I’m actually surprised that anyone would be willing to pay OOS rates for U. Michigan when over half of the class pays instate (tuition is 14k in state vs. OOS $44k). Doesn’t that bother you? This is an interesting statistic too - because it has been steadily dropping and reached 50% for the first time which is very telling.
That’s like saying I bought a BMW for $14k and you have to pay $44k for the exact same car! That’s a huge rip off if you ask me. More and more state universities want OOS students so they can make money! They are a business so they try to entice you by offering honors programs to take you away from the elite universities. It’s not the same thing. It’s called a brilliant marketing strategy!
These states are hurting for money and cannot provide as much aid to their state universities. So they’re increasing their enrollment to get more funds and they are cutting costs - such as salaries. So there are way too many students and not enough classes. They have 42k UG students. Geez! Don’t be surprised if you cannot graduate in 4 years due to limited space. There’s no way I would even let my kids apply for any OOS state university for two main reasons - OOS costs (rip off) and way too many students - a rat race with heavy weed outs!
Rice is by far a better choice than UM. Why do you think top universities such as Harvard, Princeton, WashU, Rice, Notre Dame, etc. average 5k in class size? That says it all. It’s because you will get the best quality education from smaller universities. You won’t be a number trying to survive in a rat race. Instead Rice will help you succeed vs. UM will push you out the whole time. If you really like UM, then a better option in my opinion is attend Rice for UG and UM for grad school (due to a smaller class size). There are 15k Grad students at UM. Just my 2 cents.