<p>rodney,
Do you think it’s harder to get into Michigan from OOS? If so, do you have hard numbers to support that? Unlike many state schools they have no statutory in-state quota, the undergad student body is 35% OOS (very high for a state school, cf. 8% Cal-Berkeley, 17% UNC-Chapel Hill, 28% Virginia), and their admissions office claims they give no preference to in-state applicants in the admissions process, treating in-state and OOS as a single applicant pool. </p>
<p>So maybe your point is a broader one: maybe no one can treat Michigan as a safety.</p>