Hypothetical for Michigan Students/Alum
So the origin of this topic is from an argument I had with a coworker a while back. This co worker is an LSU grad and was talking alot of shit about Michigan football. He asked me if I regretted having gone to Michigan instead of LSU because of the success of the football team. I wasn't even going to attempt to argue football with this guy (importance of tradition, rivalry, etc). Instead I posed the question: "If LSU did not have a football team would you have gone there?"
I would have. I did enjoy that both academics and sports are a source of school spirit. Anyone else want to chime in on this? If Michigan did not have a football team would you still have attended?
January 22nd, 2010 at 12:46 AM ^
This is LSU grad is an idiot. If he defines his entire college experience around the LSU football team, then I really feel sorry for him. I went to Michigan because of academics, prestige, diverse student body, party atmosphere, and partially for athletics. Michigan sports could cease to exist and it wouldn't change my love for UM one bit. I love football, but too many people here in the South base their life too much on football.
January 22nd, 2010 at 1:22 AM ^
My first encounter with the university came when I saw Michigan beat Virginia when I was four years old. I grew up an avid follower of Michigan athletics and have wanted to go here since elementary school. In high school, I considered a number of schools, but as Michigan definitely had the academic caliber I was looking for, I ultimately decided to come here.
I personally think that I probably would have come to Michigan for the academics alone, but following Michigan athletics avidly for most of my life definitely made coming here an easy decision.
January 22nd, 2010 at 1:31 AM ^
Michigan wasn't my first choice. My first choice was out-of-state and twice as expensive, if not more. So, I chose Michigan. It was the best choice I have ever made and now I bleed maize and blue. In answer to your question, athletics had nothing to do with my decision, but they were an incredible perk.
January 22nd, 2010 at 1:53 AM ^
I honestly can't say if I would have attended UM or not. By the time I graduated HS the decision was made because I had attended a bunch of summer engineering camps since 8th grade on campus, but then again I only started going to said camps because I was a huge sports fan. It came down to GT and UM for me and sports being completely separate* I may have chosen GT over UM order to get to the slightly warmer climates and the city of my birth.
*Now I can ponder the overwhelming success of GT in sports over UM the past two years
January 22nd, 2010 at 2:52 AM ^
I've been a State fan my entire life. My siblings went to State (I'm the youngest), my parents went to State, all my Aunts and Uncles went to State. I grew up loathing Michigan Athletics. When you make a decision about where you want to go to college, you have to put sports aside. I'm an extremely competitive guy and sports mean a lot to me (I was an all-state athlete in high school), but when it comes down to it, if sports have a serious impact on where you go to college, I'm sorry but your priorities are fucked up. I attend the University of Michigan because we are the Leaders and Best, with or without an athletic department. I love sports but seriously man, that's what the TV is for. College is where you go to start a career, not where you go to watch sports.
January 22nd, 2010 at 6:56 AM ^
When we won the NCAA, I went out to the corner of Church and South U. It was awesome - lots of people hugely excited - lots of people singing the Victors. A moment I'll never forget.
Then, before the craziness began, I left the crowd and went over to the Law Library reading room because I had to finish reading for an 8 o'clock class. Also a moment I'll never forget.
Athletics - clearly icing on the cake.
But the academics were the cake.
January 22nd, 2010 at 7:04 AM ^
I might be in the minority, but the reason I KNEW about the University of Michigan was because of the football program. Without the athletic programs (particularly football), I sincerely doubt that U of M would be as big as it is (35,000 undergrads or so, I think). It wouldn't have as much money. It wouldn't sell as much merchandise.
The university and the school are inseparable to me. It's like asking, "Would you still live at the beach if there wasn't any water?"
January 22nd, 2010 at 9:58 AM ^
The undergraduate population is much lower than that:
Total: 41,674[1]
Undergraduates 26,208[1]
Postgraduates 15,466[1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Michigan
That's what makes UM different from so many other public universities (at least the few I've worked for -- UNC-Chapel Hill and University of Alabama, which both have graduate populations under 5000 and undergraduate populations over 20,000)
January 22nd, 2010 at 10:22 AM ^
Thanks. I always heard different numbers. The most frequent was 35,000 undergrads and 10,000 grads, so I figured that was about right. I guess it wasn't.
January 22nd, 2010 at 7:32 AM ^
I'm from an entirely different continent. I applied to Michigan only because of its academics. I knew nothing of their athletic departments. In fact, I hated American football like most other non-Americans do. I called soccer the "real football."
Now after graduating from Michigan, I spit on the institution that is soccer. I despise it. Michigan football all the way.
So, yes, I went to Michigan for the academics, but I wouldn't be complete without the athletics.
(Ok, soccer isn't that bad. Michigan football is just so much better)
January 22nd, 2010 at 9:03 AM ^
i'd like to say that i would have still came, but i can't. if i had known how great living in ann arbor really is and how much fun (non-sports related) i'd end up having, i would, but how would 18 year old dex know that? as a big sports fan in general, i think i probably would have ended up somewhere with football on saturdays and missed out on a2. and i'd be the asshole running Spartan Liberation Army now.
January 22nd, 2010 at 9:45 AM ^
I'm not from Michigan and wasn't really a college sports fan (I still only like college football), so I didn't really care about the sports program (also, I paid like $100,000 to attend, so a strong sports program was not the deciding factor).
Even now that I'm an obsessed fan, I still would take a better school (education wise) because in theory, I would still be a fan.
January 22nd, 2010 at 9:58 AM ^
Having been a Michigan football fan since a very early age, the football definitely drew me to the University, but the unique college atmosphere found in Ann Arbor kept me there.
January 22nd, 2010 at 10:40 AM ^
attend the University. Nor did the school colors.
What drew me to UM was that it had so many choices of degrees in fields that I was interested in, and most were very highly regarded. I really did not have any idea what my major was going to be, so this was quite important.
To me, that was the great benefit of attending Michigan; when you finally did choose a major (and your choices were practically unlimited), it was going to be from a department that was well regarded.
January 22nd, 2010 at 10:47 AM ^
I haven't had the chance to read through all the comments so my experience may already be out there already. Coming out of High School I wanted to go to the best in-state college I was accepted to and Michigan ended up being that school. It very well could have been MSU.
Growing up I was always a huge fan of Michigan football because of my Dad's influence, however I'm man enough to admit that I rooted for Sparty basketball too. I guess sports helped create an identity for both schools but it certainly didn't have any influence on my choice.
January 22nd, 2010 at 11:07 AM ^
My final two schools came down to a full scholarship at LSU or a partial one at Michigan. I chose Michigan.
The tradition, academics, reputation and the opportunity to swim for a coaching legend....I just couldn't pass it up. Even in the face of wild hot chicks and crazy parties at LSU (and getting to meet Shaq during my recruiting trip), I knew Michigan was the responsible choice and would serve me well.
And it has.
More to the OP though, the football team playing well was a nice perk, but ultimately never factored into my decision to go to Michigan.
January 22nd, 2010 at 11:47 AM ^
I have the privilege of reading some comments from recent alumni about their feelings about the school and what they got out of it. The stuff positively chokes me up.
While sports is a great aspect to the U-M experience, there are staggering number of reasons to choose U-M without them. And I'm sorry to slam a school which means so much to so many alums, I simply don't think that's anywhere close to being true about LSU.
January 22nd, 2010 at 11:50 AM ^
As an alumnus of the College of Engineering and a lifelong Michigan sports fan, it's so hard to separate the athletics out of my experience at Michigan. Michigan athletics had some incredible highs when I was there, and some pretty deep lows too.
My sophomore year, we won National Championships in both Football and Hockey. But I was also there when the Ed Martin axe finally fell and Ellerbe became the basketball coach.
I would say, given the academic excellence and the fact that my father also is an alumnus with 2 degrees from there, I think I would still have gone there.
I would pose a counter-question to you though:
If Michigan still had the athletic tradition it has, but without the academics, would you still have attended?
For me, the easy answer is no. I wanted to get a degree from a top program. I have a feeling the overwhelming answer from the rest of the student and alumni community would also be no.
January 22nd, 2010 at 12:11 PM ^
Absolutely not. The only other school I seriously considered going to was Georgia Tech. I wanted to go to the best school I got into, even if it meant some loan debt afterwards. I chose Michigan over GT because it had more fields to fall back on in case I decided not to do engineering.