I’ve been accepted to the College of Engineering and I know that many engineers live on North campus. However, the majority of freshman year classes take place on Central campus. The problem is that I’ve found a guy via student web and our living preferences are pretty much the same, thus we’d like to be roommates during our first year. However, he had applied to M-Sci and it requires you to stay in Baits House. That’s why I’m trying to decide whether I want to live on North campus. So what are pros and cons of North campus for an engineering freshman?
I do not see any upside to living in North Campus. That being said, it is not nearly as bad as some will lead you to believe. North Campus is nice and quiet, and the buses run efficiently between North Campus and Central Campus.
My D was in Baits as a Freshman. She liked that it was quiet, her suite was large, there were loads of Freshmen, and she saw deer several times a week. She also had all but one of her classes on North, even as a Freshman, so that was convenient (CoE/SMTD dual degrees and AP credit for calc, chem, etc). She thought Central had better food, though, and was definitely more convenient for most social things.
My D is junior in CoE now but she lives in hill area for the last 3 years and will be there next year too. Only the first two years were in dorm. Traffic between campuses is not an issue for her at all. Central does have better dinning halls.
Thank you for your response, it was very helpful. And what about social events on North campus? Are they non-existent as some people say?
Thank you for responding, I didn’t even expect anyone to answer in the first two days. Nevertheless, how many lessons did she have as a freshman on Central?
It depends what kind of social events you are seeking. Greek life, major parties and pre-game partying are all geared to Central. Smaller parties do exist on and near North, but many students who are into partying just head to Central for that. North has a fall organization festival, “tailgate” events with free food for watching away games, events sponsored by engineering orgs (like free pie slices on Pi Day), SMTD events, occasional farmers markets in the fall, and they had food truck fridays this spring. My D definitely heads to Central for some things, but a lot of her time is spent on North.
Any recommendations, for LSA/Ross Pre-admin Freshman? I’m not sure if I’ll have a choice. Don’t like lot of partying, nor too academic.
Any social events are just a bus ride away. It is not an issue unless you run really late. However, there are other ride services available if you really need it. For my D, she only had one course per semester in the North campus during her freshmen year but she needed to go to the North campus back and forth almost everyday. It would not make any difference if she stayed in the North campus. So transportation is not a consideration at all.
I’ve lived on North for both my years. I’m also in COE. Baits is my favorite dorm. I liked how quiet it was and how the bus stop was a 20 second walk from my room(and the bus is always empty so you always get seats!). There’s a few downsides though. One being the food. You have to walk to bursley to eat(5 min, but sucks in the winter when they don’t clean the icy walk way) and the food at Burlsey isn’t great. Another bad thing is people smoke around the area so it smells like weed a lot(but I’ve noticed this in Northwood too). The last bad thing about baits is that it’s not very social. Most people keep their doors closed and there’s very few places to hang out inside the dorm. So most people went to bursley to hangout with their friends.
If you’re looking for a livelier place, I would look to central.
Ok…here’s a really weird Pro… If you’re visiting North, moving kids in/out, etc…it’s just a heck of a lot easier to get to from the highway than Central. Particularly if there’s something going on…games, protests, rush hour, road construction, etc.
With North you can kinda sneak in the back way and avoid town from the highway.
Not really a deciding factor, but figured it was worth mentioning for the plus column.
My kiddo loves North. She lived in the Northwood university apartments for 3 years, and loved it. She’s kinda nerdy and liked to entertain, have movie nights with friends, play games, cook for people, etc. The community center was nice to use for big game gatherings or study groups.
North isn’t social death exactly, it’s just a different vibe. Less alcohol, more dungeons and dragons and video games. More nerd culture, less greek stuff.
Lot of trees and wildlife on North if that’s your thing. My kid’s a biologist…she loved seeing deer and hawks and stuff.
That’s an overstatement. A lot of students would disagree on that efficiency. It could be much worse, and its not terrible. But it can also be a lot better too.
Illinois -Urbana Champaign probably has the best bus system for a similar size.
That said, I don’t think the bus system should make or break your college decision, unless they only come once per hour.
Luckily, the University is improving. They’re are alternative such as ZipCars and A2BikeShare. The University of Michigan Transportation Institute and IOE have been doing research on transportation effectiveness and efficiency. In 2015, the university put in $10 Million for a test track for self-driving cars (powered by Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning algorithms) on North campus.
The University is a world leader in Data Science. They recently put in $100 Million to develop the Michigan Institute for Data Science where transportation will be a major theme. Ann Arbor will be one of the first experiments in the nation.
http://www.ns.umich.edu/new/releases/23105-u-michigan-launches-100-million-data-science-initiative
http://ns.umich.edu/new/releases/23993-u-m-data-science-projects-promise-to-transform-transportation
The buses run every 5-7 min. 10-15 min at night. In rush times you will have to stand. The key is to minimize your bus trip to one campus change per day. There is also the AATA city bus, but the routes are not as Campus friendly.