Sooo I got deferred from University of Michigan. I was expecting that, but what I wasn’t expecting was a kid at my school with lower stats (4.0 GPA compared to my 4.38 and 1410 SAT compared to my 34 ACT) to be accepted… I know that the process is holistic, but I consider my ECs to be more impressive as well. I also thought my essays were very strong. Another kid in my school with a GPA slightly lower than mine and test scores very similar to mine got deferred. Wonder if they just saw something in the kid with lower stats and ECs that they didn’t see in us through her essays? Yield protection? I’m not sure but it’s not worth stressing about. I’ll just write the LOCI and hope for the best.
I also take a much more rigorous courseload than her
In all of life, you’ll break your heart for naught trying to read the tea leaves of ‘why person X & not me’. That’s why people keep saying ‘you have to run your own race’. There is a lot you don’t- and can’t- know about other people’s package, whether it’s for college apps or getting a job or promotions at work or…
All you know is that one college read multiple apps from your school and said ‘yes and maybe’. The three of you could also have apps in at School B, and get completely different answers.
Just say to yourself (as one of my collegekids did for 4 loooong months): “deferred is not denied”.
@benandjerrys101 where did you end up applying?
I applied to a total of 14 schools
- EA: Princeton (Deferred)
- EA: UMASS Amherst (Accepted into honors college)
- EA: University of Michigan (Deferred) The rest are RD
- Georgetown (Reach)
- Lehigh (Match)
- University of Rochester (Match)
- Cornell (Reach)
- UPenn (Reach)
- Brown (Reach)
- Tufts (Reach because of yield protection)
- WashU in St. Louis (Reach I assume)
- Fordham (Safety)
- Yale (Reach)
- Johns Hopkins (Reach)
(In no particular order of my top choices or whatever)
Some of the same as my DD19:
Penn ED-rejected (reach & legacy)
Wash ED2-rejected (reach)
Georgetown-waitlisted (reach)
Lehigh-accepted (match)
Tufts-rejected (reach)
And:
William & Mary accepted (match)
Wake Forest accepted (match)
Tulane accepted honors (safety)
George Washington accepted (safety)
And:
Boston College waitlisted (match)
Barnard waitlisted (match)
NYU waitlisted (match)
U Miami waitlisted (safety)
Good luck, I know waiting until the end of March is torture.
@UGG2023 Where did she end up going? Also, do you mind sharing her general stats?
OP, I am the mom of four (kid #3 is a senior in HS right now), and I just have to say the following: I hope you are having some fun senior year and not just stressing about applications. Are you participating in your ECs to your full extent this year? I am dizzied by the number of applications you sent in and are having to keep track of! My D20 is an aspiring music major so her application process is three or four steps (college application, music school app, prescreen audition, plus audition). She hit application fatigue after five schools and never did the music app for school six—just the regular one. How are you keeping track of all the accounts for each school? I worry about you a little— that you will burn out. I am a college professor who mostly teaches freshman so I would hope you have a very relaxing spring to build up some energy for next fall! You are going to need it! All the best to you. Please don’t let the acceptances, rejections, and deferrals determine your self worth.
@OrangeJacket I appreciate your concern!! To be honest, I really am having lots of fun! Still participating in all of my ECs also, keeping up my grades, also adding some new stuff to my life (Neuroscience course which has been so cool). I don’t really know how I did all my apps… I basically made myself a schedule (which I do for everything because I’m a Type A freak lol) and I did one app a weekend since September and then finished them out over winter break. The only thing that got me through was thinking about my future career and how one day it’ll all be worth it.
Since I mentioned I’m type A, I’m keeping track of all of them in a folder in my google drive. I have a big master document with info of each school in a list (including links to the portals, passwords, what I need to submit, financial aid requirements, due dates, etc.) and I have everything written down in my planner. I sound like I have no life but trust me I am having a super fun senior year and I have 0 regrets. Thanks again for your tips! I’m excited to begin college in the fall wherever I end up.
@OrangeJacket Also, although I am not an aspiring music major, I can still understand the music part a little (I did one ‘unofficial’ live audition for Princeton and I believe I may do an official one for Lehigh). Good luck to her!! I know it can be much more stressful and challenging for actual aspiring music majors. Just tell her to play like nobody is listening 
Just got accepted into LSA at UofMich!!! Very excited
CONGRATS! Now you can ride out the rest of admissions season knowing that whatever else comes you are going to go to college you are excited about this autumn.
Another update: Fordham informed me early that I was accepted with a Dean’s scholarship!
It just gets better! congrats!
Yay! So nice to hear your latest news about LSA Michigan and Fordham. Have a great weekend!
Waitlisted at Washington University… sorta feel defeated but also was expecting it? My chances at the ivies sure do feel slim now. I wasn’t super attached to the school like I hardly know anything about it so I’m okay with that decision.
A little for you, @benandjerrys101, but mostly for future applicants: please don’t do this to yourself! IF you are going to send in apps to schools that you aren’t “attached” to and “hardly know anything about” (and I don’t recommend it), at least don’t take it personally when the organization which you don’t love doesn’t love you back!
Rejected from Johns Hopkins… oh well!
@collegemom3717 I didn’t take it personally! I probably would have chosen Michigan over WashU. Any sort of rejection will sting a little bit though! Weirdly I have been barely affected by WashU and Hopkins decisions though. Just wasn’t meant to be I guess
I saw that, @benandjerrys101 The comment really was mostly for others.
The Last Collegekid is getting results right now also, and was just turned down by a uni that she really wasn’t into, and had put absolutely minimal effort into the app. Yes, I did ask ‘why are you doing this’ and she said things along the line of ‘who knows, I might get in’ ‘it would be a good name’ ‘It’s a super easy application’ and ‘I won’t be bothered if they say no’. That last at least was wrong: it still stung when they said ‘yeahhhhh…no’! Imo, colleges are better at both recognizing a lack of interest and a not great fit than students seem to think!