Michigan received roughly 58,600 applications (compared to 55,500 last year), and admitted over 14,000 of them (compared to 15,300 last year).
That would mean the overall acceptance rate is somewhere in the 24%-25% range.
Assuming the in-state applicant figures remains steady at 11,000 (as it has for the last decade or so) applicants and 4,500 acceptances, then roughly 47,600 were OOS applicants (including 9,000 international applicants), and of them roughly 10,000 (or 21%) were offered admission.
I did not realize the sciences were being gutted MaryGJ. In fact, the University seems to be investing more in the sciences. However, I am not sure how gutting the sciences would explain a deliberate decrease in the freshman class on part of the admissions office. I think it has to do with available resources and dorm space. I also hear that Michigan is looking to maintain freshman classes at 6,000-6,500 for the foreseeable future.
They are aiming for 6600 again. The site must have been updated with actual rate detail:
Of the 55,500 applications UM received for the fall of 2016, 10,959 were submitted by in-state students with 4,511 being offered admissions for an acceptance rate of 42.4 percent.
From among the 35,783 applications submitted by students living in states other than Michigan and the 8,758 applicants living in other countries, 10,815 were offered admission for an out-of-state acceptance rate of 24.5 percent.
Note that the yield rate has been steadily going up. It was 43.2% last year. For that they need to admit less students in order to keep the class from over-enrollment again. They have been talking about using the waitlist more in the last 2 years but it did not happen. Perhaps they really mean it this time.
Good point billcsho. As Michigan becomes more generous with FA (it is not there yet, but they are getting better), the yield rate is going to rise. Also, the perceived desirability of a university rises as its admission rate drops. Michigan’s admit rate dropped from over 50% to under 25% this decade. As this trend continues for the foreseeable future, coupled with improved FA, I think Michigan’s yield will rise to the high 40%s…even hit the 50% mark.
They did plan to increase the enrollment, but freshmen housing is still the limiting factor. With vast majority of freshmen live in dorm and the current dorm capacity, the maximum freshmen class size would be around 6600. Considering the yield rate to be around 44% this year, it make sense to admit less than 15000. I still remember the over-enrollment 3 years ago had a shortage of 300 beds even when they put some students in Northwood at that time.
My neighbor still speaks of his “converted” trip at East Quad when LSA and the Residential College over-accepted freshmen: two bunk beds shoved into a supposed triple. He said it was very tight but that they had had a terrific time. And they certainly got to know each other well.
We should also take into account that Michigan’s acceptance rate does not perpetually decease, but goes ups and downs in waves.
They went from 33% --> 26% --> 29% from 2014 to 2016.
However, that could just be due to the class size expansion. I wonder if they plan to expand the freshman class anymore in the foreseeable future, or if they’re done.
guitar321, 2015 and 2016 were outliers. The 2015 class was intentionally smaller than usual, and the 2016 class saw close to 16,000 acceptances. Michigan will likely admit 13,500-15,000 going forward.
The applicant pool itself has increased steadily for the last 8 years, by 3,000-4,000 applicants each year.
2017: 58,500
2016: 55,500
2015: 51,500
2014: 49,500
2013: 46,500
2012: 42,500
2011: 39,500 (the year Michigan joined the Common Application)
2010: 30,000
That’s close to a 100% increase in applicant this decade. Most universities have seen significantly more modest growth in applicants, usually by 25%-50% over the last 8 years.
Chances are, Michigan’s applicant pool will continue to increase by 3,000 applicants annually in the foreseeable future. The number of students admitted will remain steady at under 15,000.