Yep @sushiritto. He loved it as others do. You don’t have to live there even 1 year. Just get a coop or apt now. I wish I could post pictures but some reason I can’t. But my son’s walk to class was actually sorta beautiful. Going through a wooded are and around a lake seeing deer on your way. Lots of engineering etc kids live on central and ride or walk over to North. People that haven’t been make such a unneeded fuss about it. He lived on central his first year and loved that also. North is quiet. No question but when your intense into engineering, the quiet is a good thing. Plus all the very creative minds are on north on purpose. Dance, acting, engineering, school of information etc etc. We live in Chicago and my kids took a train to bus to school about 40 minutes each way. This bus to central is 15 min. It was actually saving my kid time… Lol… On Central living in West Quad was 10 minute to class. On North it was 12. Seriously…
Not to be offensive but it’s usually the suburban kids complaining that don’t take busses often. Again, just not a big deal.
Whenever my kid wanted to go to central past first year (4/5 classes are on Central first year)… He just went… Like an adult kid… He actually met his sitting buddy for football games at the bus stop. Many, many kids meet others and girl /boy friends at the bus stop or on the bus. Think of it as a social activity.
I don’t think it’s possible to never get to Central Campus even if one tried. I don’t know about Stamps majors (also on North Campus) but Engineering have to take Intellectual Breath and General Electives among other requirements. My kid has 2 EECS courses which should be on the North Campus and 2, 1 Math and 1 History class which I think he said are both on Central Campus. When I saw a youtube video about the dorms a few months back (before he was accepted), a comment triggered me from a kid in North Campus and I mentioned something to my son. Basically, living in North and having classes on Central, or vice versa is no different than when you have to take a school bus to school when you were younger. Or, in high school even when you had to get in your car, drive to the high school, park, then freeze your butt off walking to your classes. With the bus you pretty much will get door to door service and if you don’t, then you’re no worse off than when walking to the bus stop in high school. Also, for kids who ultimately live in an apartment, they will have to take a bus to campus at some point too. It’s not the end of the world. Also, as I recently explained to someone else, while Michigan’s campus may seem/be large, it’s undergraduate population is not. It’s the 4th smallest undergraduate school in the Big 10. Only Nebraska, Iowa, and Northwestern have smaller populations. I was shocked when I learned this recently and only learned it when Purdue’s data about having more than 10k freshmen this year and the largest entering freshmen class ever and bigger than any Big 10 (I think that was the stat and if not then it was that it was bigger than UM) blew me away. It is what then caused me to research the actual undergraduate size of UM. The overall population of UM is due to it’s phenomenal medical school, law school, and other graduate school programs which some of the other Big 10 schools don’t have.
It’s not that it was harsh that we somewhat expected my son would be deferred, it’s that we did our homework, know the history of our school and Michigan and COE as well as how many kids get in, etc. Double legacies were waitlisted, others were flat our rejected, etc. It’s just how it is. My son refused to play the game and apply through LSA and then transfer since CS is in both and not that difficult of a transfer - we did a lot of research on that as well. He has a strong adversity to having to take a foreign language ever again so if that didn’t work out, he didn’t want to end up in that scenario. I can’t blame him, lol.
As for the dorms, my kid got his first choice dorm on Central Campus, but knows it’s going to be a shlep to get to North, but he’s not really worried about it. He’s just happy as of now he has all of his classes in person. You can tell that @Knowsstuff is a city guy when he comments about the woods and deer lol…my backyard is full of them and unfortunately coyotes these days. Yesterday someone found a mink in theirs. Yuck! He is right about the buses. City kids are totally used to them. When I taught (we live in Chicago too) in the city, most of my students (in middle school) were taking the CTA to school for 45 minutes each way every day. Here, many kids won’t even take the school bus and make their parents drive them every day. I wasn’t going to be a chauffeur other than when there wasn’t a school bus running for an activity. So no issue with buses in this house.
I actually look at the bus as a way to prepare and just organize for the day as opposed to running out the door to a class. Just how I think of things.
Thank you @sushiritto, @Knowsstuff, and @srparent15, this all really helps! It’s not the bus issue that was a concern—we live in an metro area—it was the appearance that North is self-contained with dorms, dining and engineering all there. In addition, my kid is a music kid and is interested in research, so all I could do was think that they could be isolated from Central. Great to know that their LSAs would force them to venture out even if they get assigned to a dorm on North.
I pop on this page every so often. Google led me here to find dorm rates, unfortunately to no avail. Anyway I love reading your conversations @Knowsstuff@sushiritto@srparent15, you always put a smile on my face. Love the comment about the buses and walking in the snow. Can’t wait until my Florida kid and her friends have to walk to classes in the winter.
Trust me we had the same fears of just being on North and never ever going to central. Trust me., I get that. But it’s our fears actually. They meet their peps and do their thing. Also please keep in mind. Not every kid really wants to be on central. Lots of distractions. I was surprised when my city kid really liked the quiet. Also having everything they need in one area was an advantage not a disadvantage on North. He started a major student org and the rest of the board lived on central. All engineering and CS kids… All from the burbs…this just is not the issue we parents make it out to be. No question central is like living in a city and living in north the suburbs. They both have their advantages and disadvantages, no questions. Just support your kids if they land here or there. One is NOT better then the other. It’s just different. Help your kids through this.
BTW - music, art performances are amazing. Have your central kids take the bus over and see some.
This is exactly the information I needed to understand what we saw when we visited. We only know one engineering student at Michigan, and he wasn’t forthcoming with information. He lived on North, but it was he first year and had all of the pandemic restrictions. So, he didn’t seem like the best source. Thank you!
We’re in Northern CA and we didn’t see much snow, unless we went to Lake Tahoe during the winter.
Other than a late January her freshman year, when there was a Polar Vortex and the temp got down to -11 or whatever, the temps just seem to be 20’s and 30’s in the winter mostly. Lots of 40’s mixed in too. Most adjust.
I love when people complain about the dorms. My wife went here 40 years ago and I was dating her… I got snucked into the dorms and slept on the bottom bunk while her roommates boyfriend slept on the top bunk (we were friends). The dorms sucked big time. But the students really don’t care. Of course many have been redone. She lived on the hill at this point. If people want great dorms go to WashU… Lol… Again, parents love to complain about the stuff that don’t really matter. The education and opportunities are for the taking. Make sure your kids take advantage of everything Michigan has to offer. Those 4 years fly by. My son started his job this week. Those Michigan opportunities and experiences is why he got his job. Make sure your kids have fun along the way. The old “work hard, play hard” philosophy is still alive and well at Michigan.
Dorm rates are on the housing page. Not as bad as some other schools which sort of surprised me since it also includes the unlimited meal plan. They’re also in the housing contract when your student gets it. As for FLorida kid and the winter, from my daughter at school in NY, for some reason the Florida kids seem to love the cold. It makes me laugh.
We bought two fans (Woo Zoo from costco) that people have been raving about on other sites and we finally had a chance to test one out. I was a little worried because it’s small but holy cow, talk about power. We’re not in an a/c dorm but who cares, this isn’t supposed to be the Ritz. A lot of freshman have apparently been placed in dorms normally that have sophs. Not us as we got Squad but there are kids in North Squad, Mojo and a bunch of others. I think they didn’t give sophs dorms in lieu of making sure the freshmen get them. Although there are some sophs in those too. I heard North is the bomb!
It does look like my poor guy will have a final on that last day so have to stay there and then he comes home and we leave right away for a long awaited vacation after many cancellations, come back and turn around and head right back to school. It will be a fast first semester.
Question on Health Insurance for folks in the know… Friends from other schools are saying that they have to proactively decline Health Insurance to avoid that charge from showing up on their fee schedule. Do we need to do this for UMich? If so, how?
All I can find on their Health portal is information in Insurance I can buy (which has not yet been priced for 21-22). We plan on keeping our son on our insurance.
Historically, Mosher Jordan (MoJo) has been a freshman dorm. A beautiful one. Stockwell, which looks like Hogwarts to me, has traditionally been a Sophomore dorm.
At the time when I was investigating sophomore housing for my D, North Quad and Stockwell weren’t anywhere near capacity, since most kids move “off-campus” after freshman year. As freshman dorms, I’d consider myself lucky to stay in them (Stockwell & North Quad). Really nice dorms and locations.
It’s always been an “opt-in” email that has been sent to us mid-August or so. The email comes from Robert D. Ernst, MD, AVP for Student Life and Wellness.
Deadline has been typically 9/30 for signing up for the UMich health plan. Over the years, pre-pandemic, the price has ranged from about $1,800-$2,100.
They’re putting freshmen in all of those. As you can imagine people are complaining left and right. Offering $ to change rooms, moving kids to apartments, etc. I wonder how many actually just put their foot down and say no, I’m not buying your way out of this. Today there was one who said their kid got Bursley and the roommate blew him off for an apartment and their kid wants to switch dorms. Have to feel bad for the kid that happened to him but the responses were that after a week the kids all find their people and love it.
I don’t remember which dorm, maybe Mojo? But my son said one looks like a hotel and is so cool. People are also complaining about Oxford which other parents say is awesome. Bottom line you cannot make everyone happy.
Thank god. Having to do an annual waiver every year at a Cornell is really a pain. Kids miss it every year and sometimes are stuck. Plans have to meet certain criteria or they have to take the expensive Cornell plan.
For those who need the UM plan parent have said it is fantastic so that is nice there is a great plan that is not that expensive.
Thanks! I guess UM is the exception here, making their insurance opt-in vs. opt-out. Some schools have a very early (July) deadline to provide that proof. If not, you are stuck with the college’s insurance plan.
As @srparent15 says, I did read that UM’s plan is really good with low deductible so may not be bad after all…
If I had to carry my son (as my youngest kid) on my current health plan, I would probably put him on the UM plan, however his father has a phenomenal plan that is super cheap and covers pretty much everything and he has a 9 year old so no extra cost for any of our 4 kids :). My oldest who has been on his own since 18 and working (now 24) will just stay on that until he’s 26. No reason not to.
My insurance however, sooo expensive for my husband and me.
