Do you think Michigan will ever offer ED? What would be the reasons why or why not?
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Never say never, but no. ED is something offered by private schools. Large public universities have institutional priorities that include serving large numbers of students from that state. From every background. ED inherently favors wealthy families.
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For the most part, yes. But there are a few exceptions (examples: TCNJ and Virginia Tech).
Of course check the websites for the real answer…but here is a list of ED schools. And there actually are a bunch of public colleges.
University of Virginia offers it. My D would apply ED to Michigan if they had it. Giving up the chance to apply somewhere ED bc yiur top choices are all EA and RD is a big decision to make.
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My D would have used ED if Purdue had offered it too. I think we’re going to see more public flagships moving to ED in the future.
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Excellent question, bsmom2004!
Up until last year, I would have said no, the University of Michigan will not offer ED in the future. But as bsmom2004 added, now that UVA has ED …. all bets are off.
ED has become more and more important to colleges and universities each year. The percentage ED contributes to the accepted applicant pool is slowly creeping up, year after year. I think that trend will continue.
More colleges and universities who currently offer EDI will add EDII, perhaps some of the LACs like Williams and Amherst, and universities like Rice and Northwestern.
I can imagine that prestigious public universities like Virginia, Michigan, the UC campuses, UNC etc. have discussed how the popularity of ED has secondarily interacted with their own admissions practices. I bet the public universities have lost some very strong applicants to ED.
The public universities receive completed applications from attractive applicants, and then weeks or a couple months later, many of these applicants are accepted to their ED choice and they rescind their other applications, including to the public universities.
Perhaps these universities take a peek at those strong applications and wish they could have had the chance to accept many of them. Maybe in the eyes of UVA (or Michigan), not offering ED has really cost them some great students.
I think Michigan will offer ED within the next 5 years. From Cranbrook in Detroit alone, there would be a good number of applicants who may choose Michigan for their ED instead of an Ivy, UChicago, or Duke etc, especially for engineering and business.
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I actually think that the trend is going to go in two directions. I think some schools that are either trying to “climb” the rankings or are worried about their yield rates will add or expand ED.
I expect some other universities, typically very elite or very confident, will move away from ED in the interest of allowing them to recruit a maximally diverse class (in background, wealth, region, etc.).
Offering ED means the school has to release those decisions (both admissions and financial aid packages) by mid December, which in turn means it has to put a lot more resources into its admissions and financial aid offices. I think it would be a terrible waste of resources, not to mention that it would disadvantage many of its applicants.
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I, for one, am not in favor of public universities offering ED. There are many highly accomplished kids whose financial situation does not allow them the luxury of applying ED. Their state flagship is often their best option. If these flagships switch to using ED it will shut out these kids.
I believe state schools should serve the public good, and not worry about yield like private universities (which are run like businesses).
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Agree 100% - but many state flagships are under intense pressure from their state government to climb rankings. This is terrible - but a reality.
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UVA had a pretty mediocre yield rate before ED. Even with ED, it’s still no better than Michigan’s. So I say, U-M will not go the ED route. Personally
I feel ED is much more so advantageous to those schools who are competing to lock in the highest rated students they can. I think it’s really unfair to force a 17 year old to make a decision based on fear of rejection.
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