<p>mtjade: problem is many applicants even from these same great schools. Again, my point is that the key seems to be managaing to distinguish yourself from the pack.</p>
<p>@excanuck99 As the character says in the movie Incredibles, “If everyone is super, than nobody is”. How can everyone try to distinguish themselves from everyone else and still have a “pack”? The fact also is what distinguishes someone is different in different parts of the world. In asia, it’s focused deeply on academics - long school years, back-breaking school work and assignments, frequent tests, very few opportunities for internships, etc. The way you distinguish yourself here is through academic performance. Or, you give up academics to excel in something else. The regional admission officers are supposed to know this and evaluate applications appropriately. Michigan, and most other schools, anyway place the greatest emphasis on GPA, course rigor, and test scores, followed by recommendations and ECs. It is therefore somewhat surprising that a person of lower stats get admitted when so many with higher stats are deferred (unless they excelled in something else). It makes the whole admission process look whimsical if one can “stand out” just through an essay, when years of strong academic performance and hard-earned test scores are a better indicator of success in college. I can, of course, understand someone not showing the enthusiasm in their essays, and that working against them, but I just can’t see how just an essay can compensate for measurable achievements. The truth is, with the kind of numbers top colleges are seeing, admissions is a crap-shoot for most folks with no hooks. </p>
<p>@anxious00 you took all the words from my mouth :)</p>
<p>I too am very confused about how applicants are chosen. </p>
<p>My S was accepted to the CoE yesterday are we are very happy for him. </p>
<p>His Stats are as follows:</p>
<p>SAT-- did not take
ACT-- 34C, 31R, 35M, 35S, 35E. ( one sitting)
GPA – 4.0 UW 5.0 W
14 AP’s including this year (AP Scholar and AP Scholar with distinction)
White, Male, OOS (FL)
4 years of AFJROTC
President Rocket Club
President Mu Alpha Theta
President of Card Club (started it with friends last year)
Kitty Hawk Honor Society
Cyber Patriots
NHS
SNHS
Volunteer – tutoring in math and Physics, Nature Preserve, other various projects</p>
<p>National awards: Commended Student (PSAT)
3 years National Latin Exam
National Sergeants Award
AP awards</p>
<p>Local HS awards: Presidents Honor Roll, etc.</p>
<p>Deferred MIT, Accepted Purdue, Deferred Case Western</p>
<p>I do not know they look for in an applicant because so many great students have been deferred!</p>
<p>Wishing everyone the best fit when it comes time to choose your college. </p>
<p>This deferral just makes me so upset. I have 33 ACT and 3.9 GPA, everything else is really good as well. I got deferred, yet another friend had only 26 ACT, and not even has a lot of extracurricular activities. I’m really confused and upset right now. It just doesn’t make sense to me. </p>
<p>This whole process is pretty random and unfair… I mean schools get thousands of applications and many times the kids applying have similar test scores and GPAs, as well as unique extracurriculars. Unless you have some sort of “hook” or there is something really, really outstanding on your application, luck is a huge factor. I got deferred from my safety school so my dean called them and asked why and they told him that they thought I would attend a more competitive university, so they deferred me. I’ve also been deferred from a target school that I was well qualified for, and I know kids that have even better gpas and scores than me who got rejected. Before Thursday, I had gotten 4 deferrals and was worried that I was just going to be deferred everywhere. Luckily I was accepted into two schools over the past 2 days (Michigan being one of them), neither of which I had really considered before, but now am definitely considering. This whole process is really unpredictable, but I wish everyone the best of luck and know that everyone will get accepted and end up happy somewhere.</p>
<p>My son (2210 SAT, 3.75 W, tons of ECs and APs) and all of his class mates (that he knows of) were deferred from top CT public school. Last year over 20 were accepted so I expect many of the deferrals will turn into acceptances.Problem is, a lot of the kids appear to have lost interest, which maybe indicates that they were not that interested to start with! </p>
<p>Decision: Accepted</p>
<p>Applied to which school/college: CoE</p>
<p>SAT I (breakdown): 2370 (800 Maths, 800 Writing, 770 CR)
ACT: Didn’t take
SAT II: 800 Physics, 800 Math Lvl 2
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): School doesn’t calculated GPA
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): -
AP (place score in parenthesis): -
IB (place score in parenthesis): 45 (predicted)</p>
<p>Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Varsity sports teams (captain), community service (president, secretary), orchestra…
Job/Work Experience: Shadowing in R&D department of electronics firm in Germany.
Summer Activities: Stanford EPGY, Harvard SSP
Essays (rating 1-10, details): Mentioned specific programs that interest me. I like to use metaphors - maybe that helped to make the essays more interesting XD I would rate my own essays around 8.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): Not allowed to read them, but I’ve been assured that they’re pretty good. </p>
<p>Interview: None</p>
<p>State (if domestic applicant): -
Country (if international applicant): Thailand
School Type: Private international school
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Female
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None, except mother went to UMich’s sister university in Shanghai. Not sure if this helped, but maybe. </p>
<p>Strengths: Grades
Weaknesses: Nothing very outstanding or special. Not that many opportunities for state awards, competitions, etc… in Thailand in my opinion.
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Academics, genuine interest in subject area (I specifically stated that I want to take a dual degree in mechanical engineering and aerospace engineering). I think it helps if you know what you are genuinely interested in.
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected: Deferred from Princeton :’( </p>
<p>I was pretty upset after getting deferred from Princeton, so I understand the pain of anyone who has also been disappointed by admission decisions. But really, this is all so subjective that there really is no way to say someone will definitely be accepted. All you can say is that you tried your very best in applying, and indeed in high school, and there will definitely be another university that you like that will accept you! 
</p>
<p>Just remember to stay positive!! (Even though I know it’s hard… I’ve cried several times XD)
Best of luck everyone! 
</p>
<p>I was the only one at my school accepted and I attend a small private MI school (50-60 students/ yr) that usually sends 5-6 to Michigan. I’m just confused by the deferrals as I could be considered high stat, 4.0, 34 ACT. The only thing I can figure out is I’m a double legacy and attended a UM is 4 U session to have my essays reviewed before I submitted my application. </p>
<p>It just seems they are defferring the ones that are likely to get into Ivies and that thought michigan could be their rescue net. 2350 SAT being defferred with near 4.0 GPA, while some 1950’s SAT’s are accepted, because chances are that the Umich was easily Number one choice for a 1950 SAT, but a 2350 SAT has like five other preferred choices before UMich. They don’t want to fill their Early Action with perfect scores that are likely not to attend anyways.</p>
<p>This is interesting. I think U of M should switch to ED so that they don’t have to predict Yield.</p>
<p>@elise12 i saw two acceptances for Kinesiology. One 27 ACT and one 30 ACT, i hardly remember GPA, but i think they were good, like 3.9 ish.</p>
<p>For everyone trying to explain this by asserting that these less qualified applicants had stellar essays, the chance that most underqualified applicants would have better essays than the 33+ ACT’s in the group would be slim. Besides, the more qualified kids are presumably better writers. It’s yield protection, plain and simple.</p>
<p>@crhomberg21 you’re obviously right. And people should start understanding that the essays aren’t as important as they think they are. Obviously admission are not going to accept someone because “their” essay is so beautiful. Mostly because a piece of paper of 700 words reflects very little, and also because they know you have been writing this essay for several weeks, even months, with the gracious help of coaches and other teachers. Which makes it pretty worthless in the end i think. I don’t see how a good essay can beat a 2300 SAT.</p>
<p>Ironically, one of the only kids from my school who got accepted has already committed to Vanderbilt. :)) </p>
<p>And as I mentioned earlier, restricted early action is the way to go for Michigan.</p>
<p>To anyone accepted or deferred who was accepted ED/EA to their top school: please let UMich know you aren’t attending unless you need to consider fin aid. It’s unfair to hold a spot that someone deferred/ RD could use.</p>
<p>When does rd start releasing</p>
<p>I just really think it’s ridiculous that Michigan is playing a game with peoples’ futures to boost their ratings. The overqualified applicants should be able to make their own decision about school without Michigan making it for them. I know kids who got into MIT and got deferred from Michigan, while lesser qualified applicants from the same school were accepted. I think US News has truly ruined the college admissions process. </p>
<p>Decision: ACCEPTED
Applied to which school/college: LSA</p>
<h1>Objective:</h1>
<p>SAT I (breakdown): 2130 (First sitting - Math: 780, CR: 700, Writing: 650)
SAT II: I took Math II - 770 and Physics - 630 (could have done much better on this but remember Michigan does not require it)</p>
<p>Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 10%</p>
<p>IB (place score in parenthesis): Predicted 43 or 44 (out of 45)
Senior Year Course Load: HL Economics, HL Mathematics, HL Business, SL French, SL Physics, SL English language and literature.</p>
<p>Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): No major awards. International school competition awards + academic awards.</p>
<h1>Subjective:</h1>
<p>Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
- Habitat for Humanity
- Medical Missions
- Debate (Inter-school level for 3 years)
- Investment club (President)
- Played the violin for a while (tried to learn it, but I actually suck at instruments haha)</p>
<p>Job/Work Experience: Economics Research Internship at a Bank. Conducted research and prepared a report.
Volunteer/Community service: Habitat for Humanity, Medical missions (basically repeating) what I did above.
Summer Activities: The internship mentioned above</p>
<p>Essays (rating 1-10, details):
- Common App (failure prompt) 8.5/10
Felt it was a really good piece of work - Why Michigan 8/10
It was well written but content was not great. I did not know what kind of essay they looked for. I did my research quite well and provided relevant examples about what I wanted to do at Michigan both academically and in terms of the other aspects of University life. I recommend everyone does this; it may not help produce the best essay, but it sure helps you discover WHY you really want to apply there … which is something you must think about) - Michigan community
This wasn’t really an essay, just a short response question which I answered well. Nothing fancy.</p>
<p>Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: Probably 9/10 From my SL English teacher. She loves me, so I’m sure it was awesome.
Teacher Rec #2: Probably 9/10 From my HL Econ teacher. I have a good relationship with her, and I’ve gotten to know her much better as she is an advisor for one of the clubs I am involved with. I’m quite sure it was good.
Counselor Rec: No idea. Just got introduced to my counselor, we hit it off well but I’m not sure what her rec would say. Probably generic (but I hope not).
Additional Rec: None
Interview: Didn’t get one.</p>
<h1>Other</h1>
<p>Country (if international applicant): Indonesia (applying from this country)
School Type: Large International school
Ethnicity: Indian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: Would not want to disclose
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None. In fact, I think that being Indian haha places me in the Asian category obviously, which was a bit of a worry. Asians do make up a large demographic so at times I felt it might have been a disadvantage but well luckily not.</p>
<h1>Reflection</h1>
<p>Strengths: Very high GPA, Major focused (Economics) EC’s, Recommendation letters, IB predicted score
Weaknesses: SAT scores by far. Essays could have been better. More EC’s. No hooks. No major awards.
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Probably great academic qualities and what my teachers had to say about me.
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected: rejected Upenn Wharton ED, waiting for UC’s, UChicago, Northwestern, possibly Emory (if I apply there)</p>
<p>General Comments:</p>
<p>GO BLUE ! I AM PSYCHED TO GET IN ! THIS WAS AWESOME AWESOME NEWS. PLUS WOLVERINE (THAT HAS GOT TO BE THE COOLEST MASCOT EVAR !).</p>
<p>Really really happy. Anyway, for those deferred - remember it’s not the end of the line. Being deferred simply means being reconsidered and it does NOT diminish who you are as a student. Everyone who applied here was extremely qualified and will go to great places. Just hang in there and hope for the best ! Remember this is just another college.
Plenty of good places out there. Personally, it is hard to let go, but when I got rejected from Penn, I was fine in like 5 minutes. Just apply with nothing to lose, don’t overthink it, just do it ! As for those who were admitted - CONGRATS lads, hopefully we’d meet as Wolverines ;). This is also my first CC post so I’m new to this (although I’ve browsed the site for like 5 months now). Feel free to message me ! BEST OF LUCK TO ALL OF YOU !</p>