Chance a stressed out student for UMich EA?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey everyone,</p>

<p>The Common App just went live a few days ago and I've become super stressed over getting into college, especially my dream school UM-Ann Arbor.</p>

<p>Your input would be greatly appreciated as well as any tips for increasing my chances. </p>

<p>Profile-</p>

<p>Basic Stats--
Gender: Male
Race: White (European and MidEastern origin)
Religion: Muslim
Languages: Fluent English and limited Arabic
Residence: Dearborn Heights, Michigan
High School: Dearborn High School (best public school in the area)
Decision: EA
Intended Majors- Ecology & Evolutionary Biology + Neuroscience. Minor in Biological Anthropology.</p>

<p>Academics--
Freshman Year (note-I had a rough transition to HS and went to a crappy charter school)
Classes- English, Algebra 1, US History, Biology, Arabic, Visual Arts, PE/Health, Technology
Grades-Mostly B's and a few A's.</p>

<p>Sophomore year (note- I transferred to my current HS this year)
Classes-Honors English, Geometry, Honors Chemistry, US Economics, US Government, Theater, Spanish 1
Grades- Mostly A's, 1 B in Honors English.</p>

<p>Junior year
Classes-AP Lang, AP Bio, Honors Physics, Algebra 2, Psychology, Sociology, Forensic Science, Anthropology (dual enrollment)
Grades- All A's</p>

<p>Senior year
Classes- AP Lit, AP Chem, APES, Honors PreCalc, Directed Study in Biology, Anatomy or Spanish 2 (depends on Arabic test out results).
Grades- All A's I hope, I could settle for a B in AP Chem though</p>

<p>GPA 9-11 (I calculated it like UMich would, no weight or signs-I did get A-'s and B+'s but that doesn't matter): 3.73</p>

<p>Testing--
ACT: 30 comp
English: 33
Math: 23
Reading: 34
Science: 29
Writing: 10
(note- that test didn't go well for me, I'm retaking in September and hoping for a 31-33)
AP Lang: 4
AP Bio: 4
SAT Bio M-740
Future tests: AP Chem, APES, AP Psych (self study), SAT Chem.</p>

<p>Major ECs aka the 10 I'll put on the Common App--
2014 UMich Michigan Math & Science Scholars Summer Program "Explorations of a Field Biologist" course
Lead Chair of PEACE Club (We've donated hundreds of dollars to charity and were recognized by both the UN Refugee Agency and Water.org)
Oakwood Hospital Youth Volunteer Program (200+ hours, got commended by hospital president for working through a blizzard)
First Degree Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do (Junior Instructor, I do volunteer judging/ refereeing at tournaments)
Link Crew (Upperclassmen helping freshman)
Anti-Bullying Club
Science Olympiad
Peer to Peer Mentoring Program
Literature Club (Might be president next year, not sure)
Assistant to my AP Lang teacher for a semester when I had a free hour.</p>

<p>Essays--
I'm a pretty good writer
Common App Essay: The failure topic about the time I lost my little cousin in an amusement park. (I'll make it work)
UM EC Supplement: MMSS, it was truly life changing.
UM Community Supplement- Being half Arab, half European-American.
UM Interest- How LS&A will help me explore the world in depth. Also love of bio and Ann Arbor.</p>

<p>Letters--
I'm thinking 3-4, all will be glowing.
1). Peace Club sponsor will talk about how good a person I am and highlight that EC since I used the supplement to talk about MMSS
2). AP Bio teacher will talk about my passion for science/bio.
3-4). AP Chem and/or Psych teacher will say how good of a student I am</p>

<p>Should I Do four?</p>

<p>That's about it, please help!</p>

2

<p>For LSA as in state student, it should be a high match for you. For CoE, it would be a low reach.
Your GPA and ACT are both below admission average and are at around the bottom of mid 50. Try to bring them up a little bit to make it safer although you are from in state.</p>

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<p>UMI: High match</p>

4

<p>@billcsho can’t really raise my gpa since I’m applying EA but I’m definitely gonna raise my ACT. Notwithstanding, I’ve found that cc puts a big focus on GPA and tests despite prestigious schools admitting holistically. I’ve met plenty of people who got in to UMich w/ under 30 ACT and similar grades.</p>

<p>@Catria care to explain why?</p>

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<p>@als2000 UMich does put more emphasis on GPA than other schools even it is also holistical. You are currently at the grey area that may get deferred from EA before admission. If you do get deferred, you still have a chance to improve your GPA. Since UMich rarely reject EA applicant, you should definitely apply EA. GPA 3.73 is not bad, but the admission average is 3.85. The mid 50 ACT for 2014 is 30-33. So 25% admitted students have ACT at 30 or lower.</p>

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<p>@billcsho Well shoot, I guess I’ll explain my bad freshman grades and I have an upward trend. I’m hoping schedule strength, ECs, Writing and Letters will carry me, though a better ACT could help!</p>

<p>I think having been to UMICH this summer could help my chances since I’m really set on going and I know what I’m getting into. If there was ED I’d take it!</p>

7

<p>Bump</p>

8

<p>@billcsho could you guesstimate a rough statistic for how many UMich EA applicants get accepted vs deferred? </p>

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<p>I don’t have that info and I hate to give any figure without data support or at least any hint.</p>

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<p>Bump</p>

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<p>I think (and hope) you will get in. My only fear is your alarming ACT math sub-score; that could be an issue. Though your composite is in a competitive percentile, your individual math sub-score is far from it. Study study study and get that math to 27+ – it will be worth it!! Also- I would say just stick to 3 recs; no need for overkill. </p>

12

<p>^ I agree. OP should try to bring up the test scores particularly for the Math section.</p>

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<p>@WishfulWolverine Thanks so much! I know my math score stinks but I did panic and guess the last 18 questions so I will do better if I can stay calm. However, I’ve talked to some knowledgeable people (a Princeton Review guy and UMich admissions official) who’ve told me that L,S & A doesn’t look at subscores. My actual strategy is to bring everything else up to compensate for a potentially medichore math score. I am going to do only 3 letters since my essays are turning out long, don’t want to turn the reader off! Though maybe they’ll just get the idea and admit me. </p>

<p>Also just a general question. Does my common app essay have to include academics or can it just be a story. </p>

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<p>@billscho you seem very UMich savvy, do you know if the actual admissions readthrough is done be conslers assigned to a specific area and if that extends to EA? </p>

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<p>I wouldn’t be so sure that they don’t look at sub-scores. On Michigan’s common app data set, they report the 25-75 percentiles for each sub-score. I am hesitant to believe that they report these numbers for no reason. With that said, I wouldn’t recommend blowing off math and just perfecting the others; math is arguably the most important section. Though at the end of the day the composite is what matters most, the adcom has to be convinced that you would excel at Michigan – where quantitative reasoning (math) requirements exist. </p>

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<p>@WishfulWolverine That may be because Engineering looks at subscores. I’m not bad at math, I just am bad at fast math. This is something I’ll explain and hopefully my math grades will give credance to sed argument.</p>

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<p>Sometimes it is hard to understand what the adcom said. UMich does not superscore, and yet, they said they will look at the best submitted section scores. Nevertheless, the example they used on was the Math score for CoE on the FAQ. For LSA, the Math score should have a much lower weight than CoE. Nevertheless, a more balanced section scores would be favored. What they want are students that would be successful in college. You don’t want to have anything that make them to have some doubt.</p>

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<p>@billscho, @WishfulWolverine‌ Thanks for the input. One more thing, do any of you know how heavily UMich weighs demonstrated interest? I’ve voluntarily sent them my ACT & AP scores, went to their table at a NACAC fair and got scanned in to their system (also where I got the math subscore info), visited campus, stayed on campus 2 weeks at MMSS, and am attending a Meet-and-Greet type event tommorow + an application workshop in October.</p>

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<p>It will consider the student’s expression of interest but do not put much weight on it. You can read that from the CDS.
<a href=“http://obp.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/pubdata/cds/cds_2013-2014_umaa.pdf”>http://obp.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/pubdata/cds/cds_2013-2014_umaa.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Most important factors are course rigor and GPA.</p>

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<p>@billscho I think I have course rigor nailed. GPA isn’t the best reflection of me but I can explain it well enough. I think since it’s an upward trend coupled with a high ACT score (I’m gonna start studying again), leadership roles, stellar essays and letters, increasing course strength, and high-level of interest will push me through. I read somewhere that doing a summer program
and Directed study in subject area of interest increase admissions chances (On Writing The College Application Essay says a DS increases admissions chances by about 11%)</p>