<p>Not really Go. Schools only spend limited amount of money on instruction and undergrads. Michigan’s endowment of $4.5+ Billion is more than enough to grant each student attention to the extreme, especially when you consider that Michigan receives over $300 million from the state annually. To claim that one research university pays more attention to its undergrads than another is almost always a case of misplaced loyalty. All research universities save Rice, Brown, Dartmouth and maybe Princeton (not in the sciences) have faculties that are far more interested in research than in teaching. Only LACs truly pay very close attention to their undergrads. </p>
<p>Classes at Michigan are indeed larger than at Northwestern. Recources availlable to undergrads at Michigan are probably not as abundant as they are to undergrads at Northwestern, though in some ways, Michigan has more resources availlable to its undergraduates. But the differences in resources and quality are insignificant. Both are top universities with incredible offerings. One should pick between the two according to fit, not accoridng to insignificant differences. </p>
<p>And by the way, I was not getting personal. I just feel that a person who has spent 4 years studying in a university (taking a total of 45 classes) would know much more about that university than someone who just knows it from a limited number of visits as a visitor. I spent 2 years as a graduate student at Cornell. I took several classes (both graduate and undergraduate) in various departments. I was even a GSI for a couple of classes. And despite all this exposure to Cornell, I am not that knowledgeable about Cornell. It takes a lot of exposure to a university as complex as Michigan to really know it well. </p>
<p>But from experience I can tell you that all research universities, from Harvard to Cal and everthing in between, pay little attention to undergrads. It is the burden of the undergrad to seek out opportunities at all those universities. But they all have unlimited opportunities, so there is no reason to fear.</p>
<p>In short Go, you should chose a university that matches your personality and that has an atmosphere and culture that appeals to you. The rest is just a statistical exercise.</p>