<p>So I'm interested in applying to this MCSP learning community thing, since I guess I don't mind community service and I want a guaranteed dorm on central campus. My question is, how much of a time commitment does it require, and how are the people in the learning community? Because I don't want to be stuck with weirdos for the entire year, and I don't want so much time taken up that I can't hang with friends and do other things.</p>
<p>Aveesh, my son joined a learning community for the same reasons - Lloyds Hall Scholars - and had similar concerns. He ended up making great friends and really enjoying it. He’ll be living with 5 of these friends in a house next Fall. The time commitment in his community was 2-3 hours per month - not huge. He was worried about the community possibly being too artsy, but as it turned out, that was not the case at all - just a bunch of kids who enjoy writing, photography, and some art. Most of the kids who join these communities are doing it for the same reasons as you. Lastly, since son’s community is in Alice Lloyd Hall, the newest dorm on campus, he felt that it was definitely the “place to be” this year - everyone wanted to come there and hangout since it’s such a beautiful place. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>Most of the kids in MCSP are there because they were looking to avoid North Campus housing. There is probably some common bound with community service but I would suspect 80-90% would not have been interested in the program if they were guaranteed Central Campus housing. As a result, the percentage of wierdos is probably the same as any other dorm. There is some time commitment such as a requirement to take a course or two that you may otherwise have had no interest in taking - nothing horrible. Most people who do CSP do not regret the choice.</p>
<p>Alright, thanks! I decided to go for it</p>
<p>join, get to school, then drop out. What are they gonna do? make you move?</p>
<p>lol. I just knew bearcats would come up with the answer.</p>
<p>you’re welcome.</p>
<p>Actually bearcats, yes they do make you move if you drop out, at least for MRC. I can’t speak for MCSP, but I imagine all these communities operate the same way. I lived on the MRC floor in MoJo even though I wasn’t in a learning community (I was one of the lucky ones), and a guy a few doors from me had to move out when he decided to drop MRC because he couldn’t keep up with his research. So he finished the last few months of the year commuting from home. It would be nice if you didn’t feed flat-out wrong information here.</p>
<p>They don’t do that for RC. Friend joined RC and enrolled for everything RC required when he meets with the RC advisor, then immediately drop them when he got back to the dorm room. Then he just BS the advisor about taking the RC curriculum requirements the next semester. By the time they caught up to him and figured out what’s going on, he already lived there for a year.</p>
<p>There’s no repercussion available to them for people taking advantage of the system and by the time they figure out it’s already too late.</p>
<p>And since you “can’t speak for MCSP”, maybe come back and accuse people for being wrong when you actually know for sure.</p>
<p>You made it seem like it’s this easy, run-of-the-mill process to drop all RC requirements when I highly doubt it’s that simple, as you detailed in your last post. It requires more rule-breaking/bending and manipulation than just ignoring everything, or else more people would do it. Also doesn’t seem like a particularly risk-free move to make, if you get unlucky or they decide to crack down or press you on it you may be in some trouble if they force you out of the dorm. Even though it can be done, it would be wise to have a backup plan in case it doesn’t work.</p>
<p>You may also want to contact whoever is in charge of MCSP and find out what their stance on the issue is if it’s a serious consideration.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Like that is really going to work. If you want to break the rules and you know you are breaking the rules, the last thing you want to do is go to the maker of the rules and ask if it OK to break them. Better to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission.</p>
<p>In any event, the MCSP has a one credit class you have to take in the fall. I think it meets in the evenings once a week and not every week. There is a Soc 389 class you need to take. If you really don’t want to take it, then sign up for it in winter term and then just drop it.</p>
<p>All I’m saying is if you’re gonna skirt the rules it’s best to as knowledgeable as possible regarding the risk you’re taking and the possible consequences. Regardless, it really doesn’t seem like a big commitment to do it so I’d say whatever extra work there is would be offset easily by guaranteeing central campus housing.</p>
<p>Also, I don’t think you’ll be stuck with any more weirdos than any other dorm. From my experience, I’d estimate 90%+ people who do learning communities do it almost exclusively for the housing, so they don’t generally attract more or less weirdos than any other housing, as res said.</p>
<p>If you truly think it’s wierd to enjoy community service then you will think the hall is full of wierdos and you probably don’t belong there. But realistically almost all Umich freshman have some community service in their past - sort of a college app neccessity these days.<br>
My d was in MCSP and loved it - almost all of her hallmates chose to come back next year as mentors or alumni board members. Her roommate chose to drop out of the program 2nd semester because she didn’t want to take the required class (my d took Psych 211 and volunteered in a daycare center). The roommate was allowed to stay in the room - no big deal.</p>
<p>I just did MCSP. It gets you on central campus (I was in West Quad this year but you will be in a brand new East Quad which will be dope), and it looks good on a resume. It’s not a time commitment at all, and, in my opinion it has more “normal” kids than any other learning community. Yes, there are a good deal of weird kids, but all in all it’s a good deal. Half the kids are obsessed with it and are very involved (it’s almost like a cult to them) and the other half (me included) basically just did it to be on central campus.</p>
<p>I am looking into the MCSP but the thing that bothers me is the required courses. Rossbound, you may be able to answer this: do these required courses look less impressive to Ross adcom than more mainstream courses? Especially since most of them are 3 credits…</p>
<p>dude the required courses are not a big deal AT ALL. i was the one that posted this question last year, and trust me, i could not have made a better choice than applying for MCSP. DO IT. You will definitely have space in your schedule (or you should, at least), plus the required courses are not that hard and you should find one that is at least mildly interesting for you. i dont know how they look for Ross or anything like that, but i would definitely suggest going for MCSP</p>
<p>Aveesh, thank you for your reply. Did you enjoy the community service aspect? What are the best ways to get involved? Also, any advice on which courses to take? I’ve heard that Modey, the writing teacher, is really hard…</p>
<p>Yeah the community service part of MCSP is pretty neat. There are a TON of groups and events you can get involved with if you are a part of the learning community. They’ll tell you all about it if you decide to join. It is honestly harder to not get involved if you are in MCSP. As far as courses, i dont think any of them are THAT terrible. You should be fine with whatever course you take as long as you manage your time well. Idk about Modey though, i dont or probably never will have them so i cant answer that</p>