I submitted MSU application 2 weeks ago. My act is 24 and weighted GPA is 3.99. Today, I saw my application status, and it said,
"Thank you for your patience and continued interest in Michigan State University. An initial review of your application indicates you are a competitive applicant to MSU. Due to an increase in the quantity and quality of freshman applications, the Office of Admissions requires additional time to thoroughly review all applicants before making a final decision.
Admissions decisions will be released on a rolling basis, beginning in mid-October 2016. You will receive a decision on the status of your application on or before March 17, 2017.
No additional documents are required. The most up-to-date information will be posted to your account as soon as it becomes available. Students will be notified by email when a change occurs on your account.
Thank you again for your patience."
Is that mean I got deferment or I need to wait more?
I disagree. That sounds like a deferral. My D got her app in very early and that isn’t what was showing while pending review. Sounds similar to Pitt deferral notice as well.
It’s not really a deferral since the term doesn’t strictly apply to schools with rolling admissions. A deferral usually means someone has applied to an early decision program that has a definite date for a decision, say December 1. If the school is not willing to offer admission on that date they may instead decide to defer the decision until the regular date in the spring.
MSU has rolling admissions and on their website they say they typically give a decision within 8 to 12 weeks after receiving an application. Your letter doesn’t say until they’re going to wait until March to decide on you. Maybe you’ll hear next week, maybe you’ll hear next month. The only explicit date mentioned his next March, but with the weekly claim that you’ll hear by them or earlier.It’s kind of an ambiguous letter, not a classic deferral.
If you want more information you might want to call MSU or ask your counselor to check with them
To me, it sounds like a deferral. I submitted my application late September and got my acceptance response 5 days later. I submitted early and did not receive any other message besides my acceptance.
The term deferral, though usually used with respect to early action and regular decision, also applies to situations when the application is reviewed on a rolling basis but no decision is made at that time, but rather the app is set aside for review later in the cycle after other applications have been reviewed. Don’t get hung up on terminology.
But I didn’t get any email from MSU. And also, If I get deferral, they might require me to submit additional documents like improved ACT score or 7th semester grade. Right?..I’m so confused right now.
Sounds very much like a deferral to me. I would definitely apply to other colleges. Not trying to sound harsh, but the mention of the quality and increased number of apps sounds to me like they are not prepared to admit you until later.
Got the exact same message. GPA 3.57 ACT 27 in-state
Also looking for info about what this means. An actual deferral? No other documents were requested. It SOUNDS to me, like they are doing rolling admissions, and they are skimming the cream off the top, and they will later look at qualified, but less impressive, applications later and after a closer review. So we didn’t get quickly sorted into the YES pile just on GPA and ACT/SAT. I’m hoping that an earlier application date will help in this process when they compare equally qualified applications - but I don’t know. Would LOVE to hear what happened with others that had this message last year. This limbo-land reply from MSU is making choosing among acceptances difficult.
One thing I’ve noticed going through this process, schools are becoming more competitive and what might have been okay last year might not get you in this year. A good source is to look at the Common Data Set for MSU and look at section C. That data shows you the scores and percentages that have been accepted in the past. If you look at a few prior years reports you can see what the trends are for scores.
The trend for average GPA has been increasing, last year the average GPA was a 3.68, two years ago it was a 3.62, four years ago it was a 3.60. It wouldn’t surprise me if the average for this year isn’t a 3.7 based on how its been trending. It also shows you what schools value as important or less important. Items include GPA, Class Rank, Rigor of HS, etc. They also indicate the two most important items are GPA and Standardized Test. If you GPA is there but ACT is lower, I would take the ACT again and try to improve the score. If your ACT is good but lower on GPA, that’s a bit harder to impact in a short time.
The message does sound a bit like a deferral to me. Some people who received acceptances might not enroll which then opens up a spot so part of getting a definite answer could depend on those with acceptances either putting down the deposit or notifying the school they won’t be attending.
If you don’t get an outright denial then you are still in the running it would seem but you may have a bit of a longer wait to hear the final decision.
Application Status
Thank you for your patience and continued interest in Michigan State University. An initial review of your application indicates you are a competitive applicant to MSU. Due to an increase in the quantity and quality of freshman applications, the Office of Admissions requires additional time to thoroughly review all applicants before making a final decision.
Admissions decisions will be released on a rolling basis, beginning in mid-October 2016. Our intention is to deliver your decision within 12-weeks from the time your application was complete; including all your supporting documents (personal statement, transcript and test-scores).
No additional information or documents are required. The most up-to-date information will be posted to your account as soon as it becomes available. Students will be notified by email when a change occurs on your account.