<p>Am I underestimating the importance of passion, legacy, ECs and essays or is it true that I am pretty much guaranteed a deferral because there are over 10 kids from my school with better quantitative stats than me? I am qualified, but very worried that I will get instantly deferred EA because I have a (tiny bit under) 3.7 GPA and lower test score than those other kids who just use UofM as a backup. The nerves have really begun to consume me so I am sorry if this is just petty paranoia lol.
(OOS public school in New Jersey that UofM accepts ~7 kids from each year...unclear how many accepted in early vs regular round).</p>
<p>Nope. most of my high school classmates and I did not have stellar EC’s. They were pretty standard, usually a sport and a club semi-involved.</p>
<p>I have a feeling that EC’s/Essays only looked more closely if you don’t have the quantitative stats.</p>
<p>I had zero EC’s in terms of school clubs, but had a 3.9 GPA and mediocre essays at best. I also had couple hundred hours of volunteer work and one job, but so does everyone else, so I didn’t think it’d make a difference. I managed to get in Regular Decision, so I’m thinking it’s mostly grades + SAT scores.</p>
<p>^ Volunteering and work experience are considered as EC. So you do have a pretty good EC.</p>
<p>Think of it like this, there is no reason to NOT apply. And there is no reason to NOT try to make a decent essay. So you might as well</p>
<p>To be fair I just wrote mine in one go, and then reused the same essay for most of the applications. Remove all the Michigna’s and switch tem out with Purdues, etc. But it was for engineering so they probably care less.</p>
<p>^ A generic essay is a poor essay for the “why this school” prompt. UMich has been putting more and more value on the essay in the recent years. This is not surprising as the quality of applicant improved in the recent years that scores and GPA alone are not sufficient for picking applicants from the pool. As the CoE is even more competitive than LSA, I would not say they will care less for the essay.</p>
<p>My impression is ECs don’t matter as much at Michigan as they do at some private colleges. Essays do matter, however. Traditionally, HS grades and course rigor have had the greatest weight in Michigan’s admission decisions, with test scores, essays, and recommendations also of considerable (but lesser) importance.</p>
<p>And in fact, that’s just what the university says on its Common Data Set: it lists rigor of secondary school record and academic GPA as “very important”; standardized test scores, application essay, recommendations, character/personal qualities, and (somewhat surprisingly) first generation as “important”; and class rank, extracurricular activities, talent/ability, alumni/ae relation, geographical residence, state residency, volunteer work, work experience, and level of applicant’s interest as “considered.”</p>
<p>I don’t think you’re “guaranteed” a deferral. I don’t think you’re guaranteed anything. If your essays are strong it could compensate for a slightly subpar GPA, provided you earned that GPA in a rigorous HS curriculum and have strong test scores. I also get the impression that Michigan doesn’t like to be treated as a backup, so if it comes through in your application that it’s your first choice, that could propel you ahead of some others with marginally better GPAs and test scores who don’t show that same passion for Michigan.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Nice post lol ^
Im slightly below average for gpa and act. My ecs, imo, are pretty good and I have a good essays,LORs, ect and still looking for deferral. Ill be honest with myself, I hope I get deferred, and then ill be able to send in a 4.85+ gpa for the first trimester and hopefully ill get in.</p>
<p>Additionally, ik people with worse stats then I that got in so that helps me feel better about my decision. Goodluck to you.</p>
<p>Than me * 10char</p>
<p>Here is a link to see what the University of Michigan looks for in their applicants:</p>
<p><a href=“http://obp.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/pubdata/cds/umaa_cds2013-corrected08292013.pdf[/url]”>http://obp.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/pubdata/cds/umaa_cds2013-corrected08292013.pdf</a> </p>
<p>You can scroll to page 8.</p>
<p>BTW, almost all colleges have this information available online. Just Google “common data” and the university name. It’s also a great way to estimate scholarship and financial aid packages.</p>
<p>^^
That is an excellent link. Page 2 is useful in that it shows the breakdown of whether items are “very important”, “important”, or “considered”. GPA and rigor of coursework are the only two “very important”.</p>
<p>This is mentioned in post #7 but it is helpful to see the source.</p>