<p>I'm a prospective applicant, and geography of the uni is important to me. I've heard Michigan is really cold--winter from October to April or something like that--but I'd like to know just HOW cold it really is. Do you guys wear fur coats for most of the year or what?</p>
<p>Also, I'd love to know about the social life and the places to go, things to see, etc.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>michigan gets cold starting from about october to march and its ridiculous in january and february. Sometimes you will need a heavy coat but its not like northern canada or the arctic. </p>
<p>As for things to do? Why don’t you go on google and search for the city of Ann arbor yourself…they will definitely have a comprehensive list of things to do.</p>
<p>I don’t wear a fur coat but you definitely need a coat with a good lining. Winter usually runs anywhere from 40 degrees to 0 degrees, during the coldest months it’s usually between 0 and 20, sometimes with windchill going into the negatives. As they tell you up north, it’s not the weather, it’s how you dress. If you dress for the weather you’ll be fine. In recent years it’s barely been hoody weather in October. By november it’s definitely starting to get nippy, though. Honestly I think in at least two of the last five years we haven’t had snow by Christmas, but some years we have snow on Halloween. It could go either way. March is usually pretty chilly but by Aprl it is usually really starting to warm up, school ends in April and I don’t ever remember wearing anything but shorts to finals. The idea is to be prepared for the worst and then be pleasantly surprised when the occasion arises. XD</p>
<p>Now I’ve lived in SE Michigan my whole life, but this is only my third day in AA. But I am completely socially inept and so far I am still really loving it here. I have met tons of people already, everyone I’ve met has been friendly and willing to make conversation. I usually totally fail to make any kind of connections with people, much less friends, and here it doesn’t even seem to matter, I feel like I am just like everybody else and it’s going great. There are TONS of restaurants and museums and shops in Ann Arbor, among a whole host of other things, and everyone always seems to be ready to throw out a recommendation when they find out I’m new. 
I went out last night to get pizza with a friend (which was the best pizza I’ve ever had) and there were droves of people dressed to go out, I was in shorts and a t shirt and joked that I felt under dressed. XD Other than the traffic I really don’t know what anyone could complain about in Ann Arbor. I come from a suburb where there’s really nothing to do so maybe I am just deprived, but I think Ann Arbor’s social scene is great.</p>
<p>I am a Michigan native, so I’m generally used to the cold weather.</p>
<p>Cold winter season is November - April. It gets VERY cold in January and February. </p>
<p>We’ve been having some El Nino weather patterns these past few years (last two years have been brutally cold, but I can remember the early part of the decade as having warmer than usual winters.) The weather will cool down after Halloween.</p>
<p>You don’t need a fur coat. A heavy down or fleece coat is sufficient. Bring gloves, scarves, hats, and snow shoes. I recommend corduroy pants.</p>
<p>I grew up in a country where winter lows seldome dipped into the 60s and 50% of the year was over 100 degrees in the shade, including 80%+ humidity and I had no trouble adjusting to Michigan winters. </p>
<p>This said, Michigan has cold winters, but relatively speaking, among northern cities, Michigan winters are pretty normal. Michigan’s cold is roughly the same as Boston’s or Chicago’s. The second half of November and December can be cold, but typically, the temperatures will hover between 35 and 45 degrees during the day and between 25 and 35 degrees at night. As many have already expressed, January and February are cold. March and the first half of April are similar to December and November. </p>
<p>So Michigan does have cold winters, but compared to may parts of North America, Michigan’s winters are very manageable. Areas like Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Dakotas are significantly colder than Michigan.</p>
<p>I grew up in Michigan and have lived in Chicago and currently live in Boston and the winters are not like that. Chicago winter is worse because the lake drives wind you literally can’t believe. You really haven’t lived until you’ve been blown over - and because the buildings drive the wind speeds faster - look up Bernoulli effect - some tall buildings have ropes outside in the winter so you can hold on. Boston has much milder winters. The ocean moderates the temperature.</p>
<p>The winter in Ann Arbor varies because the snow fall amounts only get large a hundred or so miles farther north. This means some winters are really snowy and others are kind of bare. And some are really cold - like down to -15 - and others are mild. Winter also comes in late some years. Perhaps the worst thing is that part of Michigan tends to get freezing rain and sleet, which sucks.</p>
<p>Fall and spring in Ann Arbor are both very nice seasons. And to compare, fall in Boston is better but spring worse. Chicago has less fall but the spring is nice.</p>
<p>As for stuff to do, there’s a university with like 30k people in a town. It’s not out in the woods where you either drink or run from bears.</p>
<p>I would not wear a fur coat in Ann Arbor. It is not politically correct. Even more politically incorrect than water bottles. It gets cold in Michigan in the winter it is colder than Boston but similar to western Massachusetts, upstate New York and Chicago. The weather is decent most of fall term the first snow usually comes around Thanksgiving. A couple of years ago there was 90 degree weather in late October but this rare. You usually need to start wearing a jacket in mid-September. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas you will be worried about finals so it doesnt really matter what the weather is. The campus is often snow covered in January and February but in my experience this is better than the cold rainy weather you find on the East coast. You will definitely need a heavy coat like a ski coat, hat, gloves, and waterproof shoes or boots. The temperatures are usually in the 20s or 30s but it can get much colder. The coldest it got when I was there was 23 below zero (without wind chill). The weather starts to get warmer in March but there isnt much summer like weather until winter term finals. If you stay in Ann Arbor for spring term, the weather in May and June is really nice. As far as social life, there is a lot to do in Ann Arbor so other than ski weekends and spring break trips, most of the social activities are on campus on in the immediate vicinity of campus.</p>
<p>“The campus is often snow covered in January and February but in my experience this is better than the cold rainy weather you find on the East coast.”</p>
<p>Or in early winter here. I went to a high school with three buildings a half mile apart, and it was always a MAJOR relief when it dropped below freezing so we weren’t sopping wet and cold all day. Or the wonderful freezing rain, when I’d come into class in the morning and be trying to scrape ice off my pants with a pair of scissors. I was too stupid to get boots for some reason. that would have significantly improved the situation.</p>
<p>If I owned a fur coat I’d wear it just to annoy the people who find it “politically incorrect”.</p>
<p>Not a student at Michigan, but if you live in the mid-west, or northeast the weather would likely be very tolerable to you. Also, no we ( at least from what I’ve observed 17 years living here) do not wear coats all year around, or even from winter to spring ( I don’t even think they do such in Alaska). From my understanding the social life at Ann Arbor is very live, with Ann Arbor being a college town your likely to find lots of things to do. </p>
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