RE: Front Page of The Grand Rapids Press: GVSU Has Overtaken WMU
GVSU is the "hip" new school to go to, that's the vibe with college kids these days.
When I was in HS on the east side of the state, I think more kids from my school went to GVSU than WMU. I was the only one in my class to go to WMU right out of HS. For whatever reason, I think they do a better job marketing themselves to kids.
GVSU is the big fish in a small pond in sports and that gives them an air of dominance, which translates into a marketing push.
The truth of the matter is that the 4 best "big" schools in the state are Michigan, Michigan State, Michigan Tech and Western Michigan. In that order.
GVSU has more students, but a third of the endowment of WMU. They're a bloated liberal arts school, with a crazy undergrad to postgrad ratio. Despite having a larger overall enrollment, GVSU has far fewer postgraduates. USNWR classifies them as a "regional university", along with schools like U-D Mercy, Lawrence Tech, Ferris, Northern, Siena Heights, Davenport, SVSU. Meanwhile, U-M, MSU, WMU, CMU, EMU, Tech, Wayne State, and Oakland are considered "national universities".
Maybe kids in Grand Rapids do see GVSU in a better light. But the rest of the country doesn't.
It makes me think that it has to do with GVSU not actually being in Grand Rapids. Kalamazoo kids aren't crazy about going to WMU. Mt. Pleasant kids don't like CMU. The girl that lived across the hall from me my freshman year was from Mt. Pleasant and she said everyone that goes to high school there can't wait to get out of that city, and they really don't like Central. But since GVSU is a 20 minute drive from GR, maybe that's far enough away so that the school/city aren't clashing too much? I don't know...just a theory.
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Front Page of The Grand Rapids Press: GVSU Has Overtaken WMU
