UPenn calls itself Penn, JHU calls itself Hopkins, what does UMich call itself? As in, like when you are referring to the university in your essay?
Most just call it Michigan. Some call it UofM. Fewer yet call it UMich.
In less friendly quarters, we are know as scUM (aka, Big Brother! 
) or the Team Up North.
Michigan but sometimes at AnnArbor
Okay, thanks 
I guess I’ll stick with Michigan.
Michigan. Always has been, always will be…(my OSU family is so disappointed with this app choice!)
UM or UofM is what I usually heard locally.
Michigan.
There are a half dozen schools that use UM or U of M.
In my view, it should always be just “Michigan” to avoid ambiguity.
Michigan or U of M.
I don’t think I have ever heard a student call it UMich.
It seems we always called it U of M when I was young. It was always designated U-M in writing. In Minnesota, their flagship was always shown as U of M. To this day I still think most in state students will say U-M when asked where they attend college to their local family and friends.
This is the only place I ever see UMich. It always strikes me as an oddity. I’ve seen UMich more this year in this forum than any other year. I’m not even sure what would make people shorten Michigan to Mich.
I like chancing threads here on CC where the poster asks his chances at U of M. I reply that he has an excellent chance of being admitted to the University of Montana.
I heard UMich so many times when I was in a campus day when my DD just got in a couple of years ago. Never heard of it before then. It’s used by the speakers in the university, I assume, because of their website.
I assumed it was because it shows up on the students’ email address, i.e., jsmith@umich.edu
Except that Montana vernacular is generally UM and Minnesota is The UofM (used almost exclusively with the word The) or just the U. Missouri is generally Mizzou and so on. Michigan is and pretty much always has been Michigan or U of M, not so much UMich…maybe it’s a new young person thing. I’m sure the MSU kids could wonderful tortuous things with the UMich vernacular if that’s becoming a campus “thing” it is so funny sounding.
University of Michigan, Miami, Missouri, Montana, Minnesota, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Memphis.
Locally we call it Michigan, as opposed to that other big school, State. When we have gone to campus events, we have heard UMich and Michigan equally.
It definitely seems to be related to the website. UMich was never something I heard until my daughter was applying a couple years ago and then she told me everyone says that now. Same with “UPenn,” although there was a funny thread a while ago where the Penn alumni were simply aghast at the idea that anyone would call it UPenn instead of Penn. But like Michigan, that is what Penn uses for its website, so it has become common parlance now with the applicants.
Depends on context. If it’s awkward to say “I go to Michigan” (I do too, we have a cottage in the state of Michigan), then you say “I go to UofM” so the listener understands you’re talking about a university. If you are in Minnesota, then you would say I go to the university of Michigan.
If, on the other hand, you go to Harvard then you say: “I go to the Michigan of the East”
" I’ve seen UMich more this year" <== one possible explanation… name@umich.edu <=== standard form of e-mail address.