University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Top Questions

People definitely refer to students at Michigan as "Nerds who don't know how to party." This is completely false. I never understood why and how people could stereotype everyone at a huge university in such a way. Yes, some students at UofM study all the time and don't like to drink, but there are also students who go out and party every night of the week. Another common stereotype at UofM are "JAPS" aka Jewish American Princesses. Check out the Pursuit of Jappiness video on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fvP4OACmWw) to get a feel for the stereotype. This one is somewhat accurate considering some students at UofM do look and act like the people depicted in the YouTube video.

I'm an in-state student, and I would say the U of M stereotype within the state is that we are all a bunch of quiz-bowl, library-freak nerds. THIS COULD NOT BE FARTHER FROM THE TRUTH. Are there people like that here? Absolutely. But Michigan has a great social scene, way better than other in-state schools like Grand Valley, Western, Central, and even State. It's not all just Frat-bros either. U of M is a perfect balance of studying/hard work and a party school. And, since its so big, you're not forced into one group; like I said, don't want to join a frat or sorority? House parties are way better anyway.

When I first arrived on campus, I was told by those older than me that I would not have a social life at this University if I didn't join a fraternity, and this is usually the common stereotype portrayed to most outsiders. Since then, I have joined not only a fraternity but also a variety of student groups, and while it was definitely helpful to be in a fraternity to make the campus smaller, my main social life these days is totally independent of the fraternity. Given this, I would say that stereotype is wrong. One true stereotype is that students who attend the University of Michigan have tremendous school spirit and consequently can be a little bit ostentatious. I wouldn't say the campus is overly cocky, but people do take enormous pride in the school and will take any opportunity to tell others how awesome Michigan is.

Liberal is definitely a huge stereotype, and there are a lot of liberals here. But there are also a lot of conservative students, and a lot of political organizations for all ranges of views. People also generally think of us as being super into school spirit and football...that's definitely true.