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<p>Sorry to be nit-picky, especially when goldenboy is saying generally nice things about Michigan. But I think there’s a difference in the graduate programs, too. Here’s how US News ranks the graduate programs at the two schools in key academic disciplines:</p>
<p>Biology: Wisconsin #15, Michigan #20
Chemistry: Wisconsin #7, Michigan #16
Computer Science: Wisconsin #11, Michigan #13
Earth Sciences: Michigan #9, Wisconsin #13
Economics: Michigan #13, Wisconsin #13
Engineering: Michigan #7, Wisconsin #13
English: Michigan #13, Wisconsin #17
History: Michigan #7, Wisconsin #14
Math: Michigan #8, Wisconsin #16
Philosophy (Philosophical Gourmet): Michigan #4, Wisconsin #22
Physics: Michigan #11, Wisconsin #17
Political Science: Michigan #4, Wisconsin #15
Psychology: Michigan #4, Wisconsin #9
Sociology: Wisconsin #1, Michigan #4</p>
<p>Mean ranking: Michigan 9.5, Wisconsin 13.1</p>
<h1>top 5 programs (of 14): Michigan 4, Wisconsin 1</h1>
<h1>top 10 programs (of 14): Michigan 8, Wisconsin 3</h1>
<h1>top 15 programs (of 14): Michigan 12, Wisconsin 10</h1>
<h1>top 20 programs (of 14): Michigan 14, Wisconsin 13</h1>
<h1>top 25 programs (of 14): Michigan 14, Wisconsin 14</h1>
<h1>of programs where Michigan leads: 9 of 14</h1>
<h1>of programs where Wisconsin leads: 4 of 14</h1>
<h1>ties: 1 of 14</h1>
<h1>programs where Michigan leads by 5 or more places: 7 of 14</h1>
<h1>programs where Wisconsin leads by 5 or more places: 2</h1>
<p>There are two ways you can look at this. One is to say they’re both great universities, with most or all of their graduate programs in the top 25, or top 20, or even top 15… Or you can look at the divergence at the very top, and say that while Wisconsin mostly has programs ranked #11 to #20, Michigan has a lot more programs in the top 5 or top 10; in fact, a majority of its programs in this sample are in the top 10, and only a very small number of schools can say that (Stanford, UC Berkeley, and Harvard are three, but after that it gets spottier). I think for many people pursuing Ph.D.s and hoping to go on to academic careers, it’s no longer enough to be in a top 20 program. Top 10 is better. Top 5 is even better, if you can get it.</p>
<p>I say this not to knock Wisconsin. I really do have a lot of respect for the school. It’s one of a handful of major research universities that manages to have real academic strength across a full range of disciplines, without any obvious weaknesses, and it’s vastly underappreciated in that regard. But while all of Wisconsin’s graduate programs are very good, Michigan’s are at least very good, and more of them break into the truly elite level.</p>