“Some others (that my parents would consider if I were to get in, but I also like) are UVA, Georgetown, UPenn & Northwestern”
billnyegirl, you said you want to avoid Greek life. Penn, NU and UVa all have more prominent Greek life than Michigan.
Your perception of Michigan is way off. The students you will run into at Michigan will, for the most part, be more interested in their academic pursuits than in football or Greek life, very much like the students at the four universities you mentioned above.
“International relations(LSA)! Northwestern is only ranked a little better than Michigan for this major.”
billnyegirl, International Relations is not offered at Michigan or Northwestern. Both of them offer Political Science, and Michigan’s department in that major is actually ranked a little better (#4) than Northwestern’s (#23), Penn’s (#19), UVa’s (#37) and Georgetown’s (#33)