Congrats on the acceptance by UMich. It is a great school, there is no need to get beaten up on why the other schools wouldn’t take you.
CW is by no means a safety school even with stats like yours. Since CW does not require an additional essay, and getting an off-campus interview is really hit and miss (miss for most people), CW would probably use whatever stats they have gathered (from your school, your region and your stats) to determine if you would come if you are being accepted. There is no doubt CW has become more competitive (more people apply, many with high stats, known reputation for good merit aid among the top-ranked schools, strong STEM focus ranking etc) and CW likes to keep a large WL and pull candidates out of the list for enrollment.
I just wonder, did any of your attitude about these “safeties” show up in applications require additional essays. Also, the EC (Magic-the-Gathering) is probably not as well understood as other ECs like sports competition, science Olympiads etc…
Either way it really doesn’t matter at this stage, you got into UMich, a great school in anyway you cut it. Just have fun and enjoy the next 4 yrs in a school that wants you. Forget the ones which they don’t see you would fit in.
I’m sorry, but why would you think Northwestern is a safety? It had an 8.4% acceptance rate, with over half of acceptances coming from ED. You aren’t entitled to any college, and having a pity party isn’t going to help anything.
But please oh please do what you can to get past your disappointment so you can get the full measure of what UM has to offer (which is close to infinite). I have to say that students who feel resentful that they are not at Fancypants U are not fun to teach and are not beloved by their fellow students who are here to do the work.
I don’t say that in anger. You have a right to your disappointment, and it’s okay to wish it were otherwise. But this is really the best college town in the nation, there isn’t a thing it can’t offer to you.
By the way, I know a kid who attends an exclusive private HS (you are talking about where movie stars and famous people compete to send their kids) in NY whose teachers and counselors all told him and his parents he will get into Brown, his number one choice. All shocked when he gets denied. But the kid got into Dartmouth where he’s getting near perfect grades and liking Dartmouth so he won’t even transfer. One good school is all you need.
@Tigerle post #170 is one of the most important and insightful things I have read here on CC or anywhere else about the college admissions process. I kept wanting to highlight things to quote, but stopped because the entire post needs to be repeated loudly and often.
Personally, I would rather see a kid challenge herself, follow her actual passions and enjoy her life then to do everything “right” and shoot for a super elite school. Even with the grades, the APs, the nationally recognized and easily understandable accomplishments, admissions to those schools is a long shot. But love of learning, growth from challenging experiences, joy from ECs you actually like, time spent with friends and family…those things are guarantees!
OP - People try to make sense of things that don’t make sense. But, the one thing that does make sense is there are too many highly qualified students applying to go to the same small group of “elite” schools. Those schools have only a small number of spots to offer relative to the number of applicants they get and they have to reject a lot of kids with great credentials. You applied to schools that are a crapshoot. Craps is about luck and probability. I obviously don’t know you were rejected, but I don’t believe your rejection was due to your essay topic or the fact you play the Magic card game. If that was the reason, then celebrate the fact that you get to attend a university big enough and diverse enough to have a club for Magic players (Google it). There’s something special about the schools that just accept great kids without worrying about “building a class”.
Of course, athletics are the exception - schools do worry about building a team. Your future basketball team will be playing for the national championship Monday. Even if you don’t like sports, the school spirit that comes with a winning team is infectious throughout the campus. It’s a special feeling.
I understand your disappointment, but you have an acceptance from great school. If you work as hard in college as you did in high school, you’ll get an outstanding education at U Michigan.
Most Americans fail to realize that while the American College experience is imperfect the rest of the world is far worse. In most of the world the student is given a test in 8-9th grade and their college choices are decided with virtually no chance for change. In China the admission rates to the top schools Qinghua and Bejing are .05%. This is not a typo. 1/1500 not 4-5 %. The situation in America is going to get much tougher as the Chinese are flooding into the US because it’s so much easier here to gain admission to,a good school.
@SAY, if by “rest of the world”, you mean “China and India only”.
As a percentage of the population, just 4 of Oxbridge+LSE+Imperial in the UK (and just 3 of Tokyo+Keio+Waseda in Japan) have more space for home country kids than the 30 or so Ivy-equivalents do for American kids.
OP,
IMO, even if you get off the waitlist at CWRU, you should go to UMich. It may not feel like a huge achievement to you because you are in state, but UMich is generally considered one of the 3 public ivies in the country along with UVA and Cal. If you ever want to work outside of the US, you’ll find a huge contingent of rabid wolverines all over the world who will be more than willing to help you in any way they can. Seriously, UMich is a huge name internationally. No one outside of the US know CWRU. And I would choose UMich over USC in a heartbeat as well. USC attracts a ton of wealthy foreigners who can pay full fare but it’s academic credentials are nowhere comparable to UMich. Go Big Blue!!
“…UMich is generally considered one of the 3 public ivies in the country along with UVA and Cal …” @bestmom888 Looks like you are not aware of UCLA (as the above poster also reminded you)!
You greatly overestimated your chances at reach schools like Northwestern and Wash U, and even Case, with an admit rate under 40%, cannot be considered a safety.
Luckily, you got into Michigan, which is an outstanding school – probably top-20 academically overall and with an awesome sports and social scene, all packaged in one of the coolest college towns in the country.
I just wanted to add that we lived in Ann Arbor when we were first married - DH is a Michigan Law alum. Ann Arbor is my favorite place that I have ever lived in my 50+ years. It is a truly wonderful place to spend 4 years!
“Keep in mind that admissions officers are relatively low-skilled, unimpressive people, often with poor education credentials and work experience themselves. I can’t remember where I read it, but some article or book pointed out that students need to be careful to not be “too clever” in their essays because they run the real risk of admissions officers’ “not getting it.” The author advised simple, straightforward prose and uncomplicated presentation of theme.”
That’s a little harsh, they’re human of course so will make their share of mistakes when making decisions. I’ve mentioned studies showing successful people get about 7 out of 10 right so if we assume that for the top schools, it would be more being human than a lack of skills.
That being said I don’t know of anyone that says they want to become an adcom, so maybe it’s something you do after being in your career for a while.
Purple you you missed the point along with most of America. China has a huge population of smart college age students and they are swarming here in huge numbers to America. The Chinese are taking advantage of our HS and having their babies here in large numbers.
From Native Americans’ would say the same thing about the whites the “SAY” poster said in post #196. lol
Anyway, I think OP should have been accepted by at least one more school he applied to. With stats like that, he should have applied to some HCs offering good merit money.