I want to find out why UMich sends out different deferral letters. I was deferred last night and I supposedly received the “good” letter.
Thank you for your application to the University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts for Fall 2016. We are pleased that you have applied and are impressed with your achievements. However, our high application volume, coupled with the very strong credentials of our applicants in recent years, has contributed to an increasingly competitive admissions process. As a result, we are writing to inform you that your application is currently being deferred for further review.
So is there a good letter and a bad one? Or is it just all speculation.
It is just speculation. Every year there is a debate about whether there is “good” letter or a “bad” one. No correlation has ever been found between which letter you received and whether you were later accepted.
Thank you for your freshman application to the University of Michigan. After an initial individualized and comprehensive review of your application, we have determined that we will need additional information in order to make a final decision. We will not re-evaluate your application file until after our regular decision deadline of February 1, 2016. We need this additional information and time to ensure that we give your application the best possible review. We will notify you of a final decision on your application by early April.
The quality of grades earned in academic courses is one of several critical factors taken into consideration in evaluating a student’s competitive admissibility. To give your application a final evaluation, we will need your fall semester or first trimester grades. Because it is important that we receive these grades as soon as possible, please request to have a PDF of your grades sent from the issuing institution to our office via an e-transcript vendor or to @umich.edu. If your counselor sent the initial School Report for your application through The Common Application online portal, they will need to complete the 2015-2016 MidYear Report using the same method. Otherwise, please ask your high school counselor to fax a report of these grades to our office at __.
Be sure your U-M ID ********* is on all materials submitted to the Office of Undergraduate Admissions.
We appreciate your interest in the University of Michigan and look forward to receiving the information requested. If you have specific follow-up questions, please visit _______ or phone _________. We look forward to reviewing your completed application and appreciate your interest in the University of Michigan.
Seems like with the letter you got, they are not needing further information. They are not concerned about your grades. They want to compare you to the larger pool at regular admissions time. With the other, they are awaiting a little more information about grades. so the outcome is dependent upon the mid year grades for letter 2 whereas no further information is needed for you. So with the 2nd letter odds are dependent upon whether the candidate improved or at least stayed level.
Thanks @lostaccount. So you think that the “good” letter means you have a better shot than the other one? And even though the letter that I got doesn’t say I have to send in grades, do you think I should if they remain consistent with other years to show my interest?
I feel like a lot of people got the “good” letter. From people I’ve talked to, and people, I’ve seen here, I’m not sure how many people got the other two.
It does seem like more people got the “good letter,” but I’m just confused why they send out different letters. It must mean something that there are three different deferral letters and they all have different tones.
I would think that the version of the letter asking for your fall grades “as soon as possible” indicates that your application is very much still in “live” consideration and they want to make sure you are still motivated enough to sustain (or better yet improve) your grades to ensure admission. As opposed to the more generic letter which reads more like a “thank you for your interest” reply.
@WolverineGrad I noticed the only difference between the “good” letter for CoE and Arts & Sciences is one sentence at the top. It seems very generic. From the people I’ve talked to, it seems like over 90% of people got the “good” letter. Not sure what this means.
I don’t think they have a “good letter” and a “bad letter”. A deferred letter is probably a sign that something they need to give your application a bit more consideration. Thus, send in an updated transcript once your grades for the semester have been posted. If you have done anything since the application that you can use to justify your continued interest, let them know.
This good/bad letter nonsense comes up every year (look at old posts). There is no discernible difference between the letters. Just send a letter of intent and anything to strengthen your application, and then wait.
Here’s the difference between the two deferral letters:
If additional information has specifically been requested, such as first semester grades from senior year, it’s because one of the people reviewing your file thought it was necessary to best assess your application. There was either a concern with your grades through 11th, or perhaps the bulk of your most rigorous classes are in senior year. Either way, they weren’t confident that you would be admitted with what they currently saw in your file. Your application has been “set aside” and will continue on for further review once the additional information has been submitted. Once received, your application will be marked as complete and go back to the reviewer that had requested the information.
For students that received the other deferral letter, their application has gone through a complete review and received a final evaluation. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good thing or a bad thing. Since U-M sends minimal, if any, denies during EA, students that just missed being admitted, or are among the weaker candidates, all received this letter. Here’s an important distinction for students that received this letter. Sending in an updated transcript will NOT automatically generate an additional look at your application. It will just be added to your file and your territory counselor will not necessarily know it’s there unless they happen to look for it or you alert them. If Michigan is still your top choice, my advice is to write your territory counselor now and let them know that you are still very interested and plan to send in updated grades once they are available. Then once your updated transcript has been sent in, wait a couple of days for it to work it’s way through the system and then follow up with another email to let them know it should now be ready for them to review.
For either group, new test scores that are submitted will automatically generate an email to your admissions rep to alert them that new scores are in the system. Sending in additional letters of recommendation, new awards, etc. will rarely have any impact. At this point, strong grades, improved test scores, and continued interest are going to be the most influential in improving your standing.
Last year I received the ‘good’ letter, requesting 7th semester grades and sent them as soon as I could. I got a 4.0 UW that semester (with 5 AP’s) as well so thought I had incredible chances of getting in. However, I got waitlisted, and then denied.
With my denial, I did get the guaranteed sophomore year transfer (if anyone’s wondering, a few hundred people who got denied after being waitlisted were offered a guaranteed sophomore transfer to LSA as long as they maintain a 3.0 gpa at another university).