Hi! In December I was deferred from UChicago EA. I was disappointed at first to receive a deferral, but hey it’s better than a rejection. Anyway, I applied to UMich early action and I am anxiously awaiting the results. I was wondering if a deferral from a school like UChicago is a good sign that I’ll get an acceptance from a school like UMich? I am an in-state student with good stats (3.9 gpa uw, leader of many extracurriculars, great essays + lors, first gen, etc.)
I’ve only heard back from UChicago, uvermont, michigan state, western michigan, eastern michigan, and Hendrix. All were acceptances besides UChicago.
This probably doesn’t make much sense, but thank you. I know these things never really translate, but a deferral is giving me more hope than a rejection.
The Adcom’s at Michigan don’t call their colleagues at Chicago to compare notes… so being deferred at Chicago has zero bearing on your chances at Michigan, which you already know. Why not spend the time getting excited about some of our other options?
I am not sure if I understand your question. Is it that you are worried because UC is very competitive and now you have doubts whether other competitive schools will accept you? Or, is it that somehow UC’s deferral will impact admission to other schools?
The first one is a legitimate question for someone going through admissions process. There are only so many things one can control and many times things have a way of working out. There is a brilliant thread on here called “what a difference a year makes.” Or, some such. Should be a prerequisite reading for all high achievers.
And I assume you are smart enough or have enough common sense to know that the second option is not rational.
It was definitely more of the first one, seeing as both schools are super competitive. I do think umich will go over well, especially after hearing from my guidance counselor (she said I’m a shoe-in, not quite sure about that though lol). I think I’m just a nervous wreck trying to live up to expectations surrounding me, nearly all umich applicants at my school get in every year and I hope to join that pool
You’re right and I should definitely be excited about the opportunities ahead of me, I’m just most worried about Michigan because it’s my top choice and my tuition would be paid for with the go blue guarantee. Money is the main stressor here.
Both schools look at pretty much the same inputs; transcript, SAT, letters of rec, common essays. Being deferred gives some information on their evaluation of your desirability as a Chicago student; not low enough to deny outright, not strong enough to accept. To the extent admissions at Michigan use similar criteria, this result gives a hint as to how things might go there.
It’s a casual use of Baye’s Theorem in which estimates are revised in light of new information.
Maybe OP plays the cello and Chicago already has a boatload of cello players, while Michigan’s lone cellist is a senior and will leave the orchestra without one. Maybe OP’s essay to Chicago which seemed so original was read after 20 others with the same theme but executed better.
None of these has ANY bearing on the Michigan application since readers from Chicago do not moonlight in Ann Arbor. This is a misapplication of Baye’s theorem, since the new information (if in fact a deferral is new information, rather than the expected statistical outcome) has ZERO bearing on a completely independent event, I.e. Michigan admissions.
You may think there’s some sort of hierarchy which determines the “desirability as a student”… but if so, Chicago is absolutely the wrong university to use. I know kids who have gotten in to Chicago who have been rejected from a dozen “less competitive” colleges. Chicago’s admissions are quirky and singular. Kid got rejected from Bucknell but accepted to Chicago? Yup. Rejected from BU but now happily at Chicago? Yup. Rejected from U Maryland but accepted at Chicago? Yup.
Chicago gets to admit who they want. Michigan’s admissions are much less idiosyncratic- hence the two are not linked, causal, predictive, etc.
Hang in there @pc0421. You are trying to make sense of a process that doesn’t make a lot of sense and is absurdly anxiety provoking. You sound very accomplished and have many good options at hand and possibly more to come!
I would infer very little from an EA deferral from UChicago. From the anecdotal evidence on this site and others, it appears that they have a very high deferral rate. Rejection may be the least likely.