<p>Reading back over this post, I decided that the “mainstream approach to making a large mass booksmart” was a little more harsh than what I had intended. All I meant is that it is hard to make things intellectually stimulating and challenging for each individual when you are dealing with such a huge student body.</p>
<p>Anyway, the school does well considering what it has and the student body it must educate. But just doing well doesn’t entitle it to a top 10-15 place. It really has to go above and beyond to get there. Kids devote their entire lives to getting into top 10-15 universities. Of course U of M applicants are devoted, but undeniably to a lesser extent than some of the IVY applicants. U of M should be proud to be ranked where it is, strive to be better, but not be foolish in thinking it competes with the most elite private universities in the world.</p>