Just leafing through the novel today....

In the scene where Vito, Michael, Sonny, Fredo, and Johnny go to the hospital to visit Genco on his deathbed, Vito makes this comment to Michael:

When you get through with college, come and talk to me. I have some plans you will like. I know how you are. I won't ask you to do anything you don't approve of. This is something special.

I'm wondering what Don C. had in mind for him.

Certainly not "Senator Corleone" or "Governor Corleone." No son of a Mafia chieftan could aspire to that.

Head of the family olive oil business? Nothing special about that.

Certainly not the head of the "rest" of the family business. Michael, as Vito knew, would not "approve."

Perhaps some new and legitimate avenue Don C. was planning to explore?

Why not? It seems likely to me.

As I said, Enzo, what's so "special" about that?

The implication in Vito's statement is, I think, that this would be something new and unique.

Vito may have planned on using his "contacts" to get Michael a legitimate job (i.e., lawyer).

Again, what's so special about that?

And given the fact that Michael was going to graduate from an Ivy League school and one of the top universities in America (Dartmouth), I hardly think that he neded his father's contacts to get a legitimate job as a lawyer (assuming that he went to law school after Dartmouth), or anything other legitimate job for that matter.

Logic is on your side again, pl. But I want to advance another (admittedly stretch) theory:
I think Vito's long-range goal was to legitimize the Corleone family's business, and Michael would be the key player. Michael would get his law degree. He would then run for Congress. Yes, he'd be highly vulnerable as Vito's son. But Michael could establish residence in Little Italy or Long Beach, where Vito's tremendous political clout would assure him of the nomination. TV wasn't strongly established in the immediate postwar years, and Vito could have bribed the local newspapers to downplay the Mafia connection. There's a good chance he'd be elected to Congress.
The next step would be for Michael to run for Senator or Governor. This would greatly raise his exposure to "Mafia" charges. But he'd have a solid track record in Congress, his war-hero reputation--and his father's money and influence behind him. He might, just might, get elected.
Now, obviously, he'd have to publicly distance himself from his family during his political career. Is that what Vito really wanted? No. I think that, if Vito had had his way, Senator or Governor Corleone would have moved to legitimize the Corleone family businesses by pushing for legislation to legalize gambling at the national or state level (depending on the office he held), and by channeling the Don's ill-gotten labor support (and union money) into his (Michael's) political machine. The money and influence would continue to flow, but in "legitimate" ways that would make Michael an invincible political force. The family would then have less and less need for violence and corruption. Sonny would be the head of an ever-diminishing "muscle" end of the family. Fredo could continue his cocktail-waitress adventures.

A difficult scenario TB, but not impossible.

But it's not like Vito was a low level associate, or anything. He was the head of the most powerful mafia family in the country.

Yes, political influence could have been exerted, members of the media been bribed, etc., but there surely would have been at least one newspaperman somewhere anxious to make a name for himself by exposing Michael's family ties.

Michael tells Kay that he is going to be a mathematics. My guess has been that Vito to use his quantitative skills in the bank in which Vito quietly holds a major interest.