University of Michigan Class of 2029 Official RD Thread

[evergreen5]

Just to aggregate past advice, I found the following from the class of 2027 RD thread on the topic of the LOCI for non-EA-deferred RD apps:

@busymomof03

My daughter is RD and after emailing her AO with an unrelated question they encouraged my daughter to complete the LOCI.

From @sushiritto :

@sushiritto

Just my gut feel, but I believe the Michigan admissions system is sophisticated enough to be able to detect an 11/1 deferred/postponed vs. a 2/1 app RD submission. Michigan has been using those deadlines for a very long time.

As to why they’re sending out a LOCI to 2/1 submissions, I’m not sure, other than maybe most of their RD app submissions arrive in the November to mid-January time frame and they’re wondering if the applicant remains interested.

From @Knowsstuff :

@Knowsstuff

Typically if applying in the EA time frame then they would want the Loci. If applying in RD I haven’t seen this. But if you got a letter then follow what it says or /and reach out and ask. They are usually very nice and helpful. If sent to RD from EA then fill one out. They say on their website it’s all optional but I don’t consider too many things optional when showing interest. Keep in mind many many don’t send one in and are students at Michigan today. Good luck.

If you all have any updated thoughts, feel free to share.

[evergreen5]

This is just a hunch, but perhaps this did go to all RD applicants. The RD applicant I know also got such an email, yesterday morning, a few days after submitting RD:

We are certain we have enough information at this time to make a decision.

However, if you would like to communicate your continued interest in the University of Michigan, let us know of new achievements/awards, and/or share any additional information, please fill out the Expression of Continued Interest (ECI) form. If you choose to submit this form, it must be submitted by March 1.

The Expression of Continued Interest form is voluntary and is NOT required for us to consider your application in our decision process. Furthermore, no preference is given for the order or date in which the form is received. Additionally, please note that we will only allow for a single submission of the Expression of Continued Interest form, and you will not have access to edit the form after it has been submitted.

In the big picture, it does sound like they are measuring interest, and maybe with the timing, hoping to possibly eliminate those admitted to other selective publics on Friday if those are overlap schools. So, I would lean toward it not being truly optional.

As discussed in the EA thread, writing essentially a second Why Us is a bit irritating, especially for applicants who only just submitted their application mere days ago, with no real new achievements likely to happen in the next few weeks. Sigh, the game of college admissions in 2025…

[Knowsstuff]

So the question is if Michigan is moving the goal posts this year. It doesn’t seem like they are. My advice is the same. I don’t like living my life with “what ifs”. If it’s me, I am writing the essay. Many here will tell you that they never did also and got accepted.

[Idontgetthis]

I just showed this conversation to my DD. She says for Michigan Ross, if they ask me to write a thousand word essay on “What if Not Michigan” too, she’d happily write it. Whatever it takes.. lol
She’s a strong writer and expresses well, so feels it gives her additional opportunities to shine, against her otherwise mid-stats for Ross.
Distant dream, so not counting on it.

[Knowsstuff]

So this reminds me when my son was thinking about applying to MIT. I think there are “3” essays. He had several schools to apply to and “2” essays were his limit at one sitting lol. In other words, he didn’t want to do what it takes to go there. So, he really didn’t want to go. The" idea" of going was real.

I know people don’t want to hear this but it does seem wherever these students land they tend to do well. They are a pretty resilient bunch.

[OR1]

Life is about playing the hand you’re dealt, especially after the helicopter departs…

[zenja1]

Did anyone in RD get an email about a letter of continued interest?

[evergreen5]

My understanding is that all RD applicants got that email.

[TUK]

Hi. My son got the e-mail, too. Do you think it would hurt the application if he did not respond to it, regardless of whether they say it wouldn’t?

[evergreen5]

A poster a couple of years ago mentioned an AO strongly suggested submitting. As we all might guess, the safest route would be to just submit something, to have no regrets.

I find it irksome and I’m not the one having to write, but perhaps we can reframe it as merely another small part of the game of college admissions.

[curiousoc]

I also find it irritating. If you applied EA, you are interested. That should be enough.

[evergreen5]

I’d stop at “you applied.” They are asking for essays expressing continued interest for RD applicants who literally just submitted their apps two days prior.

What I do wonder a bit: maybe they give RD applicants the “opportunity” to submit the continued interest essay so that RD apps and EA-deferred-to-RD apps are on equal footing, so they are comparing apples to apples. Which then makes me think again about scoring and algorithms.

[curiousoc]

YUP! I told my kid it would have been easier to just apply RD, but RD kids have to submit too? Dumb. I find the admissions office to be very full of themselves. I am still appalled by their January 24th TikTok.

[PAT650307]

My D25 was postponed and I recently joined this chat. My take is this, since the ECI has a deadline for Mar 1, RD or EA applicants can submit their ECI (if they choose to) closer to the deadline. My D25 hesitated and thought there was no chance for her until she got a sports award just two days ago. So, then, she has got something extra to share (with a few other things). You never know what will come up between now and Mar 1. Good luck everyone.

[aggiesomeday123]

If postponed, does anyone know the oos admission rate for RD?

[sushiritto]

This info is not published.

[Mkana_Family]

Hello!

This is niche but I got waitlisted for acting in UMich SMTD. Does the acting waitlist move?

How large is the acting waitlist?

[DroidsLookingFor]

Congrats for making it that far! It’s a very small program, so even a WL is a W

Unless someone else chimes in, best bet might be to prowl the RD threads for the classes of 28/27/26 to see if anyone was in a similar situation and what happened in the end. Could also try the UMich subreddit.

[2024GradDad]

It appears that Michigan has just posted its Common Data Set for the 2024-2025 academic year, which as some mildly interesting data on admissions for the class of 2028 that hasn’t been released before. The single bit of data that’s disclosed in the CDS but not elsewhere is on waitlists. I know it’s too early in this cycle to start thinking about waitlists, but believe me…it will become relevant soon enough! According to the new data, Michigan offered waitlist slots to 24,800 last year, and 18,000 agreed to go on the waitlist. Of those, only 973 were eventually offered admissions, or about 5%. That’s about the same as the class of 2027, but significantly better odds than the previous two classes, which were sort of COVID-related anomalies. For those who want to look at the data themselves, here’s the link: https://obp.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/pubdata/cds/CDS_2024-25_umaa_2-19-25.pdf I’ve also screenshotted the waitlist data:

[Idontgetthis]

So, overall: 15% admitted, 25% waitlisted (why UMich?), and 60% rejected.