University of Michigan has approximately 28,000 undergraduate students. The university is an intense academic environment with plenty of opportunities for extracurricular involvement, hundreds of student organizations and a beautiful campus full of students with tremendous school spirit.
There are 4,500 Jewish undergraduate students. There are approximately 45 students who grew up in Orthodox homes. Around 20 students studied in an Orthodox gap year program. The Jewish life at UM is robust with a myriad of clubs and organizations run through Hillel. Chabad and the Jewish Resource Center (JRC) are also active in Jewish and religious life on campus. The Orthodox community on campus (O-Minyan) is a small tight-knit and active community. Many of the Orthodox students assume leadership positions on campus, either through O-Minyan or through Hillel in general. Upon request the university will put students in the Oxford dorm which is located close to Hillel and is inside the eruv. Teachers are accommodating when it comes to missing classes and exams for holidays. They expect students to make up the work, making the time before and after the chagim
The Shabbat environment on campus is vibrant. Thirty students participate in the Orthodox minyan on Friday night and around 250 students attend Friday night dinner. Twenty-five students daven in the Orthodox minyan Shabbat morning and attend Shabbat lunch. After davening and kiddush at Hillel there is a large communal Shabbat lunch at the JRC where people eat, shmooze, and sing zemirot. There is Mincha, Seudat Shlishit, and Maariv on Shabbat afternoon.