Currently a white, female, freshman at Michigan State University
Major: Premedical (I’m thinking of changing to biology)
College GPA: 3.5 plus Dean’s List
High school GPA:
-unweighted-3.65 (Due to a few c+'s and b’s during my sophomore year when my mother almost passed away.)
-weighted- 3.9;
-SAT- 1170
Credits: 27 as of now from AP credits and classes. 19 that Michigan accepts, will be 35 at the end of the year. Taking 5 over the summer, making me at 40 credits.
-AP Psych (4)
-AP Government (3)
Extra Circulars/Awards:
HS:
-Cheerleading, plus the postion of Captain
-Chamber Choir
-NHS
-Student Council
-Volunteer at a local nursing home
-Positive Peer Influence Mentor
-Diversity Alliance Member
-Select 50 (an award given to 25 students from both local high schools given based on achievement, service, etc)
-AP Biology Student of the Year
College:
-Member of Premedical Association
Volunteer at Sparrow Hospital
Volunteer at the Child Development Lab
Work Experience:
-Hostess at a local restaurant back home for 2 years
-Nanny over the summer for 2 children
I have family (great grandfather, 2 great uncles) who did attend the University of Michigan as well. Any input and advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!
Since you’re in-state, you may have a chance. You may want to check out equivalency to make sure most of your credits transfer in. As a recent transfer student myself, I applied with 45 credits but only 30 transferred. Depending on the courses you’ve taken, it may help explain a lower g.pa. for a transfer. So unless the courses were rigorous, I would use the essay to explain why. Also, if your grades have improved by the time you start your common app, or whatever application you’re using, then that will definitely improve your odds. As far as EC, it seems like you’re involved with research and helping your community, so that will definitely help separate you from other applicants.
TBH, your g.p.a is on the lower side for transfers, but you can supplement that by explaining what you have to offer and what separates you from other potential candidates. When I applied last year, there were people with high g.p.a’s that were rejected, and people with average g.p.a’s that were accepted. So best advice is to raise your g.p.a and put a lot of effort into your essays. Admission officers see thousands of perfect g.p.a’s and high SAT/ACT scores, but they want substance and students that aren’t from a cookie-cutter mold. So stand out and I wish you nothing but the best. Go-Blue
Hi there! thank you so much for the input!! I’ve kept an eye on the creditsthat transfer just to double check. I can basically tell you that I took 5 courses my first college semester and 2 of them don’t transfer (my college algebra course (3 credits) which I 3.0’d and a workout pass/fail course) The courses that transfer were General Chemistey (3.0) Child Growth and Development (4.0) and the basic freshman writing course(4.0). I am taking the second section of Gen Chem along with 2 psychology courses, a humanities course as well as a math course that transfers next semester! Any advice on the essays? What sucks is that these are very very short essays! Any input is very much appreciated! Thank you
I would talk about research that you’ve been involved with, and a story involving volunteering in the community. UMich is really big on community involvement and research so both of these will help with standing out. I talked about my military experience, and used personal experiences where I had to overcome a difficult task with minimum resources. Use each essay to highlight your strengths and talk about short-comings and what you’re doing to overcome them. Admissions want a person that isn’t just academically proficient, they want a person that they can relate to and a person that has something to offer that other candidates don’t. As a pre-health pysch major, I can tell you that the psych courses here are amazing. If you have any other questions feel free to ask and best of luck.
Hi! @dwane1 This is kind of a long stretch but, would you mind reading my essays? I love hearing feedback! I’ve been working pretty hard on these! If not no worries! I can also just give you a summary
It is still competitive but you seem to be on the right track. I wouldn’t explain your grades. They are fine. The Sat is on the low side but if you are coming in as a junior standing I think they dismiss your high school record. You’ve done great at state!
Your essay should be unique, interesting and personal. Your work at the child development lab sounds interesting to me. I would want to know more about that plus your volunteering VS work study/job. That shows me you might have a true interest in that area /field.
No… Don’t post your essay unless you want someone else to take it then you get accused of plagiarism on your own essay. Never put it on an open forum. @goblue1213
The person should be able to pm after a certain amount of posts but yes making your application stand out is key and why I said make it interesting, unique and personal.
A few things: Beyond making your application stand out, you will have to thoroughly and adequately answer Why Michigan? What does UMich offer that Michigan State does not? (and being higher ranked is not the answer) How do you know this after just one semester at MSU? I am not trying to be difficult, just want to make sure that you have clarity in your thinking and can articulate those thoughts.
I would also encourage you to attend a Transfer Tuesday session at UMich. Good luck.
@Knowsstuff Yeah of course! It was the most helpful thing. It answered every single question I had.
So you start with a 30 minute power point and they cover what they believe is a competitive applicant but only for the college of LSA and C.O.E. For LSA they consider applicants that have a 3.5 and between 45-60 credits competitive. They also discuss their holistic approach of evaluating applicants which included GPA and Personal Characteristic (obtained from the essays and LORS), along with what you have been involved in. You then go on an hour walking tour (I personally chose to skip it due to me being at UMich every weekend visiting my boyfriend :)) ) Afterwards there is a 2 and a half hour thing where you can meet with Credit Evaluators, along with LSA Academic Advising. Which was super helpful for me because I have a credit that hasn’t yet been attempted to be transferred and they told me they would take it! They also offered an option to meet with Admissions Staff and Financial Aid staff. I went to the admissions staff and luckily I got to interact with my assigned Admissions Counselor (who I have emailed quite a bit) and she knew who I was! It was super awesome to get to meet her in person and get insight’s from the pro. If anyone is dedicated and passionate as I am, I completely recommend going and checking out.
That is really awesome information. Many just don’t know much about it. Glad that it turned out to be useful. Nothing says more that you have an interest in transferring there then actually going there and meeting the people that might be in control of your decision.
@skieurope is this sticky worthy? Seems like a lot of people ask about transferring and don’t know Michigan has this day on Tuesdays to do this.
Wow, I am surprised. It seems to be a tough admit cycle this year in general. Did you talk to them about coming in as a junior status? For some reason that seems easier to do. No stats on that just an observation.
I did not, in my denial letter it said “The Office of Undergraduate Admissions considers several factors in determining the competitiveness of all transfer applicants for the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, and applicants with junior standing (55 transferable credit hours) are given preference. The factors we consider include the number of credit hours completed in transferable course work, the level of achievement in college course work, and the progress toward completion of general LSA degree requirements, including transferable course work in social sciences, natural sciences, humanities, and foreign language. Here is a link to our website with additional information about distribution requirements: lsa.umich.edu/lsa/academics/lsa-requirements/area-distribution-requirement.html. Because you do not have enough transferable credits to be at junior standing, we also considered your academic record from high school, including your GPA and your standardized test scores.
A number of students who are initially denied admission re-apply once they have established a solid academic record of transferable course work in college. Should your interest in attending the University continue, it is possible to change your application to be considered for a later term. Please request this change in writing prior to the deadline of your desired new term of entry.”
Which to me seems like I just didn’t have enough credits. I was told they didn’t see what credits came from my AP scores. Oh well, another semester at MSU isn’t the worst. It is just not ideal. I did send in a thing to change my application to the winter semester. Let’s hope this time around it’ll be better.
