<p>You all are to be commended for your commitment, you obviously have far greater patience than I do. With 9 days before he has to make a decision Echo’s lack of basic research (e.g., whether or not a Biz/Engineering double exists at Michigan and the entrance requirements for both or whether there is any Tech/Biz overlap in the Ross curriculum) makes me wonder why he applied to Michigan in the first place or whether he is simply a ■■■■■ pulling our collective legs. </p>
<p>Furthermore, on the one hand rankings are important to echo until you all point out Michigan’s (high) standing, when they suddenly become less of a factor. More than half of his complaints - size, location, admissions dept, and Ann Arbor not being Atlanta - are personal perceptions/reactions that can’t and shouldn’t be refuted as wrong. About the only useful question I can find in any of his posts would be “Is Michigan worth $20K more per year than GT?”; even that is a matter of personal finances and perception. From my perspective it’s clear the echo has decided on GT and is only looking to this forum to justify his position.</p>
<p>“From my perspective it’s clear the echo has decided on GT and is only looking to this forum to justify his position.”</p>
<p>I completely understand his need to justify his decision. The problem is he is unintentionally, at least I assume he is, disparaging another school in his attempt. There is no way anyone on this forum is going to agree that GT is a better school for business than Michigan.</p>
<p>I come on here to ask you guys a question. I know that I favor GT because I know that I’m not very familiar with Michigan. I don’t understand why almost everyone is being so ridiculous. A couple weeks ago, I was pretty sure that I was going to Michigan, then I visited GA Tech and really liked it there, so now I’m torn between the two and apparently I’m an ******* for asking because I wanted to know more about Michigan. So, I apologize for not having started this proccess earlier, but here I am and if you’re going to come on this forum and accuse me of being a ■■■■■/idiot/etc, then I don’t understand the value of the site.</p>
<p>echo, visiting a school is not going to answer your questions about quality. It will give you an idea of whether you like the campus and the atmosphere. For everything else, rely on your own research. There is a lot of information out there. Clearly, GT and Michigan are equal when it comes to Engineering. When it comes to Business, Michigan is much better than GT. Companies come from all over the country (and World) to recruit Ross students. The main questions you need to ask yourself are:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>When you graduate (immediately, not 10 years down the line), do you want to go into Engineering or Corporate/Business? If the former, GT and Michigan are equal. If the latter, Michigan is a better choice.</p></li>
<li><p>Do you want a fun campus environment or does that not matter much to you? GT is not that bad, but it is not as fun and well rounded as Michigan.</p></li>
<li><p>GT is obviously going to be significantly cheaper. Is the cost difference worth the benefits mentioned above given your financial situation?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I hope you enjoy your visit, but remember to find things out on your own. Those visits are not going to give you accurate answers.</p>
<p>Good points Alexandre. GT has good football and baseball, but Michigan soccer, hockey, and football are better. Socially, my biggest problem with GT is the 70/30 male/female ratio. Money isn’t an issue but I feel bad spending so much. I guess I’m so content with GT because I wanted a school in the South. I was waitlisted at William & Mary and I think the business school ranking, price, and location are all good comprimises between those of GT and Michigan but I won’t know about W&M until June at the earliest.</p>
<p>Michigan over Georgia Tech any day for Ross and even engineering (I think GTech is ranked up one higher in Aerospace than Michigan but we have more money, more resources, more students, crappier weather (lol except fall and summer -> amazing). Also just a headsup, as a current (out-of-state from the South) student here, the state’s economy is recovering. It may not be evident to a lot of people outside but it is and in ways that will surprise people once it becomes noticeable outside.</p>
<p>You didn’t ask anything, you opened this thread and told the forum that in your assessment GT was superior to Michigan in every way important to you except social scene. Whether you realized it or not, you effectively challenged the forum to prove you wrong. Then when Alexandre and GoBlue81 provided you with concrete examples of Michigan’s strengths you showed a (to me) surprising lack of knowledge about the university, especially the honors and business/technology programs which you say are important to you, (N.B., There is a dual degree program through the schools of engineering and business but you must start in the engineering school. You can also specialize in two areas at the business school - Business Information Technology and Operations & Management Systems.). </p>
<p>As far as I’m concerned the main purpose of the CC forums is to ask/answer questions and clear up misconceptions. But it isn’t here to convince people to change their minds after they’ve made their decisions.</p>
<p>Vinceh, what’s your problem? I haven’t made a decision. I admitted that I don’t know much about Ross - that’s why I asked on here. Don’t take the question as a personal insult, because I’m not degrading Michigan in any way. I just said that I liked GT for certain reasons and I was hoping CC members could tell me more about Michigan. I’ve been on my phone this whole time so its a lot easier to ask on a forum than to go through page after page on a small screen. Anyhow, is it really so bad that I asked the opinion of students at the school rather than just sorted through thousands of figures?</p>
<p>echo-So here’s what it comes down to: Situation 1- Money is an issue and you want to do engineering after graduation- choose GT. Situation 2- Money is not an issue and you want to do engineering after graduation- choose Michigan. Situations 3 and 4- Money is or is not an issue and you want to do business after graduation- choose Michigan. The investment will be well worth it.</p>
<p>And this is disregarding the social scene that Michigan offers and GT blatently lacks.</p>
UMich is awesome and my son loves it. However, it’s worth repeating that spending a cumulative $80,000 or more over 4 years, EVEN for a coveted UMich engineering or ross degree, is not especially savvy financially if you’ve been accepted to a strong program, which you have.
But that’s relative. If $100,000 is a drop in a bucket for your family; if no one has to raid their 401k or take a line of equity to do it, the fact that you COMMENTED about the social life and gender mix tells me you might be happier at Michigan.
However, if your parents are just being especially generous, but it will cause them a shred of hardship or even more importantly, cause YOU to take loans in excess of the recommended average of $22,000 - $24,000 over four years, then DON’T DO IT.</p>
<p>That said, if you can afford it, you really want to make the visit ASAP because exams are over next Thursday and dorms close Friday morning at 11 a.m. and you will not get the same feel for an empty campus. As it is, the vibe is way different during exams, especially at the college of engineering.</p>
<p>Best wishes in your decision. You do have two great choices, so congrats on your accomplishment!</p>
<p>why would you say that you were close to choosing michigan if you know absolutely nothing about their program. This is stuff you should have cleared up the spring and summer of your JUNIOR year. Just go to GT, you probably dont even know why you applied to Michigan (other then to say, " I applied /got into Michigan")</p>
<p>Thank you eziamm, Alexandre, predator, kmcmom13, vinceh (at one point), GoBlue81, and wayneandgarth for responding with useful information.</p>
<p>If I wanted to be told “go to GT because you know more about it” then I would have just asked GT students.</p>
<p>I never said GT was a better business school. I was asking you for reasons why Michigan was better (which I knew it was rankings-wise before starting the thread), and for some reason everyone took it as a personal offense and I don’t understand why you guys think that I came on here to argue that GT was better. Again, all I said was why I liked GT, hoping that someone would tell me something about Michigan that would be similar to that aspect of GT that I liked and instead I got this.</p>