<p>Michigan’s entering class stats have definitely crept upward along with its increased applications and lower acceptance rates over the last few admissions cycles. I do think better FA for OOS students will be a key factor in determining whether that upward trajectory continues. I am impressed with the university’s overall financial strength, but whether it can carve out enough resources to make attendance attractive to enough highly qualified OOS admits as the percentage of OOS students in the applicant and admit pools rises remains a major question.</p>
<p>Another big question–and again, this is ultimately a financial question–is whether the university can improve its s/f ratio and its ratio of small to large classes. It does much better than most publics on this score, but the number of large classes is still a concern to many OOS students choosing between Michigan and top private colleges and universities.</p>
<p>I say this as the father of a (double-legacy) OOS daughter who was recently accepted to Michigan EA. She loves and deeply respects the school and absolutely adores the town, and can see herself having a happy and successful undergraduate experience there, but she is also drawn to top LACs with lower s/f ratios, more small classes, and almost no large ones. Michigan is currently her top choice but it may not remain there once the LAC acceptances start to roll in. She is aware of Michigan’s “learning communities” which seek to emulate some of the benefits of a smaller and more intimate learning environment while still drawing on the strengths of a major research university, but she’s still not completely sold on the equivalence with a LAC-type environment, and she’s somewhat concerned that a large university will ultimately dump her into more large-lecture classes than she cares to be part of. (For the same reason she’s generally skeptical of private research universities, which are generally not nearly as good as advertised on this score). Time will tell where else she’s admitted and what she decides, but I don’t think her concerns are atypical.</p>