Hi,
Right now my top choices for college are Northwestern, Georgetown, University of Michigan, and UNC Chapel Hill. Yes I have already researched all of these schools and know a lot about them individually but wanted to hear the perspective of other students who have either visited, attend, or are just very familiar with any of the schools and their pros and cons specifically. Out of the four, I have only visited (and will probably only be able to visit) Northwestern. I’m not 100% sure what I’d like to major in, but I’m not majoring in anything math/science, education, technology, or health related. I’m looking at Michigan Public Policy and Arts & Sciences. What are the pros and cons of UMichigan as current students and people who have visited see them?
Michigan tracks interest so if you can’t visit make sure Michigan knows why you can’t and how much research you’ve done about why its a good fit.
I’m a senior at U of M in LSA/the Residential College. Warning: This is going to be long. I have a lot of thoughts. 
Pros:
-Very high school spirit
-Nice balance of football culture and focus on academics
-Frats and sororities are present on campus but don’t dominate social life
-Ann Arbor is a great city: safe and easy to navigate with tons of things to do
-Tons of different majors and it’s relatively easy to switch majors within the same school (and sometimes between different schools, but there are requirements there I don’t need to go into)
-Many opportunities to get involved in research as an undergraduate (UROP, MCSP, simply applying to work in labs)
-Most of the dorms have been very recently renovated and are very nice (notable exceptions: the north campus dorms) and lots of the academic buildings are nice, too
-Most professors are really great teachers and researchers and are really open and there to help students
-Joining the Residential College was the best decision I’ve ever made; there are lots of learning communities which can make this huge university feel much smaller
Cons:
-Winter sucks
-Really expensive tuition, especially for out of state students, and room and board is expensive, too
-Some of the bigger classes can feel very impersonal
-GSIs (TAs) are very hit or miss in my experience and in big classes that’s an important factor
-There’s been a ton of construction the last few years, it’s annoying
-Finding housing off campus as an upperclassmen is a crazy experience, not in a good way (everything close to campus is really expensive and fills up fast)
-The student body isn’t very diverse
-Advisors are very hit or miss
-Campus is split into Central and North campuses, so living on North campus can feel a bit isolating—on the other -hand, I’ve only been to north campus a handful of times in the past three years. Less than ten times easily
-Like many other college campuses, the student body is overwhelmingly liberal (as are the professors) so I’ve heard that conservative-leaning students often feel “left out”
-Oh and a fun fact: We’ve been investigated by the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights for mishandling cases of sexual assault on campus
So yeah, my cons list is as longer than my pros list, but I just wanted to give you as full of a view of life here at U of M as I could. 
Most students here are the first to admit that it’s not a perfect school (I mean, see the “Is Michigan weak in any way?” stickied at the top of this forum.) But we’re a very passionate group for the most part. There’s a freshman retention rate of 97% or something like that. The vast majority of students love it here. I would really recommend coming to visit, though, if you get accepted…I understand if it’s not possible, but sometimes the best way to decide if a college is right for you is to actually see it, walk around campus, and imagine spending the next 4 years of your life there.
I haven’t visited those others, but i would be worried about the academic cheating scandal at UNC
UM, the biggest con is the winter, but it won’t be worse than northwestern. I find this overblown on the whole though. It doesn’t take some huge act of willpower to survive a winter here. If your 80 year old professor can handle it, at 18 you shouldn’t complain.
I disagree with a few things listed by jen101 however. First of all, any college will be unsafe for an attractive female, if precautions aren’t taken. Even notre dame did nothing about a rape accusation until the accuser had offed herself. Most colleges side with the accused period.
-
i have not had any problem with construction. You simply go around it, such is life. Seriously stop whining. This is a beautiful campus such that i don’t even know what you’re referring to
-
off campus housing was very easy for me to secure. You just do a bit of research beforehand, carefully select a landlord, set up a time to tour the place and voila, you got a lease. I did all this in one afternoon, no regrets, and financial aid covered my single apartment, cheaper than dorms. If you rent a house with some friends it’ll be much cheaper.
-
lectures being impersonal - this exists at every college except maybe tiny ones but either way, you’re only in class 14-15 hours a week. You can make them personal by going to office hours, study groups, whatever. With most classes you’ll also have group projects.
-
most professors being great teachers…if so, that’s usually by coincidence not design. Every college tries to hire profs that are well known and can increase the school’s reputation. The profs in turn care about research only. Even the one who hired me for research was a shit teacher who cared not at all about undergrads. I in fact loathed him and it was instead the GSI who inspired me in section, talked me into taking the job and worked with me every step.
I feel like this person is ill-prepared for the real world, where you encounter construction driving to work every day, there are much more unsafe places for females than UM, and there is no housing department with a team of free lawyers ready to battle an uncooperative landlord.
I agree about GSI/advisers being a mixed bag, but in the end your own capabilities, not them, will determine how you well you do
I’m “ill-prepared for the real world”, @steellord123 ? Seriously? OK. Thanks, I really appreciate your concern. The OP asked for the pros and cons of U of M, I listed my opinions on the matter. I completely accept that you don’t agree with some of my thoughts, but I do not appreciate that insult to my character. You don’t know me, so let’s keep it classy, OK?
Yes, maybe the winters are exaggerated, but when U of M calls snow days two years in a row for the first time in 30 years, I’d say that’s pretty bad. Wind chills in the negative Fs on a regular basis is pretty brutal for anyone…18 or 80.
Yes, there were 74 other colleges on the list of those questioned by the Office of Civil Rights, but that doesn’t mean that I should ignore the problem here. I also stated that I have never personally felt unsafe on U of M’s campus.
-
I said the construction is “annoying.” Good for you for not being bothered by it. I didn’t say it was the end of the world. It is annoying because it is loud. I can hear it from my apartment…I could hear it from my dorm room…I can hear it from certain parts of the library. This summer, a whole section of Ingalls Mall is closed. I love this campus, but construction sites everywhere are not beautiful to me.
-
I’m glad you had such an easy time securing housing. That’s not always the case for everyone. It certainly wasn’t for me. My (three) roommates and I weren’t as lucky with our financial aid, I guess. It’s true that many college towns’ off-campus housing prices are astronomical and it’s no different in Ann Arbor. I guess I should accept that. But the fact that many people are forced to sign leases in the prime locations in October or November for the following August is ridiculous.
-
I personally do not like lecture classes very much. I don’t think I get as much out of the two lecture/one discussion section setup as I do out of seminar classes. They feel impersonal to me, even with office hours/the rest of the items you listed. I’ve gotten much more out of small seminar classes than any big lecture class I’ve ever taken.
-
I’m sorry you had such a bad experience with your research mentor. My research mentor, on the other hand, really cares about teaching and I’ve met many other professors in my department who are the same. Does that mean that every professor at U of M is this way? Of course not. The school’s big enough that there will be a few bad apples, but lots of good ones, too.
OP, sorry this has gotten…a bit off track. I can assure you that my education at U of M has definitely prepared me for the “real world.” It’s the best education I could have hoped for and I’m absolutely happy I chose to come here. In the end, it’s your decision and I wish you luck on making the right one for you
Hi - all of these schools will give you a top notch education. Since it’s the summer, I assume you’re a senior applying to colleges in the fall. I’d definitely wait to see until acceptances come out, because they may narrow down your options for you. Not sure how much financial aid factors into your decision, but UM gives pretty generous aid!
You’d have two years to figure out what you want to major in, since you apply to the School of Public Policy for your junior year. I’m not sure how this would affect your what you would major in for the other 3 schools though. I noticed you were thinking about SFS at Georgetown, so you’ll have to factor in how much you want that degree and the pluses of DC as a location, for example.
I’m going into my second year at UM, and I’d say most students I’ve met love it there! Of course, any school has people who do and don’t. Especially since Northwestern, Georgetown, UM, UNC are all fairly big schools, it’s almost certain you’ll find your niche. For most people, the football spirit at UM is a pro, but I don’t really care too much for football (forgive me fellow Wolverines). In all of the schools, if you enjoy sports you’ll find people who do - if not, you’ll also find people like you. Same goes for other stuff like Greek life.
@jen101 gave a great review of pros/cons at UM, and there’s many other threads listing them as well. The most glaring cons for me personally are the weather and the general hit/miss of good GSIs (which is prevalent in many big public schools). Pros: one of the most powerful alumni networks in the world, one of the top research universities so looking for research opportunities isn’t that bad, lots of majors to choose from, Ann Arbor as a college town, to list a few.
That being said, I still think the biggest part of your decision might be coming from acceptance/financial aid/the feel that you get from a school. Let me know if you have any other questions about UM or college apps in general! Good luck!
Re: Ann Arbor weather. This generally isn’t a selling point, but since the OP listed some specific schools it’s worth pointing out that in the winter months (let’s say November through February), average daily high and low temperatures in Ann Arbor are almost identical to those in Chicago (Northwestern), and FWIW actually much milder than places like Madison or Minneapolis. March, April, and May are actually slightly warmer in Ann Arbor than Chicago. Georgetown or UNC-Chapel Hill would, of course, be warmer.
It’s been a long time since I spent a winter in Ann Arbor, but when I did the negative for me wasn’t the cold or snow (perhaps because I was coming from the UP which is both colder and snowier), but the unrelenting stretches of gray skies; you can sometimes literally go weeks without seeing the sun. Southeastern Michigan is one of the cloudier parts of the country–not as cloudy as Seattle, coastal Alaska, western Pennsylvania, or upstate New York, but plenty cloudy.
On the plus side, I have many fond memories of glorious fall days in Ann Arbor–crisp air, blue skies, and gorgeous fall foliage on a lovely tree-lined campus. Ann Arbor does fall exceedingly well. Winter, you just need to hunker down and focus on your work. Summertime can be quite wonderful, too; it’s worth spending a summer or two there if you can.
Give global a warming a few more years and schools like Michigan will trade at a premium while places like Vanderbilt become Calcutta…
And Evanston where northwestern is located is usually a bit colder the “Chicago” where the official temperature is measured at Ohare which is far away from the a Lake and thus warmer. Evanston can be cool well into May.
Only really weighing in on the weather here…
As a lifelong Michigander, winters suck. I have lived in this crap for over two decades and I still hate it. Northwestern is going to be just as bad (some years, worse) but I can’t comment on the other ones. The last two years have been especially bad.
I had friends from warmer-weather climates who transferred after 1 year because they couldn’t handle the weather. Winters can legitimately cause depressive episodes.
By the way, I envy people who say they “don’t mind” the weather. I’m married to one of those people.
I talk to a lot of kids about their college experience and I’d say the number one complaint from U MICH Freshman is from those who lived on north campus saying they felt like they had a different ( and worse) experience than those on central/ hill. I’m not sure how many colleges split kids in this manner where one living experience is drastically different ( in the minds of many).
Regarding the location North Campus housing AFTER freshmen year, it is mainly a problem if you are not major in engineering or music. More than a decade ago before any of those recent renovation, dorms at the North Campus are actually pretty good choices.
“I had friends from warmer-weather climates who transferred after 1 year because they couldn’t handle the weather. Winters can legitimately cause depressive episodes.”
I thought you went to MSU undergraduate romanigypsyeyes? The freshman retention rate at Michgan is 97% That means less than 200 students transfer after their first year, for whatever reason. Of those, how many actually grew up in a warm weather climate? Students transfer out of all elite schools, but at a pretty low rate. Since so many students end up staying after their freshman year and so many of the top elites are in colder climates, if your comment were pertaining to Michigan State, then it would make more sense. East Lansing is pretty dismal in the winter and with the spread out campus it would be depressing to me as well. That’s the main thing I always disliked about the campus there. Unless you are in a dorm near Michigan Ave/Grand River Ave., you really are not near anything that feels urban.
Psht! It’s cold, but not that bad. I left that area to go to school in upstate NY. It’s cold, but do-able.
I found the campus was a bit spread out, esp. North.
@billcsho. The kids that I have talked to all desperately wanted even the crummiest room on central/ hill rather than being stuck on North. They especially feel that North is horribly limiting for game day tailgating and late night parties. The desperate posts seeking to trade for “anywhere but North” all over my daughter incoming UMich FB group bear this out.
To underscore rjk’s point, Michigan’s freshman retention rate is the same as mighty Harvard’s. Comparing it to schools in warmer climates, it’s the same as Duke, Caltech, Vanderbilt, Rice, UC Berkeley, UCLA, USC, UVA,and UNC Chapel Hill, and better than Emory, Georgetown, Wake Forest, William & Mary, Georgia Tech, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, University of Florida, University of Texas, Pepperdine, Tulane, and SMU, among others. So it can’t be that the weather is driving too many away. Probably the best explanation is that while many Michigan students don’t enjoy the winter and some downright hate it, the vast majority find it’s at least tolerable in light of the overwhelming compensating benefits of a Michigan education and four years in Ann Arbor. And it’s not winter all the time. The fall can be quite lovely, and if you stick around for spring/summer, it can be quite delightful.
@maya54 As I said, that is mainly for recent years after the renovation of the dorms. It was not the case 15 or so years ago. At that time, the much older dorm buildings without air conditioning were not very favorable. For students in music school or engineering students who do work in a lab, North Campus housing is more convenient.
Other than asking her grandmother for a VERY expensive VERY warm winter coat my daughter isn’t too concerned about the weather. She committed to the school after a visit when it was -25 below Fahrenheit. Air temperature. Not wind chill.
@billcsho. But kids are literally offering cash to switch from north to non- air conditioned tiny rooms on the hil in markley. . So why is renovation relevant?
If you live in a dorm you never need to spend more than 10 contiguous minutes outside. I see students scurrying to class in the winter wearing just hoodies and gloves. AA is not all that cold, and you get used to it quickly, especially compared to northern Michigan. :)]
If you don’t live on campus the commute can be brutal in the cold. Lots of students take the bus in from a few miles away, and the humid winter wind can bite while waiting. Good gloves, a breathable windproof jacket, and warm, waterproof boots are necessities in the winter.