Chances at U Mich? Help me out!

Colleges and Universities University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
#1

<p>Hey everyone, over the past few weeks, Mich has become my #1 school, and I was hoping I could get some specialized feedback here, as opposed to the general info on the chances forum.</p>

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<p>Sorry to clog the board up with another chances thread, but I'm really wondering about Michigan!</p>

#2

<p>your chances are rather slim. also, um is not great with fin aid. you should look elsewhere.</p>

#3

<p>Keep in mind, people on this forum are not admission officers. If you truly want to go to Michigan, are you going to let someone's opinion on this site stop you?</p>

#4

<p>Michigan publishes its admissions statistics each year. Here is a link to the most recent set.</p>

<p><a href="http://sitemaker.umich.edu/obpinfo/files/umaa_cds2011.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://sitemaker.umich.edu/obpinfo/files/umaa_cds2011.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>First -- Michigan Rigor of Secondary School Record to be the most important factor in admissions (Question C7). In your case, it looks like you took Honors in English and a couple of other courses, but not in other subjects -- Is this correct? If so, unless your school did not offer Honors or AP in other subjects, your probably a little behind the avg Michigan student here.</p>

<p>Next -- 63% of Michigan enrollees had a GPA of 3.75 or higher. an additional 27% were between 3.5 and 3.74. Only 10% had a GPA lower than 3.5. (Question C11) Your grades put you in the range for acceptances, but at the lower end of the range.</p>

<p>Your ACT composite of 31 puts you in at the 75th percentile (which is good, and may balance out your grades a bit). (Question C9) Obviously with your splits, your English is Way better than your math (which is consistent with the rest of your transcript).</p>

<p>So, to me, it looks like a consistent story -- English is great everywhere -- Math is comparably weaker.</p>

<p>There are many schools that look for exactly this kind of split and where you'd be a shoe in. Other schools tend to prefer more balanced scores. Honestly, I don't know what Michigan looks for (though others here probably do).</p>

<p>Also, these data are a year old, and it is believed that Michigan was harder to get into last year (we'll know more when they publish the next Common Data Set).</p>

<p>Bottom line -- with the whole profile, I'd say that your chances are below average. However, I wouldn't go as far as saying they were slim. Michigan looks like maybe a low reach for you. My advice -- go for it. You should definitely apply. Many students like you get in every year. However, you should also apply to other schools where you have a better chance of admissions, should Michigan not come through.</p>

#5

<p>^Michigan was much harder to get into last year (admit % dropped ~10%) and you can expect a similar change again for the 2012 hs class. You're gonna have a tough time unless you significantly improve the ACT score.</p>

#6

<p>@zephyr the middle 50% ACT scores for the class of 2014 was 28-32 so a 31 is not top 25%, especially with the scores rising this year with the increased admission difficulty. Furthermore, most of those with low ACT scores are IS students, not OOS, so an average ACT coupled with an extremely low GPA(for UM) makes admissions a reach</p>

#7

<p>Thanks for all the replies guys. As for what zephyr said, the only AP at my school I didn't take that was offered was apush. Like I said, it's a pretty horrible public school, and they cater heavily to the lowest common denominator. Anyone with any kind of natural intelligence or brains or anything is left behind, and everyone knows it. Hopefully that can explain some of my lacking APs to admissions.</p>

#8

<p>I disagree that you have below average chances at admissions. UM does care about how you match up to the rest of you school. For example a kid with a 3.4 at a school where most of the kids are failing will be viewed more favorably than a kid with a 3.7 where most of the kids are getting As and Bs. I heard that straight from an admissions officer. I think you have a legitimate chance at admissions because you took the hardest schedule offered at your school and I'm guessing that 3.6 is one of the highest GPAs at that school. If you are in the top 1-2% of your class, along with a fairly strong ACT score and excellent essays, it could get you in even though you are in a less than ideal situation. I think you have a decent shot at Michigan, definitely apply and try to address your school issues.</p>

#9

<p>I don't think being a white guy in a high school with a low percentage of white people is a credible essay topic for any college. I would highly recommend rethinking that plan.</p>

<p>And no, being white in a non-white school isn't a diversity thing.</p>