Preference: Why I chose U of M

When I was deciding where I wanted to attend college, I thought I was assessing my options based on a range of quantitative and qualitative characteristics, such as quality of academic education, school spirit, faculty to student ratio, academic program variety, and the general aesthetics of the campus.  I settled on U of M, thinking that I was choosing it because of its stellar academics, its great alumni network, its beautiful campus, and its world-renowned school spirit (a result of its academics and athletics, of course).  What I didn't realize at the time, however, is that, even though U of M has all of the above qualities, I actually decided to attend this glorious institution due to a much more basic instinct: it suited each category of my preferred environment. 

• Coherence: this environmental characteristic, how easy it is to organize what's in front of you, is clearly reflected in U of M's Ann Arbor campus.  As we know, U of M has clear regions (i.e. the Diag, Central Campus,  the Hill Dorms, North Campus, South Campus) with easy borders (i.e. State St, South U, North U, and the long bus ride to North Campus - yes, I think that bus ride constitutes as a border).  Each of these regions fit together easily in and with the help of those notable borders, students are able to create cognitive maps of the campus. 
• Legibility: this particular characteristic deals with whether or not an individual can explore the environment without getting lost, and I'd say U of M scores pretty highly in this category.  There are plenty of landmarks on campus that facilitate wayfinding, be it the Hatcher at one end of the Diag and Rackham at the other end of Ingalls Mall, or the Belltower, or even the Hill Dorms in all their renovated glory.  Even new students can wander about campus pretty easily without fear of getting lost. 
• Complexity: I think we can all agree that U of M's level of environmental complexity is quite satisfactory.  There's a great balance of content-based complexity on campus: the buildings, architecture, and monuments are all gorgeous (except for the Fleming Administration building - whose idea was it to build a prison for our University officials?), while the Diag and the Arb provide much needed chunks of natural beauty.  Campus is extremely interesting and engaging and even after three and a half years at this fine school, I'd say I still have about 75% left of this physical environment to explore. 
• Mystery: Last, but not least, U of M's campus meets the mystery requirement in that it definitely creates a desire for exploration.  This desire can be sparked by seeing the Belltower in the distance and wanting to get closer to it and maybe even go up it (I still haven't done this), or by catching glimpses of the North Quad courtyard while walking down Washington and wanting to see what awaits you inside those walls.  No matter where you are on campus, you're guaranteed to see some piece of manmade or natural landscape that leaves you yearning to explore further. 

http://www.tailgatershandbook.com/selectorpages/Mcolleges/Michigan/michCampus.html

Now that I've explained all the innate reasons as to why I selected this grand university as my home for four formative years of young adulthood, it needs to be said that these preferred environmental characteristics are also contributing to my desire to move on into the next step in the world.  As Professor De Young mentioned in lecture, mystery is an extremely powerful predictor of preference, and at this point in time, I find myself yearning for unexplored cities and new sights to behold.  This university, as beautiful and engaging and overwhelming as it is, doesn't fill me with the same sense of curiosity about my environment as it once did, which means that it must be time to move into a new environment.  Coincidentally, this urge for new environments coincides with my upcoming graduation, so I'm already on the hunt for new environments that will fulfill coherence, legibility, complexity and mystery as maximally as U of M has done for me these past four years.