<p>Thoughts??? Academics/Student Life.</p>
<p>What is LSA?</p>
<p>University of Michigan (literature, science, arts)</p>
<p>Oh. That's out of my area. If you were asking about a UC, I could comment.</p>
<p>mtldad. Are you in-state for Michigan? If so, I'd go for Michigan and save the money. If not, I'd go for WashU. Nicer campus, more professors vs. TA's teaching, medium size as opposed to gigantic school, more focus on undergraduates, friendly environment...etc</p>
<p>The choice between an excellent state university and an excellent private one is such an individual decision for the student and the family. Believe me, my H and I liked Washu and all but we were secretly rooting for S's choice to be Berkeley or UCLA (in-state tuition!) despite misgivings about the overcrowding in dorms and intro classes and sheer size of the student body at both unis. S wanted to go out of state, not be tempted to hang with the same kids from h.s. and he found an integrated major he really wanted at Washu. He's doing well, has made good friends, and loves the campus. We have no regrets.</p>
<p>I was accepted to both programs as well and from being at both, the honors program at LSA is overrated, but the school in general is fantastic. My brother is very happy there with his Physics/Maths major and finds it very challenging, although he went to a selective math and science magnet school before attending. There is also a fantastic frosh research program where he was published. WashU I suppose is in a very exciting position right now as it is moving up in the rankings and desperately trying to attract better students.</p>
<p>I have never posted before but feel that I ought to reply to this question because I was in the U. of Michigan honors program (in English, many years ago) and my son was accepted by U. of M. but is now a freshman at Wash. U. As a previous poster said, this is a highly individual decision and the same answer may not be right for everyone, and money may of course be a factor. However, I was very happy that my son chose to go to Wash. U. even though I am a U. of M. alum, loved my time there, and felt that I got a very good education. Michigan is a great school, and I loved the Honor English program, but almost all of my classes there outside my major were large lecture classes (good lectures classes, for the most part, but still large), and even the freshman Great Books classes offered to honors college students were large. In addition, I had very little in the way of advising (though it is entirely possible that this has changed in the last 30 years), and very little personal connection to any of my professors. My son is having a fantastic experience at Wash U. (I don't think a previous poster's comment that Wash U is struggling to attract great students is correct; great students are flocking there, and for good reason.) His classes and professors are, for the most part, stimulating and engaging. Most of his classes are fairly small -- small enough to have engaging discussions -- and he has a personal connection to all of his professors, having met with each of them outside of class. He has had a lot of personal advising and guidance from his faculty advisor already, and he is only a freshman. I think Wash U is just a much more personal learning environment than any big state university. And I think those personal connections are important to him and will be very valuable when he needs more guidance and recommendations. Also, the students at Wash. U. are very very nice and the whole community is very warm and supportive. It's a great university in all the ways it really counts.</p>
<p>Washu Definitely.</p>
<p>Fortunately, it's not a dollar decision. While appreciating the dramatic difference in the type of schools that they are, I was particularly interested in learning how they're perceived, etc. I have the impression that WashU and Emory are very similar, while UMich/LSA-Honors has the whole "rah-rah" sports/school spirit atmosphere.</p>
<p>The best thing would be for your S to visit during the accepted student weekends at the schools he's considering. Stay overnight in a dorm. Attend a class. It's hard to make a decision based on impressions unless the Big Ten rah-rah sports thing is high up on his "want" list. For my son, that was a take-it or leave-it thing that didn't matter much to him. He did overnight stays at UCLA, Northwestern and WashU and it was the extended visit that helped him decide which one was the best fit for him.</p>
<p>We're visiting WashU on Thursday...UMich on Friday....S is waiting on Emory and Northwestern. We should have visited these schools before (we did visit Emory), however, we did a lot of visiting and we were all surprised that S did not get into his first choices (he has great creds). Anyway, it's great to see that WashU seems to be a place that great students are very happy academically and socially. Only issue for us is that getting there from where we live is not easy (change of planes required).</p>
<p>Last year I also made the choice between LSA/Honors and Wash U. I chose WU because I figured it would have a more personal learning environment. Since coming, I have been astounded by the quality and variety of academic resources and opportunities (for all disciplines, not just pre-med). Although I also heard good things about UM's honors program, I wanted to be a part of a smaller community. I haven't regretted my decision one bit - last semester, 3 of my 4 classes had less than 14 students in it. And I'm a freshman!</p>
<p>Also, WashU is definitely not "struggling" to attract better students. The current freshman class was over-enrolled by 200 students, and I hear the acceptance rate this year is < 19%.</p>
<p>These posts are so informative and so appreciated. S got into NU and Emory. So, now we're deciding between WUSTL, NU, Emory and Mich-honors. We're going to do a whirlwind tour of NU and Mich this Thursday and Friday and then WUSTL and Emory on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week. I think that he's narrowing it down to WUSTL and NU</p>