“In-State”: A reflection on the U.P., its students and the 
University of Michigan

People 
in Houghton, a town 
in the Upper Peninsula, only 
wake up at 4 a.m. to do one of three 
things: plow snow, watch the sunrise or 
catch one of the two daily flights from Houghton 
County Memorial Airport to Chicago O’Hare.
My intention to watch the sunrise drew me 
to wake up at 4 a.m. in July 2017. I gathered 
my siblings to drive “up north” — an hour drive 
maximum or you’ll end up in Lake Superior — to Bare 
Bluff, a hike looking east over the lake. Our little pack 
hiked all the way to the top of the bluff, looked out on the calm 
freshwater and watched the sun slowly illuminate the trees.
Many at the University of Michigan consider Traverse City 
or Mackinac Island to be “up north,” but for us in Houghton, 
that’s not the real “up north.” For us, the real “up north” is the 
Keweenaw Peninsula and the beautiful sunrise that comes 
up on Bare Bluff, over Superior’s horizon. When introducing 
myself to other University students, I take pride in telling them 
that I’m from the U.P. I mention the 300 inches of snow from 
the previous year, describe the beautiful landscapes and detail 
the two-hour drive to Target and my orthodontist’s office in 
Marquette.
While the U.P. is my original home, the University has 
become my second one. I have found comfort here at the 
University over time, becoming accustomed to walking the 
campus, watching sporting events, going to class and working 
at The Daily. Houghton, my home in the U.P., will always be 
comfortable, but here at the University, I have found comfort 
along with opportunity — professional, academic and social. 
The footprint of the University extends across the globe, and 
the faculty and resources are world-renowned with a massive 
student body of students from across the U.S. and the world.
But as a premier institution of higher education, founded 
with the goal of providing opportunity to college-aged 
students in the state of Michigan, how does the University 
associate with prospective students in the U.P.? How does 
the University breach the geographical divide to reach U.P. 
students who are so far away? How does it help them once they 
are at the University? What role does the University have as 
the state’s flagship institution?
These two communities are certainly different. The 
University and greater Ann Arbor is far more liberal, relatively 
more diverse and certainly less snow-laden. The Upper 
Peninsula, which has 29 percent of the landmass in the state 
but just 3 percent of the population, is isolated from the rest 
of the state by the Mackinac Bridge. Many U.P. residents live 
closer to the capital of Wisconsin than to Lansing.
This relative isolation leads to limited travel and exposure, 
which can make a transition to life in Ann Arbor different for 
Yoopers. For many including myself, Ann Arbor doesn’t even 
seem like Michigan. But unlike some, I have fortunately been 
able to travel and gain exposure to life in urban areas with 
diverse populations. The culture shock of a more liberal, larger, 
diverse Ann Arbor was a learning curve, but the adjustment 
period for me was short.
W

hen I submitted my deposit to the University of 
Michigan, I’d only seen the campus once, at night. 
I visited a family friend in 2013 and we watched 
Trey Burke hit the game-tying three against Kansas in the 
Elite Eight. Later, I figured out we watched in a lounge in Alice 
Lloyd Residence Hall and shouted, “Go Blue!” at every person 
in the Diag. But other than those four hours, I hadn’t seen the 

University 
— not even in 
daylight.
Three months later, my mom dropped 
me off at East Quad Residence Hall for freshman 
orientation. I nervously joked I should have gone to 
Michigan Technological University in my hometown. 
That day, I wondered why I chose the University. I’d 
seen Washington University in St. Louis in the daylight, I’d 
strolled around what George Washington University can 
call a campus in the middle of Washington D.C. Hell, I’d even 
walked around the University of Virginia over a high school 
winter break. So why was I being dropped off for my freshman 
orientation in Ann Arbor?
Part of it was cost-benefit analysis — the University was 
by far the cheapest option and either a better school or an 
equal one to all the ones I listed above (though I could have 
celebrated a national basketball championship this year if I’d 
gone to Virginia). I also knew I wanted a school that didn’t 
make me feel like I still lived in Michigan, so the University 
made sense because Ann Arbor felt so different from the 
Michigan I knew and it still allowed me to pay in-state tuition 
at a world-class university.
I knew that the University had a broad scope of resources 
and opportunities in every possible academic field, which 
allowed me to take a shot in the dark when I submitted my 
enrollment deposit. I knew if I somehow wanted to switch into 
engineering, I’d enter a top-five program. I ultimately ended 
up in the Ford School of Public Policy, which has graduate 
programs ranked first in public policy analysis. But I realized 
the consequences of my shot-in-the-dark decision when the 
culture shock finally hit at East Quad in mid-July, and later 
again at South Quad Residence Hall in early August. It was 
more a realization I was outside of my comfort zone, but I 
credit much of my eventual adjustment to the University to my 
parents, who took great lengths to travel and visit family when 
we were kids.
My story is one of many Upper Peninsula students going to 
college, here at the University or anywhere else in the state 
and the country.
I

n thinking about U.P. students and the University, I 
immediately thought of my friend David Alger. Alger 
was one of our three high school valedictorians, and 
was admitted to the College of Engineering at the University. 
But despite his admittance, Alger currently studies chemical 
engineering at Michigan Tech in the Houghton area where we 
grew up.
Alger is the quintessential Yooper. On his Instagram, you 
can find photos of beautiful areas he’s hiked, massive fish 
he’s caught and even a couple deer he’s snagged on opening 
day of hunting season, often in a few feet of snow. Now, I 
personally like to hike, and fishing seems fun, but Alger takes 
these activities and others to the peak of an outdoorsman. 
His answer to why he chose Michigan Tech and the U.P. was 
simple — don’t leave what you love.
“I really loved living here, and still love it,” Alger said. “That 
was a huge part of it. I didn’t want to move away.”
Too often, U.P. students are eager to move away and fail 
to recognize opportunity in the U.P., especially at Michigan 
Tech. In my experience, other students I’ve met from my 
area find an allure outside of the U.P. One girl in my driver’s 
ed class even asked what my favorite New York City borough 

was, clearly dreaming of living in the Big Apple. But Alger 
recognized the opportunities he had at home through 
Michigan Tech, including the Leading Scholar Award at 
Michigan Tech, which, according to the Michigan Tech 
website, “Recognizes resident and non-resident high school 
seniors who have demonstrated outstanding leadership and 
scholarly achievements both in and outside the classroom.”
“Knowing that I get the scholarship that I already had got at 
Tech and then I’d come into Tech knowing everything about 
the campus (helped me decide),” Alger said. “And having a 
bunch of connections there already. And that kind of weighed 
in my head like saying, ‘OK, I’m not going to have to spend 
the time to develop all those things and to try and pay for my 
school if I just go to Tech and it’s still a really good education.’”
Thanks in part to his valedictorian status, David received 
this full-ride scholarship to Tech in the town he loved. 
Money certainly makes these decisions easier, but David also 
recognizes the social aspects that went into his choice.
“And certainly I figured Tech would be a better fit for me 
culturally than Michigan would be, just being who I am,” 
Alger said. “Along those lines, a small town kid is going to be a 
small town kid. You could try and throw him somewhere, but 
if he’s really a small town kid, it’s not going to go too well.”
When I came to the University, I made friends with other 
students in my residence hall, and met students from across 
campus in the Roosevelt Institute. Ann Arbor might not be 
so big for students from New York and California, but it has 
roughly 15 times as many people as Houghton does. In Alger’s 
case, the University missed out on an outstanding student for 
cultural, social and personal reasons.
Additionally, the earning potential and career potential 
needs to be noted in Alger’s decision. According to the 
Michigan Tech Admissions Office, Tech graduates are in the 
90th percentice of early career salaries and currently, Tech 
graduates earn a median starting salary of $66,400. Through 
his studies at Tech and the resources available, Alger has 
landed an internship with manufacturer Georgia-Pacific, 
which will likely become a full-time opportunity post-grad.
Alger’s 
girlfriend, 
Rachel 
Fuller, 
a 
second-year 
environmental engineering student at Tech, is from Brighton 
in the Lower Peninsula and also had an opportunity to come 
to the University, but chose Michigan Tech coming out of 
community college for financial reasons and personal ones.
“I liked the culture more (of Tech),” Fuller said. “I was given 
more opportunities and better scholarships up here than at 
Michigan … I just kind of always had a problem with living 
in tight cities. With Ann Arbor, the population there is just so 
compact and crazy that I didn’t really like that type of ‘busy all 
the time’ lifestyle.”
Fuller referenced the constant busyness and pressure 
dynamic that other U.P. students and students from other 
universities are acutely aware of at the University. This and 
the more outdoorsy nature of Michigan Tech pushed her to 
the U.P.
I

n contrast with Alger and Fuller, there are many U.P. 
students who do choose to study here at the University 
— I sought them out in our “Marquette Wolverines” 
Facebook group. Olivia Anderson is a junior at the University 
studying history and communication studies. Hailing from 
Munising, a smaller town three hours east of Houghton, 
Anderson saw the University’s size as a benefit.
“I … hated how small like U.P. communities are,” Anderson 
said. “The kind of bubble effect that happens in the U.P. is 
something that really bothers me. And when I came to Ann 
Arbor it reminded me a lot of ... Madison (Wis.). It reminded 
me a lot more of that vibe where there’s a lot of people and stuff 
to do. It just clicked for me more rather than other places I’ve 
visited.”

Anderson also highlighted her desire to experience more 
diversity and be a part of a more progressive community. 
While many in Ann Arbor term the city a “bubble” that is 
not representative of “the real world,” the U.P. bubble also 
exists in isolation. Made up of relatively homogenous white, 
conservative communities, the U.P. can seem to be reluctant to 
change at times, especially in towns that lack higher education 
institutions such as Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan 
University.
“Especially for me, being from an area that doesn’t have 
a lot of high academic achievement, is that there’s a lot of 
pressure here,” Anderson said. “There is an insane amount of 
pressure that can’t be matched anywhere else. I feel like, and 
it might just be a thing about where I’m from, but I just haven’t 
experienced something like this. And even talking to friends 
that go to Tech or go to Northern or just anything like that, 
they don’t get it.”
I’ve heard this account from other students, no matter if 
they’re from the U.P. or the East Coast. This is reality on a high-
achieving college campus, but Matthew Knudsen, a junior at 
the University studying molecular and cellular biology, didn’t 
agree.
Knudsen is a fourth-generation University of Michigan 
student who grew up going to football games at the Big House. 
He hails from Escanaba in the southern U.P., and when asked 
about pressure at the University, he claimed it didn’t affect him 
as much.
“I don’t know about that,” Knudsen said. “I think it’s just so 
much bigger than those U.P. colleges. The only difference I can 
speak on is that you get to meet people from all over.”
Knudsen runs the Yooper Club at the University and lives 
with a few other U.P. students, but appreciates the opportunity 
to meet students from every state in the country. And while 
he and Anderson disagree on the pressure at the University, 
they both know students who had the chance to attend the 
University but decided not to.
“I’ve heard from people who had the ability to come here or 
applied to come here who are accepted and they’re just, ‘I’m 
glad I didn’t go,’” Anderson said.
“My best friend got into Michigan and he’s at Iowa instead,” 
Knudsen said. “It’s another Big Ten school, and the only reason 
he didn’t come to Michigan is because he got a full-ride at Iowa 
… Maybe one girl from my class ended at Central, but financial 
reasons again.”
Interviews with Alger, Fuller, Anderson and Knudsen 
showed the variation of interests and experiences U.P. students. 
They showed the University doesn’t click for everyone and 
that’s OK. But for the students who do wish to come to the 
University, what does the future hold?
I 

interviewed two high school counselors in the Upper 
Peninsula to discuss past interactions with the 
University: Susy Talentino of Sault Ste. Marie in the 
eastern U.P. and Kristen Rundman, my high school counselor 
in Houghton.
Talentino and Rundman both had positive things to say 
about the University but noted its academic rigor. Talentino 
highlighted a lack of recruiting of Sault Ste. Marie students.
“Academic quality, of course, the attitude is that it’s high,” 
Talentino said. “U-M has tough admission standards. As far 
as recruiting, we don’t really have any recruiting. We used to 
have a U-M admissions adviser come here sometimes, but we 
haven’t had them come in several years.”
“I think that it’s a very challenging school and diverse, it has 
a diverse population,” Rundman said. “And prepares students 
well for their future.”
Recruiting at Sault Ste. Marie has slowed, but the 
University still typically sends a representative to a college 
fair in Houghton each year. However, Rundman noted the 

college fair is typically an extremely busy time and it’s hard 
for students to interface with University representatives. 
Because of geographic distance, traveling to the U.P. takes 
a toll for University representatives. However, the lack of 
representatives poses a problem as the University misses out 
on talented U.P. students.
I did not meet with a representative my senior year and 
most of my information came from the internet and mailers 
I received at home. However, meeting with someone from the 
University could have reduced the “impostor syndrome” I felt 
with my acceptance to the University. Impostor syndrome is 
a horrible little thing where you feel you don’t deserve to be 
somewhere or in some position or have some achievement. For 
me, meeting with a representative would have greatly reduced 
this, but I had to wait until I settled in at the University for 
it to go away (of course, these things never completely go 
away). While I pushed through this mental block, the failure 
of the University recruiting could be damaging other students’ 
opportunities, which is something Talentino noted in her 
experiences.
“I feel that it maybe makes some kids feel like U-M isn’t 
really an option because no one really comes to talk to them 
about it,” Talentino said.
The University might rely on the Student Ambassadors 
program to cover this ground. The program involves training 
current University students, giving them a PowerPoint 
presentation and having them speak at their high school alma 
mater. But this relies on current U-M students going back to 
their high schools, so U.P. high schools with no students at 
the University suffer. Anderson mentioned previous students 
from her school going to the University were unwilling to 
share their experiences with their hometowns.
“I had two people from my high school before me and the 
people I knew graduating that came here and they just, they 
exed out completely of their own community,” Anderson said. 
“They … went to the University of Michigan. No one ever heard 
from them again. And I just went in completely blind here.”
If University students from the U.P. and other under-
contacted areas aren’t willing to go back to their hometowns, 
the Student Ambassadors program will prove to be 
ineffective. Because of this, students in the U.P., 
with its isolation, might not feel ready or up to the 
challenge of the University. Missing out on visits from 
representatives because of hectic schedules, or not 
hearing from a former peer about their experience 
inhibits the confidence of U.P. students and their 
likelihood of enrolling downstate at the University.
Talentino had an admissions case where a student 
she thought was well qualified was denied admission 
to the University.
“One that still bothers me is a class of 2017 boy 
who applied to U-M. He had a 4.0 and a really good 
SAT score, I think it was 13-something,” Talentino 
said. “And he did not get in and when he told me, I 
said, ‘I don’t believe you, you screwed something up. 
Like, you did not click submit on your application or 
something’, and he said, ‘No, I’m telling you the truth’, 
and he forwarded me the email he got declining, telling 
him he didn’t get in. So I’m still floored by that. As a 
counselor, I see U-M as very competitive as far as being 
admitted.”
With an increasing number of applicants, admission 
to the University is becoming more of a crapshoot. 
Talentino also detailed a perceived advantage for U.P. 
students that has seemingly fallen by the wayside.
“And I feel like there used to be that kind of 
legend that if you were from an Upper Peninsula 
county, your chances of getting into U-M were 

better because U-M needed kids from all areas,” Talentino 
said. “That U-M needed kids from rural areas in the U.P. to 
kind of fill out their, ‘Yes, we are getting kids from all areas 
of the state.’ But lately, it kind of seems like that’s not as true 
anymore.”
A University of Michigan admissions counselor was reached 
out to for comment but was unable to do so.
The undergraduate population of students at the University 
from the state of Michigan is 16,036. If its student body 
were to be representative of the state in terms of population 
distribution, then the University should have nearly 500 U.P. 
students. It’s unlikely enrollment at the University reaches 
that number, given Talentino and Rundman both estimated 
their schools produce between one and 10 U-M students per 
year. The Universityt does not provide specific admissions 
statistics for students from the U.P. Far more U.P. students 
go to the U.P. schools like Lake Superior State in Sault Ste. 
Marie or Northern Michigan in Marquette or Michigan 
Tech in Houghton. Rundman noted the growing popularity 
of community colleges because of the high cost of four-year 
institutions.
T

here are no other examples of a state with a top 
nationally-ranked institution of higher learning that 
has this isolated a population, and simply no one at 
the University talks about it. Few students have actually been 
to the U.P., but it’s there. Its people, its culture, its politics — 
nearly completely surrounded by water and tucked away in 
forests, hills and plains. Some of its students stay home and get 
an education, others go straight to work and a few come to the 
University of Michigan. If the University can figure out how 
to offer more financial aid and perhaps changed a “pressure” 
and 
“busy” 
culture, maybe it can snag more of 
them.

Wednesday, April 17. 2019 // The Statement
4B
5B
Wednesday, April 17, 2019 // The Statement 
 

BY FINNTAN STORER, MANAGING EDITOR

