Hi everyone,
Long-time lurker, first-time poster here. Here’s my dilemma:
I am set to graduate in April 2019 with my Associate in Science from my local community college. I have always commuted to school and don’t plan to change this, as I just started working with the State of Michigan and would like to keep this job until I graduate with my Bachelors. I will be 25 by Fall 2019, when I plan to transfer to a university to finish my schooling.
For awhile now, I have planned to transfer to UM-Flint to major in their Wildlife Biology program. I like that it is a smaller school which appears to cater mostly to older, commuting students like myself. I have not yet checked out their facilities for biological research but I have wondered if their status as a small satellite school places any limitations on their work in this department.
I recently traveled to the CMU Biological Research Station on Beaver Island as part of a project I’ve been working on with faculty at my community college. I loved the place, and everyone (including non-CMU faculty and students) raved about their biology program. If I transfer here, I plan to take part in the Ecology, Evolution and Conservation program. From checking around their website, it appears they have a much larger assortment of classes to choose from than UM-Flint.
My only real issue (from what I’ve heard and read) about CMU is largely due to its status as a party school. Am I correct in assuming that this atmosphere is only really apparent to the students who choose to take part in it? Not to sound like a prude, but I’ve never been big on the party scene and am wondering how “in your face” the party culture is.
I know I’m probably limiting myself by insisting on commuting to class, but my family situation and job prevent going away to school at this time. Current/former students from each of these schools - what do you think?
Not from the Michigan area, but I am throwing in my 2 cents. I have a colleague who graduated from UM Flint years ago and works in the West Coast. We joke with him that he is from a satellite campus, but we all heard of UM. CMU is a school I never heard of and maybe can be confused or equated with Western Michigan (if there is such a school). UM Flint I have heard of and it has the UM brand name. This is like UCI, UCSB, etc. having the UC brand name in California. The UC name is highly regarded for employment. If you have any inclination to work outside your local area or the Michigan area, perhaps jobwise, UM is a recognizable name and better for employment.
I also attended a community college and transferred to a four-year college at age twenty-four. I lived in the dorms, ate in the cafeteria, and partied like it was 1999! 
Honestly, you’ll need to decide what is best for you. If commuting is more practical, that’s great. If part of you is longing for a more traditional experience, CMU is a good option, too. You will not be the only non-traditional student. If you’re not into partying, CMU is large enough for you to find your group. There can be some adjustment issues, coming into a situation where you’re new to campus but everyone else has already been there for two yours, but most colleges, I believe, will place you with other transfers and help your transition in other ways.
When my older D was looking at schools we did go visit Central Michigan. I think it is a really pretty campus just in a very small town without much around it. I am not familiar with Flint and I can tell you my other D is looking at Western Michigan.
CMU is large enough that you should be able to find people who aren’t into the party scene that exist at pretty much any college. With such a smaller town around the campus I can see where students might need to find other ways to entertain themselves but nobody forces you to participate so you can choose how active you want.
As for name recognition, I myself went to a school I’m sure most people haven’t heard of and it didn’t impact my ability to land a job or be successful in my career.
Name recognition might help a little when you are first out of school but after that you advance more by your accomplishments and achievements produced in your work. If CMU has the program you want and you feel at home at that school then I would say go to CMU. My niece has a friend on the gymnastics team at CMU and my niece also attended gymnastics camp at CMU when she was being recruited and she really liked the school but ended up elsewhere.
UM - Flint has the U of Michigan brand going for it.
^ the CMU program is better and OP won’t be hired on “brand” especially since all know it’s a branch campus (and Flint is not associated with a lot of positive images right now, perhaps unfairly).
What the student did with their opportunities matters, not the university’s name.
A well-funded program with good research opportunities will matter more.
As to partying, it’d be weird for a 25-year old to party with 18 and 19 year olds. Find a position in a lab, hang out with grad students.