<p>@tsl → As an out of state kid from a small southern town I can answer your question.</p>
<p>Michigan weather does absolutely suck, but it gives you good perspective on how nice the weather from (insert East Coast state here) is. It’s really cold and wet in the Winter, but there is definitely something charming to walking to class while big snow flakes are slowly falling and its not that cold (not so much so when theres 30mph winds and heavy snow, that sucks). Warm in the winter is anything ~30 degrees, cold is anything sub 10 degrees, the in-between is normal. Overall, I wouldn’t worry about the weather. It’s Michigan, you’ll have 1 month of okay weather, 3 weeks of beautiful fall trees and okay weather, 5 months of winter and then 1 month of spring.</p>
<p>Big classes don’t really affect me at all anymore. The biggest classes will have a discussion section that is about high school sized ~25 kids. You get to see the material taught in two different ways which helps a lot with learning it, and you get to meet people in your discussion classes. For classes where it is important to have small classes, you do. The two examples I’ve lived through are language courses and intro math classes, both of which are maxed at 20 kids, allowing for an intimate learning experience where it is most necessary. Trust me, no matter how big the university you go to you will have pretty big lectures. It’s just the most economically efficient way to run things, and Michigan does a good job at supplementing for that.</p>
<p>I can’t say much about the cost beyond it is really freaking expensive, but still about 10k less than private schools. If cost is an issue and you have a good in-state flagship (something at Wisconsin/UCLA level or higher) I would recommend going there instead. Unfortunately all of the public ivies except for UNC charge about the same thing for out of staters. Lower tier academic schools (such as Ohio State) will cost less and give more scholarships. </p>
<p>Overall Michigan provides a best of both worlds. Everyone here has a work hard, play hard mentality, and is one of the few universities that hit the balance so perfectly. Football games and the pregames are the best social experience you’ll ever have, Ann Arbor is an incredible college town, and the campus is beautiful in every season. The big difference for me at UM as well is the midwestern culture. Being from the East coast, people at UM are generally much more friendly and overall happier, which is an awesome change. Lastly, the amount of student organizations here is awesome and no matter what you’re interested in, there is a club for it. In the really rare circumstance that there’s not, you can start one with just 10 signatures and get university funding.</p>
<p>Hope this answered your questions :D</p>