Chance Me - UMich in state

Chance Me / Match Me!
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I accidentally deleted this oops lmao

Anyways, hi! I just finished my junior year and will be applying to college soon. My dream school is UMich, but I will also be applying to other MI schools such as MSU, Michigan Tech, NMU, and Hillsdale (I live in MI and would like to go in-state). I am very nervous about whether or not I will get into UMich, because it really is the perfect school for me. I feel confident with my GPA and SAT Score, but not with my EC
For Some background, I am 16, caucasian, and female. I love science, especially astronomy. I wanted to go into astrophysics for a while, but last year I found out that I’m horrible at physics haha. Now I want to be a forensic scientist!

GPA (estimates, it’s been a while since I’ve checked):
Weighted: around 4.19
UW: around 3.98
I am not sure of my exact ranking, but I’m in the top 5% of my class out of 500ish students

SAT Score:
Reading and Writing: 780
Math: 750
(Total of 1330)
For not studying, this is pretty good, but I’m going to practice over the summer and retake it. My goal is around 1500.

Classes:

Freshman Year:
English 9: A
World History: A
Bio: A
Spanish 2: A
Geometry: A
Drama: A

English 9: A
World History: A
Bio: A
Spanish 2: A
Geometry: A
Art and Design: A

Sophomore Year:
Honors English 10: A
APUSH: A-
Chemistry: A
Physics: B
Spanish 3: A
Honors Algebra 2: A-

Honors English 10: A
APUSH: A-
Chemistry: A
Physics: A
Spanish 3: A
Honors Algebra 2: A

Junior Year:
AP Chemistry: A-
AP Lit: A
APES: A
Precalc: A
Spanish 4: A
Astronomy: A

AP Chemistry: A
AP Lit: A
APES: A
Precalc: A
Spanish 4: A
Government: A

Senior Year (classes I signed up for):
AP Bio
AP Physics
AP Computer Science
AP Calc AB (we don’t have BC this year)
Ceramics/Health/Econ/Contemp Lit (electives)

EC and Achievements:

  • NHS
  • Published writer in 4th grade
    Short story contest, forgot the name of the program
    I won a medal! But I lost it :confused:
  • Drama Club (9, 12?)
    Techie
    Might do some more next year
  • Baking Club (9)
  • Ambassadors Club (9, 10, 12?)
    Helps exchange students, we couldn’t do anything this year
    I will join again next year if it exists (leadership?)
  • GREEN Club (11,12)
    On leadership next year
  • Science Olympiad (9, 10, 11, 12)
    Only freshman on the HS team (and only girl in my grade if that counts for anything)
    This was my first year competing (we didn’t have competitions last year due to COVID) and I won a few medals including a 6th in states for Astronomy
  • Will be a TA for my AP Chem teacher next year
    Doing this on my own time, not part of the TA class my school offers

I think that’s it. If I think of anything else, or if you have questions, I will add to this.

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I think that you are doing very well.

I like the fact that you are applying to safeties. We are not from Michigan. However, I think that your chances at U.Michigan are quite good.

I like your ECs also. I think that you should continue to participate and do well at the ECs that matter to you. As long as you are doing well in ECs that you care about, I would not worry about them at all.

It was by the way quantum physics that convinced me not to major in physics. I ended up as a math major.

Did you get 750 on the math subject SAT or on the math part of the normal SAT?

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Oh darn it, I meant 680 and 650. That was for the regular math section

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Just as an fyi - No more SAT subject tests are being given.

@emmajean004 You look like a great candidate but you don’t say if you’re applying for Engineering or LSA which makes a huge difference at UM. If submitting your scores, you definitely want to bring them up if they’re 680 and 650 as there will be people submitting close to 800’s. Also, if taking Physics C next year, watch out as that can be a killer especially if you didn’t like Physics previously. You definitely have the rigor and UM will know your high school so only you (and they) know whether that’s a plus or not. Is it a feeder school to UM or not. For instance, our OOS high school is a a feeder to UM so while we do not send a lot to Engineering there we do send quite a few to LSA. Those applying for Engineering only do so because that’s what they truly want and don’t want to settle and try to transfer in. Sort of like how some other schools people will go in through a much easier major hoping to transfer into the major they really wanted which sometimes works but is often impossible and they wind up going elsewhere.

You’re on the right path but no one really knows what they’re thinking. This was a really tough year for a lot of people and best advice is to get your application early so that you’re on the EA train and hope you hear in that first batch. Rumor is they overenrolled so if that’s the case who knows if they will go for a smaller class next year or not.

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I’m going to be applying to the LSA. I am very nervous about AP Physics next year, but everyone in my school who takes full year physics struggles through it. Who knows, maybe I’ll like AP! I want to take it just in case I do decide to go into Astrophysics after all.
Also, my high school is very competitive and we do send plenty of kids to UMich each year. Is that going to help or hurt my chances?

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Your doing fine. Continue to do that. If your school sends lots of kids then that’s a plus since they know the types of kids that do well there. Keep in mind your competing with yourself. Sure against some kids in your school but you don’t know what their essays says or all the other things they did. To critique… The 1330 is low for in-state. The weight of your classes could be higher if being picky. Write a great essay. Show interest. If in-state and close enough go visit and do a tour if you didn’t get a chance.

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Everything @Knowsstuff is exactly what I would say in answer to this. Being a big feeder school to UM means they know your school and know the rigor, what the classes are like, what an A really is there, and even what the teachers are like. Good AP scores will affirm that.

Have a great first semester because it looks as though Michigan has decided to stay with the late January notification period, which means if you have 7th semester grades send them, or even 1st quarter. Based on this past admission cycle, anything you can do to add to your application to strengthen it you should do. This cycle was a beast and I think next year will be just as difficult, especially if it is true that they over-enrolled.

Michigan is one of those schools that really wants a score. Even a PSAT if not an SAT or ACT. So work on getting that up. That seems to be your only weakness. Everything else looks fantastic but we’re not AO’s so never now what they really want. Write an essay out of the ballpark because at the end of the day that is probably what really sets candidates apart.

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Okay, hi! I’m bringing this back real quick because I got worried about something (yay for over thinking!). When I compare myself to other people that might apply, I feel pretty good. I’m studying to retake the SAT, my GPA is good, and I’m confident about my essay writing skills. However, I’m not all that exceptional compared to people from my school (my high school is OBNOXIOUSLY competitive). If admissions people recognize my school and know the type of people who go there, I feel like they’ll look down on my application for not being as good as them. Even if I look great outside of my school.
For example, most “smart kids” at my HS are a year ahead of me in math. The math I’m in now is about average. Yet, at my old school the math I’m in IS the advanced class. I’ve even tried doubling up on math to catch up, but my counselor wouldn’t let me. Is this something I should be worried about? Sorry if this isn’t making sense. I’m writing this at 1 in the morning.

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“Overthinking” is probably the correct word. You are doing really well.

Your GPA is excellent. You have one single B in your entire high school career!

You are doing very well in math. You are already taking calculus as a senior. I did not take calculus until my freshman year in university. This did not stop me from being a math major at MIT. The main point in math is to get a solid basis in the math that you have taken (such as an A in honors algebra and another A in precalculus).

The University of Michigan is a really good university. The graduates from U.Michigan that I have known have been exceptional. However, Michigan has 29,000 undergraduate students. Just being academically excellent and being in-state will give you very good chances of admissions there. If there are a small handful of students in your high school who are just as strong and one class ahead in math, they are likely to get accepted also. There is room for U.Michigan to accept several of you from the same high school.

Really you just need to get a good night’s sleep on a regular basis, keep doing as well as you have been doing in high school (which is great), participate in the ECs that matter to you, treat people fairly, and make sure that you apply to some safeties.

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Okay, thank you!

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I was just coming here to respond to your post and saw what @DadTwoGirls oGirls wrote and cannot agree with him more.

The example I can add to that is this —

Just because you’re one or two math levels behind the kids in the top track, doesn’t mean you’re any “worse” than them or any “less qualified” than they are. Trust me, they are not all earning straight A’s. As @DadTwoGirls you have 1 B in your entire career and plenty of rigor. That says a lot.

While we are OOS, we generally tend to send a good number to UM. While this year we are sending more to Wisconsin than to Michigan (Wisconsin seemed to let everyone and their brother in from our school this year oddly enough), but anyway, my son was in the top math level having finished through Calc 3 w/ one semester of Linear Algebra. Most Seniors maybe have Calc 1 when they graduate. I think there was 1 student who was even further ahead than him but let’s not count him. Anyway, from his math class of about 18, only 2 were accepted into UM for Engineering, 2 were flat out rejected, and I think 1 was accepted into LSA. However, in the other math levels, which were basically students in BC or AB which as I said most seniors take, that made up the remaining 20+ kids that were accepted to UM mainly in LSA, no one else into Engineering, other than the one kid who was doing the independent study in math that I mentioned was a year ahead. Obviously, we’re not in state so that changes some of the demographics, but we had a huge chunk of kids from my son’s math class WL at Michigan and some from the other classes as well.

They are not looking for every kid to be a replica of the next. Find something that sets yourself apart from the rest. Not everyone in those higher math classes all have the same grades, so they may not all get in, or those that are in those tracks are often the ones interested in Engineering and if that’s the case, then they will be applying for Engineering and you said you are not interested in that, so that will help you. They also may be applying to other universities.

But the bottom line is, your competition is yourself. Write the best essays you can, don’t worry about the others, and focus on you! You can’t worry about them anymore than they can worry about you.

Work on improving your score and get it up as much as you can. SAT math is generally considered more difficult than ACT math although there is more time per question. You may want to take a practice ACT and see how you do and if it’s worth attempting to take the ACT. You may do better. If you can get down the time, and the English strategies. The math tests generally through Geometry with a few questions now related to Stats/Prob, and I can’t remember if they’ve started to make it slightly harder with any Trig related stuff, but you can definitely check the breakdown. It may suit you better if math is where you need to do better. Khan Academy is also something that’s free that a lot of people use to help study for the tests.

You can do it! Just make sure you also have good safeties as options.

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