That’s a good question. My kid knew nothing about UMich. Zero. At least by 11/01/17, which was the EA deadline. I’m the one that really liked Michigan and I stuck UMich on the list. After EA acceptance and visiting Ann Arbor in March 2018, the decision was made. Ann Arbor is a really cool town, one of the best college towns. My kid loves sports, like I do, and discovered that UMich really gets behind ALL their teams, like winning the rowing championship this year, losing in the championship game of the College World Series to Vandy this year or winning back-to-back Big 10 basketball titles in 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 or losing to Villanova in the title game two years ago and losing to Texas Tech in the Sweet 16 this year. Tennis, soccer, gymnastics, LAX, etc. Sports are big at UMich.
Academics you say? UMich has one of the top business (Ross), CS and engineering departments. And LSA has at least 40 programs in the Top 10 in the country. So, if you want to switch your major a few times, there’s a good chance you’ll be in a Top 10 program.
How about money to build new buildings. UMich also has the 8th largest endowment in the US:
Edit: Mods may delete this post if it’s out of context now.