<p>Well, I've always wanted to go to college in a college town and Ann Arbour sounds perfect. But I also wanted to be near a big city and Detroit sounded fine, but recently I've started to here all sorts of horror stories about it. I'd like to go to a place where I could stay out till 2-3 in the morning and feel safe about it.</p>
<p>How often do Ann Arbour students head out to detroit? Is there any substance to the stories?</p>
<p>It is important to point out that Ann Arbor (which is a very safe city) is not that close to Detroit and that most students do not often go to Detroit. Many will go to the more affluent suburbs such as Troy, Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, Famington Hills, Royal Oak, Dearborn etc…, but not many go to downtown Detroit. In fact, I travelled to Chicago more often than I travelled to Detroit.</p>
<p>As long as you are in downtown Detroit, you should be fine. I go to downtown Detroit about once or twice a month and I’m fine as a skinny Asian kid. Pontiac is probably more dangerous to walk around the downtown of than Detroit is. Just be wary of the residential areas surrounding the lodge as I assume that is what you probably will take to get to Detroit. It is about a 40 minute trip to get from Ann Arbor to Detroit(Judging from my commute to Downtown and to Ann arbor as I live in Plymouth Canton area). Though I echo Alexandre’s point to some of the suburbs having much more than Detroit (not particularly Dearborn) and in addition to add Ferndale.</p>
<p>Oh and to your second point, the substance to the stories is probably true of people who aren’t street smart. Most of these horror stories probably start with asking directions in sketchy residential areas or something of that sort. I also see a good deal of Michigan students(I think) around downtown at shows and games. I’d also assume about 10-25%(Not sure how many kids from the suburbs go often) of Michigan’s undergrad population is familiar about the areas around Detroit, so if you are worried about going to Detroit, take a friend.</p>
<p>Cleveland… We’re not Detroit!</p>
<p>Whenever anyone goes to Detroit it is during a sporting event or the auto show and maybe to go to a museum. For those things it’s fine but otherwise there’s nothing to do there so you’ll never be down there at 2-3 in the morning.</p>
<p>I definitely agree that going downtown for major events like concerts or sports is pretty safe. However, be aware that detroit has some very bad areas that you can wind up in. Regardless of what anyone on here says, I would not recommend walking around late at night…downtown or not. Flint is a little worse than detroit, and pontiac I dislike even driving through. Personally, there are much better areas like birmingham/bloomfield and royal oak that are both safer and more fun.</p>
<p>The only reason you’ll be there is for a wings or a tigers game (lets not kid anyone, it won’t be the lions) or maybe a concert, and you’ll be perfectly safe in those areas when there is an event going on. Otherwise, you’ll stay faaarrr away from it. It is not a pleasant city, even in the nice areas.</p>