Reviewed on Jun 26, 2025(Enrolled 2023)
What Students Say
Likes
- The resources the university provides are immense in every aspect.
- The faculty are are definitely among the top researchers and academics in the US
- The infrastructure in the university provides is modern and has all the latest technology.
Dislikes
- The university is not inherently bad it just boils down to how you fair here and what you can do with your time here.
- The job market is not on your side it never was it never will be. As mentioned in the previous point, it is you who can help you. Coming to the University of Michigan does not mean you will get a job with a 100% guarantee.
- Fees is pretty high and scholarships are not provided to everyone. Please dont take huge amounts of loans to come here and study. The risk to reward ratio is quite high.
Course Curriculum
10
- The courses are what they are; if you are thorough with your concepts, the courses are a piece pf cake but you will struggle if you are not ready to do the work and adapt. It is theoretical and practical both, but more on the practical side.
- The positive aspect of the courses is that the courses are recorded and even if you miss a few classes, you can catch up with your peers easily. Typically you may have two to three classes, depending upon your registration for these courses classes are mostly in the mornings and in the afternoons. There are a lot of Indian students enrolled in the courses, depending upon the course.
Admission Experience
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I applied to 10 universities and I got into 6 of them and got rejected from 4
- Admits: Umich, Northwestern, NYU, University of Washington, Georgia Tech, Texas A&M
- Rejects: Stanford, Berkeley, Caltech, University of Wisconsin.
- The rejects are pretty obvious. the universities that rejected me have very few admits and are fairly competitive. While the GRE was not essential in any of these universities, the rate at which they admit students is narrow. You have to be exceptionally good in your field
- The University of Michigan was the best among the choices I had and Umich is fourth in Aerospace studies just behind mit stanford and caltech that is why i chose Umich. Rest universities were good but not good enough compared to Umich. And I also applied to a mix of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering programs, given my bachelor's was in Aerospace I chose to go with Umich.
- I applied for the Fall 23 intake. No such factors but I completed my bachelor's in the same year and I didn’t want to waste my time getting work experience in India. Because a lot of people do that. (Your work experience in India means nothing here). Admission process may take months. The applications start in September and go till the end of March. The decision comes around april.
Faculty
10
- The faculty is among the best there is in the country. They are great at what they do and are exceptional in their field. Faculty is what makes your educational experience noteworthy. The course content is made to prepare the students for the industry but nothing can guarantee a job. The faculty help the students in every way possible in finding jobs on campus and full opportunities as well. I greatly admire Professor Susan Lepri and Professor Steven Battel.
Campus Life
10
- Umich has the central campus and the northern campus. First or second week of the fall semester is Festifall; hundreds of organizations set up on the Diag and talk to people who might want to join. That's the best way to find something besides searching Maize Pages.
- If you have an interest, there is almost definitely an org around it. Search maize pages and send an email to them in the fall.
Part Time Jobs
- You cannot work off campus while you are a student at the university. You can only work on campus. This includes academic and non-academic jobs. Academic jobs are your TA, RA positions across different departments throughout the campus. And non-academic jobs might include dining jobs and receptionist jobs. Max hours you can work are 20 hours as an international student. You are not allowed to work beyond 20 hours as an F1 student. This only changes when you get an internship or a full-time job when you graduate or in summer when the semester ends. You can then work 40+ hours. It is not easy to secure jobs on campus because you are not alone. And the positions are limited.
- You can earn anywhere between $15 and $35 depending upon the position and the workload. The most amount you will make is in the academic jobs as TA or RA. Non-academic jobs typically give you less. But the way you get part-time jobs is you go online in the university job portal and see if there are any positions available. The other way is to approach the professors in departments and see if they have any positions available. You would submit your resume and then the interview is up to the particular professor.
Placement
8
- Honestly, full-time jobs are a whole different animal and I personally cannot tell you much because I am still in that situation. I do not know any metrics of how many students got jobs but in my program it is relatively scarce because I’m from Aerospace and in this field it is not easy to get a job, at least for foreign nationals.
- And in other fields I don’t know how easy or difficult it is to secure a job, but I know a handful of my friends from CS, industrial and automotive secured a job.
Accommodation
Off Campus
10
- You may find accommodation through various online means and also it is not hard to find accommodation on and off campus. You may also find roommates through chat groups and resources provided by the university. Rent can easily go from $500 to $13,000 per month depending upon your situation. I really recommend on-campus housing. You have amazing connectivity throughout the city so not an issue.
Exams
- Toefl is a must or IELTS if you want; the University of Michigan does not accept any other English language exams. The GRE was not required for my degree; it varies from degree to degree within the University but generally it has stopped making it a compulsory exam for admission. Statement of Purpose is required LOR, three of them. And Resume. There was no interview for me in this regard, apart from the Visa interview.
Fees
- My fees are as follows:
- Tuition: $58870
- Living expenses: $23310
- Book and insurance: $3777
- Total: $85957
- This is an average for 1 year (Likely goes up). This was obviously for the 2023-24 year but the credit-wise fees change every year. And also the fee structure depends upon your degree and the school or college within the university. Your best bet is getting Graduate Student Instructor or Research Assistant Roles.
Scholarship
- I received a Graduate Student Instructor position within my department, this position comes with a salary and a tuition waiver ( You won’t have to pay fees for that semester). Other than this, there are no scholarships that the university provides. There are some instances where students receive a small amount of concession but that solely depends upon your academics from India and your department you are applying to. The way it works is if the department has funding.
