<p>“not understanding why weighted GPAs are stupid? they give a student credit and recognition for rigor of curriculum.”</p>
<p>Weighted GPA’s aren’t stupid, they are just horrible for admissions officers. How does your school weight your GPA’s? I can guarantee that it is different than many other schools. Is it on a 5 point scale, 6 point scale, 100 point scale? Do they only weigh AP’s, or do they include honors? How is the weighting in AP classes compare to honors? If you school has accelerated courses, how are those dealt with? The fact of the matter is that every school has their own approach to how they should weigh their courses.</p>
<p>In order to deal with this problem, Michigan and pretty much all universities will look at your unweighted GPA and course rigor as two separate factors. This makes sure that applicants in one particular school don’t have an advantage or disadvantage just because the way their school calculates grades.</p>
<p>I can’t tell if you’re serious… Plenty of kids from my school have gotten in with 3.7-4.0 weighted GPAs, which roughly equate to 3.5+ UW GPAs (depending on course rigor).</p>
<p>oh i understand, sorry i misunderstood what you said. in my opinion unweighted gpa and course rigor should be given the same level of importance but in most cases it is not. which is why i feel stupid for “challenging” myself</p>
<p>Also, people are talking about 3 deferral letters. I’ve seen two so far. The “select group” one, and the “we hope your interest continues” one. Anyone care to share the third?</p>
<p>not gonna lie i’m really over this. mich just accepted people with really high uw gpas to make their freshman profile look good and deferred a lot of people who deserved to get in. not talking about myself, but about the people with the amazing stats posting here.</p>
<p>Weighted GPA is stupid. Officers can clearly see what APs you have taken. They aren’t stupid human beings that need AP classes to be additionally quantified.</p>
<p>Both of the “good” and “bad” letters say “we hope your interest continues”… also, the third one talks about grades in a bit of a negative tone, and seems to be rarer than the others.</p>
<p>Perhaps, but likely not true. When you get to Michigan, they calculate your GPA the same whether you take honors math/hard-core class in your major the same as a easy blowoff class. (There’s a wide variety of difficulty in Michigan classes) We run on a 4.0 scale, and there are no bonus points for difficult classes. It is to your benefit and your choice to challenge yourself to make the most out of what school offers (academically). </p>
<p>Weighted GPAs aren’t very useful, and high school GPAs in general are pretty inflated as they are already.</p>
<p>i meant like, when they show the average high school gpa of their incoming freshman class, i felt like they’re trying to make it a 3.9-4.0 by admitting people with very high gpas. that’s not to say that a high gpa means nothing- obviously it’s commendable and the student worked very hard to achieve it. i’m just saying i was under the impression that mich truly did holistically review applicants and i don’t feel that way anymore</p>
<p>“Both of the “good” and “bad” letters say “we hope your interest continues”… also, the third one talks about grades in a bit of a negative tone, and seems to be rarer than the others.”</p>
<p>The “good” one’s last paragraph starts differently though. I’m really curious to read the third</p>
<p>@ThisIsMichigan lol. Exactly. In these blurbs people can put anything. I honestly put little stock in them and look for trends, UW GPA seems to be a positive trend.</p>
<p>@basedjesus What I heard from people around these parts, saying that every year the different letters get discussed to death and every year they turn out to mean nothing.</p>
<p>I honestly don’t believe that UM created 3 or however many different letters each with its own hidden “meaning” so that we can spend time right now trying to figure each out. How cruel is that? Anyway, I think we all just need to stay positive and have hope:)</p>
<p>I know that this is easier said than done, but everyone on the deferred list should try to take a deep breath and relax. Two years ago our son was deferred and we were very upset. He had a 2190 SAT, good grades, 5’s on AP Physics and Calc BC, he was on crew, lots of his friends were getting in – we couldn’t figure out what could have happened. Worse, his grandfather teaches at UMich which meant that we spent the Christmas break in Ann Arbor with maize and blue reminders of his deferral everywhere.</p>
<p>So over the holidays We spent scads of time on CC parsing the allegedly “good” and “bad” deferral letters and obsessing about it instead of playing board games and having fun with cousins and aunts and uncles. Looking back I am embarrassed to say that he handled the situation better than his parents and we probably increased his anxiety level rather than soothing it by spending all the time looking at CC.</p>
<p>Well, eventually he was admitted and offered a $10,000 per year scholarship. Shortly after that he got in Early Decision Round II at Tufts, his other dream school, so he turned down the UMich offer which presumably went to another deferred student.</p>
<p>So try to relax and enjoy your friends and family over the holidays. THERE ARE TWO THINGS YOU KNOW FOR CERTAIN. First, if you got on the UMich deferred list it means you’ve worked really hard, down well, deserve to be very proud (as I am sure your parents are pround of you) and you are going to get in to some terrific school – maybe UMich, maybe another school – and have great experiences. Second, you know that whenever you get the final decision from Michigan you will be the same person you were five minutes before: no better if you get in; just as good if you don’t.</p>
<p>Finally, for what it is worth, my wife went to UMich and graduated with honors. I went to little, very average Adrian College down the road. But we both ended up in the same Princeton graduate school.</p>
<p>Washdc: Thanks for the kind words! So, it’s possible to get a scholarship even if you are deferred EA? Very few people are sharing their experiences of past deferrals, so I really appreciate knowing how your son ended up. If you don’t mind me asking, what was your son’s GPA and were you in state? My whole family is crazy about Michigan, so I share in the constant reminders of my deferral. My dad just got Michigan apparel for Christmas from my aunt since she assumed I would get in, so that was an awkward family holiday party! Haha. I’m trying to keep positive, so posts like yours are very encouraging! :)</p>
<p>Hi – You might want to show your dad my post. Just tell him for me that from one parent to another looking back I wish I had spent more time getting my son outside for snowball fights and less time worrying about whether he got deferred because of a B in US History. </p>
<p>My son met the criteria that UMich says they want in grades – “more A’s than B’s” – but even his weighted gpa was around a 3.8. But again, try if you can to get off CC and not worry about other peoples’ grades, etc. You sound terrific. Michigan will be lucky to have you – or some other great school will be the lucky school that has you in it’s community.</p>
<p>You’re so sweet washdc! I definitely need to take your advice and stop stressing out about every post on here! It’s sad how obsessed I’ve been with admissions, since I received my deferral. I keep putting so much pressure on this one decision. I just need to step back, focus on finals and enjoy my last year home. I’ll be sure to tell my dad about how everything worked out for you and your son (even though I’m mostly the one freaking out about all this stuff). Haha. :)</p>
OOS