I went to Duke. There were pretentious people and people that were very down to earth. Much smaller campus than Michigan and a very different vibe. Both my kids go to IU 
HRSmom- donât worry About Duke parents being pretentious. Like for instance throwing in that our child goes to MIT on page one. Glass houses.
Simply amazing
@Nocreativity1 my kid did not go to MIT, I was saying he did not like the âbetterâ school while visiting. He actually goes to UMich. See UMich parents can take it when someone doesnât âloveâ that collegeâŠamazing, right?
Indeed. But MIT was a choice? Smart kid either way. Congratulations.
He visited before applying, so he did not bother. Given the carnage that we see each application season, I doubt he would have gotten in had he applied.
He did like Duke, they didnât love him:(. I just find all the stereotypes of the schools funny, bc they are all âtrue and not trueâ!
There is very little difference between IU and UM, mostly UM alums are commenting on some perceived difference. They are both big public flagship universities, go to the one you liked most when you visited, no need to revisit it wonât be any different.
Agree. If you know you like it better, then you go there. This is not about what UM people like. It is your life. Good luck!
Hey, you love what you love. We visited University of Iowa and were smittenâjust cuz. Other Big Tens? Meh. UW Madison would have been perfect in many ways (we thought), but really disliked campus. Even though Madison is such a great little city. Different strokesâŠ
Apply to both, as well as others.
Hutton is a match, not a safety (you meet qualifying stats but admissions are competitive) and obviously Michigan OOS should be considered a low reach due to selectivity.
Considering your stats, a safety is a university where youâre above the top 25% threshold and admits 35-40% applicants in your category (OOS/Instate, if it differentiates by majorâŠ)
There is something a lot of people are saying on this thread that I completely disagree with. They are telling you to apply to a college you donât even like. Unless your parents are making you do so, I disagree with that. Youâve found one school you like better that, presumably, has your major and you can afford. If you want to have choices, continue to look for other places whether âreachâ or not. Donât waste your time applying to a school you donât even like, especially if you will feel pressured to go if accepted, just because itâs a bigger name.
^ true. If op doesnât like UMichigan they should apply to other reaches, but op seemed to believe UMichigan was a near safety so Iâd assume op was thinking this is the only reach school they can apply to at that level of selectivity, with fewer odds of rejection.
Op, can you clarify why youâd even apply to Michigan since you donât like it?
Itâs not a good safety if the student wouldnât like to attend it.
And not every kid has to have a reach.
Iâm a legacy over multiple generations and my parents like it. I know itâs not a near safety for anyone. I also feel like I shouldnât apply to just my safety/first choice school (Hutton will automatically admit me) because everyone has a dream reach school. I had my heart set on Michigan and Iâm not sure about giving up on it right away.
You need 2 affordable safeties, 3-5 matches, then a couple reaches (Michigan would be a low reach due to legacy but should be considered a reach).
^ I completely disagree. I only applied to 2 schools, got into both, picked my favorite, and now Iâll be attending IU in the fall. Iâm sure Iâm in the minority here, but my point is, you donât NEED to apply to 8+ schools. You can if you want, but thereâs definitely no formula you need to follow in this process.
If you arenât sure about giving it up, keep it on your list.
Just know that there is no set number of must apply schools and you really donât need a Dream reach. You can only go to one school. If there are reaches that you donât even really want to attend anyway, itâs silly to apply. Itâs not really a dream school of itnisnt one you really want to go to either.
^ it depends whether you need financial aid or merit aid or neither.
It depends on how selective your major is.
It depends on acceptance rates at the schools on your list.
It depends on how risk adverse or risk prone you are.
If you apply to two universities that you can easily afford even without a scholarship and both are quasi guaranteed admissions, sure you may apply to only 2 (or 3âŠ).
For students who need a lot of financial and/or merit aid, whose list includes sub 30% acceptance universities or hose major has a sub30% acceptance rate within the university where then applying to two safeties then a few matches makes sense.
Outside of the students who donât include safeties at all the worst lists are 3 reaches, no matches, one safety. This rarely ends well.
Iâll add some food for thought. Note I am biased. If youâre going for Business, I donât think there all that much difference between Kelly and Ross for the âreal worldâ people. If your dream job is Goldman Sachs and wall street, then yeah Ross may give you the edge. But for us normal business folks, Kelly does itâs job. Letâs face it, Kelley is named after a hamburger guy. And these days it is very competitive to get in â especially if youâre not direct admit. They have many other well regarded programs - music, etc.
The campus itself, is much more compact than many of the schools we visited, ie; Michigan, U of I. There arenât really any open roads running thru campus (other than 10th street), so once youâre inside, youâre not dodging cars as such. So getting from building to building is a breeze.
Downtown Bloomington has really developed into a modern âcity.â Yet, everything is basically walkable for the young kids. It still has the old staples like Nicks. But now plenty of newer places, including the chains (noodles, chipoltle, etc.), if that is your thing.
Weather wise, IU will usually have a milder winter than Michigan.
While Michigan has football, IU scored big with its basketball recruiting class. Should be a game changer from last year. And who can forget the Little 500 â the greatest college weekend of them all. 
Go and enjoy. Good luck.
Just a sports person here, not an alum of either school. Hereâs some extraneous info for you.
Indiana only has the #9 recruiting class essentially because of one recruit who just committed in the past week, Romeo Langford. Other than this one recruiting class, Indiana basketball hasnât been very good for many years.
Michigan has the #11 basketball recruiting class plus theyâre coming off of back-to-back Big10 championships and lost the National Championship to Villanova in the last Final Four.
Michigan just had a Final Four appearance in the college hockey championship too.
BTW, the average LOW temperature difference is about 3 degrees (43 vs. 40) between Bloomington and Ann Arbor.
Both are wonderful schools, but in terms of sports outcomes, Michigan has a significant edge. And Michigan does get 110,000 to the Big House each home game. But I always loved the movie Breaking Away too.
NCAA Basketball Banners
IU = 5
Michigan = 1
Michigan sux.
And while Langford makes a difference it bodes well for the future. Much like when Cody Zeller committed, Landford makes Indiana basketball âcoolâ again. Program is set up for the future.