<p>They’re all very good publics, with Michigan the strongest overall. Austin is an awesome place to go to college. No need to talk it up since nearly every national media publication has trumpeted Austin as one of the best cities to live in. You can point out UT’s peer reputation ranking of 4.1 places it in the top 25 of all national universities (tied with Rice). Not to mention, every academic program at UT is ranked among the top 25 or higher in the country, with many programs in the top 10. The only other university in the South that comes close to having as many highly ranked programs across as many disciplines is Duke. (Rice, Vanderbilt, and Emory do not have anywhere near the same faculty quality or ranked programs.) It’s hardly a “trashy southern school.” The only disadvantage is that since state law requires that no less than 90% of undergraduate slots be reserved for in-state students, the undergrad population is over 90% Texan. However, from another diversity thread posted earlier, only 54% of the population is white, due to high numbers of hispanics and asians. So it is a racially diverse campus, albeit from in-state.</p>