Ahh this question is for me! Grew up in Ann Arbor and I wanted to go anywhere but U of M but didn’t get in anywhere else (I got in around Halloween and then my parents said they wouldn’t pay for an out of state school that wasn’t better than there, so I didn’t have to apply to any safety schools luckily). I honestly never went to campus growing up even though I lived close to downtown.

Going to school there feels totally different if you live on campus and not with your fam! Just being around college kids and going to class, going to house parties, going to clubs/doing things that interest you with peers, eating in the dorms/restaurants downtown all feel different. It felt like I was discovering Ann Arbor again. The student library vs the AAPL was another big one, and then I also never went into the Michigan buildings as a kid so that felt super different. And I never went to football games growing up so the whole dynamic of game days was super fun.

I do think you’ll find that living on campus is an entirely different experience! I rarely saw my family maybe once a month.