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You can see I'm one of the few people that still reply in this thread, but I haven't lived in Ann Arbor since 2018. I can tell you when I was living there that $1400 for a bdrm/2bath in Ypsi sounds way high, though I guess prices may have gone up since covid. I lived in Ypsi most my time there and I was usually paying $600-800 for a 2bdrm/2bath. Coming to the Midwest from west and east coast it is an entirely different COL. I would have to pay about $2500+ here in San Diego now to get a comparable apartment I had in Ypsi. Though of course grad stipends/wages similarly reflect that and you won't be making a lot of money either. And no, it isn't too early to start looking because A2/Ypsi is a college town so most apartment leases start in the Fall. Now through the summer will be the time most people are hunting, though of course there's going to be lots of landlords that don't know the status of the current tenants. Still it is a good idea to make contact, get on waiting lists, etc. now and as summer comes availabilities will open up quickly. You can get away without needing a car in either A2 or Ypsi if you don't mind using the bus and you don't feel the need to leave the area often. But yeah most non-undergrads end up having a car out there. Doesn't really matter where you buy one, you can always wait to move out there and see how badly you need one.

Hey there, I don't still live in Ann Arbor (not since 2018) and I don't come to this site much, but I do still have notification updates for activity on this thread. I highly recommend scrolling up a bit and reading my posts on this exact subject, particularly this post. Everything I said there still stands. I spent most my life in LA, Boston, and now San Diego, and I miss Ann Arbor now more than ever. I am jealous of people that get to move there and experience that lifestyle for the first time. Please take some time to read through my posts on this subject and I can't stress enough that your attitude absolutely shapes your experience. Be open-minded and you might be surprised with the outcome. Let me know if you have any specific questions and I'll do my best to help.

Just a heads up that in my experience Master's students are typically NOT funded at most schools. PhD students are nearly always funded, but Masters students are usually not, but depending on the school, there can be opportunities for Masters students to try and source funding themselves by doing things like teaching, research for a lab, work study, etc. So just be aware that getting a Masters tends to be an expensive affair regardless of going through LEAP or not. Though BU is obviously on the most expensive side of the scale given its tuition cost and cost of living in Boston. Everything @AustinChemical said is spot on. Basically, complete as much as you can outside of BU and spend the least amount of semesters/time as you can enrolled at BU. It has been a while since I graduated (2012), but I remember lots of gotchas in dealing with funding. For instance, I remember that it was required to be enrolled and be a paying student in order to officially graduate. So even though I was doing independent research work in a lab for my MS thesis and not enrolled in any coursework (I was already done with that), I still had to pay quite a bit of money in order to be officially enrolled just to turn my thesis in and say I graduated. The best advice is to just consider long and hard if a Masters in an engineering program is exactly what you will need to reach your career goals. If there are other cheaper routes that could be possible, spend time looking into those too. For me, I really wanted to get a PhD in biomedical engineering and there was nearly no possible way with my background and GPA that I could have gotten into a good PhD program without LEAP. So I sucked it up and took on nearly 6 figures of LEAP debt in order to do it, and in the end it worked out, I made it to a good PhD program, and now I'm in a career doing everything I had always dreamed of and more. I'm still paying a boatload of money each month (near $1k) to pay off all that debt, but it is what it is and I wouldn't have changed the path I took.

A fellow bruin! That was my alma mater before doing the BU LEAP program. Good luck!

I actually think those months are very doable to find temporary housing because there are a ton of summer sublets available. You could always do something like that while you lock down more permanent options. If you are flexible with where you live and especially if you are open to Ypsi I found there were lots of housing options available. And I don't think you need to get too nervous at this point. This is about the time that current residents in apartments are deciding if they are going to stay for the next year or not. I know when I moved around to different apartment complexes I would usually find places around this time of year, turn in applications, put a deposit down, and then be told I have a spot in the complex, but they didn't know where yet. They would have to wait til mid summer to let me know the exact unit I would get based on who is moving out. That pattern happened in like 3 different places I moved to so don't be surprised if you go through something similar.

I really think you guys are unnecessarily stressing out about being disappointed with Ann Arbor. before you even giving it a chance I can honestly tell you that throughout my time there and since I have talked to literally hundreds of people that have spent time living in Ann Arbor and not once have I heard anyone say they were miserable and regretted being there. That's not exaggeration. Though I have heard people regret their time at my other universities, UCLA and Boston University, two cities which many people are excited to be in. Yes, rent near the university is priced relatively high in comparison to surrounding neighborhoods. But keep in mind those "higher" prices are still way below the prices you would pay in any major city. The rent in downtown Ann Arbor is literally about half of what I paid in LA, Boston, and now in San Diego. It is all relative. And like everything else in life, you have to make compromises. If you want to live in downtown you get the benefit of walking to campus and downtown, but at the expense of not being by any major grocery stores and paying higher rent. If you prioritize low cost and being closer to bigger chain stores, than living in the surrounding neighborhoods is the better choice. But that also doesn't mean you can't make it work living in downtown without a car. I would say most people living in downtown go without a car and do just fine. I spent some time living in Kerrytown myself and while I owned a car, I never drove it day to day. Regarding groceries, I shopped a lot at Kerrytown farmer's market on Saturdays for produce, and then for other stuff I would often go to the Kerrytown Market or the People's Co-op. Both will be a little more expensive than a large chain store like Kroger or Meijer, but you are paying for the convenience of a small, local market. They will have all of the common grocery items you would want. But if you want to do bulk shopping at Kroger or Meijer, you can easily sign up for zipcar and rent out cars by the hour, use Uber/Lyft (very plentiful), or take the bus. Both the city bus and the blue bus are free for students. The blue bus even has convenient stops in downtown that go to North Campus and drop you off across the street from the Kroger on Plymouth. That's probably about a 15 minute bus ride. Super easy. Also, if you are into cycling at all I would highly recommend getting a bike. Ann Arbor is a great cycling town and it is easy to bike around and get to the grocery stores as well. I know people that cycled all throughout the winter time too. If you decide you want to prioritize saving money and being closer to chain stores, I highly recommend looking at Ypsilanti area off Washtenaw or the Old West Side area off Jackson and Maple. I lived in both those areas and both have really easy bus access to campus and both have really easy access to a Kroger. Ypsi even has easy access to Whole Foods and Trader Joes. Both are about a 20-30 min bus ride to campus depending on where you are exactly. I know the bus doesn't sound as appealing as walking to campus, but there are pros and cons. The major pro of the bus is that during the wintertime I would rather sit on a heated bus for 30 min than walk for 15 min outside while it is snowing and windy. If you aren't familiar with Ann Arbor's winter, there will typically be snow on the ground from November to April, nearly half the year. So consider that as well. Bottom line, it is really easy to make Ann Arbor fit your desired living situation. If you want to be downtown, there are plenty of options for getting around and you can easily be fine without a car. There's a ton of nightlife and restaurant options and I would argue that one of the best parts of living out there is taking advantage of all the good restaurants and nightlife. But if you are in a low income situation and want to save money, you don't have to live in downtown. The surrounding neighborhoods are also great and have lots to offer. And again, if you are willing to take the bus, ride a bike, catch an Uber/Lyft, you can still get by without a car if that is important to you. Also, keep in mind that Ann Arbor is very small. So when you are zoomed in on Google Maps worrying out about how "far" grocery stores are, really consider the actual distance. Most people would consider the Old West Side area to be the western border of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti would represent the eastern border. The distance from Old West Side to Ypsilanti is about 5 miles. That's it. You could literally bike from border to border in like 20 min. And UMich campus falls right in the middle of the two, so you are talking about being 2-3 miles away from campus if you are living outside of downtown. That scale is entirely different than what you are used to in Berlin.

Congrats on getting into UMich and starting your new journey. I just finished my PhD there last August and was living there for 6 years so I feel like I am in a good position to offer some words of advice. I have no idea your gender/age so you may or may not be able to relate to me, but I am a 35 year old male. I grew up in California and have mostly lived in big cities. Most notably I lived in LA for 8 years before moving to Boston to do my Masters for 3 years, and then Ann Arbor after that. I currently live in San Diego. So I do consider myself a big city person and I never pictured myself living in a small midwestern town before considering Ann Arbor. I'll detail more answers below, but I'll give you the conclusions right now. I absolutely loved my time in Ann Arbor and I miss it already. Now, I will say that I am not sure I could live in Ann Arbor for the rest of my life, particularly because of my industry, and also because my friends family are mostly in California, but honestly if I was absolutely forced to live there forever, I could make it work and live a happy and fulfilling life. Living there for 6 years was the right amount of time for me and I thoroughly enjoyed my entire experience there. Now, the most important words of advice I can give you are "When in Rome, do as the Romans do". What I mean by this is you have to accept that Ann Arbor will in no way compare to the big city offerings (e.g. restaurants, clubs, bars, number of stores, number of events, etc) of London, Toronto, or NYC. And don't let any locals try to convince you otherwise. BUT, you may learn that isn't a negative thing. By giving up the sheer number of offerings of big cities, you gain a ton in other lifestyle options that may or may not be more important to you. So going back to the "When in Rome" phrase, I am a firm believer that if you are open-minded and willing to adapt to your new home, you can learn to love it in a different way than your past homes, and you might end up loving it just as much if not more. But that is completely on you and your attitude. The worst thing you can do is spend all your time dwelling on all the big city things you are "missing" when you are there. That is a nasty trap. I fell for it the first time I made my big move from LA to Boston and it hindered me from embracing my new city because I just kept making comparisons. Once I gave that up and stopped comparing, I learned to embrace the differences and figure out why those differences don't have to be negative. That completely shaped my attitude which then shaped my experiences. I didn't make that same mistake when I moved to Ann Arbor. Instead, I immediately got there and tried to figure out what lifestyle changes made Ann Arbor so special and then adapted those into my experiences. I really want to emphasize the importance of this paragraph because I can already tell from your post that you are fighting against what Ann Arbor doesn't have instead of realizing what new things you will learn. For me, what I came to love about Ann Arbor was the small town charm. I never understood that before living there. I always thought I needed a big city with endless options to be happy. Well I found out I don't. I learned that giving up billions of options meant I got to focus on smaller number of things, but in a much deeper way and with much richer quality. An example of this is the weekly Kerrytown Farmer's Market. It is a wonderful Farmer's Market and because of the smaller size town, it means that a high percentage of people attend. That means you get to run into familiar faces often, catch up with people you haven't talked to for a bit, and build relationships with a community. I used to make it a habit of stopping into the Kerrytown grocery store that has a sandwich shop and the cook there is amazing. I would just chat with him while he was cooking my food and it became a regular thing such that we would talk about travels, music, whatever. Those random relationships are easy to build in a small community that I never appreciated before. Similarly, things like bars and restaurants become more personal. In big cities you have so many choices that you tend to make a huge list of all the restaurants you want to check out, which is a ton of fun for sure, but at the same time it often means you never go back to the same places (even if you loved the food) because you have so many other places on your list to get to. I'm a foodie and I'm guilty of this. But in Ann Arbor you have fewer options, and that gives you the opportunity to make a spot your own. You will develop your own favorites, go there regularly, try more things on the menu, argue with your friends why this spot is special to you, etc. Like you have a deeper connection with a place and it means more to you. There is a wonderful charm in that. There's also the benefits of not needing reservations for places and not having to wait an hour to sit down. You can literally call your friends for a casual dinner and everyone can get into town within 15 minutes (whether by bus, car, or walk) and go straight into a restaurant and get seated. The other thing that really awakened new experiences for me was the nature aspect. I noticed you didn't mention this in your post, and I didn't think that much about it previously either. But if you have lived in cities your entire life, I urge you to spend some time tracing your roots back to nature. Ann Arbor is simply beautiful. It is littered with parks and an awesome river that flows through the middle of it. There are little trails all along this river and you can spend hours getting lost in serene places while rarely running into other humans. You will probably encounter more deer in these areas then you will people. I picked up both trail running and mountain biking because of this. And then I got into road cycling because you can actually ride on quiet country roads across miles of farmland with very light car traffic. And what is great about these things is that they aren't a destination that you have to plan for. These places are right outside your door. You can be outside and in the heart of nature within a few blocks of campus. And if you really want to experience the joy of real wilderness, take a trip to the Upper Peninsula. That area is one of my absolute favorite places in the country. It is so remote and a place you would never really visit unless you lived in Michigan. And again, I wasn't necessarily a huge nature person before getting to Ann Arbor, but that is a big part of the lifestyle and something so easy to embrace when there. Finally, I'll leave you with some practical and logistical words of advice. Yes, you can live in Ann Arbor without a car. Personally, I always owned a car because I like the freedom of getting out on a whim and I just love traveling around, but I did keep my daily driving to a minimum. If you go sans car, opt to live as close to campus as you can afford. Living in walking distance will really make your day to day life easier, particularly in the winter time. The bus system is actually pretty decent, but it doesn't run super late and they become fairly infrequent (like once an hour or half hour) once you get to early evening. Also, living nearby downtown will just make your social life easier since you won't know anyone when you move there. And once winter comes it gets so much harder to motivate yourself to go out and do things if you are living further away, don't have a car, and have to rely on standing outside in the bitter cold for a bus to arrive. And I know you mentioned not caring about sports. But I advise you to ponder that a bit and consider why you don't like sports. Just because it was never your thing before doesn't mean it can never become a part of your life if you are open-minded. Part of the fun of being at UMich is school spirit. Would your interest be different if all your friends were into sports and going to games? Have you ever thought about the social aspect of it? There are lots of people that don't necessarily care about the team itself, but there is a lot of fun in just hanging out with friends in a lively environment while day drinking and laughing. I just advise that you don't automatically write off sports when you are there. It is undoubtedly a part of the lifestyle of UMich and it might mean more to you when you are there and feel a sense of community around it. See if there's an aspect of it that you can get into. As far as social stuff, yes there are places to dance. There are clubs that do have "club" type of dancing. But there's also salsa and swing clubs as well if you really want to do more serious dancing. And yes, there are plenty of vegetarian options. A lot of my best friends at UMich were vegetarian. There is a pretty big farm-to-table scene there and a lot of emphasis on fresh foods. Ann Arbor can be quite hipsterish so you won't have a hard time finding good food, coffee, and drinks. There won't be a dozen Indian restaurants or anything, but there will be a handful, and the best ones (Cardamom) won't be far off the best ones you can find in big cities. And yes, there are plenty of bars that are not just sports bars. Check out The Last Word or The Ravens Club. There is also a really vibrant art scene there. Google Ann Arbor Art Fair. That fair is on par with many big city art fairs. Also, look into UMich's "Passport to the arts" program. As a student you will be able to pick up free tickets to many different art performances, movies, musicals, etc. Check out UMich's School of Music, Theater, and Dance calendar. Look at how many events are free. You can literally walk in and sit down on a live performance without any tickets or anything. And these things are going on a daily basis, right in the heart of campus. For bigger and more professional performances, check out UMS as there are lots of famous performers that come through (e.g. Yo-yo Ma) and there are discounted student tickets available for most shows. Hopefully that reply helps settle your anxiety a bit. Again, just be open-minded and you will be fine. I tried to give more general outlook advice here, but if you have more questions or want more specific names of places you can shoot me a message. Best of luck on your upcoming journey!

This is good advice. The reason BU's LEAP program initially gained popularity in the mid 2000's is because it was pretty much the only option for non-engineers to get into an engineering Masters program. The kicker was that nearly every person received substantial scholarship, I believe I had around 75% scholarship when I started. So the cost of attending was on par or even cheaper than attending a public university. Also, at that time BU's grad BME rank was like #7 or something in US News and World Report so it was prestigious, almost fully funded, and located in a cool city. I haven't kept up with LEAP recently but even by the end of my time there things drastically changed (e.g. firing of Helaine was a massive hit) and they made a huge cutback in funding. I basically stopped recommending it to people. Bottom line is that there are most likely many ways of achieving your end goal and everyone should really explore all options available. If attending LEAP is the best fit, I would recommend at least completing every possible pre-requisite course you can at a local community college to save money and then just do the last of the courses through LEAP. But if you can find other programs that are open to accepting non-engineering undergrads, look into those too. Some engineering disciplines are more flexible about this. BME is often pretty flexible with what undergrad majors they accept. But say electrical engineering might not be as flexible.

Hi everyone! I've been subscribed to this thread since the very start of it (2011) and figured I would just share a "success" story for those of you getting ready to start the LEAP program or thinking about it. I started LEAP in Fall 2009, basically during its inception phase. I started as BME, switched to ECE and got my MS in Summer 2012. Coursework took me less than 2 years, but I spent the last full year working on a very intensive thesis project (I ended up getting a first author publication from it) while I was also applying for PhD programs. I then went on to University of Michigan for my BME PhD. The LEAP program was instrumental in my journey to getting to the PhD. UMich is maybe not well known around here, but it is usually considered a top 5 engineering grad school so that was a big deal for me and really speaks more about how important LEAP was for me, rather than my own abilities. There's just no way I would have gotten that far on my own without having done LEAP. Anyways, I just graduated from UMich this last summer and had an awesome experience. I am now living in San Diego working for a neurotech startup company that is the dream job I had envisioned when I first made the choice to apply to LEAP. It took 9 years of grad school, but I made it and had a blast the entire way. I'm not posting to toot my own horn, but I thought it would be nice for new or current LEAPers to at least hear what happens after LEAP and get some type of confirmation that all the money and time put into it will pay off. I have of course met and maintained friendships with a number of LEAP people throughout the years and I can tell you that everyone is doing well for themselves. The directions people chose after LEAP varied significantly, some went into more grad school like myself, many went into industry jobs, some went into consulting, some went to med school, and some didn't even do anything with engineering. But everyone I know that finished seems to be happy with wherever they ended up. Anyways, I've been out of touch with the current LEAP program, but I am happy to answer any questions or provide any advice. If there's anything general that could be helpful to many people I'll try and keep up with the thread and respond here. Otherwise, people are welcome to message me directly with more personal/specific questions. Good luck to you all!

Hi everyone, In case anyone is moving to Ann Arbor around January and is looking for a place, I am searching for a new roommate and leasing terms are pretty flexible. I am in Ypsilanti, just adjacent to Ann Arbor, but it is only about a 15 minute drive to campus and rent is cheap. Here is my craigslist ad with details. Message me if you are interested. https://annarbor.craigslist.org/roo/d/looking-for-roommate-or/6372941759.html

Welcome newcomers! For those seeking housing advice, I would highly recommend checking out the Ann Arbor city thread forum. I, as well as many others, across many years have been giving lots of housing advice and not much has changed over the years so old advice is almost certainly still relevant. We even just had a discussion about the pros/cons of living in graduate housing (Northwood) not too long ago.

It sucks, but in my personal experience (as well as others) from going through this process a handful of times at this point in the game if you haven't heard anything at all from a university it is probably 95% of the time a rejection. During my last application season (2012) I applied to UPenn and to this day I have never been told I was rejected haha. I believe UCLA might have been the same. Kinda sucks that universities are happy to take your application fee but can't be bothered to let you know you weren't accepted. So yeah, in short, don't hold out for the places you haven't heard a word from, assume rejection, and move on to your other options. Unless you have external funding like NSF, then go crazy telling all your applied to universities and I am sure they will have no problems changing their minds.

This is pretty much my same sentiment which I tried to convey in my previous post. Central (and moreso downtown Ann Arbor) is undeniably a better area/lifestyle than North so most people that are based on Central wouldn't choose Northwood/North Campus housing, such as myself. Really, the only people I know that choose to live in Northwood that aren't North Campus majors are people with families, because Northwood has a really nice family community that I know many people appreciate if that is your situation.

I actually posted a decent amount about housing recommendations in this thread a while ago. I recommend going through my old posts or reading the earlier pages in this forum for more detailed info. I haven't personally lived in Northwood, but I have had many friends, classmates, and co-workers that have. From my experience, everyone has been generally happy living there. The pricing is reasonable for what it is and how close to campus you are. If I worked on North Campus I would move there in a heartbeat. For Central, it isn't bad by any means. The UMich blue bus systems is good, not amazing, but good. Buses run frequently, but it also depends on where you want to go. And while they do continuously run, the scheduled time isn't usually that accurate. However, there is a live tracking system so that helps. My only real complaint about the blue buses are they can fill up around typical "rush hour" times. But if you avoid those times, they are fine. Now if you are going to be based on Central Campus, I think it is worth investigating other places. Again, Northwood is fine, but I personally think there is better. If you are going to pick a place sight unseen, most of the large apartment complexes here are well reviewed on apartment ratings websites. When I first moved here, I picked Spicetree Apartments based on ratings and I lived there for 3 years with no problems. I now live in a McKinley (huge chain of complexes all over town) apartment, and recommend them as well.

I haven't been on this site in years but was just randomly browsing this thread, UMich already had the first interview session last week and is having the smaller, second one during the 2nd week of March. If you haven't heard anything from them yet, you are are most likely getting rejected. However, if you end up getting your own funding (e.g. NSF) after being rejected (from any school), I HIGHLY recommend you go back to those schools and see if they will change their mind. I've seen that work out multiple times here at UMich and assume it happens a lot at other schools as well. Also, if you were in personal talks with any profs up to this point, it doesn't hurt to check-in with them after all the admits make their decisions. If the prof didn't get their target students and has money and still really wants you, it isn't hard for them to get your rejection overturned...that happened with me a while back (you can probably find a past post of mine about it). Anyways, if anyone here gets accepted and is considering UMich and wants to know anything about the school/city, feel free to shoot me a message. I've been in the program for almost 5 years now. Good luck!

I also agree with NoirFemme about needing a car in LA. I dug up this old post I wrote about 4 years ago in this very thread and gave a little rant about my reasons. While I haven't lived in LA for a while now and know the public transportation situation has vastly improved, I still visit quite often and still think it isn't at the same level as more "walking friendly" big cities like Boston (I lived there), NYC, DC, etc. Read below for the full spiel, but my updated feelings are less harsh and that I think it depends on what you want to get out of LA. If you are mostly happy in your local neighborhood/community and are satisfied with just going back and forth between school/work and, then yes, you are perfectly fine without a car. Lots of people are like this and have deep connections in their local area and don't feel the need to drive around for billions of hours. Just uber, bus, train, rent, bum rides, etc. for the few times you need to get somewhere outside. I absolutely understand and appreciate this choice and I too think I could make that lifestyle work if I really wanted to. My only hesitation about that is I personally know I wouldn't get out as much if I didn't have my own car parked next to my house. As slight of an inconvenience as it is to request an Uber or walk a few blocks to get a zip car, it is enough (again, for me personally) that there would be many cases I just wouldn't go out to something because of it. I understand I might be more lazy/cheap than others. And I recognize that also means I would prioritize the people/events that are most important to me, but at the same time I know I would miss out on those unplanned random adventures that I last minute got up and drove out somewhere just because I could. There were countless times I would get spur of the moment invites to shows, movies, dinners, or even friends calling for help and just needing to talk in person at 12am. And looking back, I think there's a lot I would have missed out on without a car and it was often those moments that I remember and cherish the most. However, I know that might not be relevant for many people. But if you are at all like me and the type of person that wants to experience everything a new city can offer you, having a car is the way to go. Here's what I originally posted: Now, this advice goes to you and ANYONE reading this post...GET A CAR! I know you might be used to cities where you walked everywhere or had nice transportation systems. Los Angeles is not like that. Only if you are planning on staying for like 1 year, then maybe you can go without a car. But if you are planning on being there for 2+ years, you should definitely get a car. Just something cheapy like $2,000 is fine. And I have heard EVERY argument about why you will be fine without a car. And yes, I agree it is POSSIBLE to get by without a car, but I argue that you are missing the entire culture and point of LA. Many people say LA sucks because there is no culture and it is fake and blah blah blah. That is BS. I lived there for 8+ years and if you understand what makes LA great, you will absolutely love it there. What makes LA great is that there are so many communities and different cities/regions all spread out. Each one has an incredibly different vibe with different types of shops, restaurants, bars, clubs, etc. But that means you have CHOICE. There is a scene for everyone. And if you are adventurous, you will love checking out all the different areas in southern Cali and appreciate various things in each. For instance, Santa Monica is awesome for a chill beach vibe that is family friendly and convenient. There are some cool bars out there and 3rd Street Promenade is a fun touristy thing to do. Venice beach is more eclectic with a cool art scene and hippies abound. Especially in the Abbot Kinney area. Manhattan/Hermosa Beach are small, little surfer-attitude beach towns for lazy afternoons and beach type bars. Downtown LA is a gentrified hip scene, with interesting restaurants and bars littered with young professionals trying to stand out. Silver Lake area is the home of the hipsters where creation and art happens. Lots of trippy, unique things going on over there. West Hollywood is the unofficial socal capitol of LGBT and alternative lifestyles. Lots of great restaurants and laid back bars. Hollywood is the ghetto touristy area, but with the highest class clubs and hottest singles trying to hook up. And all those places are a just a small fraction of socal, which are nearest to UCLA. I didn't even mention more northern areas like Griffith Park, the Valley, Studio City, Pasadena, etc. Or Southern areas like Long Beach, Fullerton, Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, etc. Each of those ares are completely different from the rest and offer their own unique things to do. I also didn't mention all the amazing ethnic areas, like Little Tokyo (both in Sawtelle area and Downtown), Chinatown, Little Ethiopia, and Korea Town. There are also full on ethnic REGIONS in socal like Inland Empire for Chinese people (Covina, Diamond Bar, Rowland Heights, El Monte, etc) or the Valley and East LA for Mexican people. There are just really cool pockets of areas that can't be found anywhere else in the world. The main point of this, is that you HAVE TO DRIVE to get to these areas. Yes, there will be traffic. Yes, you will be irritated and be running late for everything. But I guarantee you, you will discover awesome things and create new experiences that will blow your mind. You will also have the right to say you lived in LA and dealt with the traffic. It toughens you up a bit. The traffic itself is part of the LA culture. You would be doing yourself an incredible injustice to not have a car and trap yourself in Westwood/West LA. There is definitely enough things to do around that area to which you can make do. But seriously, you will be trapped in this bubble and never experience the beauty of LA. Ok that is my rant for the day. I love LA and miss it dearly. I want to do anything I can to promote the awesomeness of socal and help the non-believers understand what it truly means to be an Angelino. Anyone can message me for advice as well.

Haha you haven't looked into the weather yet?? I'm not going to lie, winter will be rough coming from tropical areas. Fortunately, the last couple winters were mild. But a couple years ago was a particularly bad year here. We had over 100 days with temperatures below 0 degrees F, so around the -20 to -40 C range. And really, the temps aren't the worst, it is the wind. For whatever reason Ann Arbor gets pretty windy. So yeah, you will see that once the winter comes you will be indoors most the time. All those neighborhoods will be fine in terms of safety. Ann Arbor in general is really safe. There are some robberies and that sort of thing every once in a while, but nothing to worry much about. You can use sites like this (http://www.crimemapping.com/map/mi/annarbor) to check out more specifics. Just use common sense and avoid walking alone at dark. Convenience wise, both areas emphasize different things. Being near the law school will be more lively and louder as I mentioned before. It really puts you in the heart of the school and will feel like a college town. You will be surrounded by students. It also puts you close to downtown Ann Arbor where all the restaurants and events take place. Being able to walk into downtown is really wonderful if you are used to small city squares. However, the major drawback is that you won't be walking distance to any of the cheaper, major grocery stores. Even using the city buses to get to grocery stores from there isn't great. So if you cook a lot, you will be driving a lot to get food. Anywhere off of Plymouth is sort of the opposite experience. Plymouth neighborhoods tend to be geared more toward the grad students, and particularly the engineers since that is close to North Campus. Those are definitely quieter neighborhoods and a lot less lively. And depending exactly where on Plymouth you are, you would be pretty close to shops and grocery stores, potentially walking distance or even a short bus ride. But those shops are in more strip mall types of places. And getting into downtown from there is a bit more inconvenient, and not walking distance. So you just have to decide which style is more fitting for you. They are kind of on opposite ends of the spectrum. That's actually why I chose to live in Kerrytown because it is pretty much exactly in the middle of the 2 neighborhoods you mentioned, giving it the best of both worlds without many compromises. But that is also why it is much more expensive to live in.

Yeah, that's understandable, and pretty much the goal of every student at UM. The Hill St area is definitely the most affordable walking distance, but the closer you are to South Campus the more party-ish it gets. The other factor you run into is that around the intersection of Hill and Church, that neighborhood is all sorority houses, so that area can get busy and loud as well. If you want to be walking distance and quiet where most the grad students are, you have to go more north toward the houses near State and Ann. There are other quieter pockets of neighborhoods a little more to the west of downtown and the east. If you want really a really nice and peaceful area, Kerrytown is the way to go. That's where I am at now. But any way you look at it, if you are walking distance the prices go way up so that is something to consider. Also, I'm not sure what type of climate you are used to, but another consideration with walking is the snow and cold. Right now I live about a 30 min walk to campus, which is wonderful in the summer/fall. But throughout the winter (which last for about 5-6 months of the year), 30 min walking in the snow and single digit temperatures (in F, not C) can be a bit daunting. My roommates and I usually switch to taking the bus at that point. But I am also from California so I tend to hate the cold weather more than most. Anyways, I thought I would throw that out there. Even if you find a place that is walking distance, I still think it is worth knowing how close the nearest buses are as well.

You are correct, the area between South and Central Campus is mostly where undergrads live and the more buys and louder parts of town. Now, I wouldn't say Ann Arbor is particularly a crazy party town, so those neighborhoods you mentioned might be ok depending what you can tolerate. They will mostly be loud on Thursday/Friday/Saturday nights. During the day and most evenings, it shouldn't be bad. However, those neighborhoods are in the heart of Michigan Stadium street parking. So any home football games there will be tens of thousands of people parking in those neighborhoods. That is also where the streets pretty much shut down so you will never be able to drive in or out of that area pretty much all day Saturday on home games. But that area is cheap, and if you can find some of the more secluded neighborhoods than it might be worth it. But if you are truly looking for more quiet, peaceful neighborhoods, you need to go more south (past Stadium Blvd) and more east (closer or beyond Packard St).

Go back to page 14 and read my post on January 31st, I address the parking situation in detail there. Long story short, living in Ypsi and getting to north campus is not straight forward. The yellow permit is doable, but those are commuter lots and they can fill up completely by mid morning depending on the lot you pick. See that previous post for my other suggestions.

Ann Arbor is the quintessential college town in my opinion (although I did my Masters in Boston which is arguably up there but I consider it more of a college "city"). Seriously, probably more than half the population of Ann Arbor is somehow associated with the university. If UMichigan was not located in Ann Arbor, there really wouldn't be a reason for this town to exist. But with that, there is no guarantee of experience. To me, your experience is what you make of it. I have moved around the country a number of times now, usually by myself without knowing anyone, and I have had no problems finding friends and social outlets in any place I have lived or traveled to and I am by no means a social butterfly. I think Ann Arbor works the same way. I know some people here who have practically no social life, but I think that is what they prefer. I am on the "older" side of grad students, I'm 32, but I probably do some sort of social outing just about every single day, from small things to grabbing coffee or lunch to going to bars for trivia or to watch a game, to bigger things like movies, bowling, mini-golf, arcade, concerts, sporting events, etc. Ann Arbor and the rest of Michigan have all the opportunities of any other reasonably sized city so the options are always there. Now granted, I recognize that depending on your department, that may largely affect how you divide your social groups and interactions. I can tell you that some PhD programs here, like social psych, don't have traditional "labs" where there's a designated lab office in which all the students/staff work in and interact on a regular basis. That also means they don't have "lab" functions like parties, events, etc. So often times those grad students aren't close with their labmates, but rather rely on making friends within their department through classes or collaborative projects. Whereas, for instance in the engineering departments, we have central lab locations in which I get to interact with my co-workers on a regular basis so my labmates tend to be my closest friends, and they are not necessarily in my own department. We do tend to have designated lab social outings and events because of the way our labs are setup. However, that also means I am less close with my actual department cohort since I don't see them as much. But either way, most departments have hundreds of grad students so there is always a way to make friends and have social gatherings in some way or another if that is something you seek. Basically, what it comes down to is that I don't know anyone out here who has made an effort to be social and not find success. I'm not sure if that answers your question or not, but hopefully it helps a bit. And heck, if you come visit soon and have some free time and want to grab a coffee or something, shoot me a message.

Hmm, I'm a bit biased after having lived in LA and Boston before Ann Arbor. I don't think there are necessarily any restaurants in Ann Arbor (or even Michigan) that are so amazing it would convince someone to move here. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of fun and interesting spots that will find a special place in your heart after living here, but relative to any major city, you won't get that "wow" factor in dining experience. But I will provide you with some of my personal favorite places in Ann Arbor that I think would be great options for your visit as long as your expectations are tempered. For pure quality of food, I absolutely love Cardamom. It is an Indian restaurant that is legit good compared to big cities. But it is near North Campus in a strip mall, so you would go there if you just want great food and don't care about seeing the town. In downtown (where all the action is), my favorites are probably Frita Batidos, Mani Osteria, Aventura, and Jerusalem Garden. The latter is particularly good for a nice lunch. For weekend brunch my favorites are Sava and Cafe Zola, which are also good, upscale drink places. My favorite coffee shops are Mighty Good, Literati (which is also a wonderful bookstore), Comet, Lab, and Espresso Royale. For tea, Crazy Wisdom is a really cute and eclectic bookstore and tea room with great space for studying. Unfortunately, the most popular big name breweries in Michigan are not close to Ann Arbor (Shorts, New Holland, Dark Horse, Bells, Founders, etc). However, the most popular non-undergrad bar/breweries are probably Arbor Brewing Co (ABC) and Jolly Pumpkin. Both are great for happy hour, above average bar food, and lively atmospheres. Although both of those places, along with Biercamp are particularly boisterous and electric in the summertime. Some other good sports bars that have a huge selection of local beers on tap are Ashley's and Hopcat. Those both have rotating taps that will give you a chance to try many different types of Michigan beers. For more fancy drinking experiences I recommend The Last Word which is a speakeasy spot for good cocktails. For desserts and drinks La Dolce Vita and Black Pearl are both good options. The former is nice in that they have a special downstairs area where you can sit on lounge chairs and couches while you eat and drink with a great atmosphere. Oh and the most famous restaurant in Ann Arbor is Zingerman's Deli. It was featured in the movie "The Five-Year Engagement". Locals have mixed feelings on this. Their menu is extensive and well known for sourcing local farms for everything, which is really wonderful. But the sandwiches themselves are usually just good and not necessarily superb. They are also considered a bit overpriced. But the storefront it is attached to is charming and quaint, with a super friendly staff that will let you freely sample fresh breads, cheeses, meats, olive oils, etc. Whenever I go there, I spend some time sampling food and talking to the employees and enjoying the entire experience of Zingerman's moreso than just popping in to buy a quick sandwich. As for things to do, depending on the weather that is tricky. The Arboretum is quite nice (I run in there many times throughout the week), but the winter doesn't do it justice. It will likely be cold, muddy, and dreary if you are visiting anytime within the next month. Another great naturey area is the Argo Cascades and Canoe Livery. Again, this is better for the summer, but even now you can still go on nice trail walks and enjoy the scenery. During the summer you can rent kayaks there and also just go tubing down the river sipping beers and relaxing. Entertainment-wise your best bets are the plethora of shows that are offered on a regular basis. A good place to start is to check out The Ark and the Bling Pig if you like small venue concerts, particularly folk, country, singer/songwriter stuff. Also see what the Michigan Theater and State Theater have going on when you are here. Sometimes indie movies, sometimes classics, sometimes shows. One of my favorite "hiddem gems" if you like classical and orchestra type of music is to check out UMich School of Music, Theater, and Dance's daily free performances. Most of these shows you can just drop in with no tickets or waiting. http://www.music.umich.edu/performances_events/event_display.php?f=m If you just want quick time wasters in downtown I really like Vault of Midnight, which is a comic/board game shop that even has a back room where you can play games. And another classic spot is Pinball Pete's Arcade if you just want to play some old fashioned arcade games. Other things to see are UM's Museum of Art. This is a decent size art gallery that is free to just walk around in. Nothing amazing, but worth checking out. If you want to take in the beauty of UM's campus, I recommend you walk through the Law School Quad as well as their library. You will feel like you are in Hogwarts. And if you want to see pristine, modern buildings, go check out UM's Ross School of Business. All of these things are within a few minutes walk of each other. If you happen to be here on a "nicer" weather Saturday, I highly recommend the Kerrytown Farmers Market. It is small, but quite lively and really in the heart of where the locals live. The Kerrytown Market area has a lot of cool arts and boutique shops that are great for a Saturday afternoon. And to answer your car question, the parking varies a lot from place to place. Yes, many of the more townhome type of places will only have 1 carport or driveway spot. But those places are also usually in neighborhoods with decent street parking, or at least in areas that give out residential parking permits. Other housing areas are big apartment complexes in which parking is never an issue, though they might have covered parking areas that you would have to pay extra for. But all in all, I don't think it is ever a problem to have more than 1 car, even if you do only get 1 designated parking spot in the actual residence. Ok, hope that helps. If you have any other questions, feel free to shoot me a message.

Hi MementoMori, I'm a grad engineer myself and used to live in Ypsi for a while when I first moved here. I do agree that Ypsi is a great place to save money. But there are some challenges. 1) The commute is definitely doable year round as Ann Arbor is pretty good about plowing roads right after snow storms. Although inevitably there might be a day or 2 each winter where there is a nasty storm that will keep you off the roads. But the buses pretty much always run, even in those cases. 2) Parking is unfortunately a huge issue in Ann Arbor, especially campus parking. You don't have a ton of options being a grad student working on North Campus. If you decide to drive, I can think of 2 best bets. The first is to acquire an orange or yellow permit, which is fairly inexpensive. This allows you to park in commuter lots that would then require you to take a campus bus (the blue buses) to get to any of the campuses (South, Central, North). These buses run frequently and are pretty quick. The major drawback with this method is that often times these orange/yellow lots fill up quickly in the mornings so it can be difficult even finding an open space even if you have an annual permit. The second option for driving is to drive your car to an AATA commuter lot (called Park and Ride) and then take the AATA city bus into campus. These lots are huge, free to park, and never run out of spaces. And since you are a student the AATA buses are free to use. However, these buses run less frequently than campus blue buses and also make more stops. So this method takes more planning ahead of time. Besides those options, there's not a lot of on-campus parking options. There are metered visitor lots around North Campus but that can get expensive if you have to use them for long periods of time or all day. There's also "After Hours" permits available. These are pretty cheap, but this permit allows you to park in any lot (even the blue lots, which are normally only for faculty), but not until after 3pm. So in case your schedule works out that you just need to be on campus later afternoon/evening that could work. Now, depending where you live in Ypsi, I would honestly advise you to not drive at all if you live on an AATA bus route. I used to live in an apt complex off Washtenaw Ave which went along the #4 bus route. So I could just catch the bus directly and get to Central Campus in under 30 min. If you need to get to North Campus, you would just have to transfer to a blue bus, which would add another 10-15 min not including wait time. 3) Most engineering grad students live in the Northwood grad housing, which is actually very family friendly, but I don't believe they allow dogs. Or many grad students live in the northern neighboring apartment complexes like Traver Ridge. These apartments are further north than North Campus, which makes them cheap since they are even further from downtown Ann Arbor. And there are a lot of buses that go from these apartments directly to North Campus. The problem with Ypsi is that it is trickier to get to North Campus from out there because most the bus routes only get you to Central Campus or downtown Ann Arbor, which means you would pretty much always have to do a transfer to get to North. This was fine for me because my office happened to be on Central Campus. But this is one of the main reasons not a lot of engineers want to live in Ypsi, even though it is super cheap. Other cheaper areas to live are closer to South Campus, where the football stadium is. This is a mix of grad and undergrads so there could be more parties and it can sometimes be louder with more foot traffic, particularly on home game weekends. And finally, the last main pocket of grad students might live more west/southwest, this would be areas near the 94 freeway. So off Liberty and 94 is Manchester West apartments, and if you follow 94 going south from there you will find many large complexes all the way down toward the Briarwood Mall like Harbor House or Valley Ranch Apartments.

Regarding the Columbia interview process, here is a snippet of stuff that I have written on these boards in the past... It is COMPLETELY match-based. You will only get an interview offer if at least 1 specific faculty member is interested in you and has funding/space from you in the fall. If not, you won't even get to the interviews. From there, at the interviews you will meet with a handful of faculty you like and also like you and you will prob compete for 1 or 2 spots against 5+ other students. It is pretty intense. Then after the interviews you list the faculty you liked the most, and if that faculty wants you they will sign an agreement saying they will fund you your entire time there. As far as the actual interviews go, I think you get like 30 min per interview which goes by super quickly. Honestly, it is good to be familiar with your POIs' lab and recent projects, but it is not worth reading a dozen articles from their lab to try and squeeze in 1 sentence that makes it sound like you know what you are talking about. And from my own experiences, the POIs never even assume you know anything about their work. They usually just want to hear about your previous experiences and skill sets to see if you would fit in well. They also usually detail out their current/future projects to give you a better idea of what they do. Bottom line, do your homework and investigate a bit into your POIs, but don't kill yourself over it. It is better to focus on presenting yourself well and making yourself desirable and likable.

Usually on the first day everyone comes in at different times, usually afternoon/evening. Maybe some lab tours earlier in the day if you arrive in time. But these tours are pretty rushed as the campus is huge and there are tons of labs. Then there is just an informal dinner at a pizza restaurant with current grad students. In the next morning, there is usually an Ann Arbor tour, sometimes they take you to the football stadium for a private tour. Then the first full day is interviews with POIs, I think 30 min each. Also, a designated current grad student will take you off campus to get lunch. There might be more lab tours in the afternoon. That night is a nicer, catered dinner with both grad students and profs. After dinner, you go out to the bars with the grad students. You head home the next day. Another "already attending" BME person in this forum actually wrote up a blog about her interview visits to UCSD, UW, UPitt, Cornell, and UMich. Her username is budgie and in her signature she links to her blog here: https://gradinterviewadventures.wordpress.com/page/2/ She did a really good job detailing each school's interview weekends and gives great advice in narrowing down your choices. And as far as UMich post-acceptance rate, I have no clue. Like I said earlier, 70-85% would be my best guess, but it changes so much every year. Try to focus on finding a good advisor fit and make sure you present yourself well and show how you would make great contributions to the lab.