Michigan Colleges & Universities

College Search & Lists
1

Would love some input on the following schools (prestige, academics, campus life, preparation for graduate school, diversity, alumni network).

Daughter has been admitted to all and is narrowing her choices for second visits in the spring. She is planning a Biology (not pre-med major) with graduate school for PathA or similar degree (example: http://drexel.edu/medicine/academics/graduate-school/pathologists-assistant-patha/). She did apply to UM early action but has not heard as of today; she didn’t particularly like the campus in Ann Arbor when we visited (too big).

Northern Michigan
Michigan State
Albion College
Kalamazoo College
Michigan Tech

2

Career choice and especially majors tend to change a lot for a young person, so the variety of choices at a given university should also be considered.

You won’t hear back from Michigan until next week for EA. It has outstanding biological sciences program and research, best in the group. It can be large and somewhat intimidating, but also offers lots of opportunities in research that the others will not due to its immense research budget (2nd largest in USA) with a focus on medical and biological sciences. About 50% of students are OOS or international. Highest student body quality in group.

All of the schools send their students to excellent grad schools, but I’d rate Michigan above and NMU and Albion below the others. Another consideration is the quality and cost of study abroad programs. Michigan, for example, offers their study abroad programs at the same cost as in-state tuition, including any financial aid and scholarships. This can be a large cost advantage at schools like Cambridge. Each school has different partners and different offerings.

MSU is larger than Michigan. The academic system is different in that you are admitted to the university and are not guaranteed access to any particular major. Some require minimum GPAs . MSU has a very wide variety of majors, including ag oriented ones. Like many public universities, MSU has an honors college with additional attention, access to classes, etc. Good student support in the sciences. MSU has a party university reputation. Mostly in-state students. Division 1 sports. About the same diversity as the state of Michigan. Not many OOS or international students.

Michigan Tech is small, science and engineering oriented school. Small, focused, intense - it’s small enough that your daughter will receive a lot of personal attention. Lots of research for its size. More men than women. Very cold in winter. Entrepreneurial culture. Not terribly diverse. Not a party school. Great area for winter sport and mountain biking.

NMU is the regional uni for the UP and eastern Wisconsin. Some Chinese students, but mostly locals. Marquette is a very livable town with lots of cultural offerings. Lower quality student body. You won’t get the range of options than at the larger schools. Some commuters at NMU too.

Kalamazoo is a very well regarded private school and you get many private school advantages- more personalized attention and high quality of instruction. Tuition is high if you are full pay, but they offer many scholarships. Not much research.

Albion is probably the last school I would consider unless she receives significant aid.

3

Why don’t you look at Miami of Ohio? Albion and Kalamazoo are private colleges, so state residency doesn’t matter for costs (unless you have some kind of state based plan that just can be used at in-state schools).

Michigan State has a more sprawling campus than Michigan, I think. Albion is quite religious. Honestly, the kids I’ve known who went to Albion haven’t fared very well in their chosen fields of study (not working in them or getting into grad school).

Michigan Tech is great if she is a STEM major. My D’s best friend from HS was a National Merit Finalist, and he had a really good experience at Michigan Tech.

4

“Not many OOS or international students.”

MSU has a large international population…

5

Michigan Tech is absolutely gorgeous (barring the UP winter) and is great for STEM majors. Houghton is a great city that offers a different experience for those that live in the lower peninsula. I would recommend.

The same can be said for NMU, city-wise. Marquette is better, actually, in my opinion, however NMU has a much lower prestige. (For reference on the student body, several of my classmates were admitted with GPAs of 2.0 or even lower) and NMU is also regarded as a party school.

Kalamazoo is located in Kalamazoo (obviously) and personally I wasn’t a fan. (I’m from the UP so take that into account) The school however is nice and prestige seems high according to a teacher of mine who is a graduate (I’ll admit I know very little here)

MSU is much like Michigan in terms of size of campus, so if she didn’t like Ann Arbor, I don’t see her liking East Lansing at all. MSU does hold prestige but it is a step down from UofM. The scene here, as well, is a little on the party side from the view of several of my former classmates snapchat stories, so be wary if you are wanting to avoid this (which I’m sure is possible)

Albion my sister actually fell in love with. Yes it’s religious, but it doesn’t push it on you like say Cornerstone U or even Calvin from what I’ve heard. The campus is suburban with groomed lawns and beautiful buildings and I enjoyed that. The school is private so cost is a major factor, but prestige seems fairly normal (certainly a step up from NMU, but a step down from UofM)

Lastly, I’d HIGHLY recommend looking into Alma College. I was nowhere remotely interested in this little school, and it won me over. Alma is small, much like Albion, but it is caring! I’ve done two overnights with accompanying tours, and they offer lots of merit and financial aid which is nice. As for prestige, this schools Bio/Chem programs were the school’s selling point. They are incredibly strong! My other sister and best friend are attending next fall after they saw how close knit the student body was, and how much support the faculty gives to its students. While on my overnight, several of the students chose Alma over UofM and hold zero regret.

Good luck, and maybe put Alma on your radar!

6

Hope and Hillsdale are two other excellent Michigan private alternatives to the universities on your list. Hillsdale doesn’t have the liberal bias prevalent on most college campuses. Both offer more of a concierge experience.

7

Thanks, all. She’s going to take another look at Tech as that is her first choice. Still waiting on EA results from Michigan. Oh - and we actually enjoy the open-minded culture that the ‘liberal bias’ prevalent on most college campuses allows so we likely won’t be looking into Hillsdale - but thanks for the note.

8

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