Christine123

I really appreciate Michigan being so large, even though that may mean it has to admit some "less talented" students: even if not everyone comes off as a genius, individual strengths really help the university as a whole--and what's amazing about it is that Michigan hasn't declined in its academic strength because of its more liberal acceptance rate.

pclscout12

My kid is applying to Umich OOS. We live in New Jersey and he is a white male. He attends a pretty difficult private high school. Here are his statistics:

EC's/Leadership=Average (some sports, some service, a club or two, school newspaper)
Essays/Recs=Good

SAT=1390 (700 CR, 690 Math)
GPA (UW)=3.77
GPA (UMICH)=3.56

Supposing this OOS application with these stats was submitted, how many times out of 10 would this person be accepted? My son will have his application in the mail before the end of September.

ramennoodles08

agreed Alexandre, the acceptance rate at Michigan will continue to drop, especially since they are out of the top 25 academically for the first time since the 1890's, they won't accept many flukes this year because I'm sure they want to get back into the top 25 where they belong

but academically, yeah Michigan doesn't have many weaknesses, Alexandre posted the stats at the beginning of the thread, it's absolutely ridiculous they are in the top 10 or top 15 for every single major at the University, the weakest major is like Chemistry and they are still top 15 in the nation, Michigan is really balanced academically and the rankings and stats show it, it's a great school but the only weakness in my opinion is that Michigan's admissions process is highly questionable and yes I may be biased because I saw some of my friends who deserved to get in get screwed over, and a few who were completely undeserving mooch their way in but that is just how I feel, still a great school in my mind though I just think the ethics of their admissions are questionable

rjkofnovi

Out of the top 25. LOL. I can see at least 5 schools above Michigan who have no business being rated higher. This USNWR nonsense that so many people put so much faith in is ridiculous.

ramennoodles08

really? Berkeley, Carnegie Melon, UVA, Georgetown and UCLA have no business being above Michigan? I mean I agree that Michigan could arguably be better than all of those schools but to say that they have no business being above Michigan is wrong imo those are all really good schools as well and someone could make an argument for those schools being better than Michigan too

Alexandre

I don't think Novi was necessarily referring to those schools. I personally don't think there is a difference between schools ranked between #6 and #30.

rjkofnovi

Correct Alexandre. Actually those five schools that were mentioned were not even the ones I was thinking of.

Sesquipedalian

Uh Alexandre. UMich beat UCLA, who was at the time ranked #2 in the nation.

Non-Chalant1

Weakness? How about how self-segregated the place is? As someone bred in diversity in an East Coast city....the "diversity" of Michigan is simply that we have people from all over Michigan, but most of them will form cliques and only hang with those cliques. If you're OOS and don't find you're niche freshman year...then it's pretty much a done deal. As someone who always dreamed of going here I'm beginning to wonder if the academics are worth it....I might follow a lot of the people I met here last year and transfer. The problem is how do you tell your parents and friends that you're going to leave U of M to go to a school with a worse reputation? Needless, to say this city kid is NOT enjoying college (Hmmmm.....maybe if I was a rich kid and joined one of those fraternities or sororities with people in them who only hang out with each other).

I'm sorry, but I just had to convince 3 friends and family members to not come here next year....one of whom I believe already got in and is now going to G-Town instead. People are so far from down to the earth and the ones who are....no offense....they're nerdy and kind of boring.

Alexandre

College is what you make of it. And you did not do your friends any favors. Georgetown is far more segregated than Michigan. I should know, half my family attended (and are attending) the school. Talk about "cliquish".

That is not to say that Michigan does a great job in mixing diversity. Schools like Brown, Cal, Columbia, NYU, Stanford and Yale do a much better job. But most schools have trouble mixing diversity.

This thread is about Michigan's weakness, and I must agree that this is one of ther ways where Michigan can REALLY improve.