StudentAdvisor Blog

Compare Colleges: University of Michigan vs. Michigan State University

By Sam Coren
StudentAdvisor.com Staff

You'll be hard pressed to find a more storied inter-state college rivalry than the one between University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and Michagan State University On paper they have a lot in common. These two world-class public institutions of higher learning with student populations in the 40,000's are often considered part of the "public ivies". Like most Big Ten schools they both have more school spirit than you can shake a stick at. But what do the students really think about there schools?

With college decision month in full swing we wanted to see what these feuding Wolverines and Spartans had to say in their college reviews. If you're considering earning your degree in the Great Lakes state you should check out how these colleges compare:

The Good:

University of Michigan students said...

• "U of M is in a great location surrounded by an excellent community. There are plenty of student activities and fantastic food! The football games are always a lot of fun to go to and tailgating..."

• "The Ann Arbor area is fantastic. It is big enough and diverse enough that you can find whatever you are looking for. Would definitely go again."

• "The campus life was amazing with such rich educational and sports traditions."

Michigan State students said...

• "Some of the honors programs and residential colleges have absolutely brilliant young men and women who go onto the top graduate and professional programs in the country."

• "Michigan State is booming with energy; I see students playing intramural sports, relaxing under a shady tree, riding bikes to class, listening to iPods, or walking with their friends. There are countless things to do here, and it just makes the college experience so much better."

• "The school has a very high intake of students (more than 50,000) and one of the largest international student programs (more than 5000) in the USA. So one gets to meet all sort of interesting people with a lot of learning opportunities."

 

The Bad:

University of Michigan students said...

• "The campus is a bit spread out, which can be unfortunate in the winter. The maintenance isn't great about salting the side walks, so getting to class can be treacherous."

• "The worst thing about going to this college was the areas weather. I am from California i was not used to the Michigan snow."

• "Poor dorm food, outdated residence halls, and no parking - anywhere!"

Michigan State students said...

• "The size of the University takes some getting-used-to and the party atmosphere can sometimes get a little out of hand."

• "The housing department seems over worked and the capacity of university apartments do not match the students intake. This results in a long waiting list and sometimes costlier out of campus accommodations."

• "You can get lost in the crowd if you let the size overwhelm you."

Want to know more? Check out how Michigan vs Michigan State compare side by side for tuition, male-to-female ratio, admitted student test scores and more! Just visit our compare colleges page.

_{Photo: Campus Den}

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