Hi, I can address some of your questions as although I have not been on in months, when I got tagged in the posts below, I was notified. Hopefully it can shed some light on the process, or also more confusion…
My son is a freshman at UM in COE and was postponed as you have probably seen by now. He ultimately was accepted and attends and when he learned he could review his file, went in the early fall to do so.
So in re to this comment of yours “The room where they viewed the apps apparently prohibited phones, cameras or note taking.” - All true with the exception of prohibited note taking. You are allowed to take notes, but cannot take a camera or phone in with you.
No notes at all regarding being postponed/deferred etc. No reasoning whatsoever why my son was postponed and he had a really GOOD score! Comments said he would be a great addition to UM and that he would be heavily involved. Great EC’s, etc. I honestly can’t remember what it said about his coursework or rigor other than the GPA listed as 4.0 but I can ask him.
I’m not sure I posted this originally when he reviewed his app, but he was actually the only person from our school that was later accepted after being postponed. Mid 20’s were accepted in total. There were 2 I think accepted in one small cycle a little before he was and those were legacies of some sort. We also I believe got either 3 or 4 kids into Ross this year which is shocking because some years we get none and usually one at most. We’re an OOS school. I think this year there is a correction though due to Michigan over-enrolling last year because it doesn’t sound like nearly as many have gotten in this year from our school, or anywhere, so I think they did take less this year in EA and waiting to see what their conversion is.
I also don’t believe that the postpone so many kids because they don’t have time to read the files. Mainly because my son turned in his app on the day it was due (Nov 15) and it was read by both readers at UM by November 30.
The score given was numerical, so whoever said they’re given outstanding, excellent, good, avg, etc. that was not something seen on his application and as far as I know, not on his friends who are in LSA either. I also don’t think there was anything about his AP tests (all 5’s at the time of his application) but I can ask him about that too.
Happy to help provide any bit of information I can. It is a stressful process for sure!