University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Top Questions

Going to a school so far away from home, many people worried for my parents, wondering how they would handle their "baby girl" being so far away. However, I do not think that I was personally prepared to miss my home. I could not wait to leave my high school and my home and create a new identity for myself in a far-off state. I wish I had known that the first week away from home would be horrible, no matter how ready I felt. After the first week was over, I would be perfectly happy in Michigan.

I wish I would have known how intense, scary, and crazy this school can be. It's all what you make of it, it can be great or it can be a truly horrible experience. Get and stay involved. Don't live in the dorms after freshman year.

Extra information on what housing options are preferable. There are multiple choices for on-campus living, and some extra information would have been very helpful.

Getting involved in research early on as an undergraduate and making connections with professors will be key to future success.

Being a top-notch university in a state where academic institutions define its greatest value/offering, Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan has a wealth of resources and talents to tap into- culturally as well as academically. There are so many different departments within each college that hold amazing lectures, shows, brown bags, and discussions that most students don't come across. Many invite guest speakers that are globally renown. Seek those out to find your true specialized interests and enrich your college experience. Also, there tends to be good free food at these events.

I would have liked to know how competitive the students at the school were. I did not know that the University of Michigan had so many distinguished students and faculty. I was shocked to learn that everyone worked so diligently, but I was glad to see that my peers put forth so much effort in their studies, and it inspired me to try even harder! Even though the curriculum here is challenging, there are so many resources and helpful students, graduate students, and professors willing to elucidate any issue imaginable.

I wish I'd known that I can RELAX! I don't have to fret everyday about the rest of my life. I don't have to worry about living up to everybody else's expectations. I fulfill my own expectations. I can afford to breathe, trusting myself that I'm at a world-class institution for a very good reason. There is room for fun. There is room for enjoyment. College isn't about powering through classes like an academic machine. College is about exploring everything available, to find what I'm best at and to succeed in it.

I wish that I would have know that the school would be as challenging as it was. I came form a small highschool of two hundred fifty students and it was a little overwhelming to enter a university with thrity five thousand students.

A campus this big is not very friendly on the large scale. You have to find your smaller niche to feel a part of a comunity. I didn't really find my niche until sophmore year - freshman year was very lonely.

I wish I had known to seek out and try different student groups - whether it was as a participant or audience member or supporter. I wish I knew to try more activities and pursue new hobbies, which would have provided a broader group of peers and friends, with more diverse knowledge bases and interests. I wish I knew to explore as much as possible.