I’m a sophomore - very interested in going to University of Michigan (OOS). My mother, my uncle and grandparents all went there. Will that help my chances? I haven’t take ACT yet so can’t give scores though I expect to get a 32/33. All honors courses and have 4.0 unweighted right now. Next year I will be taking AP Bio, APUS, AP Spanish, Honors English and Honors Math. Interested in LSA school at Michigan. ECs I will need to work on and I know I will get good recommendations.
I’m just wondering if anyone knows if legacy is important at Michigan.
@sig2017 this question has been much discussed and debated on several other threads. Yes, legacy makes a positive difference, but you still need to have competitive gpa (in rigorous curriculum with APs and honors if offered) which it seems you do. You should get no less than a 31 on the ACT or equivalent SAT, you need to have strong extracurriculars, which you need to work on. And you need to demonstrate interest by either visiting (they keep track of visits) or attending high school visit of the regional admissions counselor or attending an info sessions that Michigan holds in your geographic area. Michigan assigns admissons counselors to different geographic Territories within the US.
Thank you. I will be visiting in the fall - my family goes back almost every year for a football game. I have extracurricular just need to work on building leadership position. I do Model UN (won an award this past year), tutor elementary school children in the winter thru a high school program, volunteer in a soccer program with autistic children and I will be working on my school newspaper starting next year (I hope to be the sports editor my senior year).
As an out-of-state student, you should aim for at least a 34. legacy is considered but you must have the stats also. good luck!
It helps less in the vain that they want to be nice to you (unless your parents/grandparents are large donors) and more that a legacy candidate is more likely to matriculate.
It likely helps only if you are one of two or three otherwise equally qualified candidates that they have narrowed down their choices to.
It gives you an edge if you are qualified OOS. If you are not qualified it will not help you.
Regardless of what universities say, establishing demonstrated interest matters to admissions offices. Universities want to admit students that will most likely attend. Legacies are obviously more likely to attend, and are therefore more desirable. However, as others have pointed out, other factors, such as class rigor, GPA, application essays and even test scores are more important.