OT: What was your second choice school?
I’m an arrogant ass. I only applied to Michigan. I figured if I didn’t get in, my life was over anyways. It worked out.
same here - too arrogant and confident to apply elsewhere. Michigan or bust!
April 11th, 2020 at 10:17 PM ^
Me too. One application.
April 11th, 2020 at 10:22 PM ^
Same. Only place I applied.
Other than grandparents, my whole family went there: father, mother, 1 of my 2 brothers, both aunts, only uncle and 1 of my 2 cousins.
April 11th, 2020 at 10:43 PM ^
Only application for me, too!
Michigan. After that, *counts on fingers* Michigan, Michigan, Michigan, Michigan.
I was an adult with a family when I made the choice to go to college. As a kid, I took the 'got girlfriend pregnant, need to support the family' approach to life so I joined the Navy to get on my feet. After my enlistment was over, I came back home to Flint to start from the bottom. Because of the family my choices were limited, but I only wanted to go to Michigan anyways; it's the school I rooted for since I was a kid, what else was I supposed to do, make a choice based on academics? I had the grades so fortunately it worked out for me.
Only Michigan - no second choice
April 11th, 2020 at 10:46 PM ^
And here I thought I was the only person to employ that dubious strategy. Glad it worked out for us both!
GO BLUE
April 12th, 2020 at 12:00 AM ^
Ditto...
Michigan or bust (after a year at WCC).
April 12th, 2020 at 12:01 AM ^
Yep. Only Michigan lol. Love it.
April 12th, 2020 at 12:12 AM ^
UM only. Was an idiot to not have a backup plan but basically knew I would be accepted basedupon scores.
April 12th, 2020 at 12:35 AM ^
As a fellow arrogant ass I also only applied to Michigan. Early in my marriage my wife asked me if they taught arrogance at Michigan. I told her it was a pre-requisite.
I’m joining this crowd as well. Arrogant and overconfident. The kids nowadays have a lot more competition than I did back then... I’m not 100% convinced that I’d get admitted in this day and age. Funny thing is that is what I heard from my professors back then...
Excellent
April 12th, 2020 at 10:48 AM ^
Me too, sort of. I applied to Michigan in October and was accepted in less than a month, so I didn't apply anywhere else, even though I guess I would have if I hadn't gotten in. But the rest of the stack of applications was the better Ivy League schools, MIT, Stanford, Caltech, and UChicago, so it's probably good I got into Michigan.
April 12th, 2020 at 10:55 AM ^
This is what I did, too. And I also consider myself an idiot for having done it. (Though I also blame my parents for allowing me to do it)
Me, too. Applied in November, got in four days later, and that was it. My high school in St. Louis always sent lots of smart kids there, and that was a big influence. Then when I visited and and walked into the empty stadium (the gates weren’t locked), I’d never seen anything like it, and it sealed the deal.
ditto. u-m was my only "application."
i also had an appointment to the naval academy but declined it to go to ann arbor.
Duke. Ended up there for grad school.
Wash U St. Louis
April 11th, 2020 at 10:07 PM ^
OH SNAP. Me too! (I wasn't expecting to see it here.)
I did HS in St. Louis.
Wasn’t on my radar for undergraduate but went there for Law School. Go Bears!
Michigan was the only school I applied to for undergrad.
But I spent a few years in AB. And even more in STL. Great city. Met my wife there. WuLaw 2011 JD, 2012 LLM. Go Bears!
April 11th, 2020 at 10:19 PM ^
Same, though I can't remember why and I never ended up applying. Spartyville is my answer, and thank goodness it didn't work out that way.
Me too on Wash U--they had offered me a good scholarship and for a minute I had decided to go there instead of Michigan. Luckily came to my senses and have never regretted the decision since.
I was going to Penn if they offered for football. They had taken a fullback the year before and didn’t know if they wanted to take one in back to back years. Turns out they didn’t.
I had a Georgetown offer, so I guess that was my backup? William & Mary and Butler as well.
April 11th, 2020 at 10:56 PM ^
Bo never offered me a scholarship so didn’t have much chance of going there because out of state tuition was too expensive. Played football on scholarship at a smaller school.
April 11th, 2020 at 11:22 PM ^
Yeah I was lucky to grow up in Michigan. Made walking on much easier.
Funny but true....Michigan was my 2nd place school.
April 11th, 2020 at 10:02 PM ^
Isn’t Michigan an Ivy-backup for a lot of people? Isn’t that why Michigan’s acceptance rate doesn’t look super elite, but their enrollment rate is much lower? Because they accept a chunk of students knowing they will go to Harvard, and Yale, and Stanford instead?
That’s what I had heard at least.
April 11th, 2020 at 11:17 PM ^
and sometimes a reverse of sorts. i still remember meeting coach cleary and him showing my dad and i the brand new hockey arena - so new that the crimson carpet had just been laid in the dressing room and not a single piece of hockey equipment had been in there yet. his words still echo in that boston accent, 'oh (XM), you can come here and play, play in the bean pawt tournament. we play BU, BC, Northeastern. you're going to love it'. didn't do it. didn't want to be 12 hrs from home, mom had died a few years before and dad and i had been like bachelors living together. i don't regret it, but i can only imagine how different life would have been.
April 11th, 2020 at 11:25 PM ^
I’m with you. Many of my football opportunities were a days drive away from home or more. Made my decision easy, I just wasn’t ready for that at 18.
April 11th, 2020 at 11:45 PM ^
i was 17 when i started at U of M, and though i guess you could say i was fairly resourceful for a 17 yr old, i was still only 17 and basically alone at that time. had an old car and hockey equipment, not much else.
April 11th, 2020 at 11:36 PM ^
My dad chose Michigan over Cornell. So i guess it can work both ways
Well, Cornell yeah. Cornell is the Iowa of the Ivys.
I did it the other way around. Got into Columbia but chose Michigan. Wanted to get out of NYC where I grew up. Best choice I ever made. Got my law degree from U of M as well. I got here the same year as Bo.
Michigan was my 2nd choice too. Glad I went to Hope (my first choice). And got to go to UM for grad school anyway!
Same here. I had hoped for Stanford but didn’t get in. UM was a terrific fall-back option!
April 11th, 2020 at 10:00 PM ^
Michigan
I've chosen Michigan over Cornell, but I'm happy to be here. My friend is a student at Cornell and he says that studying is so hard. He is overloaded all the time and to have some free minutes he uses https://edubirdie.com/gpa-calculator where he can find some help. I don't think that it's good to spend all the time on learning I'm sure that there are should be some activities and hobbies.
April 11th, 2020 at 10:01 PM ^
UVA or Duke for law
April 11th, 2020 at 10:02 PM ^
Honestly, Michigan. I'm so thankful I didn't get into number one.
April 11th, 2020 at 10:03 PM ^
I applied really early and got in quickly, so I didn't bother with other choices.
A few months later I (naive Michigander that I was) learned that I was at a safety school for East Coast kids. :)
April 11th, 2020 at 10:05 PM ^
US Naval Academy
April 11th, 2020 at 10:18 PM ^
Michigan (went to USNA)
April 11th, 2020 at 10:09 PM ^
Purdue. I didn't get accepted into engineering school until like April. I just about sent in my money to be a Boilermaker. Still kinda have a soft spot for them.
April 11th, 2020 at 10:35 PM ^
Purdue for me as well. They've got a great engineering school and very reasonable out of state tuition. If I had lived in Ohio instead of Michigan I expect I would have gone to Purdue.
Purdue as well for engineering. Once I toured the West Lafayette campus I realized Ann Arbor was a much better fit given I didn't own seven pairs of overalls.
April 12th, 2020 at 12:34 PM ^
Same. Purdue. Was sooooo close to going there (engineering). Glad I came to my senses.
April 11th, 2020 at 10:09 PM ^
I got into Michigan, Wisconsin, UCLA, Washington, and Columbia; rejected from Cal. None of the other options made financial sense, although I was still devastated that I didn't get into Cal since my parents met there.