“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