<p>So as someone who actually is a student at Michigan, I’ll just offer a couple points on both sides of the issues even though I usually avoid these debates because everybody ends up not painting an accurate picture. </p>
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<li><p>People know Michigan over Wash U. If you go to Michigan, people will have more knowledge about the school and feel more comfortable with it, and thus it’s more likely to give you an advantage in hiring or with the “wow” factor or whatever. Helpful prestige inherent in your degree is something you give up when you go to a smaller private school like Wash U. </p></li>
<li><p>The students at Wash U are smarter than those at Michigan, and it’s pretty noticeable. If you’re the type of student who gets into Wash U, you’ll find probably half of the student body to be fairly mediocre. However, intelligence doesn’t really bear out in your day to day interactions with people because, as my experiences visiting schools and my friends who did choose to go to HYPS, most people won’t “act smart” on a daily basis. So while your peers probably won’t impress you in the classroom until you take upper-level courses, the general vibe of the students at Michigan tends to be appreciated more than at a lot of the smaller private schools. And at a larger school you’re more likely to find people you vibe with. Also, Wash U isn’t Harvard or Yale and from my experiences with it, isn’t a particularly intellectual campus so the whole student body things probably bears out even less. Additionally, the professors at Michigan are far superior to those at Wash U, so if you go to office hours consistently you can stand to gain a lot more from them. </p></li>
<li><p>The class size statistic is misleading for those studying non-econ social sciences and humanities for students of high caliber. If you actively utilize the honors program, enter with advance standing, and proactively contact professors (as many high caliber students will) you likely won’t see an appreciable difference in class sizes between any major research university. (What I mean is, whether a lecture is 100 people or 200 people, if you don’t get much out of a big lecture format you aren’t going to go). At all research universities, including Stanford and Yale, first year class sizes for intro classes are large, impersonal, and a mixed bag. </p></li>
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<p>From my experiences here, I’ve had as a freshman 3 giant lectures (two econ courses and a Great books course), one lecture with under 30 students on one of the top professors in his field, and 5 seminar-style courses with less than 20 students on a professor. Next year as a first semester sophomore (junior standing) all but one of my classes will be 25 students or less on a professor and my other one a 400-level lecture with under 75 people. </p>
<p>The only place where size bears out is in how willing the school is to spend on students. However, if you demonstrate that you know what you’re doing they’ll let you do most things you want. </p>
<p>Just a few things on this thread I thought I might be able to clear up. You may resume this debate about percentiles and PA scores :)</p>