I think it is important to listen to you gut instinct. I also think it is perfectly normal to have nonacademic related things turn off a student such as architecture, food, weather or whatever. College is to get an education but you must be happy to do well. We make decisions everyday on these same issues. We take the job that pays less, we choose the smaller house because of xy and z. What may appear better to others may not be best for you and your happiness. Years ago I remember visiting a college and upon arrival I would not even consider it based on aesthetics of the school and the area. Little things make a big difference to how we feel and should not be ignored. That said, I would wait until you have all acceptances and visit each school again and see how you feel.
@dunnowheretogo - just saw this thread and you may have already made up your mind. Just want to tell you that S was in a similar situation two years ago. We live in FL. Most people here stayin state and UF is the big prize. S was admitted into the honors program with a scholarship, essentially making the school no cost. He actually grew up a Gator fan (Tim Tebow) and sports are very important to him. You would think that UF would have been a natural fit.
Well we visited a few times and he just didn’t like it. Didn’t like anything about it other than the new business school. Just couldn’t shake that feeling so he attends a much smaller school that he loves. Essentially for him, the only reason he would have gone to UF would have been financial (i.e. we couldn’t afford alternatives - not full ride vs paying somewhere else). So this was a fit thing and I’m convinced he made the right decision based on all kinds of criteria.
That said UF (and UM) are great for others. You have great choices. Choose what feels right (and that your parents can and are happy to afford)
I know that Michigan is a top school and provides excellent education…but I hated the engineering campus. I thought it was outdated (not in the cool old architecture kind of way but in the awful 50’s 60’s kind of way) and characterless. I also strongly disliked how it was so separate from the main campus. I also dislike how it’s a mostly wealthy student body. I’d like my son to be exposed to real diversity, not just cultural, but socioeconomic as well.
@adaorange. Can’t disagree about it being separate but it’s with all the creative minds. Engineering, theater, arts etc. A lot of campuses do this. But as far as the socioeconomics, that is not what my son is finding out. Lots of kids from very diverse area’s and communities. We know several there on almost full rides from very low income families. But yes there are also very rich kids as well and you will find that on almost any campus. My son lives in North campus this year and lived on Central last year and he actually likes North campus. Just a FYI… Fit and feel is important also.
Studies show michigan has the most wealthy students of any public university. It is probably partly due to how they recruit out of state students in wealthy pockets of specific states. So it’s pretty targeted and intentional.
Totally agree and have read the reports but it’s not what he is experiencing, is my point.
@adaorange First, many flagship state universities like UMich operate more like an elite private university than a public. UVA comes first to mind. There’s also Alabama, UT Austin, CU Boulder, etc. Our flagship CSU here in CA, Cal Poly SLO has had at least one recent article written about the same subject. So, let’s not single out just UMich, although this is a UMich forum. 
Second, UMich is attempting to address the situation with the “Go Blue Guarantee,” last year, starting a program of free tuition for families earning $65,000 or less:
Hmm, we live in “Silicon Valley”, a reasonably wealthy pocket of CA, I don’t even remember UMich coming to our local HS for a campus visit. My kid didn’t receive any emails, snail mail, etc. How else do they target?
They target with ‘feeder schools’. In wealthy pockets of certain regions, possibly with a lot of wealthy alumn. That they very well know about.
His anecdotal experiences don’t reflect the facts. Maybe he chooses to pay attention to the few less wealthy people he runs into, but that’s not in line to what the average student reflects in the cohort.
“Feeder schools” is not a unique concept, public or private, only identified with UMich. Again, UMich is attempting to address this with the “Go Blue Guarantee.”
I have to get to North Campus. My freshman is in LSA, so I’ve never had to visit. I heard it’s a nice quiet place to see deer. 
Does your S plan to attend UMich if he’s accepted?
From our 0 EFC family, who’s son attends a very small OOS private (total 137 K-12 students, significant low income population), where most grads go to community college or military, we have nothing but heartfelt gratitude to UofM.
He will be attending Shipman Weekend next week. If he commits, he may be a socioeconomic outlier on campus, but he’ll be the most grateful.
I never said these things are only typical of Michigan. However, we didn’t apply to any ivy schools where there are also so many elite families. The fact Michigan needs to ‘address ‘ this just shows how true it it. These are facts, and this thread was about opinions of Michigan, not other schools. I am respectfully entitled to mine.
I want to note my opinions may or may not reflect my son’s. He has his own opinions. I have tried not to sway him based on things that have different levels of importance to different people. All the colleges he applied to are fine schools so whatever he chooses will turn out well for him if he puts in the required effort.
Funny, the only school I felt sorta elitism was WashU. But I know many kids that love the school.
This article ranks schools by what percent of students are from the top 1%. (You can add colleges of your choice to see where they rank.) Michigan along with Virginia rank the highest of any of the public schools I could think to add (Colorado, UC schools, Texas, Alabama, Cal Poly), coming in at 79th and 80th out of all colleges and universities, with 9% of the student body coming from families in the top 1% ($630k+). The next closest public school I checked with Maimi of Ohio at 149th. So yeah–as public schools go, the student body is wealthier than most. UVA, Michigan, and Poly have the lowest percentages of students from families who make less than $65k. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/01/18/upshot/some-colleges-have-more-students-from-the-top-1-percent-than-the-bottom-60.html
FWIW, I plugged in William & Mary, which finished #85 as a public. The article is dated January 2017 and the information appears to be several years older than that date.
The comparison to other public institutions gives relativity and perspective. And it’s not unique, because UVA finished #80.
The “other side of the coin,” is that UMich also has the 8th largest endowment in the US, larger than the entire UC system, which allows it to offer new low-income scholarship programs, a plethora of new and renovated facilities, top notch academics across a wide swath of schools, like the Ross, CoE, LSA, etc., and accessible free resources like math and science labs for tutoring, the Sweetland Writing Center and the Opportunity Hub for help with internships and other connections.
One other thing that I’d like to add is that if I felt that strongly negative about any university, then I’d let my children know that it’s off the list of possibilities. I don’t want to pay for it, if I don’t like it. But that’s my opinion. “We” bounced a few from the list of my of '18. My '21 will likely be easier, at least I hope. 
So the schools are being taxed differently going forward on endowments paid to them. Huh, wonder if they sent checks to students to reduce their tuition fees if that could be a write off? They could send $10-20,000 /student and they still wouldn’t miss a beat. ?.
FWIW, on one of the other UMich applicant threads, a parent posted today that their Maryland HS senior will likely attend Maryland and turn down a $100,000 scholarship to UMich. That’s a chunk of change.
I was under the impression that UMich did not offer out of state merit scholarships.
Yep, I saw that it was a $25,000/year grant. Well its more money for one of these students here hopefully ??.