Is Michigan weak in any way?

<p>I have not read this entire thread, however I do believe U Michigan is weak in giving merit and financial aid to OOS middle class families. It’s easy for them to segment out the underpriviledged but out-of-state tuition is draining on the middle class. California middle class is not the same as Kansas middle class so using income numbers doesn’t give the full finance picture. It would be hard for U Michigan to truly be as diverse as they claim to be without them helping more families from around the country.</p>

<p>^^^^^The upcoming capital campaign is going to address this issue. Michigan is working on it!</p>

<p>Some non-academic weaknesses:</p>

<p>-Housing: Rent is expensive, and most of the houses are in a state of disrepair. </p>

<p>-Safety: Ann Arbor was just named one of the top ten most dangerous college towns by some website (too lazy to find link, I’m sure a quick Google will tell you). Crime Alerts are incredibly frequent.</p>

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How expensive? And compare to where?</p>

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Please provide the link. The only thing I could find was ranked in 2012; Michigan was 10th, Harvard 6th and Penn 1st. Michigan was not on the top 25 ranked by Business Insider in Nov 2012. Shows you can’t trust this kinda ranking.</p>

<p>I must admit GloBlu, jts’ post is puzzling. Ann Arbor is more expensive than your typical midwestern city, but it is in-line with cities of its kind. I definitely do not think Ann Arbor is cheap, and there is a need to add more low and mid-priced housing options, but there are plenty of reasonable housing options nonetheless. </p>

<p>As for safety, Ann Arbor is relatively safe. There is crime, but by and large, students who exercise common sense will not have any trouble. There are far worse college towns in terms of safety. Perhaps the murder of the Medical School student a few months ago caused a spike in the data, but Ann Arbor is safe. Ypsilanti, that’s another story.</p>

<p>Correction – “The only thing I could find was ranked in 2011.”</p>

<p>

Rent may seem expensive, especially on a student budget, but it’s actually at about the median for a city of this size. The price of living index at Ann Arbor is 102, compared to the national average of 100. Not too much of a difference.</p>

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<p>What?! I’m pretty sure you just completely made that up. Ann Arbor has a crime rate well below the national average and and even lower when just compared to college towns. DPS has a 5 minute average response, significantly faster than pretty much any other police force in Michigan. The facts just don’t add up. Crime alerts do appear often I will admit, but that’s mainly because DPS is over sensitive to any illegal activity at all and seems that everyone should be aware of even the trivial stuff. I still remember getting a campus wide crime alert once for scam emails and another for a people illegally selling magazines door-to-door.</p>

<p>The only way I could see this being even remotely true is if the website based any city’s crime rating exclusively on the number of crime alerts without factoring in the seriousness of each one. The fact that DPS loves reporting the silly things compounded with how large the student body is means that there bound to be a lot of crime alerts.</p>

<p>Yeah Ohio State is better than Michigan</p>

<p>I feel like ICP should have been included in OP’s music talent out of Detroit list.</p>

<p>Michigan is not weak in any way. I live in the Detroit area - we do hear occasional reports of crime in the Ann Arbor area but it is NOT Detroit by a long SHOT. Ann Arbor is a typical college town.</p>

<p>I have read this discussion completely, and I notice that someone mentioned the art major in Um is so bad, AND, no one reply. Besides, all the majors dicussed above are everything to do with engineer, medical, business, physics,etc. What about other major, like literature, art history, drama? I am a international transfer student and I am thinking about applying to Um, but I am quite confused , does that mean the college is totally not fit me? I am sort of artistic, idealism, esp hate the careerism, do not like party or football at all.
Actually, I plan to major in art history and also interested in dance , drama, writing, film studies.
But no one mention anything about my interests, I have to say I am sort of desperated after reading all the replies about football, engineer, weather. Does that mean the majority in the campus does not care about humanity and arts?</p>

<p>anyone who knows something please reply as soon as possible since the deadline is approaching. I do not want to make a wrong decision again…</p>

<p>Your opinions and considerations are greatly appreciated!</p>

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<p>Quite the contrary: the humanities are among Michigan’s greatest strengths. In the U.S. there are generally no rankings of undergraduate programs, but graduate program ranking serve as a rough proxy for departmental strength. US News ranks Michigan’s program in history #7 nationally, and its program in English (literature) #13. The Philosophical Gourmet, a survey of philosophers, ranks Michigan’s philosophy program #4 nationally and #5 in the English-speaking world (U.S., UK, Canada, and “Australasia”). The National Research Council ranks Michigan’s programs in classical studies and classical art & archaeology in the top 10 nationally; French and Francophone language and literature, top 5; Germanic languages and literature, top 15; Spanish language and literature, top 20; comparative literature, top 25; art history, top 25. Very few U.S. universities, public or private, can match Michigan’s across-the-board strength in the humanities.</p>

<p>That said, there are certainly more undergraduates at Michigan majoring in non-humanities fields (engineering, business, natural sciences, social sciences) than in humanities. But those who choose to focus on the humanities will find extraordinarily rich academic opportunities.</p>

<p>thank you so much~
I know all the rankings you mentioned, actually that is what get me interested in Um at first.
But everyone I know now study in Um simply tell me they know nothing about art majors and humanity in Um, which seems quite not coherent with the high rankings. If the rankings are true, the humanities should be more impressive, I suppose. That confuses me, and all the discussion seem nothing to do with art stuffs, that again get me disapointed.
Thanks anyway. That’s really a solace though I stiill have some doubts.
Btw, what about the atmosphere there? I mean, I do not like crowded activities and would rather to read a novel than go to the parties. Can I fit in the college life? And are there many people who are the type of artsy and tranquil?</p>

<p>dyna, Michigan is PERFECT for you. At most universities, you will have a tiny community to draw from. At Michigan, you will have hundreds of students just like you, and you will all be moving in similar, tight knit circles. While it is true that the majority of the students at Michigan are premed, prelaw, Business, Economics, Engineering or science majors, and most like to party on a weekly basis and support the athletics programs, you have a sizeable number of students who are devoted to the humanities (like the Classics, History, Literature and Philosophy majors) and meeting with will be easy. That’s the case at most universities. We are becoming an increasingly pre-professional, STEM-based society. That’s just where the careers are. The main difference between Michigan and smaller universities is that at Michigan, the number of students who immerse themselves in the humanities will be far more significant than at smaller schools.</p>

<p>Alexandre-- i am just curious, why did you not include ICP or Ted Nugent on the list of musical artists that came from Detroit?</p>

<p>Thank you guys!</p>

<p>Actually, UM is very strong in the social sciences, arts, and humanities. Second ranked creative writing program in the US, with a recent gift of 50 million bucks from a private donor. Outstanding music school. Very strong English Department. I could go on. . . </p>

<p>In general, there’s been a shift in undergrad majors in American universities toward business, engineering, and health as the economy has tightened up; years ago when I was in college, it was quite the opposite.</p>

<p>Televue1
Ph.D. (English)</p>

<p>Hi guys,
I was wondering if you guys could chance me for University of Michigan Ann Arbor?</p>

<p>I am a Junior, who lives in-state.
I have a GPA of 3.7 and have taken honors classes for all courses since I was a freshman. Currently I am taking 6 IBs and have a 32 on the ACT and a 2100 on the SAT. These scores are without practice so i know I can get a higher score for both tests. In addition, I have a ton of extra curricular activities and have volunteered in multiple hospitals, have an internship at a law firm, and have volunteereed in religious places as well. I am in 7 clubs and am the board for 3 of the clubs. I have taken many medical courses and have had the opportunity to disect a human (it was so cool). I am wondering if I can get into the LSA department of University of Michigan.
Thanks guys</p>

<p>^ I’m sure you can. I’m an out of state senior with similar test scores, course load, and extracurricular involvement and I was admitted to U of M College of Engineering for Fall 2014, like I said, as an OUT-OF-STATE student. I believe the acceptance rate is 75% in-state and 25% out-of-state, so I thinfk you’ll be fine. With a resume like that, you’ll probably be able to get into U of M and similarly ranked institutions across the country (I was also admitted to GW University, Boston University, USC, and Tulane just to name a few). Granted, I know U of M has a large engineering school and I’m not sure about the size of LSA but I’m pretty sure it’s the largest undergrad college in the university. </p>

<p>As far as U of M weaknesses, does anybody know if U of M is weak in anyway as far as graduates finding jobs? Like, do most students who graduate get a lot of job offers and find it pretty easy to get work? </p>

<p>weak? A. Campus is a dump. B. student body most arrogant of any in the u.s. (maybe behind Notre Dame). C. Weather Check out your academic department of preference and choose based on that. All the stuff I brought up doesn’t really matter.</p>