Is Michigan weak in any way?

<p>Bring da ruckus, this the Michigan forum. This thread was intended to allow students and alums to post likes and dislikes of the university. It is supposed to be good, clean and harmless fun. I am glad you have decided to join the fun and we all wish you (and all college applicants) all the best over the next 2-3 months. May your dream university come true!</p>

<p>i'm actually at times scared to display my Michigan decal sticker, because pretty much everybody hates us and I'm worried about the safety of my car.</p>

<p>You only have to worry about that when you go south across the state line.</p>

<p>Weaknesses from my three completed semesters here...</p>

<p>1.) North campus is across a river. Seriously.</p>

<p>2.) I think this is largely due to the timing but I've been in two engineering classes now that have been rather "experimental." This led to classes that were a little unstructured at first and led to a lot of unease among the students.</p>

<p>3.) GSIs do have some trouble speaking English but I also find that its these instructors that are the most eager to give help one on one during office hours or after class.</p>

<p>4.) I find the tuition system a little counter-intuitive. Juniors and seniors pay more? I'm a second-year student with junior standing so sadly I pay a few thousand more than my peers who came in without any advanced credit. I thought those AP classes were supposed to be good for me...damn.</p>

<p>5.) So I'm an engineer and I'm still bothered by what seems to be a pretty big disparity between the quality of the facilities for LSA students and...everyone else. The rooms in the buildings around the diag SUCK compared to Ross and the engin school. Yes they're older and dated but...they're also used by the majority of the undergrad population.</p>

<p>6.) North campus is across a river. Seriously.</p>

<p>All excellent points. LSA buildings (except for Chemistry and Economics) are due for some major renovation. I also never understood why upperclassmen pay higher tuition. I am not sure there is anything that can be done about GSIs being more eager to help undergrads. I think that's that case at any major research university.</p>

<p>"LSA buildings (except for Chemistry and Economics) are due for some major renovation."</p>

<p>Alexandre, Lorch hall needs to be renovated too.</p>

<p>Financial Aid Statistics</p>

<pre><code>* Full-time freshman enrollment: 5,739
* Number who applied for need-based aid: 3,514
* Number who were judged to have need: 2,853
* Number who were offered aid: 2,853
* Number who had full need met: 2,568

  • Average percent of need met: 90%
  • Average financial aid package: $8,959
  • Average need-based loan: $6,623
  • Average need-based scholarship or grant award: $7,737
  • Average non-need based aid: $6,681
  • Average indebtedness at graduation: $25,586 </code></pre>

<p>Percent of total undergraduate aid awarded as:</p>

<pre><code>* Scholarships / grants: 58%
* Loans / jobs: 42%
</code></pre>

<p>I wish would've known this earlier. I haven't received my FA package yet, but my EFC is $0 and they reduce grants for every outside scholarship you receive. So basically your loans remain as high as possible, and so far all the FA packages I've been reading for people with higher EFC's are really bad. :(</p>

<p>Hi All,
U of M has always been my first choice, and now that I've been accepted I keep hearing the same laments from people, that it's cut-throat competitive, Freshmen are on their own-sink or swim, and that they are put into gross dorms where one needs to take a bus onto campus. Help! I'm not asking to be spoon fed, but hey, I'd like to feel like something other than a number.</p>

<p>Lol. There are only 2 (3 if you count Oxford) dorms from which you have to take a bus to get to Central. It's bad luck yes, but you can't help it. </p>

<p>Michigan is cut-throat competitive in all pre-med classes and calc classes. In the others, less so. Even though the environment is competitive, I've found most people to be helpful and collaborative.</p>

<p>It is a big school so you cannot expect much hand holding. A certain level of independence is required if you want to do well at this school. Having said that, there are tons of resources to help you out if you take the initiative to do so.</p>

<p>Michigan isn't cutthroat in pre-med classes. Maybe in orgo, but once you get into the upper level classes, you become surrounded by people who are more interested in learning than they are about beating out the person sitting next to them.</p>

<p>Weakness: Their admissions department. C'mon......why are we still waiting by this point for a decision?</p>

<p>I agree es2642. It's terrible that so many are waiting for so long. I wish all of you the best of luck whatever school you end up at.</p>

<p>^^ Thank you. Although Michigan is my #1, I may have to pass it up if I don't get a decision early next week. </p>

<p>I'm very frustrated.</p>

<p>Cheer up, buddy~~~ Michigan admission office sucks...</p>

<p>Weakness: Financial aid...more than sucks. I figured..ok i get in early decision...maybe theyll throw some money my way. No. 5500 in loans. **** im out of state. Cost is going to be 45k for just next year. apparently my parents have 33k somewhere that they are hiding every year...yeah right. Two middle class school teachers are expected to come up with that type of dough. You gotta be serious....</p>

<p>Sorry about that porterGoBluer. Too bad you grew up in a state that doesn't have a top notch flagship university. It seems like everyone in this country loves to knock the state of Michigan because of this economy. We do occassionally do things right though.</p>

<p>Unfortunately U-M does not guarantee to meet all needs for out-of-state students. Hopefully we will some day.</p>

<p>All needs? shoot the university supports itself by stealing rich OOS people's money. Why would it want to help them out?</p>

<p>"stealing"?</p>

<p>I was OOS and I never felt like Michigan stole from me. Most OOS students I knew at Michigan would have paid roughly as much to attend most of Michigan's peer institutions.</p>