Anonymous wrote:Wolverine here too. UM is considered the best of the best in Mich. I used to feel sorry for kids who went to other schools. 🤣 But that was a very long time ago. I've matured and left the state. I still think its one of the best schools in the country and A2 one of the best college towns, Michigan stadium the best stadium.

Anonymous wrote:I wrote that long post^^ and yes! I forgot about Hope. Thanks for the addition.

Anonymous wrote:I am from Michigan and the idea that anyone in the state (besides PP, I guess) would place Albion on the same level as UMich or above MSU or that MSU is on par with Detroit Mercy or that Indiana or Miami of OH are more desirable than MSU is just not realistic.

UMich is the academic “big dog” in the state, no question, with highly ranked programs in pretty much every academic discipline. MSU is not a bad school by any means but falls more into the “typical large state school” category than does UMich. While UMich grads tend to be ambitious go-getters and peel off to Chicago, NY, DC, SF, etc. Michigan State people stay in-state after graduation at MUCH higher levels and dominate the professional job market in metros like Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, and Detroit (ish). Whoever said that MSU grads run the state is spot on. Also MSU seems to be more popular for majors like nursing and teaching.

Kalamazoo is a great school but tends to attract a certain type of student — studious, quirky, academic, intellectual. Historically has been of the biggest PhD feeder schools in the US.

Hillsdale has a national draw but only for super ideologically conservative types. I think kids there are actually very studious, but it’s got a VERY distinct culture that is not appealing to many. Attracts a very certain type of student, even more so than Kalamazoo.

Grand Valley State and Western Michigan aren’t bad schools at all, although not super selective. Of the state directionals I’d say these two are best. The rest of the state directionals range from unremarkable to downright bad. (Actually Wayne State is improving and some kids just really want that urban environment in Detroit.)

Michigan Tech - awesome engineering school, lots of males, location is a major turnoff for many.

At public high schools, Michigan does not really have the culture of going crazy over “top 20s”/private colleges like this area does. At the tippy top you’ll have kids going to Ivies (and Notre Dame, if you're at a Catholic HS) but you just don’t see the number of kids applying/attending schools like Emory, Tufts, Lehigh, Boston College, USC etc. like you do around here (of course, part of it is geography). Schools like Marquette, Loyola, and Dayton are popular among the Catholic HS crowd (which is definitely a thing in metro Detroit).

Albion, Alma, Adrian - meh. Not really on the radar screen for most kids.


That’s my take — any other Michiganders, feel free to contest I’m probably forgetting some.

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Anonymous wrote:To in-state private school families, it generally goes like this below. Many families with high stat kids choose private tier 2s over huge Michigan for undergrad studies. Paying out-of-state tuition at Indiana is a way to flaunt your family money over sending your average stats kid to Michigan State.

Tier 1: Notre Dame, Northwestern, Duke, USC, Ivies
Tier 2: Michigan, Kalamazoo, Hillsdale, Albion
Tier 3: Indiana, Hope, Miami-OH, Dayton, Loyola-Chicago
Tier 4: Michigan State, U of Detroit-Mercy
Tier 5: the rest, as all the rest are basically open admit

Yeah this is totally wrong and weird

-- Michigan native

+1

-- another Michigander

You can split hairs, but the list is pretty accurate -- especially to UMC, private and Catholic school families. But I can see how it may offend myopic public school lifers who largely only entertain tailgate states.

Lol. Go look at the college matriculation at Country Day or Cranbrook. Not too many kids heading to Hillsdale or Albion or Detroit Mercy LMAO

Are you saying LACs with a freshman class size of <500 are less prominent than UM and MSU, which have a class size of 7,000 and 10,000 respectively? No way! Add in Detroit Catholic Central, U of D Jesuit and Notre Dame Prep college matriculation lists and see how it shakes out.

University of Michigan is terrific for engineering and MSU is terrific for binge drinking halfwits. If your child plans to study anything else and don't want them to become an alcoholic or drug addict and don't believe rah-rah sports obsession is the focal point of higher ed, you send them to out-of-state private or an in-state LAC.

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Anonymous wrote:What % of Hillsdale is out of state students? I assume it's got more OOS kids than any undergrad in Michigan, outside of Ann Arbor.

I believe two-thirds come from OOS (which, if I'm not mistaken would be a higher percentage than that at UM-Ann Arbor).

Ann Arbor is 50% oos

Kind of a shame that UM-Ann Arbor doesn't focus more on educating citizens of Michigan. It is, after all, a taxpayer- supported university.

The state of Michigan generously kicks in 14% of the school's general fund budget. The retrenchment in state funding is what drives OOS enrollment.

Nevertheless, UM-Ann Arbor has a duty to educate Michiganders. If that's not the case, then why not take the school private? All you'd have to do is jack up tuition a bit (for those currently paying in-state tuition rates) to make up for the 14% that the state currently supplies to the school's budget.