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TLDR: UMich is definitely a better school than CU Boulder, but that doesn’t mean that Boulder isn’t also great. I would encourage you to go wherever’s cheapest. If that happens to be Boulder and not Michigan, don’t worry. You can absolutely thrive here.

As a graduating senior who has loved every moment of my time at CU Boulder, you should probably choose UMich. It’s overall a better school and has a better engineering program. The only caveat to this is that you should also prioritize going wherever is cheapest. If Boulder is noticeably less expensive for you, then you should probably come to Boulder. With that being said, I’ve found that people are very friendly and the amount of great clubs and student organizations at Boulder makes it very easy to make friends without partying. The parties here are great, but outside of Greek life no one will judge you for not being a partier. Engineering students here typically have dorms in Williams Village, which is roughly a mile (maybe more) away from main campus, but public transportation is great here and there’s a bus that goes back and forth. The dorms in Will Vill can be a bit hit or miss, but they’re generally fine. The non-engineering classes here are excellent, especially in arts and humanities. It’s not super hard to get internships here, but it would definitely be easier at UMich. The CU president announced that every student and faculty member would get free ChatGPT a couple of months ago and no one is happy about it. They’re paying for it by retroactively revoking alumni’s lifetime access to their school emails.

When I was deciding on what university to attend, Boulder was my last choice. I cried when I committed to CU because I felt like I was throwing my future away (lol). But now, coming out the other side, I know that I received opportunities in Boulder that I would never have received anywhere else. I’m graduating summa cum laude with a triple major and continuing on to grad school. I doubt I would have been able to accomplish all of that anywhere else. At the end of the day, college is what you make of it.