5hJr3_OWcuO1e0rk_8cnJhaRuCXtVyFtjlb_cz35PE2KgNylCiMKeIb3b1dEAhzLiifXXyL0ZMBb-PLZUhVI2PQh4IHqA5mHZjriqyh3VrllWYHzGVHd5jtpBt_26QuaeRC1Re9VwvGV8aG6mtVmF5PWvcqfyvg6850ztk58Hqp9nt0fefkx5VB3Q%3D%3D&attredirects=0</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://www.stanford.edu/~rstaiger/STAIGER.CV.pdf[/url]”>http://www.stanford.edu/~rstaiger/STAIGER.CV.pdf</a></p>
<p>Do not be overly concerned with the perceived prestige of any college. The Wisconsin name is known around the world as is Michigan. Both are well known as good institutions when/if you apply to grad schools. Both are well known in the work world. Choose the school you feel you would most enjoy and forget about which of the two outranks the other. For every pro you can counter with a con for each school- and nitpick ad nauseum.</p>
<p>D faced the same decision in the end, and there are differences. Make yourself that 2 column list of pros and cons of each. For my D she felt the student bodies were very different, and wanted to be away from the uber-competitive east coast crowd. And, disliked the split campus at Ann Arbor. Of course she got to Madison and met east coast people too, but they shared the friendly Wisconsin vibe. Once you get into the level of top schools like these, the difference is only where you feel you will succeed and be happy. They have all the faculty, programs and ties you need, where will you be best able to capitalize on them.</p>
<p>Some quick thoughts from a UM grad:</p>
<p>Michigan has greater national and global brand penetration than Wisconsin. This doesn’t mean that it is actually a better school than Wisconsin. You can get a good education at any one of hundreds of academic institutions. </p>
<p>UM is a FAR wealthier school than Wisconsin. Michigan has an endowment that is bigger than most of the ivies and about the same size as the entire University of California system. It is also growing at a brisk pace. Wisconsin-Madison has a much smaller endowment. It’s not tiny, but around the same level as Ohio State, Michigan State, etc.</p>
<p>Why do I bring up the endowment size? Well, a big endowment is a bit like an insurance policy that allows an institution to maintain a certain quality of education in the face adverse financial circumstances. Such adverse financial circumstances include things like Governor Walker cutting funding to the UW system by 11% and Governor Snyder cutting funding to Michigan universities/colleges by 15%. </p>
<p>The fact that UM is much wealthier than Wisconsin doesn’t mean that it is a better school. Honestly, in this economy I would go for less expensive tuition over prestige for any degree other than doctoral. I would find a nice in-state school and save money. Student loans suck. I was in-state at Michigan in the 90s so it wasn’t that bad, but I don’t know how the out of state kids nowadays do it.</p>
<p>OPdave is wrong. UW has more than one endowment. It actually has four major ones. The UW Foundation which is now at about $2 Billion. The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation also at just over $2 Billion. The old UW endowments held under the UW System for UW Madison at about $400 Million, and the UW Medical Foundation also about $ 400 million. All together that totals just under $ 5 Billion which is still below UM’s $7 Billion but double the others you mentioned.</p>
<p>The other factor is the research grants from various sources. The school gets a cut of it as well.</p>
<p>UM and UW are virtually tied in research grants/spending so that’s a wash. UM did much better (+$100 Million) in the stimulus research funding race which will give them a boost going forward. But UW has some aces too in patents owned and licensing income from those. One big success can be a game changer bringing in $1 Billion in rare cases.</p>