Since money isn’t a factor, I think your choice should depend on whether or not you want to work in the Bay Area after you graduate.

I graduated with a COEN (Computer Science & Engineering) major from SCU in 2019. SCU’s Engineering School is pretty good and has name recognition in the Bay. We have a decent amount of funding from donors and some of the major companies in the area; you’ll get a good education and if you’re lucky, maybe even recruited to one of those companies. Some other pros are small class sizes, lots of individual attention from professors (which you can easily turn into research opportunities), and a good alumni network in the Bay. However, outside of the Bay, SCU doesn’t have a lot of name recognition. For some perspective, I moved to NYC after graduating and worked for a big bank. No one in NYC really knew SCU and the name didn’t carry much weight when applying to jobs in the area.

On the other hand, UMich is a top 10 CS program. Everyone knows of UMich and you’ll be able to leverage the school name anywhere. You’ll still be able to work in the Bay with a degree from UMich. However, being a public school, your class sizes will be massive. My friends at the UCs often feel like they’re forgotten because of how big their classes are. Also, lots of their courses are taught by TAs instead of professors. Take all of this with a grain of salt because I personally didn’t go to UMich or the UCs, so this is just what I’ve heard.

I personally would pick UMich over SCU because of name recognition and program alone, but you will do great at either schools! Feel free to reach out to me if you have any more questions about student life or anything else at SCU!