The unofficial online home for fans of the Western Michigan University Broncos. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

(03-28-2015 03:22 PM)Chipdip2 Wrote:  

(01-18-2015 11:17 PM)broncofan1 Wrote:  Silly Central. WMU has been working on this for years in order to get it right and to be sure it will be a marketable degree. CMU caught wind of it and rushed to be 'first'.

You can be the first. We'll be the best.

Typical CMU. Did the same thing when the rushed to cobble together the The Doc McStuffin School of Medicine. Built it with a 25 million dollar investment, staged it at the only hospital with enough beds to make it plausible (Midland).

WMU raised 170 million, MPI/Upjohn/Parfets donated a building that would have cost 60 million to build, had two large teaching hospitals within spitting distance, and after careful study they built a med school that we can be proud of.

Same with this brewing science program. Kalamazoo is home to several large micro brewers, as well as a national manufacturer and distributor. One is akin to a school of garage home brewing, and the other can actually fill a need in the market place.

The faculty responsible for the development of the cmu craft beer making curriculum

Exactly, Dip. People say CMU is our 'rival institution', but only in athletics. WMU has-with only one exception-always had leadership with a vision for what the school can be. CMU has had a series of ineffectual leaders with no vision at all. Their medical school has one foot on a banana peel and the other one over the abyss. Their engineering school is about the same. No vision, no planning, no follow through. The difference is stark.

The only then CMU has over us is journalism. They have a good journalism program. That's about it.

(03-29-2015 12:08 PM)broncofan1 Wrote:  The only then CMU has over us is journalism. They have a good journalism program. That's about it.

This only really matters in state. Out of state, I don't think anyone would really know any better.

(03-29-2015 06:12 PM)Charm City Bronco Wrote:  

(03-29-2015 12:08 PM)broncofan1 Wrote:  The only then CMU has over us is journalism. They have a good journalism program. That's about it.

This only really matters in state. Out of state, I don't think anyone would really know any better.

What? You mean to tell me the general public has never heard of the cmu Jimmy Olson excellence in journalism award honoring those that have excelled in the field of journalism What a shame!

In the old days CMU j-school grads were "fortunate" enough to go straight from school to cushy jobs at the GR Press, Det News. Unfortunately those locations aren't as desirable as they once were, at least that's my opinion, unless you want/wanted to live in your hometown and work for a news organization without having to leave your hometown.

Whatever happened to the dumb*** CMU grad/Detroit native who got himself fired from the Wilmington DE paper for writing a fake press release announcing his hire at the Wilmington paper?

I kinda have to wonder when CMU is going to announce an online law degree.

Their medical schools is in real funding trouble. Wouldn't surprise me to see it go under in a couple of years-or lose accreditation.

(03-30-2015 05:00 PM)Tommyboy Wrote:  I kinda have to wonder when CMU is going to announce an online law degree.

CMU has a HUGE presence in metro DC though their online degrees for military professionals looking to check that box.

(03-30-2015 09:43 PM)Charm City Bronco Wrote:  

(03-30-2015 05:00 PM)Tommyboy Wrote:  I kinda have to wonder when CMU is going to announce an online law degree.

CMU has a HUGE presence in metro DC though their online degrees for military professionals looking to check that box.

I was in DC recently and noticed frequent cmu commercials on TV touting their programs.

They've tapped in to that University of Phoenix diploma mill model. I don't think that's a road every school wants to venture down. Kind of cheapens the value of the real degrees.

If there's one thing CMU does well, it's advertise their university. When I was in high school, I was the only person from my senior class (of about 150) to go to Western. About half of the class went to Central. This was from a small town near the Metro Detroit area, so proximity wasn't a major factor. When I asked them why they chose Central, the answers I got were along the lines of: "It's the only school I've heard of besides U-M and MSU"...and..."That's where my friends are going"...most simply did not have a real answer.

Kids are idiots. If you throw something in front of their face, that's what they're going to remember.

(03-31-2015 10:55 AM)Chipdip2 Wrote:  They've tapped in to that University of Phoenix diploma mill model. I don't think that's a road every school wants to venture down. Kind of cheapens the value of the real degrees.

I agree. Isn't U of Phx also going down the tubes?

(03-31-2015 11:01 AM)ColinApocalypse Wrote:  If there's one thing CMU does well, it's advertise their university. When I was in high school, I was the only person from my senior class (of about 150) to go to Western. About half of the class went to Central. This was from a small town near the Metro Detroit area, so proximity wasn't a major factor. When I asked them why they chose Central, the answers I got were along the lines of: "It's the only school I've heard of besides U-M and MSU"...and..."That's where my friends are going"...most simply did not have a real answer.

Kids are idiots. If you throw something in front of their face, that's what they're going to remember.

Bingo. This is 100% correct.

I live in metro Detroit and CMU is much more visible here. They have a well-renowned extension campus in Troy that many folks in the auto industry have gotten their MBA's at. It takes a long time and a solid commitment to establish a reputation like that. WMU doesn't seem to have that vision for itself, for whatever reason. They're focused more on west Michigan-GR and Muskegon.

(03-31-2015 12:58 PM)Charm City Bronco Wrote:  

(03-31-2015 10:55 AM)Chipdip2 Wrote:  They've tapped in to that University of Phoenix diploma mill model. I don't think that's a road every school wants to venture down. Kind of cheapens the value of the real degrees.

I agree. Isn't U of Phx also going down the tubes?

Yes, and its going fast.
http://money.cnn.com/2015/03/25/investin...ings-tank/

(03-31-2015 05:07 PM)BroncoPhilly Wrote:  I live in metro Detroit and CMU is much more visible here. They have a well-renowned extension campus in Troy that many folks in the auto industry have gotten their MBA's at. It takes a long time and a solid commitment to establish a reputation like that. WMU doesn't seem to have that vision for itself, for whatever reason. They're focused more on west Michigan-GR and Muskegon.

WMU's focus is to put more effort into Chicago.

CMU has tripled the size of university relations/marketing staff as WMU. Frustrating.

Quote:WMU's focus is to put more effort into Chicago.

Interesting concept, but what have they got to show for it? As far as I know, Illinois students are charged out of state tuition to attend Western. And within the distance between Kalamazoo and Chicago resides NIU, NU, U of I, DePaul and how many other college options? Not so sure the Chicago focus is the right idea.

Quote:CMU has tripled the size of university relations/marketing staff as WMU. Frustrating.

I like the new Western commercials and they're shown often over in the Detroit media, but there is no question that WMU can do more to market over in this region of the state. We've got some signature programs that need more promotion. It's a continual challenge.

[quote='BroncoPhilly' pid='11943544' dateline='1427856315']
[quote]WMU's focus is to put more effort into Chicago.[/quote]

Interesting concept, but what have they got to show for it? As far as I know, Illinois students are charged out of state tuition to attend Western. And within the distance between Kalamazoo and Chicago resides NIU, NU, U of I, DePaul and how many other college options? Not so sure the Chicago focus is the right idea.


Chicago is the only significant market with any semblance of growth for college-bound students in the midwest. It is definitely the way to go, if we aren't too late in doing so. The out-of-state rate isn't that much more for them to come to WMU, and we have a lenient residency policy. Other schools (CMU, EMU, Ferris, MTech) are offering in-state tuition to them already.

Michigan's decline in high school graduates will continue until 2022, then level off. New pipelines need to be built out of state. Actually, they should have been built a decade ago (like MSU did).

A huge percentage of kids at WMU come from Illinois, especially from the Chicago area. It seems like every other person I talk to on campus is from Chicagoland.

I don't know if that's who we should be targeting or not, but it seems like we're getting the demographic that we're marketing to.