University of Michigan

Founded 1817. Flagship public research giant, oldest of the big state universities by founding era.

Overview

Founded in Detroit two decades before Michigan statehood, the university moved to Ann Arbor in 1837 and set the model for the great American public university. It enrolls about 50,000 students across 19 schools and claims the oldest continuously operating university hospital system in the United States. Gerald Ford studied here, and Madonna and Larry Page passed through. Research spending tops 1.5 billion dollars yearly, spanning the nation's largest engineering college by enrollment. The Big House, a 107,000 seat stadium, anchors fall Saturdays.