<p>The question of academics – Michigan vs Tulane, is incredibly hard, unless you treat USN&R Survey as unshakeable truth.</p>
<p>Even if you accept this and say that Michigan is a half step to step ahead of Tulane (not a statement I would necessarily make), I think you have to then ask – which department at each school. how much better is one over the other. Also, what will the academic experience be – large classes at one, vs small classes at another. How does the student feel on the campus. Etc., etc., etc.</p>
<p>Let’s say a student visited Yale (I’ll concede that Yale has a better rep than either Tulane or Michigan), and absolutely hated it. My guess is that Yale would be knocked off the apply list (in effect, ‘choosing’ every school applied to over Yale).</p>
<p>You can, of course, judge by the ‘numbers’ in one survey and say that one school is better. Even in this case, it’s the first step of the process, with many intangibles.</p>