Anonymous wrote:Michigan and Florida are better for football. T25 SLAC is better for academics.

Florida and Michigan by far. Not only do they offer top academics, top, sports of all kind, and the alumni networks, for both of these schools are ginormous. That’s the downside to the small liberal arts colleges, not a lot of networking available.

Anonymous wrote:How did the Univ. of Michigan become so elite?

Serious question.

When it comes to the publics UC Berkeley and UCLA are often mentioned. Michigan is pretty much mentioned with them now.

Berkeley is the only public, over the years, considered a bit more elite than Michigan. UCLA is the school that joined the other two.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Florida is losing professors at the moment. Michigan is one of the rare state schools which is virtually indistinguishable from the top private colleges.

Few top engineering/medicine have started leaving UF. It's been described as "fire sale" has begun...

And Trump’s on Putin’s payroll.

How did the Univ. of Michigan become so elite?

Serious question.

When it comes to the publics UC Berkeley and UCLA are often mentioned. Michigan is pretty much mentioned with them now.

How about this? It may not be “meaningless” but it rather is not as important as many people, especially on this forum, seem to think it is.

What you do with it, your drive and frankly ability to meet and network with people are probably more important over a lifetime than where you spent four years.

Anonymous wrote:Oh just stop with the “open doors” bullshit. The top Ivies and Stanford may - may - open more doors than most schools, but whether you’re a Michigan or Grinnell grad the doors will open provided that you do the work to find them. Having kids long out of different colleges, I don’t see any correlation whatsoever between what school they or any of their friends attended and what “doors” opened. Nobody cares once you have the degree. Really, they don’t.

I mean-- this reasoning suggests which college you go to is basically meaningless.

Anonymous wrote:SLAC>Michigan>Florida
Michigan is good but lots of TAs and big classes. It’s a crapshoot — quality of education is variable.

Don't necessarily agree but how does this translate to "opening doors"?

Oh just stop with the “open doors” bullshit. The top Ivies and Stanford may - may - open more doors than most schools, but whether you’re a Michigan or Grinnell grad the doors will open provided that you do the work to find them. Having kids long out of different colleges, I don’t see any correlation whatsoever between what school they or any of their friends attended and what “doors” opened. Nobody cares once you have the degree. Really, they don’t.

I would also consider the strength and reach of each school's alumni network. Certain schools have very strong alumni networks that can help later in life as well as strong career services that offer help years after graduation.

I remember hearing the statistic on a football game that Michigan's alumni network is so large that 1 out of every 20 adult Americans could be a graduate of Michigan. Would be a Michigan grad help when the person screening applicants went to Michigan? Maybe. I can think of plenty of other schools where alumni networks are crazy strong (USNA, Duke, Notre Dame, Syracuse, etc). Just something to think about.

There's a reason these schools often don't overlap at all though for the same kid. I went to Williams and loved the quiet academic environment there and it has opened many doors. My kid humored me and visited SLACs but always knew he wanted rah rah - and is now beyond thrilled to be off to Michigan. He would have been bored stiff at Williams and I would have hated the football and Greek culture at Michigan. College is so much more than career building.

SLAC>Michigan>Florida
Michigan is good but lots of TAs and big classes. It’s a crapshoot — quality of education is variable.

Florida schools are heading down the drain because of politics. Unfortunate but true. No contest, MI (which was always ahead of FL, but is now top v bottom)

Anonymous wrote:A student has the opportunity to experience an outstanding educational experience at U Michigan as well as at any Top 25 LAC, but the career opportunities are probably best at U Michigan.

Not sure about U Florida as its explosive growth over the past decade has resulted in very large classes and remote classes (at least for business majors).

Are the career opportunities best though? I know several Michigan grads who are successful but they also just happen to be smart people. And I also know a lot of SLAC grads. When you consider the whole T25 SLAC population is like the size of Michigan, maybe this is why people think Michigan is so great- the sheer number of Michigan grads is enormous.

Anonymous wrote:Florida is losing professors at the moment. Michigan is one of the rare state schools which is virtually indistinguishable from the top private colleges.

Only the ones who need to leave. zit is an incredible school.

A student has the opportunity to experience an outstanding educational experience at U Michigan as well as at any Top 25 LAC, but the career opportunities are probably best at U Michigan.

Not sure about U Florida as its explosive growth over the past decade has resulted in very large classes and remote classes (at least for business majors).