<p>UMich should have offered ED instead of EA. It is so unfair to many many outstanding students. </p>
<p>jjSr2k - do you mean a binding ED? Are there any public universities that offer binding ED? I am not aware of any, but perhaps I am wrong about that. Are public universities even permitted to do so, would that require state legislation of some sort? I have no idea…</p>
<p>TCNJ is a NJ public school that offers ED.</p>
<p>So do you all think that sending updated grade (it used to be third ranked but now it is the first ranked one) would booster my chance of getting accepted? I mean, it seems pretty obvious that they do not want anything but our grade since that is what they wrote in their letter. I know some people thought of sending them extra recommendation or ACT score, but it seems like they would not help but interrupt.</p>
<p>@jk0919 - you want to do two things.<br>
1 - send in anything of reasonable length that will truly help your standing; grades, test scores for sure and yes, one more recommendation if you know it is both strong and from an academic area or someone like an employer that admissions has not seen before.<br>
2 - continue to show strong interest; they want to know you will come if accepted. </p>
<p>@wayneandgarth But the letter clearly states that the most successful applicants submit what they want them to send- for me, it was only my mid-year report. Do I still need to send other things that they do not seem to need?</p>
<p>@jk0919 - I’m not sure of the letter you refer but I would advise to submit your 1st semester transcript when available and if you have improved test scores, no doubt inform them. Michigan wants to be able to publicize the test scores of their accepted and enrolled applicants. Higher scores is what they want to see. I wouldn’t hesitate to send anything of reasonable length that could make you look like a candidate they want to see.</p>
<p>But again, of equal, if not more importance; show interest because they need to know you’ll go if accepted. Now, if you are not sure of that, then don’t say if it isn’t honest.</p>
<p>It is the deferral letter that they sent. @wayneandgarth </p>
<p>Thank you for your application to the University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts for Fall 2015. We are pleased that you have applied and are impressed with your achievements. However, our high application volume, coupled with the very strong credentials of our applicants in recent years, has contributed to an increasingly competitive admissions process. As a result, we are writing to inform you that your application is currently being deferred for further review.
While this is not the answer that you were hoping to hear, your application remains under consideration. All final admissions decisions of admit, deny, or waitlist will be made no later than early April, 2015.
Strong fall semester or trimester grades may improve your status in the deferred pool of applicants. Therefore, please ask your high school counselor to forward them when they become available. Beyond that, we are confident that the information you have given us is more than sufficient for a final decision. The most successful candidates send us only what we require. Please refer to the website <a href=“https://umich.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2080”>https://umich.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2080</a> for FAQ’s about the admission process and what to do next.</p>
<p>We hope your interest in Michigan continues. You have our best wishes for an enjoyable and successful end of your senior year.</p>
<p>According to the letter, it says that they are confident that the information that I have given them is more than sufficient and moreover they say that the most successful candidates send them only what they require.
So Does it mean that I need to only send my transcript?</p>
<p>Applied to which school/college: STAMPS/LSA dual enroll</p>
<p>Accepted </p>
<p>SAT I (breakdown): 800 800 800
ACT: NA
SAT II: Physics 800 Lit 760 Math II 790
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.85
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): uh
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP Physics C Mech (5) AP US History (5) AP BC Calc (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis): lol
Senior Year Course Load: omg stop
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): UGH nothing special</p>
<p>Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Founder of stuff
Job/Work Experience:
Volunteer/Community service:
Summer Activities:
Essays (rating 1-10, details):
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):</p>
<p>Teacher Rec #1: good
Teacher Rec #2: good
Counselor Rec: good
Additional Rec: good
Interview: lol none</p>
<p>Other</p>
<p>State (if domestic applicant): crying
Country (if international applicant):
School Type:
Ethnicity:
Gender:
Income Bracket:
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):</p>
<p>Reflection</p>
<p>Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected:
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected:</p>
<p>General Comments:</p>
<p>@jk0919 - I think if you have improved test scores, you should still defintely send those - no doubt.</p>
<p>I just sent a letter of interest stating that UofM is the most prestigious school I’ve applied to, it’s myn dream to attend and I’ll decline all offers from other universities if I end up getting admitted</p>
<p>MSU Honors is good as well but UofM has the better chemistry program 
</p>
<p>@Qwerty098 & @Alexandre:</p>
<p>That is why using selectivity/admit rate to rank/tier universities is a poor idea, because it is so gameable. And if you think about it, it doesn’t tell you all you need to know about how good a college is. For instance, UNC has had a lower admit rate than UMich for the longest time. Yet UMich alums do better than UNC alums in all 4 of the alumni achievement categories that I look at (percentage going to elite professional schools, percentage getting PhDs, percentage winning prestigious student awards, and production of “American Leaders”). So what does that tell you about the education at UNC vs. UMich? Hard to say that UNC is better than UMich simply because they have a lower admit rate.</p>
<p>BTW, by those criteria, while UMich isn’t an Ivy/Ivy-equivalent, it’s in the next tier of near-Ivies (with ND, Georgetown, UVa, Tufts, JHU, and Rice):
<a href=“Ivy-equivalents - #31 by PurpleTitan - College Search & Selection - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1682986-ivy-equivalents-p3.html</a>
I have Cal as an Ivy-equivalent.</p>
<p>Also, by those 4 criteria, only the WAS LACs are close enough to HYPSM in all 4 categories to be able to make the argument that they should be considered the same level as HYPSM (and maybe Caltech as they are as good as HYPSM in 3 of the 4 categories).</p>
<p>Columbia and UChicago have done a great job of getting their admit rate down (Columbia gets extra applicants simply because they’re in NYC and UChicago has run a very good marketing campaign in recent years), but that doesn’t mean that their alums actually outperform those of the non-HYPSM Ivies/equivalents. For example, in the “percentage getting PhDs” category, Columbia trails 18 of the other 23 schools (both universities and LACs) in the Ivy/Ivy-equivalent tier. All other than Barnard, Northwestern, Wesleyan, Cal, and UPenn. But all 5 of those schools best Columbia in the “American Leaders” category.</p>
<p>PurpleTitan, I really like your post. People seize the US News statistics and focus on things like selectivity for all the wrong reasons. I guess it gives them bragging rights? They “got in” to a club that’s hard to get into? When in reality, your yardsticks are far more important. </p>
<p>What school will lead you down a path toward success? And I would argue even further that some of the schools that have not produced the most PhD’s or “American Leaders” or US Presidents or whatever may not be the best schools for a particular individual. It is so individualized, yet too many people refuse to see it that way.</p>
<p>@anon1995 Are you kidding me right now? A huge university definitely has the means (and manpower) to holistically review applications entirely. You said it yourself, they made $1,755,000 just in the application process:) And the fact that you say “its just a numbers game” is complete BS and CLEARLY you haven’t looked at this thread. They accepted a huge range of students with ACT scores from 26 to 36 and GPA’s from 3.5 to 4.0 so if its a numbers game, looks pretty flawed to me. Anyways, a university would be doing themselves a disservice to skip over essays. I once spoke to an admissions counselor from the College of William and Mary and she told me that if she reads an essay that truly moves her (emotionally, spiritually, etc), she’ll admit you, regardless of standardized test scores and grades. Essays are important. Anyone who says otherwise is “naive, egotistical, & self-deluded” ;). It’s kinda sad to me that on a thread that has done such a good job of encouraging each other throughout this process, you feel the need to attack those of us who took pride in our applications. And for all you know, my essays DID win them over. At the end of the day, though, I suppose it doesn’t matter. I am incredibly proud of my acceptance and hope you can find some other way to occupy yourself than to bring others down. Go blue</p>
<p>PurpleTitan, for many years, Chicago and Johns Hopkins had acceptance rates that hovered around 50%. That changed when they join the common app in 2004 and 2005 respectively. In the 1990s, Columbia, Cornell and Penn had acceptance rate that hovered around 40%. Clearly, to the elite (both in academe and in the corporate world), acceptance rates mean nothing. What matters is the quality of the faculty, the strength of the departments and the academic standards of a university. I am also not sure how anybody can make assumptions about the strength of an applicant pool at one university relative to that of an applicant pool at another, or what choices the mass of admitted students admitted under similar circumstances (RD/EA as opposed to binding ED, and financial consideration) would take when faced with two universities. </p>
<p>(This is my friend’s stats. I’m posting on her behalf because she doesn’t have a CC account)</p>
<p>Accepted to CoE
Sent in app: sometime in October
ACT: 24
SAT: 1560
OOS (Indiana)
Will have taken 9 total AP courses by the end of senior year
GPA: 3.7ish
White
School: public
Income: 90k+
Hooks: none
Fin. Aid: no
Senior Courses: AP Lit, AP Calc AB, AP Physics, AP Computer Programming, TA (teacher assistant) period, band, AP Macro</p>
<p>lots of courses and extracurriculars in engineering and computer programming
Member of the school’s robotics team that won state
30+ volunteer hours (mainly from NHS)</p>
<p>@umichmaybe She has a 1560 overall or just crit + math? Because she must have some insane ecs to get in with scores like that or an incredible essay. </p>
<p>Yes…that doesn’t seem that possible.</p>
<p>@umichmaybe Those stats can’t be real. It takes nothing to make a CC account. An email and a password. That’s it. Happy new year and here’s to everyone getting in to the school they most desire!</p>