Is University of Michigan truly a good school for me?

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1

Hello all,

I was accepted to the University of Michigan last December in the LSA, to study either Biochemistry or Psychology on the pre-med track. Although I am aware of how reputable Michigan is, and how strong its programs are, I still feel as if its standards are not up to par. My preferred choices are Northwestern and Cornell, as they are more fit for academically minded students and are more focused on the undergraduate education, with smaller class sizes and better advising. It just seems to me that Michigan’s undergraduate body is not, as a whole, as strong or academically focused as the mentioned schools. At least 15 students from my school got in, several of them being vapid, worthless sorority type girls who aren’t really the best of students.

From what I gather, Michigan may be one of those schools that makes it easier for OOS students so that they can subsidize instate costs. (I live in a relatively affluent area in MD, so it would make sense). In any case, my reputation of Michigan from the accepted class Facebook group is that it is dominated by a football-obsessed culture run by the Greeks. Now, I have nothing against school spirit, but it seems like in comparison to schools like Northwestern, Rice, Case, or even UMD, Michigan is a meatheaded party school for sorority girls and frat boys. Also, Michigan doesn’t give good out of state financial aid, and the only people at my school who have committed are the spoiled rich kids who are most likely to rush.

I would prefer a more academic, but not pretentiously intellectual environment. As I am a slightly introverted, but still sociable student who struggles to deal with popular kids, would Michigan be the best environment for me?

Part of the strength of the school is the quality of your peers, and how you interact with them. But I feel Michigan is not a school that attracts a high quality of peers, unless they are like me and were rejected from their top choices.

Cheers.

I edited out several over-the-top comments by the OP on March 4, 2016 so no doubt some of those comments are still referenced in the posts below, which is fine. I think on the whole people should be free to draw their own conclusions about this member based on this thread. - Fallenchemist

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If you are a serious student with the academic mind you purport, you’d do very well at UM. If your surroundings are so influential over you, then you should find a smaller, more homogenous school where you won’t be distracted by a diverse group of people representative of real life. It’s about your own ability to focus - or not - and function in real-life scenarios, or not. IMHO.

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Michigan is a large school and it is a lot of different things to different people. Yes, there are some frat boys and the like, but there are also a huge amount of very serious, very good students studying in world class departments who never attend a single frat party. It is, after all, one of the world’s top 20 research universities.

Also remember that there are no less than fifteen thousand grad students there, one of the largest graduate populations in the nation, which adds a huge amount of intellectual heft to the place.

In many ways, the atmosphere is quite close to the atmosphere at Northwestern (which also has its share of jocks and frat boys). They are both intellectual places, but layered with a pre-professional bent. Much more intellectual than UMD.

I can’t speak to Rice or Case or Cornell, as I have never been to any of them.

I might add that you sound a bit judgmental about your high school classmates. It is quite possible that their academic credentials are a lot stronger than you realize, but you wouldn’t know. Popular people sometimes are also surprisingly good students.

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“vapid, worthless sorority type girls who aren’t really the best of students.”
“Michigan is a meatheaded party school for slutty sorority girls and racist frat boys”

Please don’t go to Michigan. My daughter may go there and I don’t want her to go to school with people like you.

Sorry if that’s harsh, but your hostility is frightening. You are making broad generalizations about a group of students who are much more diverse than you think. Just because you are in a sorority does not make you a slut. Just because you are in a fraternity does not make you racist. And if you want to avoid Greek life at Michigan you certainly can. There are 40,000 plus students there. Most of the other schools you are talking about have a robust Greek life as well and you will find partiers at just about every school outside of some religious schools.

Michigan is much more than football and Greek life and has an international reputation because of its intelligent, diverse student body, talented faculty, and amazing opportunities.

And btw, my other daughter attends Cornell and all the things you are afraid of existing at Michigan are present there too.

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My apologies if I came off the wrong way. It’s just that I am a traditional Indian guy, though raised in America, and my parents told me not to associate with anyone from Greek life. In fact, if I so much as mentioned rushing, they threatened to cut me off financially. Thus, I want to respect their wished by keeping good, moral company.

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@Chigginator28 Good, moral company can certainly those in frats and sororities, can’t they? I’d hate to think about the amount of great people you’d miss out on meeting if you restrict yourself to those who aren’t in greek life.

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No one is going to force you to join a frat.

Surprise - a larger percentage of the students at Northwestern and Case and Cornell choose to join frats than do the students at Michigan.

Surprise number 2: Michigan is second in the nation in producing Fulbright Scholars, behind only Harvard. How do those meathead party school losers find time to do that in between their Klan meetings and date rapes?

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Wow. OP you are displaying a very distressing amount of vitriol. I don’t know that you’re going to have a good experience at any college if you give off even a hint of your disdain for people you consider different from yourself. And I find your misogyny quite frightening.

I’m not sure you belong in the multi-cultural, open environment that Michigan and other great American institutions are in the year 2016. I hope you find a place where you would be happy, but I have a feeling it’s not any of the modern-day institutions you’ve mentioned, and I do not think you are the kind of student they are looking for.

By the way, you should probably also take Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, MIT and Duke off of your list since they all have some degree of Greek life and football culture. By your own definition you wouldn’t find the good, moral company you require there.

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Lol Harvard or Yale weren’t on my list at all. I know my limits as a student :slight_smile:

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Not saying that girls in sororities are inherently sexually promiscuous, but that promiscuous girls tend to join sororities. Correlation does not equal causation. Much of the Greek system just seems like an excuse for rich kids to party and bully independents. And there are good GLOs, many of the prominent ones are bad people in general (i.e. SAE, DDD, a lot of so-called “top tier frats”).

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The vast vast majority of students at UM are very serious and high achieving, Greek or not. I don’t know the current stats but traditionally 75-80% of the students are not in Greek life. I wasn’t but had plenty of friends that were. Lots of them are now doctors, CEOs, lawyers, and somehow managed to succeed despite spending four years being drunken rapists who weren’t properly engaged in their academic pursuits.

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If University of Michigan’s standards are “not up to par” and you have such an aversion to peers that you may encounter there , why did you apply?

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carolinamom,

I found this out after I had applied. Originally, I saw Michigan as a great school that balanced both amazing academic programs with countless opportunities for internships and research, and a diverse, strong student body, all while maintaining top athletics programs. I had been told that it was harder for OOS students to get in, and so I took care to not regard it as a safety, and to prepare for a possible deferral. But when I was accepted, and I saw other peers who were strong students accepted, I noticed vapid, “popular” students who only are attracted to Michigan because of its “social” scene and campus “feel”. It is a shame that such a large prevalence of rich, OOSers who are not serious discredit a great university like Michigan. It makes me wonder whether getting in really was a big deal at all.

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So come back and trash UMich some more AFTER you’ve been admitted into Northwestern & Cornell.

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It is not easier for OOS. It is mildly more difficult to get in. I think you may not understand that some of your basic classmates may have better stats than you!

Go where you feel comfortable, but only if you can avoid being so judgemental and degrading in your interactions with your classmates.

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Have you been accepted to Northwestern and/or Cornell (or anywhere else)? What other choices do you have?

Can’t speak for Northwestern but Cornell has a huge frat community and lots of partying.

UM has a huge student body, you can associate with whatever type of people you fit best with (and in respect of your parents’ wishes).

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@insanedreamer Nothing yet, except for UMD Honors and UNC-Chapel Hill.

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Is this thread for real?

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I think you will find “slutty” girls, “sorostitutes,” and “meatheads” everywhere you go. A more general term for such people is “humans,” and they’re fairly ubiquitous.

And what on earth do you mean when you apologize for coming off the wrong way? There is really just one way to infer the intent behind a neologism like “sorostitutes,” and it is not good.

You know, a good skill to develop when joining a new social setting (such as College Confidential) is lurking for a while so that you can determine in advance which sort of comments will make you seem like an affable chap and which might come off as, I don’t know, meatheaded? Really, it’s the kind of skill that college freshmen find useful.

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People of good moral character don’t call women vile names. They don’t pass judgment on women because they’re sexually active, and they don’t sling accusations at groups of people they’ve never met. I find it interesting that you’re eager to label the young women for being sexually active but don’t mention the men in that regard at all. Decent people don’t go around calling other human beings “worthless.” I think you are the people your parents were warning you against.