University of Michigan Ann Arbor Early Action Fall 2025

Colleges & Universities University of Michigan
1224

They enrolled 52% instate in 2024 per Ross. And admittance/yield is obviously higher in-state,

As for the rest of your post, honestly, I don’t know how many people in prior years were just “adding Ross.” IMO, most students know whether they want to study in a business program versus LSA, which has a plethora of majors and varied grad requirements relative to Ross.

Additionally, as for “nothing to lose,” in past years, the likelihood of a cross-campus transfer to Ross, after being rejected as a HS senior, was near zero. Ross expressed it in their literature. A cross-campus transfer had a far far better chance of admittance to Ross, if they had not “checked that Ross box” as a HS senior.

We’ll see how this cycle plays out. It’s always interesting.

1225

I wasn’t aware at the time of application submission that for the current cycle, you may still apply for Ross as a preferred admit by choosing LSA as a first year admit unit. We applied to Ross as first year admit unit. Given Ross is so competitive, there’s a bit of regret at not applying as preferred admit, as my DD would have strongly considered studying Econ at LSA as a fall back—I know even that’s not easy admit by any stretch.

1226

Your student could not have had Econ as a “fall back.” That’s the point of this year’s change in Ross admissions.

There is no preferred admission through LSA to Ross (link below):

What has changed…

Applicants interested in studying business their first-year on-campus will no longer apply to LSA first. They will choose the Ross School of Business as their First-Year Admitting Unit. Michigan Ross will not have a dual application or preferred admission option with LSA.

Perhaps you are confusing being able to transfer in the future into Ross versus expressing interest in a dual degree program. If your student applied to and was accepted to LSA, they would have the option to apply to transfer into Ross as a sophomore, but that’s a highly selective process, too, with only 100 spots available.

The only programs from which you could have expressed interest in preferred admission in a dual degree with Ross when applying from high school are art & design, engineering, kinesiology (sport management only), and music, theatre, and dance.

Ross School of Business Added as a First-Year Admitting Unit | Michigan Ross.

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1227

@Birdflies25 to put a finer point on @sushiritto’s comment, in past cycles, if your student had applied to Ross through LSA, was accepted to Michigan/LSA but did not get the secondary admission to Ross, the student was expressly prohibited from applying to Ross in the future. The student could not apply as a sophomore to transfer into Ross.

Contrary to your understanding, in the past, there was something to lose by checking the Ross box — a future opportunity to apply to Ross.

1228

@OR1 and @andy49898546 : Your high school’s profile will have information that will help the AOs compare your student to his high school.

Each high school is different, so the extent to which the profile information will enable the comparison will vary.

High schools typically provide a subset of the following information: average GPAs, class rank, grade distributions, average standardized test scores, the number of students taking advanced placement courses, and the overall academic rigor of the school curriculum. If the school profile has any demographic information or if Michigan utilizes any 3rd party demographic information like from the College Board, the admissions officer can also use that as context.

In the case of an unknown school, essays/anctivities/honors and especially the teacher recommendation would likely take on even more importance. Does the student have any activities or honors that could indicate they are 1/1 at the high school (an engineering applicant who is recognized as “best math student” each year, for instance)?

If the teacher recommendation is simply generally positive, it would not be making a strong case for a student from a school that is not well known to Michigan AOs. But if the language is specific and compelling, with phrases like “stands out among peers” or “strongest in recent years”, then that will carry far more weight than one where a teacher says a kid works hard, expresses curiosity about the subject, participates in class, and is involved in school outside the classroom.

My OOS student applied several cycles ago, when EA was released in December and Michigan still did monthly waves of acceptance afterward. When my child was deferred in EA, the high school principal wrote to the AO to say that the student had made a once-in-a-generation impact at that high school and that Michigan couldn’t continue to call themselves “Leaders and Best” if they didn’t accept her. :smiling_face:

I don’t say this to brag, but to indicate the kind of recommendation that helped my student get into Michigan in January, when the first wave of deferrals were accepted that year. My kids attended a small, rural high school that hadn’t sent a student to Michigan in about 30 years and sends about one student every other year to a top 20 or top 30 college.

My student’s SAT scores were a couple of hundred points above the school’s averages, but not impressive enough by Michigan standards to get accepted EA. My guess would be that it was the activities list, which was strong overall but also included something that had been evaluated by and received recognition from about 5+ national groups (so the principal’s endorsement was correlated) and the fact that the principal made the effort to reach out with such a specific and enthusiastic recommendation.

So, even with a school with which the AOs don’t have much — or any — history, factors in the school report, the applicant’s essays/activities, and the strength and specificity of the teacher recommendation would all give insight into how an applicant compares to his peers.

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1229

Well said.

1230

So also for direct admits like Ross, Michigan the school evaluates the candidate than Ross does. This was confirmed with admissions.

Also just because someone has the scores or the only one at their school and has great scores it doesn’t mean they are accepted. Lots of people have the same scores and there are only so many seats.

As far as the AOs knowing this or that school, this is their job and not specific to Michigan. Can always call admissions and ask them.

1231

U michigan uses the colleg board’s landscape product. I asked an admission officer if they used it after an info session this fall. He said yes, but wouldn’t give more details.

In addition to context about a particular school it gives a community challenge score which colleges can use to understand a student’s community context.

There is a WSJ article (behind a paywall so can’t link) from 2019 that allows you to look up your high school and see its adversity score. Otherwise, i know of no way to see what the college board says about our school or neighborhood.

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1232

If he is above the standard of his school than I don’t think his school would of hurt him. He would be an outlier and that is a good thing. The AOs as described have their own way to evaluate student’s. If a small school maybe they use others in their district. You can ask admissions. Not every situation is going to be perfect. As stated. Getting into Michigan is just very tough even for the best students.

1233

LAS is not an option to apply to if your child wanted Ross. S25 was deferred after he applied to Ross as DA. When he was deferred, it switched Ross to preferred admit. Not sure if that happened to all deferred students.

1234

Where do you see your application was switched to preferred admit after your deferral?

1235

So a question between the questions seem to be does the high school my child goes to have an advantage /disadvantage in the admissions process?

To some extent… Probably.

Lots of schools have a history profile with Michigan and really any school. But some are definitely feeder schools, no question about it across the US.

My son’s school was the #1 school in Illinois the year he applied. Public school but not many went to Michigan,from previous year’s
I questioned this to Michigan engineering admission and to LSA since their feeder school was a very wealthy public in the suburbs. I laughed since our poorer demographic schools scores were much higher.

His school was an all honors and AP school with no regular classes. It was a test in school also. Very high rigor and academic.

Maybe being a helicopter parent helped​:helicopter::blush: since this study in 2019 (if anyone sees an update please advise), out of 200 students in his class 86 applications with 42 acceptances to Michigan but only 11 went. Still have to be able to afford the school.

As stated above the district information is important in context also to the school. My son’s school was low economically and 25%white. The avg score to get in was 99.6%…crazy. But students came from all over the city of Chicago and their scores could be much lower due to their economic area they lived but they were the outliers for their schools /district. So we went through this admission process in high school. Applying to college was a breeze.

All my son’s friends at Michigan seemed to go to known schools to Michigan. Many in state. All those kids were high achieving students. Just random student’s he formed a known tech club with over the 4 year’s there.

But every year I hear about student’s getting accepted from less known schools also.

All colleges track these kids performances. But no question if a school is producing great outcomes, most schools want that. No different when applying to internships and jobs. They like to take from certain schools since they know their track record of success.

None of this is going to be 100%fair. This is why we apply to many colleges with the hopes of getting into a few we would love to attend. If it’s on your list you should love to attend. Many year’s student’s have had a hard time getting into their 3-4 choices. It’s tougher now than when my son got accepted in 2017, no question.

I feel for all of you having gone through this process with two kid’s (just one at Michigan). I have helped a few friend’s student’s get in also since then. As I have stated prior. There is some luck in play in all of this :four_leaf_clover::wink:

1236

Thanks for posting the article. Data are from the class entering Fall 2019.

The stats which jump out to me:

-over 10% of enrollees were from just 10 high schools (only 1 OOS, Bronx Science), with counts between 50 and 118 kids from each of these 10 schools enrolling that Fall

-nearly half of enrollees (48%) came from just 301 HS which is a little over 1% of all HS in the US

1237

I’m proud for your child, aware of the info you provided, and appreciate the effort you put into thoughtful post.

But with 23,000, +/- ~3,000, high schools in the country; many poorly staffed/equipped I still cringe.

1238

There are articles from like 2010 and basically the same. I haven’t seen an update to this article but assume the results are similar.

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1239

I’m not sure if any of the is helpful but will share anyway. My kids go to a large public high school outside of a major NE city. The admissions officer knows the school very well. We first met her on a tour at Michigan, she introduced herself and gave her card, talked about their high school etc. Very friendly. We saw her a few months later at a college fair and she talked to my daughter for a while. She said she was just at the high school the day before. There was a personal connection with the high school and one of her own kids at Michigan but it’s not super relevant. Anyway, she told my daughter she could email her over the summer and she would review her Ross essays. I was standing right there when she said it. It was very kind of her and we probably should have taken her up on it. We work with an outside counselor who advised not to do this. Blurs the lines a little and not ethical. So this does beg the question regarding who is reading what. Also, this AO was for Mich not Ross. About 5-6 kids from our school get in every year but we don’t know of anyone getting into Ross. My daughter knows of one other student who applied to Ross like her. Stats-wise, Michigan is a true reach for my daughter because she is TO and has 5 APs but does have phenomenal ECs in business. She is deferred and it’s super pricey for us so maybe for the best. All this is to give a snapshot of our experience with the AO. Perhaps we should have taken her up on her offer… I personally think she had zero input on the Ross essays so felt comfortable offering up her advice. Who knows?

1240

This to me is the biggest problem. Both of my kids schools were so far ahead of the curve in educating the students on college admissions. It was a surprise to me when getting out of my bubble that this wasn’t the norm. This is one reason I attempt to help on here.

I have a patient in my office in the burbs that didn’t have any of this information. As he came with his mother I questioned him on his scores and goals. He was a very smart kid but applying to the wrong school’s. His own father didn’t even think he would ever get accepted to a school for engineering. I had him apply to a few schools and he got in with large merit. I told him how hard it will be first year but don’t give up and how to use all the schools resources. He came back that summer and literally hugged me. He also did great in college and now is an engineer.

His school just didn’t advise their students correctly. It’s a problem.

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1241

Good topic, but folks need to look at the big picture. For OOS students that got deferred that have excellent “data” (i.e. GPA/SAT/ACT/school leadership activities), I’ve heard this from more than one inside source: “UoM is a public Michigan school, and by Michigan law it only admits/holds x number of OOS students”, “private universities don’t have this restriction”. I don’t know what the number is, but it should be pretty obvious if 20K OOS students applied and 5K have outstanding “data”, but only 2K can be admitted, then there will be some really good students that can’t get in.

It can be disappointing, but that’s part of life. And each student and parent should be proud of their high school achievements.

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1242

If I understand correctly the little that is out there about Landscape, it pulls info based on zip code.

My zip code is for a city in a different county than the county I live in. There is only 1 high school in my county, it has terrible stats, and bond issues to improve it fail.

Readers may think my cringe is related to my child. It isn’t. I enrolled my kid - since nursery school - in private schools that track to college.

Many of the posters here - like me- are privileged to have access to a “good” high school. I suspect we are a minority, though.

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1243

Yup. Exactly why I referred to it as a true reach for my daughter. She threw her hat in the ring bc it’s always a no if you don’t try. Understanding the stats is really important from the get go to have proper expectations and to create a balanced list.

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