Is a 3.7 unweighted decent enough for Umich? I’m in the 10th grade, and my school is one of the top 100 schools in USA,. Also, if a 3.7 is not enough, what is needed. Also, how many EC should I have. I only have 3-4.
A single data point is not enough. The average GPA of admitted students is 3.85, so yes, there are many students at UMi with GPAs of 3.7. But: your course rigor, test scores, your EC’s, any ‘hooks’, etc. will also matter. A lot.
As for EC’s: it’s not how many, but how strong your ECs are. Depth, achievement, leadership, etc. matter more than just racking up lots of activities.
Have you looked on naviance?
Check out the admitted student threads in the Michigan forum and compare your stats to theirs. Be aware that the stats of admitted students are getting better and better and the stats of current admitted students may not be indicative of what is needed in a couple years when you apply. Bottom line is don’t shoot for the bare minimum. Do your absolute best in every class and you will be successful, regardless if you come to Michigan or not.
UMichigan recalculates your GPA. All As are equal (A+ is same as A-). Same applies to Bs. So a B+ and A- are a full letter grade apart. However, I would not relax and get all A-s since you never know if you will be accepted their even if your grades are in line. They add points for certain AP classes but I forget all the rules
Michigan hasn’t recalculated GPAs in many years.
@Fatsquirrel I thought I read that they stopped in 2009 but then went back to it a few years later. Curious if that is correct or not
Please see this thread http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-michigan-ann-arbor/1604155-um-gpa-recalculations.html
Michigan is one of the few colleges that actually counts PE into GPA.
@SaphireNY You are correct, it seems they have gone back to recalculating GPA (http://umichadmissions.■■■■■■■■■■/post/110658692919/so-it-says-yalls-average-gpa-is-3-82-i-believe) Thanks for the catch!
You must recalculate if your school score + and - grades differently. Ours does and daughters 3.82 became a 4.0 ( she had a good number of A- grades.
Levi, who told you Michigan counts PE in its GPA calculation? From all the literature I have seen, only academic courses (Mathematics, Science, English, Social Science, Humanities and Languages) are counted. PE is an elective and therefore is not counted.
According to the old policy (I do not have the new policy), “the University’s policy was to remove courses that did not fall into the major academic categories and recalculate each applicant’s GPA, though all classes were still factored in as part of the student’s coursework.”
PE, along other electives, were not included in the calculated GPA.
Not to hijack thread, but does anyone know if Umich gives good financial aid/merit aid to OOS applicants? Or is it like the UCs?
Historically, the answer would have been an emphatic no. But Michigan is improving in this regard, and is now spotty where it once was uniformly poor. At this time, I would not count on a great FA package, but I would not be surprised either.
If you wish to ask more questions on this subject, please start a new thread of your own.
The latest fund drive is targeting FA. Michigan aims to have Ivy level FA available to all applicants.
Michigan, before the current fund raising drive, had sequestered $1,700,000,000 to generate FA. With returns, that figure has grown. Michigan is also seeking $1,000,000,000 for FA generation as one of the 4 major themes of the current capital campaign. Ten years ago Michigan gave out something like $100,000,000 in aid; last year I think the figure approached $185,000,000, so the picture is improving. I would venture to guess that with the new campaign and given 10 more years of average (8%-10% growth/year), the amount for FA will be quite material.
They do provide some need based aids to OOS students with very low family income. You should check their NPC.
@blue85 With the tuition went up more than double in 10 years, that 85% increase in aid does not seem helpful.
“@blue85 With the tuition went up more than double in 10 years, that 85% increase in aid does not seem helpful.”
I’ll take you at your word: you are saying that increased aid is not helpful, so I can only assume that you think a number closer to zero would be more helpful than a number further away from zero. I categorically disagree with your conclusion: I think the increase in aid was enormously helpful.
As to the tuition doubling, we both know the causation: 1) student aid from the state has declined at a compound rate of 3%/year; 2) inflation has grown roughly 3.25%/year-compound; 3) the decrease in state aid and the increase in inflation almost perfectly explain the increase in tuition.
I am happy to see the aid number grow from $99MM/year to $180MM/year in just a handful of years. If you think that is trivial I suggest you canvas the recipients or better yet, write your own check.
As to the increase, the point is that the funding available to generate aid has jumped, and the amount raised in the current capital campaign is huge and will be added to an already huge pot – so you are completely ignoring that aspect of my post. To characterize an order of $2.7Bln fund (at campaign conclusion) to generate aid as not helpful is risible in the extreme.