<p>Pros and cons of each school. In your opinion, why is one better than the other and what does one of these schools offer that makes it more appealing than the other? Assuming you go to one of these schools, why did you decide to go to that school?</p>
<p>If you’re instate for either, I’d got to whichever one your instate for since they’re both great universities. If you’re OOS for both/international, I’d pick Michigan since it seems like a notch above Wisconsin. (Unfortunately I don’t know very much about Wisconsin, so I can’t comment on how large, or small, such a notch may be.)</p>
<p>These 2 schools have a lot in common, such as large student bodies, great college towns, B10 sports culture, and respected academics. Still, Michigan definitely carries more prestige (especially in business and engineering), and thus its tougher to get in there.</p>
<p>My son is OOS at UW, would have been OOS at Michigan too (if he had gotten off the waitlist . . . .). Both great schools, Michigan has more name recognition as a place for top programs across the board. Even if son had gotten in to Michigan, it would have been hard to rationalize – for us – the higher OOS tuition at Michigan, but others might see it differently. UW is about $27k vs. around $39k or so for Michigan. Of course, we weren’t faced with that decision – he was waitlisted, which we thought was a gift, since he expected a quick rejection. </p>
<p>UW has it all, from my son’s perspective. Incredible professors who are top scholars and researchers, great college town, big sports etc. His friends come from WI, MN, Chicago area and east and west coast. When people express concern about the big lecture class/lack of faculty contact thing, I tell the story about my son’s professor in huge lecture class – son had a big assignment over the weekend, and emailed his professor with fairly substantive question over the weekend, not really expecting an answer. Prof emailed back within an hour, from his phone, and the two had an extended exchange about the issues.</p>
<p>If a student were deciding between the two, I think it would come down to specific programs and, if you can swing the money, Michigan has stronger reputation generally.</p>
<p>These are not peer schools. The only thing they have in common is that they are large land-grant public schools in the midwest. </p>
<p>Academically - Michigan is superior.
Campus - Michigan is superior.
Local Town - Michigan is superior.
Weather - These are pretty equal.
Career Prospects - Michigan is superior.
National Name Recognition - Michigan is superior.</p>
<p>Unless Wisconsin is a lot cheaper, I would go with Michigan.</p>
<p>University of Wisconsin and Michigan are comparable. Both have excellent engineering and business programs. Michigan is crazy expensive so my vote is for University of Wisconsin- Madison. Great school academically, athletically, environmentally and economically.</p>
<p>“These are not peer schools. The only thing they have in common is that they are large land-grant public schools in the midwest.”</p>
<p>It’s amazing how often informative gives out incorrect information here on CC. First of all, academically these schools are close peers, with a nudge to Michigan because of its overall stronger professional graduate programs. Secondly, campus and town appearances of both universities are very nice with neither school overwhelmingly better than the other. Finally, Michigan is NOT a land grant public university. The land grant public university for the state of Michigan, the first of its kind in the U.S. by the way, is Michigan State University.</p>
<p>“Michigan is crazy expensive.”</p>
<p>Michigan is no more crazy expensive than any other top university in this country.</p>
<p>Informative is consistently uninformative. He’s never been out of Boston, so he’s really not in any place to talk about “national perceptions” of anything - everything is colored by his provincialism. I still would give the nod to Michigan over Wisconsin, but they are both fine schools.</p>
<p>One difference is cost (assuming you’re out of state)
Out of State Michigan: $53-56,000
Out of State Wisconsin: $42,000</p>
<p>Both are excellent. There were 12 founding members of the AAU back in 1900. Those were generally considered the best universities in the country way back then. Just to understand the scope a little better, those 12 founding institutions were: </p>
<p>Columbia University
Cornell University
Harvard University
Johns Hopkins University
Princeton University
Stanford University
University of California-Berkeley
University of Chicago
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
University of Pennsylvania
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Yale University</p>
<p>As one can see, Wisconsin was in very good company. In the traditional disciplines, Michigan and Wisconsin are both excellent. </p>
<p>Michigan has the slight edge in Engineering, although Wisconsin is better than Michigan in Chemical Engineering. </p>
<p>Michigan’s business school is better than Wisconsin’s, unless one wishes to study Real Estate, in which case Wisconsin is excellent. </p>
<p>Both are among the three of four largest research spenders.</p>
<p>Ann Arbor and Madison are two of the nicest college towns.</p>
<p>Michigan and Wisconsin have two of the most lively and spirited campuses environments in the nation, bolstered by very rich athletic tradition and an active but not imposing greek scene.</p>
<p>As many have pointed out, Michigan is considered more prestigious, primarily thanks to its top ranked business, law and medical schools and its large and prominent alumni base all around the country.</p>
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<p>Not according to most “best of” lists, in which Wisconsin generally ranks higher. This has been discussed ad nauseum on other threads. In any case, it’s subjective. The career prospects category is impossible to prove, too. If money is no object, you can’t go wrong with Michigan. But as Midwestmomofboys says, Wisconsin is excellent too. We are not talking about the difference between Harvard and East Mississippi Community College here.</p>
<p>“In any case, it’s subjective.”</p>
<p>That was my point sally305. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.</p>
<p>Michigan has the better reputation generally but Wisconsin is more highly regarded in my line of work in computer science so it does depend on what you want to study. Perhaps a campus visit would sway you one way or the other but personally I think I’d go with the cheaper of the two since they’re both solid choices.</p>
<p>They are similar schools and both are fine universities so you can’t go wrong with either one. MI seems to have the edge reputation wise. People I know at Wisconsin either 1) didn’t get into MI 2) didn’t get a direct admit to the business school at MI and wanted to be assured of being in a business program 3) had financial reasons for choosing Wisconsin. And as collegedadnh said, WI may well be better for certain programs/majors so its always worth doing your research and visiting before making a decision.</p>
<p>You have to apply after 1 yr to UW biz program. So that is not correct unless they were one of 20 with direct admit.</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://bus.wisc.edu/bba/admissions]Admissions[/url”>http://bus.wisc.edu/bba/admissions]Admissions[/url</a>]</p>
<p>Michigan and Wisconsin are actually very similar. Both are large public research universities located in great cities with excellent academic programs and a darn good sports scene. Michigan has the edge because they have slightly stronger faculty and student bodies, and it also happens to hold a better national and international reputation. That said, Wisconsin is definitely an excellent school. Both are great.</p>
<p>@barrons…per UWisconsin website “Each year, a total of 100 students will enter the Wisconsin BBA program as freshmen.” Apparently my S’s friend was one of them. Admittedly, I didn’t know it was such a small number, but that is why one particular person I know chose UW over UM.</p>
<p>Wisconsin vs. Michigan</p>
<p>No doubt that both are great schools but…</p>
<p>Academics (most majors): Michigan is on top, but Wisconsin is still good no doubt
Sports: Both CRAZY about sports…you judge the better team
Campus: Both considered to be very beautiful, but Wisconsin seems to have the edge in this one
Weather: Michigan weather is HORRIBLE…Wisconsin is cold, etc too but better than Michigan
Name (Reputation): I think it’s fair to say that in US alone, both are recognized well, but Michigan is the more “well-known” overall
Jobs: Honestly this is “case by case”…if you work in the US, I think both schools are great…maybe outside of US…Michigan?
Tuition: OOS-Wisconsin is MUCH cheaper so it seems like Wisconsin is a good place to choose over Michigan based on tuition ALONE</p>
<p>OVERALL…Michigan is a better school but Wisconsin is still a great school and seeing that OOS tuition is a lot cheaper…Wisconsin is the way to go! IF you had to pick another school than Michigan…Wisconsin is a good choice :)</p>
<p>happy-- I found that–new info. They started at about 20 a few yrs back but they most have had good results. I think they got sick of losing top kids to UMInn and Kelley with direct admits.</p>