::blank::

So May 1st is coming up fairly quickly and I am still torn about where to go. I come from a high school class of 75 and enjoy the fact that I can have strong relationships with many of my teachers. Yet, I still wish that my school had a variety of classes similar to many local schools. Right now I am interested in learning about neuroscience. I visited both schools and actually did the april days at colgate. Each is an excellent school.
Here are the pros I see for each place:
UMich:
accepted to RC which means I can finally learn Hindi
close to home (around 40 minutes away)
reputable school
variety of courses
Ann Arbor is an awesome town
enormous diversity

Colgate:
small classes
charming environment (rural)
one on one relationships with professors
good living quarters
neuroscience program has been in existence for more than twenty years
a new area to explorer/ people to meet

I suppose I can always transfer but I would prefer to go to a school I would enjoy. Essentially wherever I go, I know that I will adapt to the school yet, I am still reluctant to make a final decision.

jrpar

Where do you feel more comfortable? What kind of undergraduate experience do you want? These are really the key questions that only you can answer. These two schools are very different.

My son looked at both these schools. While he liked Michigan a lot and applied there, he saw it would be a very different college experience than Colgate. One is a very large state institution (albeit a very good one); the other is an undergraduate-only liberal arts school. Ultimately my son far preferred Colgate (he's going next fall); he'd be very happy to go to Michigan for grad school.

ahtsisab

jrpar....ur son is coming to Colgate in Fall 06 or 05 ??

jrpar

Fall 05 .....

ahtsisab

Is he a CC member....can we know him ??

Colgate13

Colgate is not an undergraduate-only liberal arts school. There are some grad students here.

mhc48

jrpar, just happened to be re-reading Fiske Guide (my D is also in the throes making the last second decision too) and was surprised to read that 80% of Colgate's graduates go straight to jobs rather than graduate school. It struck me as an odd statistic and even a bit low.

Does anyone know how this compares with other like schools???

jrpar

To answer questions:

Ahtsisab, no, my son isn't a CC member; he's been on a couple of times under my name but not in a long time. I know he has been on facebook, so you could find him there... but I can't disclose his identity here.

Colgate13, I think there are under 5 grad students at Colgate (getting a masters in education, right?). I'll stick by my original statement that Colgate is an undergraduate institution - OK, I'll take out the "only" but my point stands.

Mhc48, I don't know how that 80% stat compares to other schools. I would expect that most Colgate grads go the workplace before grad school - that seems to be the norm for liberal arts grads (at least for law and business school). Good luck to your D with her decision.