University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Top Questions

I'm involved with the Chabad house and the Jewish Resource Center. In my dorm (Oxford) students did leave their doors open Athletic events are very popular, especially Football. Hockey is pretty popular too I met my closest friends in my dorm last year If I'm awake at 2am on a Tuesday I'm usually hanging out in my apartment with my friends People party on average 2-3 times a week Frats and sororities are a huge part of Michigan

Student government is really popular. So is Michigan Interactive Investments, an investing club at U of M. Lots of Freshmen also join the crew team, which recruits heavily and is pretty good. Students in dorms are typically very friendly and leave their rooms open. They love meeting new people. Football games are a staple of the social scene here, everyone goes. Imagine 20,000 students on a Saturday morning, all getting drunk and going to a sporting event together. It's great. The dating scene is great, the city is great for dates. Over on Main Street there are tons of great places to eat and shows to see. Lots of possibilities. I met my closest friends in the dorms freshman year and in my fraternity. At 2am on a Tuesday, I'm probably finishing up some work for Wednesday. Lots of people would say leaving the bar, though. Hash bash happens every year. Lots of weed to be smoked, the liberal campus puts up with it, great fun. Most people party Thursday night through Saturday night, and lots of people go to the bars on Tuesday night. Thursday is a huge bar night. Fraternities and sororities are very important, especially in the social scene. They are a great way to meet new people, and are great for networking as well. Last weekend I spent driving back with some of the frat bros from a spring break vacation in Naples. We stopped in Clemson to get drunk with our Chi Psi chapter located there. Saturday night you can see a band, see a movie, go bowling, take mind-altering drugs, the possibilities are endless.

Greek Life is a large part of the social scene. However, there are no feuds or issues between different houses. This allows people within the Greek community to be friends with people outside of both their houses and Greek life. Frat parties are the main social events during the earlier part of Fall Semester. When they die out, people go to local bars and house parties. The dorms are a great place to meet friends and become close with them quickly. Many students say that their best friends are the friends that they made their freshman year in the dorms. Markley is the most social of the dorms, and most students leave their doors open creating a welcoming environment. I am heavily involved with Interrobang Literary Magazine on campus. It is the first cross-disciplinary zine on campus allowing students of different majors to contribute. Becoming part of the magazine has introduced me to a more art driven scene on campus as well as allowing me to make lots of new friends. The group of kids on staff are an eclectic mix with people's majors ranging from history to neuroscience. Student groups are a great way to become active on campus.

The dorm policy is to NOT leave doors open, but all of the friendly kids will. Especially in the first month or so of school, nobody knows who they want to hang out with yet and its not uncommon to have frequent neighbor visits. Even as the year rolls on, people (at least in East and South Quad) try to remain friendly and inviting with their open doors. How often do people party? Well, I've had friends who never go out, and friends who go out nearly every night. How much you want to party is up to you . . . provided that you know how to choose your friends. Its easy to get caught up in social scenes, and for some people that is detrimental to their studies. Other students know how to drink often and still excel. Most students drink, its just a college "thing". But, from visiting friends at Michigan State, the drinking scene here is not as intense as it is elsewhere. Weekends are the most typical time for partying, and weeknights vary. St. Patrick's Day is a splendid exception, when almost everyone will be drunk all day long. I think I might have had a different experience if I had been involved with Greek Life, from what I hear. But I think you can be active socially and still do well with school so long as you keep yourself in check. What can you do on a Saturday night that doesn’t involve drinking? Well, you can go to concerts, hockey/basketball/other sports events, or you can stay in and study. You can see movies (great indie movies are always at the State and Michigan theaters). You could go out to eat, go to Necto night club and just dance instead of drinking, or go to a play (they have so many, there's almost always one or more every weekend). Certain people who don't like to drink tend to make it fairly obvious- if this is the case for you, you'll not be alone.

Not to stroke my own ego, but the Michigan Student Assembly is a pretty popular organization to be a part of and it is a great avenue through which to learn about campus, especially through the student-group funding process that we have. Dance Marathon is also extremely popular - it is all-encompassing and a huge organization in just sheer numbers, let alone all the money they raise for pediatric rehabilitation and all the people that they are able to bring together for a good cause. Other than that, Greek life is also very popular, both white fraternities and sororities, as well as black and multi-cultural Greeks. There are big differences between those communities but in my time at Michigan they have begun to collaborate more and more often. The dating scene is awesome - I have seen various different couples, interracial, intereligious and homogenous alike. I don't think you would have a hard time, regardless of who you are. I met my closest friends through organizationl involvement and through the dorms freshman year - but I would give more weight to make lasting friendships through the sharing that you do on an everyday basis because of organizational involvement. If I am awake at 2am on a Tuesday, I am usually just getting out of the Bar, standing in line for Big Ten Burrito, or studying at the library and all of this with my friends. Football games are huge and Saturday morning pre-gaming has constituted some of my best memories (especially Michigan vs. OSU)! On a Saturday, you can do so many things that do not involve drinking - there are always events going on, fashion shows, fundraisers, plays, concerts, performances, speaker panels, etc. etc. You can study, you can go to dinner with your friends downtown - the list goes on because Ann Arbor is a very cultured place. I came from NYC and living in Ann Arbor was not a difficult transition in the sense of being occupied with things to do.

Greek Life really isn't very important at Michigan. I'm sure you can have a lot of fun being in a fraternity or sorority, but the same is also true for people who aren't Greek. The majority of people aren't involved with Greek Life, and there is plenty to do around Ann Arbor besides frat parties every weekend. It also isn't very difficult to get into a frat party (especially for girls) if you're not Greek, so it's not like you're excluded from that entire social scene if you choose not to pledge.

Currently, I am involved in the Detroit Project. Every week I go to Detroit with other volunteers for a few hours and tutor/mentor children in Southwest Detroit. Athletic events are also very popular and the party scene is there if you choose to be involved in it. If not, there is always plenty of other events going on in Ann Arbor (for example, concerts). I met my closest friend's in my dorm and I feel that we have developed a very solid friendship that will last for a long time.

Football games are huge, as is the bar scene. As a senior, bars are the main weekend (and weeknight) option. At 2am on a Tuesday, if I went out, I'm walking home from the bar or to the cantina (open til 4) Besides being a lush, I like the local movie theatres, they have good movies and sometimes cool documentaries (Michigan theatre) My closest friends I met in classes and through other friends. It kind of evolves though, especially by senior year, everyone knows everyone, even at a school this big. Besides drinking, you can.... watch tv? Besides drinking, there are lots of good restaurants and places to see concerts and other events. Everything costs money though, which sucks. Dating is fun, mainly people you meet in classes, although I did go on a date with a guy I met at the gym. Some people do the frat scene - not my thing. I'm just not into that form of comradarie. But that is a popular thing to do, especially for freshmen.

- Student Council, Darfur Awareness. - Football games are the shit. Love going to guest speakers-- most emorable one is Jeffrey Eugenides (author of Middlesex). I also love going to see the student productions-- the theater and musical theater departments are really talented and the shows are cheap. There are also a lot of fun concerts such as Guster, Feist, and Mos Def. - Closest friends: Met in the dorms Freshman year. - Traditions/Events: St. Patty's day is huge-- everyone wakes up at 8am dressed in green and chugging green beers at the frats by 9am. - During the week when we are not too stressed, we will head over to Theta Chi, our friends' fraternity, for Motown Monday, when they play Motown Music and we drink and dance. Tuesdays are a fun bar night also to break up the week. Thursdays and Saturdays are also bar nights, but Friday nights are typically for house parties or staying in with the girls or going to a movie. - Last weekend I went to see a local band at the Heidelberg on Thursday. On Friday I headed to Detroit for dinner and then partied to European DJs at a funky bar. - On a Saturday night you can go to Rendezvous Cafe to eat gelato and smoke Hookah on the roof (when it is warm).

Michigan football is the most popular sports team, but going to sporting events is a generally popular activity. Every night of the week there are several different options of clubs and guest speakers to attend. There's plenty to do on the weekends, whether it's party, go to a midnight movie, window shop on Main Street, attend a hockey/basketball/swimmeet/soccer/volleyball/football game, hang out in the dorms, go to a play, eat out with friends...etc. If you're awake at 2 AM on a Tuesday, you are definately studying. Or procrastinating studying.