<p>with such a high acceptance rate? </p>
<p>thanks!</p>
<p>It has lots of spots to fill.</p>
<p>I take it you don’t go here. There is a little bit more to college than some percentages in a copy of USNWR. Wait until you get to college not a single person I have met here has questioned just how good this institution is.</p>
<p>^ I am not bashing the college in any way, shape, or form. I just think that it is kind of ironic that the acceptance rate is about 50%</p>
<p>UMich seems to be an uprising top university and should become an even more selective college in the next few years. Even though it has top quality right now, the admission numbers haven’t followed this qualitative progress so closely. Yet, at some point numbers must match the reality, and for this we can predict that acceptance rate will diminish in the future. My thoughts.</p>
<p>Larger universities like Michigan just have more spots to fill enabling a higher acceptance rate. Also, high acceptance rate does not equal % who actually attend. Many strong universities have a high acceptance rate knowing that many of the highly qualified students will also be accepted at other strong colleges and a good percentage will go elsewhere. Can’t go just by stats.</p>
<p>Undertaker1664, in addition to what others are saying, the days of Michigan accepting 50% of applicants are soon to be gone. This year, Michigan is expected to accept under 40%. By the time you graduate from college, Michigan’s accepance rate will probably be in the 25% range. </p>
<p>But it is important to remember that many top universities had 40% acceptance rates in the past. Schools such as Columbia, Cornell and Penn had 40% acceptance rates less than 20 years ago. Chicago anf Johns Hopkins had 40%-50% acceptance rates less than a decade ago.</p>
<p>Also, keep in mind that what makes any university great (and competitive) is not its admissions stats but the quality and strength of the faculty (top 10 nationally), departments (top 10 nationally), facilities (world-class), resources (top 10 nationally), research (top 3 nationally), overall reputation (top 15 nationally at the undergraduate level, top 10 overall), ties to industry (among the most actively recruited campuses in the US) etc…</p>
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<p>How? A lot of qualified people apply, and UMich has the funds and capacity to support more than other schools. Don’t see how that’s ironic.</p>
<p>Exactly my point, Alexandre.</p>
<p>Yes Sandro, but this surge in selectivity is not thanks to a recent rise in quality. Michigan has been considered one of America’s leading universities for 150 years. The surge in selectivity is a result more students going to college and of Michigan joining the common application.</p>
<p>Just be OOS, then you can have a lower %.</p>
<p>I think its ALL thanks to the common app.</p>
<p>I would assume that every half-qualified high school senior in Michigan applies to the University of Michigan, in addition to wherever else they want. At least that’s the way it is in Florida with the University of Florida.</p>
<p>So their acceptance rate has to be high, since so many Michigan students apply, even if they plan on going elsewhere. It’s yield-based. And I’m guessing that the people of Michigan like having an excellent university in their state that’s affordable and not incredibly difficult to get into, so the admit rate isn’t a bad thing.</p>
<p>Further, the admit rate has little to do with the quality of the school. A university ought not be judged based on how its students performed before they attended, but rather how its students perform while and after they attend. That’s how you measure the impact and worth of the college education.</p>
<p>Actually BillyMc, I was surprised to see how in Michigan, high school college counselors discourage students from applying to the University of Michigan if they do not have excellent credentials. In-state students with sub 3.6 GPAs AND sub 1800 SAT/26 ACT are generally advised not to apply. That is actually part of the reason why Michigan’s acceptance rate has been high historically. The quality of the applicant pool is extremely high, but the number of applicants, relative to the size of the university, is quite low.</p>
<p>^Alexandre is right on. Most GCs locally only advise the top 10% of the class – if that – because traditionally Michigan only TAKES the top 10% in rank here. Eg. my son was from a gifted/talented program and about 10-15 kids from it were admitted each year. So I’d bet there are schools not sufficiently rigorous to have even that number accepted.</p>
<p>That would be nice to know that if I was in the top 10% of my class I would have a really good shot to get in. I was in the top 1% in my OOS HS and still wasn’t sure</p>
<p>And honestly, guidance counselors? Do you think any HS kid actually listens to them? The only contact I had with mine was mandatory stuff like “I need this letter of rec signed” or our stupid senior interviews. </p>
<p>If I wanted to apply to my dream school and then all of a sudden some GC tells me I shouldn’t I would give a crap. I’m still applying.</p>
<p>^MLD, you were correct OOS to “still not know” – when I say the top 10% in rank, I mean that’s who GCs would counsel to APPLY, not necessarily get ACCEPTED. EG., the gifted talented school had students in the top 2% of the state by definition – GT – and yet less than 12% of that in-state school population actually matriculated to UMich. So I don’t mean that being in the top 10% is a shoe in (depends on the quality of the school). I just mean the guidance office knows that Michigan generally seeks people with a rank in the top 10% of the class generally. And that’s why they ASK class rank on all materials (including the GC recc).</p>
<p>Oh. Cuz I thought I read somewhere that if you were in the top 10% of the state grades wise you were guranteed a spot at a state school</p>
<p>Absolutely not. I personally know a 4.0 with a 35 ACT who was not accepted to a particular program at UMich. It’s not like other states (eg. I think Texas does this) where a certain percentage are automatically admitted/funded etc.</p>
<p>In fact, I don’t even think you could say that about the top 2 percent.</p>
<p>Also, UM switched to the Common App this year. That should lead to a sharp fall in UM’s acceptance rate!</p>
<p>My daughter has a 3.9 gpa and got a 29 on the ACT. She was in the top 13% in her class taking all the AP classes available. She has been accepted for the fall 2011 term. So don’t let the top 10% ranking always influence whether or not you apply to U of M. If you are a solid student taking the hard classes in high school with a good ACT you have a good chance of getting in.
My friend’s daughter got into the Engineering school with a 26 on her ACT but over a 4.00 gpa. She took college classes in high school so I believe that showed she was up to doing the work at U of M. She was waitlisted but got in on the April cut a few years back. Her dad and her brother had also graduated from U of M. She recently told me that her gpa at U of M engineering school is a 3.7.
I believe Michigan’s acceptance rate is high because of the type of students that tend to apply and their application is not one that is easily thrown together.</p>