My D18 attends Michigan and it’s very different than CA. Ann Arbor is fairly liberal, but it’s not Berkeley. 
There’s an adjustment. They don’t restrict themselves to just Ann Arbor. For breaks, they venture to other locales in Michigan, because most of her friends are from there.
Her friends and roommates, those that are Michigan or Midwest natives, which is all of them pretty much, think “everyone” in CA has purple hair, lots of tattoos and multiple piercings.
Point? Everywhere is different. Go visit. Rice is a great school.