[MittenDweller82]

Originally Posted by michicletus

Ann Arbor is so overrated. Do a Google search and you can find a website devoted to this very topic. You have all these culturally-starved kids who grew up in Boring-ass, MI who head there and think it's the best thing since sliced bread. If you want a quaint town, Grand Rapids and even K-zoo blow A2 out of the water. If you want cosmopolitan as in world-class amenities - I mean orchestra, shopping, and not just a Japanese dive restaurant, you can do much better in Oakland County and Chicago. A2 is a tweener town - too big to be a quaint college town, too provincial to be a cosmo place. Plus the faculty, staff, and students are so full of themselves. You are at a STATE school people, not Harvard. Your average undergrad can get a much more useful and meaningful education at a score of small liberal arts colleges littered across the Midwest. Grad students can have a great research experience, but they are rarely the ones drinking the U of M koolaid and preaching the gospel of Ann Arbor. You can live in Oakland County for the same amount of money with more to do than keg parties or get a quainter location for half the price in places like Grand Rapids.

Wow, after attending school in the city for years I don't think my assessment of the city could be as "in depth" as yours, although it looks like you drove through the city once or had a friend who didn't get into UM. Do you know all the staff and students of the university? I have met many people from humble beginnings who I would hardly term as "full of themselves". Culturally starved? Most kids that are enrolled at UM are from larger cities outside of Michigan and the U.S.....its obvious your view wasn't formed by experience. I like your attempt at dissecting what grad students do "having a great research experience" sounds like a brochure reading to me. How is GR quaint? And Kalamazoo? It looses most of its population in the summer... (no pun to Kzoo residents) but it does have its problems, more problems than the Kalamazoo promise can erase. On to Oakland county......traffic traffic and more traffic...cookie cutter strip malls that look as though they fell from the sky, McMansions that stand half finished, every chain restaurant you could think of....and Somerset mall as the decent place to shop (if you want to pay twice what things are worth) Oakland county and Chicago aren't even the same species....I guess I don't know where you were going with that thought. If you think people in Ann Arbor are stuck up...please don't travel to any parts of the west coast or NYC you might die of stroke.

[Cliffie]

Now, if you're talking about Lansing proper, everything these posts say is true. But East Lansing, home of MSU, is very collegiate and has a lot to do. And it's a little less expensive and -- should I say "silly"? -- than Ann Arbor.

[tuebor]

To the OP: The question is not really Ann Arbor vs. Lansing. The question is Ypsilanti vs. Lansing, since you won't be able to afford Ann Arbor.

Better yet, figure out how to get along with your family/in-laws, if that is humanly possible, and stay where you are. Like the old saw says, you can choose your friends, but you can't choose your family.

[michicletus]

Originally Posted by A2Mich

But maybe he's wanting to live in a town with a real football team

Just kidding....Heck, the Wolverines lost their first game to Appalachian State....they may as well have just lost to one of the local high schools......Actually, what U-M does with "their" money is disgusting. For a state school that receives state funding, a ridiculously high tuition rate, takes half of the tax money from Ann Arbor, charges employees and visitors to park at their facilities, not to mention grants, athletic sponsorships, donations, etc, they sure know how to blow their money. They have outrageously paid hospital doctors, teaching professors, underpay the average worker, have drained the city's economy, and now are building a new press box and adding more seats to the football stadium for no other reason than to be able to maintain the status of having the largest stadium in the nation. If they wanted to do something smart with their money, they could pay their employees a lot better than they do.

Exactly, and Richy Rich Rodriguez looked around their weight room and said, "This all needs to be redone," so they promptly spent several million dollars redoing it to his specs despite it being state-of-the-art before. Yet tuition goes up and up for students who go through 4 years of a diploma mill fooled into thinking they are getting a superb education - little do they know they're on a cattle car with 40,000+ other students. Do people really believe U of M gets a diverse student body? You get MI residents and rich people from the coasts who couldn't get into the Ivies or the Ivy-wannabes like Tufts and George Washington. Does anyone really believe U of M is getting diverse non-residents? Not when the tuition is the same as a private school. No non-resident in their right mind is going to choose U of M over Chicago, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, and Emory, let alone the truly elite schools like the Ivies, Stanford, Cal Tech, and MIT.

Go to East Lansing if you want a college town. You'll be much happier.

[100%Michigan]

East Lansing is a nice college town, check it out.

[dooface]

Having lived in Kalamazoo( I loved it by the way) and now having lived in A2 for the past five years I have to say that at this point in your life Lansing may be a better fit. Ann Arbor is an expensive place to live-expensive apartments, expensive food, clubs, clothes . . . Yes, it has so much to do and lots of interesting people and the job market is always great, but at 20-years-old, you may struggle too much and be under stress trying to make ends meet just to live in A2. Lansing has much of the same opportunities for nightlife, recreation, shopping and restaurants, as well as schooling just at a cheaper price. I think Lansing is more like Kalamazoo in it's working class values and more relaxed attitude, whereas A2 can be pretentious and a bit stiff. For your early years, I'd pick Lansing. When you are more established and make more money-Ann Arbor.

[windfarmer]

wagonproject - Ann Arbor hands down.. AA is an awesome city for college students.. It offers much in the way of the arts, museums (science & natural history et al), good pedestrian culture, clean and fun-to-walk downtown, VERY good neighborhoods (albeit a little pricey to buy), and lots of large parks. since you mention that you and your spouse are in community college, may I suggest Washtenaw to you guys? I went for orientation a few years ago, but went to a different school in metro-Detroit instead. However, it's campus is large, clean and fairly safe. I may also suggest that Eastern Michigan University which is a stone throw away in neighboring Ypsilanti, is not what I'd call a gem. There have been quite a few reports of muggings of students in and around campus.. More than I'd like to say that a school like U of M Ann Arbor might experience... But then again all colleges attract some crime sadly.. It's a good school if you're becoming a teacher though.. has a great reputation in the education industry.

Ann Arbor is a great city for families too. Ample stuff to do, good quality of life.. Not bigger than K-zoo.

windfarmer

[cowcat]

Originally Posted by michicletus

Ann Arbor is so overrated. Do a Google search and you can find a website devoted to this very topic. You have all these culturally-starved kids who grew up in Boring-ass, MI who head there and think it's the best thing since sliced bread. If you want a quaint town, Grand Rapids and even K-zoo blow A2 out of the water. If you want cosmopolitan as in world-class amenities - I mean orchestra, shopping, and not just a Japanese dive restaurant, you can do much better in Oakland County and Chicago. A2 is a tweener town - too big to be a quaint college town, too provincial to be a cosmo place. Plus the faculty, staff, and students are so full of themselves. You are at a STATE school people, not Harvard. Your average undergrad can get a much more useful and meaningful education at a score of small liberal arts colleges littered across the Midwest. Grad students can have a great research experience, but they are rarely the ones drinking the U of M koolaid and preaching the gospel of Ann Arbor. You can live in Oakland County for the same amount of money with more to do than keg parties or get a quainter location for half the price in places like Grand Rapids.

That's why I think two CC students would be ill-matched in Ann Arbor. There are those who are an official part of the U of M community and drinking the koolaid, and there's everyone else.

This is a very cogent summary of Ann Arbor - yuppies sipping $5 coffee and yippies running around in birkenstocks thinking they are in Berkeley. The success of top state schools is dependent on attracting elite students and faculty, and neither demographic will pick U of M over Berkeley, UCLA, UNC, and Virginia. Guess which direction U of M has been sliding over the last 10 years? At least these other schools have growing, cosmopolitan cities in the state to draw from. U of M has some Oakland County students and East Grand Rapids/Forest Hills. How does the kool-aid taste now, especially at $33,499 plus $8518 room/board per year for non-residents? Heck, $11,775 for residents is pretty ridiculous.

[MittenDweller82]

Originally Posted by cowcat

This is a very cogent summary of Ann Arbor - yuppies sipping $5 coffee and yippies running around in birkenstocks thinking they are in Berkeley. The success of top state schools is dependent on attracting elite students and faculty, and neither demographic will pick U of M over Berkeley, UCLA, UNC, and Virginia. Guess which direction U of M has been sliding over the last 10 years? At least these other schools have growing, cosmopolitan cities in the state to draw from. U of M has some Oakland County students and East Grand Rapids/Forest Hills. How does the kool-aid taste now, especially at $33,499 plus $8518 room/board per year for non-residents? Heck, $11,775 for residents is pretty ridiculous.

Alright *sigh* first lets educate you on the true cost of UM, provided by their own website: Annual In-state tuition and fees: $10,447...far cry from $33,499...(Harvard is 36,173) but at least your room and board guess was close, the real number is $8,190/year. In summary if you add all related expenses, annual costs to attend is: $21,657 (As of Fall 2007). I even had the time to research more info for you, and the other schools you listed are only cheaper by an average of $2000 a year. I don't suppose you read much, but if you feel apt, pick up Newsweek or Time's rating of best colleges and programs, it so happens that UM has many programs rated #1 and most all are in the top 10. As far as demographics ( yes I did even more reading for you) 65% in state and 35% out of state...oh and all were in the 95 percentile of their graduating class. I don't have time to research all of the Prof's at UM and their academic background for you but you must have met all of them along the line somewhere to make the assessments you did. Just do research from now on, and spend some time in Ann Arbor, it would be good for you to engage in a good conversation over a cup of coffee! ( Your koolaid seems to be having negative affects on you)

Chow!

[cowcat]

Originally Posted by Sociologist

Alright *sigh* first lets educate you on the true cost of UM, provided by their own website: Annual In-state tuition and fees: $10,447...far cry from $33,499...(Harvard is 36,173) but at least your room and board guess was close, the real number is $8,190/year. In summary if you add all related expenses, annual costs to attend is: $21,657 (As of Fall 2007). I even had the time to research more info for you, and the other schools you listed are only cheaper by an average of $2000 a year. I don't suppose you read much, but if you feel apt, pick up Newsweek or Time's rating of best colleges and programs, it so happens that UM has many programs rated #1 and most all are in the top 10. As far as demographics ( yes I did even more reading for you) 65% in state and 35% out of state...oh and all were in the 95 percentile of their graduating class. I don't have time to research all of the Prof's at UM and their academic background for you but you must have met all of them along the line somewhere to make the assessments you did. Just do research from now on, and spend some time in Ann Arbor, it would be good for you to engage in a good conversation over a cup of coffee! ( Your koolaid seems to be having negative affects on you)

Chow!

I guess the education does not amount to much when you don't have reading comprehension.

How does the kool-aid taste now, especially at $33,499 plus $8518 room/board per year for non-residents? Heck, $11,775 for residents is pretty ridiculous.

Did you catch where I qualify each figure with resident and non-resident status? You obviously cannot do research either - my 2008-2009 figures are straight from the U of M office of financial aid. University of Michigan Office of Financial Aid: Cost of Attendance Research means to look up the latest figures, by the way.

To the OP, read the previous post. Do you sense the arrogant, condescending attitude in it? Imagine being surrounded by such people 24/7 - Ann Arbor drips with this misplaced sense of superiority. People who think they're part divine for attending an overrated STATE school.