How do you like the Detroit area? Is living there as bad as the 'stereotypes' or is it a lot different? I'm applying here in state but not sure how I feel about living there... of course if I get an interview and enjoy the atmosphere that would be a different story!
I am a non-traditional student who lives in the suburbs south of Detroit, about a 20 minute drive away (and I avoid most of the traffic during rush hour going to and from the school, since most of that is north of the city). The medical campus is safe, as is the undergraduate campus. There are definitely areas you wouldn't want to go alone near the school/hospitals, and don't wander around alone at night obviously, but I haven't heard of any real issues aside from cars being broken into, phones and the like being stolen, etc. Cars are a lot more secure in the paid lots, since the vast majority of issues people have had with cars is when they have tried to avoid paying for parking and found a spot on a street nearby.
I have lived in the communities south of Detroit my whole life, so I have no issues with the area in general.
Most students live in Royal Oak (a suburb north of Detroit about a 15 minute drive without traffic, a TON more with heavy traffic in bad weather) or in Detroit, either downtown or right near the med school (midtown). There are advantages and disadvantages to each, but in general, people like wherever they live. A lot of the bad stereotypes of Detroit do not apply to the Midtown or Downtown areas. These areas are generally safe, have active police patrol, don't have dozens of burned-out houses per block, etc. In that way, the areas you will be, Downtown and Midtown, are essentially a different city than the rest of Detroit.
I wouldn't be too concerned about living in Detroit. First, you don't have to live down there if you don't want to, as many live in the suburbs and commute in. Second, the areas around the school are safe. Third, there is no better place to learn medicine in your clinical years. Detroit has so much unique pathology as a function of the problems the city has that you will see things here that are almost never seen in most other parts of the country (per multiple clinical physicians who have given us lectures). All in all, as annoying as some of the administrative issues and pre-clinical organization can be, I am glad I am here and not at another school. Let me know if you have more specific questions!
