The Ann Arbor community/people?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Michigan
1

So I have a few questions:

1.) I know there’s a lot of spirit and a lot of life at umich and while I love the idea of school spirit, I’m not much of a party person. I’ve heard it’s a big party school, but if I don’t go to parties will I be missing out? And does basically the whole student body go out and drink all the time? What do students usually do on the weekends or in free time?

2.) Is it tough making friends at such an enormous school or do students ever just feel lost? And does such a big population affect building relationships with professors or getting grad school/med school advice from the faculty?

3.) Can someone describe Ann Arbor? Is it a city or more like just one main street with shops/restaurants, etc?

4.) What is the student body like? While I know you can’t narrow 20,000 people into one category, is there a quality every or a lot of students share? Are students generally intelligent or studious? Thanks!!

2
  1. You don't need to party at UMich. Indeed, most students don't but a significant number do. There are plenty of things to do in weekend just like any normal person. Just do the thing you like or hang out with your friends. What other students do have little to do with you anyway.
  2. You make friends from class, from your dorm, from club activities, etc. If you have no social disability, you should have no problem in making friends in any place. You look for the chance to build up relationships with faculties. One easy way is to do UROP. That can be used for work study too.
  3. There is a main street with shops and restaurants, but I've only shopped/eaten there a dozen time or so in my past 16 years living in Ann Arbor. It is a huge town, and it calls itself a city. Obviously it is not the size of Dallas, Chicago, or any major city. It is pretty much surrounded by three highways: I94, M14, and US23. Look for it on google map to get a feel of it. It is a very green city with many parks.
  4. There are all kinds of students but they are all pretty smart except a couple students I met/had in the past. ;)). From the enrolled student profile, you know no one can be stupid as >25% of them have ACT 32 or higher. In reality, you would not meet all 25000 undergraduates on campus. You choose whom to be friend with. Find a club or two to join and you will have friends with common interest. It is a huge community and you can find whichever kind of people in it.
3

The university is really a complex community of communities, some large, many small. Yes, there’s a big party scene but most students either aren’t part of it or participate in it only sporadically; the partiers and the non-partiers generally get along just fine. Yes, there’s a lot of support for intercollegiate sports, especially football but also to a lesser extent men’s basketball and within a distinct subculture hockey, but on any given football Saturday (of which there are typically 7 or at most 8 home games per year) more students are not at the game than those that are. Most students are very bright and work pretty hard, but they also find time to make friends, socialize with their friends, and participate in non-classroom activities they enjoy and/or find meaningful, whether that’s religious worship services, intramural sports, yoga or other fitness/wellness classes or programs, community service, political activism of any stripe, performing arts groups, the student newspaper or some other student-run publication, or any of literally hundreds of student clubs and organizations.

College is the easiest place in the world to meet people and make friends. This is perhaps especially true at a large and diverse university, where students from just about every conceivable background and with just about every conceivable interest are thrown together. You’ll meet people at your freshman orientation. You’ll meet people in your residence hall. You’ll meet people at the dining hall. You’ll met people in your classes. As your first semester ramps up, you’ll be besieged by student organizations of every variety inviting you, practically pleading with you, to come to a meeting to get to know them, and be part of them. It’s an embarrassment of riches, in a way. You can’t possibly meet or spend time with everyone, or participate in every organized activity, so you’ll pick your spots, spending more time with the people you best hit it off with (and this will almost certainly evolve over time) and doing the things you most enjoy or find most meaningful. And you’ll end up being part of a small community within the larger community of your residence hall; part of a small community within the larger community within each of your classes, and eventually within your major; and part of one or more small communities defined by common interests in one or more student organizations or activities that you choose based on your own interests and values Making friends will be the least of your worries. If you’re like most people, some of these may become lifelong friends, among the people you will be closest to in your lifetime. It won’t matter what most students do. For one thing, apart from going to classes, studying, and engaging in basic life functions like eating and sleeping, there’s probably not much that most students do, because students (and groups of students) do so many different things. But beyond that, even if many students do X, if you really prefer to do Y and Z then you can do Y and Z, and chances are you’ll be spending time with other

As for Ann Arbor, I would characterize it as a delightful small city, easy to navigate on foot which from a student’s perspective is especially welcome because most students don’t have cars, and you really don’t want one. There are two main student-oriented business strips immediately adjacent to the Central Campus (check a university map), one on South University east of East University beginning at the southeast corner of the Diag and running east to Washtenaw Ave. and to some extent on adjacent side streets, and the other along State Street off the northwest corner of the Diag, together with adjacent streets, especially East Liberty, East William, Maynard, etc. A few blocks west of State Street is Main Street, the heart of the downtown business district. This is a larger area for shops, restaurants, bars, and service businesses serving the larger Ann Arbor community and to some extent the surrounding area It’s not just Main Street; the cross streets and other north-south streets paralleling Main Street also support thriving businesses. Then there’s the farmer’s market/Kerrytown area, just a 5-10 minute walk from the northwest corner of central campus which in addition to a regular farmer’s market has a number of interesting shops and restaurants, including the famous Zingerman’s Deli. Visit. You’ll like it.

4

Just want to add on that majority of the area in Ann Arbor is not in walking distance from campus. However, you can ride on the city bus for free with your student ID.

5

You do have to make an effort to develop relationships with profs and TAs. Someone who is really quiet and shy CAN get through 4 years without doing that. But Ann Arbor is a fun place, and there are plenty of non-drinkers.

6

Most students don’t have much need to go to the parts of Ann Arbor that aren’t within walking distance of the Central Campus—except for those who live and/or take classes on North Campus, if course. But if you do, the city bus is available. I haven’t seen ridership figures, but my guess is relatively few students use the city bus on any given day.

7

Some of the things I have observed are that once the freshmen move in and are away from home long-term for the first weekend, there is great pressure to party and drink, especially since usually this is the first home football game weekend. There is the pressure of getting to know your dormmates, adjusting to Ann Arbor and the U, buying your class materials, and getting ready for class. There is no greater spectacle for a freshman than seeing the band up close, and going to that first game in the Big House. Then, there is the big celebration after the victory. If the drinking and partying experience is great, then that student continues with it. Within the first few weeks, the freshmen who want an apartment for the next year have to find their future apartment mates and the apartment. There also is the rush by the fraternities and sororities who do not dominate this campus. There are all kinds of groups and ECs on campus, but once you are in an apartment, you tend to hang out with your apartment mates or your friends on the outside. When you go home to your apartment, you will relax and watch tv or play with your computer, and study. Order pizza or a takeout. At that point, there is not much desire to return to campus for activities, especially, if you live far down Packard.

8

I do know many students riding the AATA bus to Meijer and Target to shop for wintee clothing for instance.

9

I lived in AA one summer during college. I hsd a bike, and tooled all over town beyond campus. Got to know it far ether than I had during the school year.

10
  1. There are 25,000 undergraduates. So, no, not every single one of them parties.
  2. There are a lot of ways to make the large university smaller. You can apply to be in one of the residential communities for your freshman year. These are smaller groups of students who have a common interest, like community service, the arts, or research, and they all live together one one floor or one dorm. There's also the Residential College, which is a small liberal arts school within the university. The students in the RC also live together.
  3. Ann Arbor is a small city. Population is 117,000. The commercial areas were already described by another poster above. I would also add that one thing I found interesting about the "city" of Ann Arbor is that within its borders there are urban, suburban, and rural areas. I suppose where you are coming from will inform your perception. If you are from New York, you will think AA is a cool little college town. If you are from a typical suburb, you might like the easy walking access to commercial activity. And if you are from a horse ranch in Montana and never ventured far from there, you might think AA is a big city.
  4. You'll find every type. It's the state flagship, so many of the smartest students in the state go there. The student body is about 60/40 in-staters/out-of-staters. The out-of-staters tend to be more affluent. But, really, you will find every type of student. Remember, 25,000 undergrads.
11

The answers are really great here, thank you everyone! @brantly What exactly is the difference between the Residential College and LSA? On the Common App where it asks what college I’m applying to, the options include College of Literature, Science, and the Arts (LSA) and Residential College (LSA).

12

Residential College will give you the feeling of smaller school even in a huge campus. All students in RC will live in East Quad. With the questions you have asked, it may be a good idea for you. Check out their website and FAQ.

http://www.lsa.umich.edu/rc/prospectivestudents/whychoosetherc

13

@CluelessCathy The Residential College (RC) is a subset of the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts (LSA). I didn’t realize that you apply directly to the RC—I thought you first apply to/get accepted to LSA and then apply to the RC within it. But I guess I am mistaken. If it’s on the Common App and you are interested in the RC, then check that off! You are in the LSA if you are in the RC.

14

Thank you!! And if I want to go down the pre-med track in college, I don’t have to pick a preferred admission school, right? Because the closest thing they have to anything science related in preferred admission is the College of Pharmacy, and that’s not exactly the direction I’m going in. So it’s better to just stay in LSA/RC? And what is the dual degree program?

15

You can major in anything you want and apply to medical school—as long as you successfully complete all the prerequisites (biology, chemistry, etc.).

A dual degree is when you get two bachelor’s degrees, each in a different undergraduate college of the university. For example, a bachelor’s in engineering in the College of Engineering and a bachelor’s in history in LSA. This is different from a double major, which is when you have two majors in the same school, like a double major in history and communications, both in LSA, but you still get one B.A.

16

@brantly A dual degree is not necessary from two difference colleges of UMich while double major is within the same school. The one you described is called “combined degree programs” under dual degree.
http://www.engin.umich.edu/college/academics/undergrad/degrees

17

^^I stand corrected.

18

No. You are partly correct. :wink:

19

Go look at the majors in LS&A, there are tons. Bio, Chem, Physics, math, and pretty much every humanities major and more. As long as you complete the pre-med requirements, you can major in pretty much anything.

Be forewarned, though, hit the studying on those pre-med classes hard. Get tutoring, form study groups, and find a TA you can understand and get help from. There are a lot of students gunning for As in those classes, and it is easy to get behind and struggle.

20

There’s no requirement to party. There are many people that don’t party - like me. You can find friends with similar interests… it’s not difficult with thousands of people.

It’s not tough making friends. You can’t just sit back and be passive though, make sure you get involved. Say hi to people.

Ann Arbor is a great college town/city mixture. You should tour it if possible.

Student body has the mentality of working hard and playing hard. Most people are studious, smart, and not there to waste their money.