CCRunner123

I'm predicting that a lot of you waitlisters will get accepted. Remember that it was, I, CCRunner123, who predicted this.

vptd2008

I am an alumnus and D was deferred back in December only to be rejected last week. Or should I say, we will find out by mail..... Very excited to receive the letter, hopefully this year! (-:

As much as I love Michigan I have to agree they did a poor job with this year application. I would say it was disrespectful to keep the kids on the wait for so long and then waitlist them as they did to the majority of the deferred. On my case, I think D got what I read to be the "polite deferral", meaning they don't reject a legacy right away, rather extending the agony.

Alexandre, I know you are the moderator but you are being extremely partial on your comments. It is hard not to agree our UofM did mismanage the process this year. And as far as the numbers for Michigan getting even tighter, according to many articles, 2008 is the peak of high school graduation. The number of graduating seniors are expected to decrease beginning next year so I think overall acceptance rates will start to increase slightly next year.

Alexandre

I don't think so vptd. Although the overall number of students applying to colleges will decrease, the number of students applying the elite universities like the Ivy League, MIT, Stanford, Chicago, Duke, Michigan etc... will continue to rise.

And although Michigan didn't approach the entire admissions process as well as it should have, I don't think "mismanage" is an appropriate term to use. Let us face it, close to 100% of applicants heard back from Michigan by April 1. Only a small fraction heard back between April 10 and April 15. I think Michigan should make it clear to all applicants that they will not hear back until early April and suprise the majority of admitted applicants when they get their acceptances before April 1. That way, nobody's expectations will be dashed.

GoBlue81

I think you are giving them too much credit, lol... consideration for legacy counts very little in the process. My S was rejected promptly back in 2003...within a month including time for snail-mail... and we have double legacy.

GoBlue81

Since CC hasn't replied, I'll give it a try. (Disclaimer: This is pure speculation on my part.)

2006-07 was the year Michigan took 525 off the waitlist. This is abnormal as historically Michigan takes only a few if any each year.

The target freshman class is around 5500. For two years in a row before 2006, Michigan over-admitted by 500 or more due to unexpected rise in yield. In 2005, 6115 freshman enrolled. The school had to scramble to house the extra students on campus.

I believe Michigan adcoms were more conservative in 2006 and they ended up having to dip into the waitlist. Freshman class size in 2006 was 5399.

In 2007, none was taken from waitlist as they over-admitted again with 5992 freshman enrolling.

I'm guessing that admission this year was on the conservative side ... which partially explains why they extended the decision for the final batches into April as they tried to get a better read on the matriculation rate.

senioritus

@ Alexandre
Sorry, that is plain wrong. You pulled that 100% guess out of thin air. I will agree that a majority heard before the final week, but there's no way it was even close to 100%. Any student who was deferred did not hear back until April 10 or later. Do you know how many students Michigan defers? It's in the thousands.

hoedown

I've been out of town, sorry.

Accepting the waitlist IS NOT BINDING. It just says yes, you'd like to be considered if they have room. If they end up offering you admission, you will have a decision to make: go where you intended to go (and presumably sent a deposit already), or change those plans and come to Michigan. But you are NOT bound to say yes.

if you say "no" to the waitlist, then that's obvious--it means you don't want to be contacted if room opens up. You're done with Michigan, are happy to be going somewhere else, and don't want to go even if they end up going to the waitlist.

stevent

3.5 UW (3.8W)
1830 SAT
30 ACT
6AP's
Eagle Scout
Editor-in-chief of two publications
Lots of community service

kokeefe

In response to alexandre, yes I heard back before april first, the first time I got deferred. I just now got my official waitlist letter today. I found out a few days ago on my weblogin account, though. If I'm apart of a non-existent percentage (assuming 100% heard before april first) then I truly feel honored to be that obscure.

Alexandre

kokeefe, you did hear back from Michigan around April 1 did you not? How does that make you an exception?

salem1

Alexandre...Michigan paying you to spin for them??? U Penn not much better than Michigan...nice try?

Alexandre

Salem, I never said Penn wasn't much better than Michigan. If anything, I would say Michigan and Penn are roughly the same. Last time I checked, Michigan's peer assessment score was 4.5/5.0...so was Penn's. I am pretty confident that the hundreds of college presidents and deans of admissions from Michigan's and Penn's peer group paint a far more accurate picture than either one of us.

Here's how one of them actually articulated his point:

"I am extremely skeptical that the quality of a university - any more than the quality of a magazine - can be measured statistically. However, even if it can, the producers of the U.S. News rankings remain far from discovering the method. Let me offer as prima facie evidence two great public universities: the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and the University of California-Berkeley. These clearly are among the very best universities in America - one could make a strong argument for either in the top half-dozen. Yet, in the last three years, the U.S. News formula has assigned them ranks that lead many readers to infer that they are second rate: Michigan 21-24-24, and Berkeley 23-26-27."

Gerhard Casper, Stanford University President, 1990-2000

Criticism of College Rankings - September 23, 1996

Dr. Casper and hundreds like him are the ones who decide which universities are the best, not you or I.

You may not think very highly of Michigan, but the majority of the academic and professional word clearly disagree with you.

CanuckBreakwater

Since this is an active thread, I'll post my question here: Is today the deadline for all notifications? I haven't received word by email, nor mail, nor by WA. I'm an international, so I'm expecting word by WA--can anyone verify this?

taav_2

How many people who applied in January do you think got in?

sheilagh

liberate, if you can start a company sell it and then have it bring in six figures what do you need college for?