Why UMich is so expensive? Its almost telling the OOS not to come there!
My son got into GaTech and UMich, and now figuring out which one to go without having to look at the financials… GaTech’s curriculum, approach, and location (Atlanta campus) continue to outperform UMich in every aspect… even the response time for the emails… GaTech reply comes in minutes, and UMich takes more than 24 hrs…
Both are great schools; but I get a sense that kids are cared relatively better at GaTech. This is my first kid getting into college; so, my opinion is quite narrow.
I think your concerns are valid. Michigan IS big. It IS sink or swim in a lot of ways, including socially. My daughter started there during the strictest pandemic period and it was very challenging and she is confident and outgoing. There are so many in state kids who have history with each other that I think she was a bit intimidated.
Some of it is an issue with my kids (2022 is having a hard time socially) because they come from a small school and community. It’s not at all transient, so they have had many of the same kids since preschool. It made for deep connections, but I think it made launching into new spaces harder.
Your son can find his people at Michigan. They will certainly be there. My once friendless Wolverine is absolutely thriving. But…there may be other environments that are more conducive in the beginning.
We had the same issues. They are all like the same kids… Lol. I pmd you and more then happy to discuss. I call my kid a introverted extrovert. He can talk in front of a group but once at Michigan… Things changed but it took awhile. BTW - my son roomed blind. He didn’t care who he roomed with and it worked out.
There are intermural sports also to join. He reffed but also played flag football (Sunday at 10:30pm… Yes that is correct) and softball… He said they sucked but they had fun. That’s the point right.
I grew up in a big city, so my perspective may different than others. But as far as Michigan being a “big campus,” that big square in the middle that has no streets going through is where nearly every LSA class and section is held. Some LSA classes and Ross are held “across the street.”
D18 had all her classes on Central and I found not that large, very manageable, even though The Diag through the middle of campus is long, very long.
So then you have your decision made. Congrats. We just volunteer on here but you have to know that the avg family at Michigan is like $167,000 or around. They could easily fill their entire school with oos. I also love GT.
But your experience is different then the ones we had or my son who just graduated. It’s a very warm, caring atmosphere. Like a small family in a big school. I always felt my son was cared for with faculty that truly cared. Also Michigan has some of the best faculty and facilities out there. It’s truly impressive and they are constantly updating and building.
My son was 2016 (I think) as a freshman and it was like 62,000 then sent to like $66,000 as a junior (which happened in sophomore year… Agh)…
I really can’t bekieve its so expensive now. They do give decent oos financial aid but don’t meet need for oos.
GaTech is a fantastic school, but in terms of location A2 is college town, one of the best. The population is 122,000. And 111,000 people attend a football game, so literally, the town almost empties out on home football dates.
Atlanta, big city, and A2, college town, are just different atmospheres. Neither is better, just different.
D18 wanted college town. Although she currently lives and works in a big city, she will be leaving this summer for grad school.
For the Nursing students, the NIB (North Ingalls Building) is what I meant about “across the street.” But it’s not North Campus and walkable from the main section of Central Campus:
Advance selection for CS: postponed. DS is crazy strong in CS so we’re not sure what happened there. I guess we’ll see what falls out in April.
Edited to add: I know these things are a reach for everyone and, as with all of these schools/programs, there are more qualified candidates than spots. Given his depth of CS experience, being admitted to the school but postponed for CS is just a surprising outcome.
Postponed, not WL’ed. Does that sound weird, when Michigan uses postponed for the EA process, but your son was admitted to the university? Sounds strange to me that they would use the same term for both processes.
…
I wasn’t ready for that for a couple more weeks… 
