<p>I just got accepted to the University of Michigan. I really applied just on a lark, and so far everything I've read seems quite positive about the school. </p>
<p>Im wondering what, if any, are the negatives of the school?</p>
<p>There’s a sticky “Is Michigan weak in any way” or something along those lines.</p>
<p>If you’re from a warm area, it’s very cold. And if you’re OOS it’s very expensive.</p>
<p>It’s also very large and some of the living arrangements aren’t what you might like.</p>
<p>The undergraduate population is large (~25,000), and may appear overwhelming to some students from underserved populations (URMs, first-generation, etc.). As a URM, I considered campus environment and support systems seriously when I was applying to colleges.</p>
<p>a student body that’s not competitive or career focused… a proportion of in-state kids who should not be there in first place… A president who only knows one word…</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure some of their programs have competitive students…</p>
<p>The da** football team.</p>
<p>Bearcats apparently hasn’t met me or my friends yet. Anyways, I agree with his second and third statements.</p>
<p>The competitive and career oriented think varies strongly by school. If you go outside of LS&A, especially in the business school, you’ll find very ambitious and goal-oriented students.</p>
<p>It’s not really a problem for me, but conservative students don’t have much of a voice on campus even though you’ll encounter many “closet conservatives.” Then again, that’s probably true at any non-relgious elite university. </p>
<p>There aren’t too many other negatives I can think of; this place is pretty awesome! Some freshman get stuck on North Campus, which sucks because they basically commute to school. And off-campus housing is very expensive. If you want a house in a good location with no roommate you’re looking easily at $500+ a month.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>And yet you go on the MSU forum and present UMich grads as people that are going to make 6 digits when they graduate and bash MSU grads for not being rich enough? Give me a break.</p>
<p>OP: The only negative really to UMich is that it has students like bearcats. If you want to know what I’m talking about, check out some of his posts on the MSU forum.</p>
<p>UMich is a good school. The only negative I’ve heard from friends is that some URMs have a hard time adjusting there and that it’s not worth the OOS cost. Hope it’s a good fit for you :).</p>
<p>it’s all relative… it’s not competitive or career focused as Wharton, Northwestern and Chicago doesnt mean it’s as lousy as Michigan State… The prestigious banks and M/B/B still recruit here and it is a FACT that most Moo U grads wont have a chance to sniff those jobs. </p>
<p>I come from a high school where 30% go to ivies or similar, 65% go to Michigan, UVA and other top 25 universities or top LACs and 5% goes to podunk like Michigan State or Tulane amongst other crap colleges and most kids have huge ambitions and have their careers all planned out… so yes, it is a huge change in terms of competitiveness</p>
<p>did you seriously just use “career-focused” and “university of chicago” in the same sentence when talking about undergrad? haha i’ve never seen that before.</p>
<p>Anyone who calls Tulane a crap school is a totally uninformed ■■■■■.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-michigan-ann-arbor/1788-michigan-weak-any-way.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-michigan-ann-arbor/1788-michigan-weak-any-way.html</a>
Flip through that thread.</p>
<p>Also, this may not be fully accurate since it really depends on which school (COE, Ross, LSA etc.) your in and the major you choose, but UM is a big school so it might be a little more difficult to connect with some teachers compared to smaller schools.</p>
<p>"did you seriously just use “career-focused” and “university of chicago” in the same sentence when talking about undergrad? "
I said “competitive OR career-focused”. Chicago kids are very academically focused as opposed to career focused, but it is avery intellectual and the kids are very competitive academically. My friend would study hours a week and still can’t beat out the curve. Afterall it is “where fun comes to die”</p>
<p>"Anyone who calls Tulane a crap school is a totally uninformed ■■■■■. "
Sorry. Tulane is crap compared to 90% of the colleges our grads go to.</p>
<p>Another negative, the state school stigma… I cant tell you how many times that was brought up during my internship last summer</p>
<p>please elaborate</p>
<p>Michigan is only uncompetitive if you went to super awesome 30K/year boarding high school. Otherwise it’s adequately competitive.</p>
<p>Some people, especially bearcats, might disagree with me on this, but I find the Math department here extremely inefficient. You have no idea who your GSI is until the first day of classes, and if you find out that he is incompetent at teaching, you are unable to switch into another section. Also, the tests are curved so that the people with amazing GSI’s tend to have great scores, while my class’s first test score average was 5% below the Math 115 average. The group homework is also a pain, especially if your group members are lazy and don’t want to do help out all. I’d avoid Calc here unless it’s a prerequisite for your program/major. Needless to say I am unhappy with my math experience here at UMich. </p>
<p>However, I really like my other classes (a Political Science, English, and Hebrew class) and feel like I’m being challenged but am not hopelessly struggling.</p>
<p>bearcats, why are you at UMich? It seems like it is “beneath” you.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Just out of curiosity, why can’t you switch sections? Is it because the rest are full or because it is against the rules?</p>