I recently got accepted into umich engineering and am excited beyond words. I am pretty sure that I will be attending in the fall, but am a little worried about what I will find there as a gay guy. I know that the engineering campus is physically separate from the rest of the university, and so I am mostly worried that I will only be able to interact with the traditional “engineering type” (straight white guys), and not have the chance to meet any gay guys. As I have spent my entire high school career at a hardcore Christian school that strongly discourages any sort of gay-ness, I am really looking to explore that side of myself, and so this is something that is important to me.
Could anyone who has attended Michigan (specifically engineering) speak to the gay life on North Campus, or how accessible the gay life on Central is to engineering students?
Since I don’t seem to be getting many answers, anyone is free to chime in if they can contribute anything.
There are many LGBTQ people in engineering and at Michigan. I believe there is a club for gay engineering students in fact so I would reach out to them. Also just because you have classes with them doesn’t mean you will only interact with them- the majority of freshmen live on north campus.
Lots of gay people at Michigan and no one cares. Seriously. The Michigan colleges located on north campus include engineering, art & design, architecture, and music, theatre, and dance - definitely not engineering alone. Don’t expect a huge amount of free time, everyone will be focused on their classes.
As an engineer you will have the majority of freshman and about half of sophomore classes on central campus. Expect to spend time on the bus (7-10 min) which shutttles between campuses. Central campus classes start on the hour, and noth campus classes start on the 1/2 hr, so you shoul dhave plenty of time.
Michigan is Michigan. Engineering is not a separate university. Engineers are part of the Michigan community, which happens to be very welcoming to all students, regardless of their identity or orientation.