<p>I’m going to start off with by stating my biases – I’m a parent whose child chose NU over both Michigan.</p>
<p>A poster said that Michigan is not cutting edge programs. Interesting point, I think it’s fair to say that in student recruiting presentations, NU gives the impression of taking a more collaborative approach to education than Michigan, and that Michigan has a more traditional approach. However, I’m not sure whether this is the way the schools choose to present themselves,or whether there is a major substantive difference in education.</p>
<p>Even if true, it really says relatively little about the education at either school. Some students may favor one approach over the other, and this would be a reason for choosing between the schools, I suppose. However, it says little about education at either school.</p>
<p>Basically, when you come down to it, both schools offer an excellent education, both in their engineering schools and other schools. However, my child and I both felt that the schools had a very different feel. I think that after visiting, most students would come away with a clear preference for one or the other of these schools. For some, the preference would be Michigan and for others NU.</p>
<p>To OP’s original question – there are certainly cases where I think one would choose a school with a better overall reputation – for example, if you had asked about Purdue vs NU, I’m pretty sure I’d recommend NU for most students all other things being equal. (Not meant as a knock against Purdue, which is excellent, but IMHO, not in the same class as either NU or Michigan).</p>
<p>Given the reputation of each both overall and in engineering, for an OOS student (i.e., no tuition edge for Michigan) there really isn’t a wrong way to go</p>