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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Not Michigan.  Think about the people you know that went to Michigan. Is that who you want your kid to be?[/quote]

I'm not sure who you know, but I found Michigan students to be nice and unpretentious on the whole, with relatively few assholes.  I have to admit, though, that it is a huge state school and does have some "weed out" courses, especially in the sciences.  There definitely is competition there in some classes, and there are some competitive personalities there.

Overall, though, Michigan has a culture of respect and there is an amazing diversity of interests at Michigan.  Different people experience Michigan differently.  For some, it might resemble UPenn.  Maybe the poster above has those students in mind?  For others, it's kind of like a larger Oberlin or Wesleyan.  For others, it's more like MIT.  For still others, it's more like Notre Dame.  That list could go on.  At Michigan, all of those cultures coexist.

I know some people make fun of colleges like Michigan where many students are obsessed with sports.  One positive effect of the sports scene is that tens of thousands of very different students all agree on something and share a common interest.  Also, since the big rivals are Michigan State and Ohio State, people tend not to think they're the world's most elite anything.  Also, since Michigan sports fans live throughout the state of Michigan, cheering for Michigan feels communal and egalitarian.  The place feels a bit different from Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Stanford for those reasons as well as others.

Another way in which Michigan feels different from Ivies is that, while 
Michigan does attract many students who have the same credentials as Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Stanford students, and a few Michigan students turned down those places, the majority of Michigan students have less impressive high school academic achievements than the majority at those more selective colleges.  Once you're in college, you tend to choose your friends based on something other than high school GPA and standardized test scores.  That helps reduce the competitive feel of the place.

.[/quote]

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