Why is UMich so overrated?

[Anonymous]

OMG this thread is terrific!

[Anonymous]

Not a prior poster. Michigan has football and Ann Arbor going for it. It also has great name recognition with the Proles. Apart from the Ivys (and most Proles have no f-ing clue who the Ivys are apart from H-Y-P....I mean what's Brown apart from a color and what the heck is a Dartmouth??), your average Prole frame of college reference revolves around football. Big Ten and SEC especially. So Michigan checks that box. The drama and lawsuits relating to admissions a generation ago conjured up the image of Michigan as academically elite. The Big Chill of a generation before that made it cool.

But it's basically just a big state school with good football and a decent college town. Everything else is just hype.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not a prior poster. Michigan has football and Ann Arbor going for it. It also has great name recognition with the Proles. Apart from the Ivys (and most Proles have no f-ing clue who the Ivys are apart from H-Y-P....I mean what's Brown apart from a color and what the heck is a Dartmouth??), your average Prole frame of college reference revolves around football. Big Ten and SEC especially. So Michigan checks that box. The drama and lawsuits relating to admissions a generation ago conjured up the image of Michigan as academically elite. The Big Chill of a generation before that made it cool.

But it's basically just a big state school with good football and a decent college town. Everything else is just hype.

LOL. Whatever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not a prior poster. Michigan has football and Ann Arbor going for it. It also has great name recognition with the Proles. Apart from the Ivys (and most Proles have no f-ing clue who the Ivys are apart from H-Y-P....I mean what's Brown apart from a color and what the heck is a Dartmouth??), your average Prole frame of college reference revolves around football. Big Ten and SEC especially. So Michigan checks that box. The drama and lawsuits relating to admissions a generation ago conjured up the image of Michigan as academically elite. The Big Chill of a generation before that made it cool.

But it's basically just a big state school with good football and a decent college town. Everything else is just hype.

I am not affiliated with Michigan and went to a rival school. UM has football and Ann Arbor, but it also has top 10 and in many cases, top 5 programs in virtually every department it runs. So no, not just an "average" state school. It is among the best, along with Cal and UCLA. Average would be Kansas State or SDSU.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not a prior poster. Michigan has football and Ann Arbor going for it. It also has great name recognition with the Proles. Apart from the Ivys (and most Proles have no f-ing clue who the Ivys are apart from H-Y-P....I mean what's Brown apart from a color and what the heck is a Dartmouth??), your average Prole frame of college reference revolves around football. Big Ten and SEC especially. So Michigan checks that box. The drama and lawsuits relating to admissions a generation ago conjured up the image of Michigan as academically elite. The Big Chill of a generation before that made it cool.

But it's basically just a big state school with good football and a decent college town. Everything else is just hype.

I am not affiliated with Michigan and went to a rival school. UM has football and Ann Arbor, but it also has top 10 and in many cases, top 5 programs in virtually every department it runs. So no, not just an "average" state school. It is among the best, along with Cal and UCLA. Average would be Kansas State or SDSU.

Went to Michigan for graduate school as in-state student. It's a phenomenal school. There is tremendous energy and the ability to make it whatever you want it to be. I went there with a very specific end game and it has worked well. Plus the alumni population means I can go anywhere and find a network.

Law, business, psychology (in fact any social science), engineering, public policy, all excellent departments. Is UM perfect? Of course not, no school is. Is there too much hype around football and The Michigan Difference? Yeah, they could cut the PR.

For undergraduate? Big when you get there, but soon enough class sizes are small and connections you make are a big help for graduate school applications.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not a prior poster. Michigan has football and Ann Arbor going for it. It also has great name recognition with the Proles. Apart from the Ivys (and most Proles have no f-ing clue who the Ivys are apart from H-Y-P....I mean what's Brown apart from a color and what the heck is a Dartmouth??), your average Prole frame of college reference revolves around football. Big Ten and SEC especially. So Michigan checks that box. The drama and lawsuits relating to admissions a generation ago conjured up the image of Michigan as academically elite. The Big Chill of a generation before that made it cool.

But it's basically just a big state school with good football and a decent college town. Everything else is just hype.

I am not affiliated with Michigan and went to a rival school. UM has football and Ann Arbor, but it also has top 10 and in many cases, top 5 programs in virtually every department it runs. So no, not just an "average" state school. It is among the best, along with Cal and UCLA. Average would be Kansas State or SDSU.

Went to Michigan for graduate school as in-state student. It's a phenomenal school. There is tremendous energy and the ability to make it whatever you want it to be. I went there with a very specific end game and it has worked well. Plus the alumni population means I can go anywhere and find a network.

Law, business, psychology (in fact any social science), engineering, public policy, all excellent departments. Is UM perfect? Of course not, no school is. Is there too much hype around football and The Michigan Difference? Yeah, they could cut the PR.

For undergraduate? Big when you get there, but soon enough class sizes are small and connections you make are a big help for graduate school applications.

I think the confusion here is professional education vs academics. Does Umich have amazing professional schools which are targets for all industries. Yes and they should be proud of that. But that’s a different question than are the academics good. Umich’s entire college of Letters and Science has been historically insignificant, and you can simply dismiss rankings which put them highly.

If we are indeed talking about academics, then in the Midwest no one is close to where Wisconsin and Uchicago are. Wisconsin has invented the field of American History, as well as granted the first doctorates in history, geology, chemical engineering, etc. Chicago has been extremely influential in economics and physics, although the Wisconsin School of economics in the first half of the 20th century was probably just as important as the Chicago School.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The location? College Park is a dump and Ann Arbor is supposed to be beautiful.

In what context is rust belt lower Mid-Michigan beautiful? University of Colorado, Boulder with the Rockies or Pepperdine and University of California, Santa Barbara overlooking the Pacific Ocean are beautiful. Even Georgetown could also be described as beautiful with such charming historic surroundings; Victorian and gothic architecture. But not Ann Arbor. And Michigan's weather sucks most of academic year; the greyest most sunless region in the U.S.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not a prior poster. Michigan has football and Ann Arbor going for it. It also has great name recognition with the Proles. Apart from the Ivys (and most Proles have no f-ing clue who the Ivys are apart from H-Y-P....I mean what's Brown apart from a color and what the heck is a Dartmouth??), your average Prole frame of college reference revolves around football. Big Ten and SEC especially. So Michigan checks that box. The drama and lawsuits relating to admissions a generation ago conjured up the image of Michigan as academically elite. The Big Chill of a generation before that made it cool.

But it's basically just a big state school with good football and a decent college town. Everything else is just hype.

Pretty much. It gets the hype because it has literally hundreds of thousands of insecure non-resident alums who boomeranged back to LA, NYC and Washington after graduation. If Ann Arbor is such an amazing town and Michigan such a wonderful place to spend four (4) years in, why didn't the alums remain there after graduation? We all know why. It's boring, the weather is awful, the locals are creepy, and they couldn't wait to leave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not a prior poster. Michigan has football and Ann Arbor going for it. It also has great name recognition with the Proles. Apart from the Ivys (and most Proles have no f-ing clue who the Ivys are apart from H-Y-P....I mean what's Brown apart from a color and what the heck is a Dartmouth??), your average Prole frame of college reference revolves around football. Big Ten and SEC especially. So Michigan checks that box. The drama and lawsuits relating to admissions a generation ago conjured up the image of Michigan as academically elite. The Big Chill of a generation before that made it cool.

But it's basically just a big state school with good football and a decent college town. Everything else is just hype.

I am not affiliated with Michigan and went to a rival school. UM has football and Ann Arbor, but it also has top 10 and in many cases, top 5 programs in virtually every department it runs. So no, not just an "average" state school. It is among the best, along with Cal and UCLA. Average would be Kansas State or SDSU.

Went to Michigan for graduate school as in-state student. It's a phenomenal school. There is tremendous energy and the ability to make it whatever you want it to be. I went there with a very specific end game and it has worked well. Plus the alumni population means I can go anywhere and find a network.

Law, business, psychology (in fact any social science), engineering, public policy, all excellent departments. Is UM perfect? Of course not, no school is. Is there too much hype around football and The Michigan Difference? Yeah, they could cut the PR.

For undergraduate? Big when you get there, but soon enough class sizes are small and connections you make are a big help for graduate school applications.

I think the confusion here is professional education vs academics. Does Umich have amazing professional schools which are targets for all industries. Yes and they should be proud of that. But that’s a different question than are the academics good. Umich’s entire college of Letters and Science has been historically insignificant, and you can simply dismiss rankings which put them highly.

If we are indeed talking about academics, then in the Midwest no one is close to where Wisconsin and Uchicago are. Wisconsin has invented the field of American History, as well as granted the first doctorates in history, geology, chemical engineering, etc. Chicago has been extremely influential in economics and physics, although the Wisconsin School of economics in the first half of the 20th century was probably just as important as the Chicago School.

The Wisco booster is back. Did Wisco invent all of higher education?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not a prior poster. Michigan has football and Ann Arbor going for it. It also has great name recognition with the Proles. Apart from the Ivys (and most Proles have no f-ing clue who the Ivys are apart from H-Y-P....I mean what's Brown apart from a color and what the heck is a Dartmouth??), your average Prole frame of college reference revolves around football. Big Ten and SEC especially. So Michigan checks that box. The drama and lawsuits relating to admissions a generation ago conjured up the image of Michigan as academically elite. The Big Chill of a generation before that made it cool.

But it's basically just a big state school with good football and a decent college town. Everything else is just hype.

Pretty much. It gets the hype because it has literally hundreds of thousands of insecure non-resident alums who boomeranged back to LA, NYC and Washington after graduation. If Ann Arbor is such an amazing town and Michigan such a wonderful place to spend four (4) years in, why didn't the alums remain there after graduation? We all know why. It's boring, the weather is awful, the locals are creepy, and they couldn't wait to leave.

The locals are creepy?

[Anonymous]

Why did someone resurrect this old thread?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why did someone resurrect this old thread?

We have at least one resident troll who likes to start fights about schools, especially Michigan vs Wisconsin. He plays both sides so he is both a critic and a booster of both schools. He’s a very bored, sad person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not a prior poster. Michigan has football and Ann Arbor going for it. It also has great name recognition with the Proles. Apart from the Ivys (and most Proles have no f-ing clue who the Ivys are apart from H-Y-P....I mean what's Brown apart from a color and what the heck is a Dartmouth??), your average Prole frame of college reference revolves around football. Big Ten and SEC especially. So Michigan checks that box. The drama and lawsuits relating to admissions a generation ago conjured up the image of Michigan as academically elite. The Big Chill of a generation before that made it cool.

But it's basically just a big state school with good football and a decent college town. Everything else is just hype.

I am not affiliated with Michigan and went to a rival school. UM has football and Ann Arbor, but it also has top 10 and in many cases, top 5 programs in virtually every department it runs. So no, not just an "average" state school. It is among the best, along with Cal and UCLA. Average would be Kansas State or SDSU.

Went to Michigan for graduate school as in-state student. It's a phenomenal school. There is tremendous energy and the ability to make it whatever you want it to be. I went there with a very specific end game and it has worked well. Plus the alumni population means I can go anywhere and find a network.

Law, business, psychology (in fact any social science), engineering, public policy, all excellent departments. Is UM perfect? Of course not, no school is. Is there too much hype around football and The Michigan Difference? Yeah, they could cut the PR.

For undergraduate? Big when you get there, but soon enough class sizes are small and connections you make are a big help for graduate school applications.

I think the confusion here is professional education vs academics. Does Umich have amazing professional schools which are targets for all industries. Yes and they should be proud of that. But that’s a different question than are the academics good. Umich’s entire college of Letters and Science has been historically insignificant, and you can simply dismiss rankings which put them highly.

If we are indeed talking about academics, then in the Midwest no one is close to where Wisconsin and Uchicago are. Wisconsin has invented the field of American History, as well as granted the first doctorates in history, geology, chemical engineering, etc. Chicago has been extremely influential in economics and physics, although the Wisconsin School of economics in the first half of the 20th century was probably just as important as the Chicago School.

The Wisco booster is back. Did Wisco invent all of higher education?

No. But they have been very important in many fields. It’s not good enough to say they’ve been close to Michigan. They got Michigan beat historically, but I’ll be the first one to tell you the school is much worse today. If I could, I would choose Michigan over Wisconsin over law school alone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Goes without saying but I would never send DC there. UMD has a lower acceptance rate and higher SAT average, and a better engineering school and law school. Plus the endowment is bigger.

UMich has many departments that rank higher than UMD. You picked 2 out of an entire university to focus on.....if those are your interests, great - choose UMD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not a prior poster. Michigan has football and Ann Arbor going for it. It also has great name recognition with the Proles. Apart from the Ivys (and most Proles have no f-ing clue who the Ivys are apart from H-Y-P....I mean what's Brown apart from a color and what the heck is a Dartmouth??), your average Prole frame of college reference revolves around football. Big Ten and SEC especially. So Michigan checks that box. The drama and lawsuits relating to admissions a generation ago conjured up the image of Michigan as academically elite. The Big Chill of a generation before that made it cool.

But it's basically just a big state school with good football and a decent college town. Everything else is just hype.

I am not affiliated with Michigan and went to a rival school. UM has football and Ann Arbor, but it also has top 10 and in many cases, top 5 programs in virtually every department it runs. So no, not just an "average" state school. It is among the best, along with Cal and UCLA. Average would be Kansas State or SDSU.

Went to Michigan for graduate school as in-state student. It's a phenomenal school. There is tremendous energy and the ability to make it whatever you want it to be. I went there with a very specific end game and it has worked well. Plus the alumni population means I can go anywhere and find a network.

Law, business, psychology (in fact any social science), engineering, public policy, all excellent departments. Is UM perfect? Of course not, no school is. Is there too much hype around football and The Michigan Difference? Yeah, they could cut the PR.

For undergraduate? Big when you get there, but soon enough class sizes are small and connections you make are a big help for graduate school applications.

I think the confusion here is professional education vs academics. Does Umich have amazing professional schools which are targets for all industries. Yes and they should be proud of that. But that’s a different question than are the academics good. Umich’s entire college of Letters and Science has been historically insignificant, and you can simply dismiss rankings which put them highly.

If we are indeed talking about academics, then in the Midwest no one is close to where Wisconsin and Uchicago are. Wisconsin has invented the field of American History, as well as granted the first doctorates in history, geology, chemical engineering, etc. Chicago has been extremely influential in economics and physics, although the Wisconsin School of economics in the first half of the 20th century was probably just as important as the Chicago School.

The Wisco booster is back. Did Wisco invent all of higher education?

No. But they have been very important in many fields. It’s not good enough to say they’ve been close to Michigan. They got Michigan beat historically, but I’ll be the first one to tell you the school is much worse today. If I could, I would choose Michigan over Wisconsin over law school alone.

Wisconsinites are too dumb fat and stupid to have a top state flagship. Michigan is a target school because law firms know Michiganders are hard working.