<p>My daughter is going to college this fall at MSU. She applied to UM in the fall and was deferred, then wait-listed, and finally rejected. She is devastated. I blame it partially on myself because of how she was raised. She is a Michigan kid through and through. The first words she put together were "go blue". Her room is painted maize and blue, and she even has a u of m comforter (which she has obviously taken off due to recent events). I think it makes it ten times harder for her to watch her closest friends prepare to head off to AA in the fall. Some of these girls have much lower GPAs than her and the same or lower test scores. She is kicking herself because she believes her essays are what did her in. She got sent in her application in August last year (she was told to apply as early as possible) so she didn't have any of her teachers read them. She just cant wrap her head around why she was rejected. I know many people must be in this situation because UMich is getting increasingly difficult to get into. So any advice would be great! I just want her to be able to enjoy her first year of college without constantly thinking about what her friends are doing at UM.</p>
<p>Maybe you could write an appeal letter to UofM…?</p>
<p>I’m from Michigan too, and I fear being put in her situation. But there’s no doubt she’s not the only one; I know plenty of smart kids who got rejected. Does she qualify for any Honors programs at MSU?</p>
<p>Either way, she can transfer in. I’d do that if I were her. I know lots of people who’ve done that. Just make sure she makes her resume so impressive they can’t say no (i.e., 4.0 GPA). :)</p>
<p>I’d say that if she really has her heart set on Michigan, she should focus on maintaining a good gpa this fall, and who knows, maybe she’ll end up liking State and decide to stay; either way, just tell her to focus on the books and she’ll ultimately succeed.</p>
<p>I also think you should appeal. If she has the stats then they didn’t reject her for a good reason. An appeal would make her stand out in a good way.</p>
<p>If she still wants to go to Michigan, tell her to work hard and transfer. If she wants to stick with MSU, find the UMich vs. MSU thread and filter all the pro-MSU posts.</p>
<p>By the way, there are plenty of smart motivated students at MSU, if that’s the reason why she wanted to go to UMich rather than MSU.</p>
<p>She could transfer to UM after a year or two at MSU</p>
<p>Ha her room sounds just like mine.</p>
<p>You can try the appeal but UM isn’t exactly hurting for students. The best course of action may be to transfer after freshman year. I have a nephew who had lots of fun in high school, went to San Diego State for a year and then transfered into USC. Where there is a will there is a way. Good luck.</p>
<p>This happened to me last year. I was raised in Ann Arbor and basically had my mind set on going to Michigan since I knew what a college was. I had an low, but not unreasonably so, GPA (for Michigan admits), and high test scores. I mean it was especially difficult for me because people with lower GPAs and test scores got in. To make matters worse, I had to look at Michigan stadium every day when I went to school my senior year while hoping for an admissions letter.</p>
<p>Basically, I was completely devastated when I was not admitted and pretty much spent the whole summer trying not to think about college and the safety school I had to go to. For a while, I tried to convince myself that I hated UM and that it was not worth to try to get into. I kept trying to convince myself that I would love my new school. But what I realized was that I still wanted to go to UM and that I would still do anything I could to get into it and prove them wrong. I realized that if I wanted to make my stay as short as possible at my new school, I would have to do as well as I could there. But something else I realized was that to do as well as I could at that school, I would have to stop thinking of UM and act as if I was going to stay at that school until graduation, as to not limit myself. What I mean by that is, if I kept thinking of UM, I probably would have been depressed the whole time and not have done anything else except for study, which would have limited my other more social activities. That would have weakened my resume. It would have looked like I did no extracurricular activities and was involved with nothing, which would have looked extremely bad on my resume. Basically, that got me back into a healthy mindset. I used my rejection from Michigan as a catalyst to enjoy myself at my new school and to do everything I probably would have done at Michigan to help build my resume and get into Michigan.</p>
<p>Anyways, I think that she has to realize that just staying depressed over not getting into Michigan is not a solution and can only make the problem worse. She needs to realize that not getting as a freshman is not the end of the world and that she still has a chance. This way she will learn to enjoy herself at State, trying to work towards the ultimate goal to gaining admissions to UM. It may not be easy at first but once she meets some people at State and realizes that they are great people to be friends with, she may begin to enjoy herself more. It worked for me, after meeting some people at my current school, I began to just enjoy my freshman year but used not getting into Michigan as motivation to do better academically. I got my best year of grades ever and I think that not getting in has made me far better than I would have had I been admitted into Michigan as a freshman.</p>
<p>Anyways, hopefully everything goes well for her next year and she enjoys herself at State. Good luck!</p>
<p>^ VERY good advice. Did you go to State freshman year?</p>
<p>What was your GPA/ ACT?</p>
<p>It’s probably futile to appeal her application for the freshman class, but it wouldn’t hurt to make an appointment and meet with the person(s) who review(s) transfer applications and find out what it takes to be admitted as a transfer.</p>
<p>That way when she applies again, she can direct her application to a specfic person who will be able to associate an real person with the application and know her passion for U-M. </p>
<p>. . .This is a long shot, but if an admitted student changes their mind about attending U-M in the late summer, and your daughter builds a good relationship with an admissions counselor, maybe she will be offered the opening. </p>
<p>The key is to not ask them to reverse their decision - they hate to do that, but to put your daughter in a position to take advantage of an opportunity if it comes up. </p>
<p>In the meantime, tell her it’s not where she starts out, it’s where she ends up that counts.</p>
<p>liv4physicz- Actually no, I’m still at the University of Pittsburgh right now. I just couldn’t stomach the thought of going to State because I had then (arrogantly) assumed it was some crappy school for C students. Pitt offered me a good amount of money so I decided to go there. I kind of regret it now because State also offered me money and I would be paying even less if I had decided to go there instead. I had a 3.70 (UW) and a 33 ACT so you can probably understand why I was so difficult for me to not get accepted.</p>
<p>It says you had a 3.64 UW and a 32…</p>
<p>Have you guys visited MSU? The campus is somewhat different than that of U of M, but maybe that will help her feel better about it if she likes it. Like others have said, MSU is a great school, and she can still transfer to U of M later…</p>
<p>In the meantime, ice cream or chocolate…</p>
<p>Best of luck</p>
<p>I meant to type 3.60 (UW) for my GPA. You have to remember when I typed in 3.64 it was only after 6 semesters, I actually got it up to 3.66 through 7 semesters but then when I heard that no one sees your final semester grades, I slacked and got it way down to 3.60. But 33 ACT is correct. 32 is when I took the ACT at the end of my junior year. I tried to get my ACT to 34 when I took it midway through my senior year but only got a 33.</p>
<p>But you applied EA…</p>
<p>You said you had 3 Bs first semester…</p>
<p>Would anybody maybe even recommend going to a community college and kicking ass there then transferring? It’s easier to get a good gpa and much much cheaper. You can always join Phi Theta Kappa and I guess UMich eats that up. (Don’t forget the honors program, student clubs, etc.)</p>
<p>Sent from my DROIDX using CC App</p>
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<p>I disagree with this. Stats do not equal admit in the holistic process, and it would be counter-productive, as another poster mentioned, to go down this road IMHO. Psychologically, it’s also not likely to help her “get over” the rejection any more than telling an ex-boyfriend that he’s making a mistake helps someone get over a breakup. Better to “SHOW” that a mistake has been made, if you know what I mean.</p>
<p>I will tell you that my friend’s son applied 3 times to UMich: first time as a senior (rejected); second time as a freshman from another Michigan university (rejected); third time as an incoming junior with a 3.9+ average and strong recommendations. He was able to finish his degree at UMich ;)</p>
<p>What will be important for your daughter to understand/learn is that life is about making the most of what’s in front of you – life is lived “on the court” – not in the “stands” of could have/should have land. Encourage her to “play full on” for the next two years and then apply for transfer as an incoming junior. UMich likes to see two years of performance elsewhere before they’re inclined to admit a transfer. If she lives like she means it, in two years time it might be a moot point whether she transfers or not, because she’ll already be winning the game ;)</p>
<p>Good luck, and my condolences! As a parent, I do not envy your position and can appreciate your concern. Cheers.</p>
<p>PS Re scottj’s comment – CCs in Michigan are indeed a great and cost effective way to transfer in to UMich. That said, I feel that a candidate who is performing at a high level at MSU may be slightly more desirable to admissions.
MSU also has an awesome honors program, and much to love in some areas of study (eg. media/communications, I’d consider it stronger in some ways; ag and nuclear physics, etc.)</p>
<p>If the OP’s daughter can make something of her stay, she might just enjoy the continuity of staying outright all 4 years. If she instead attends a CC, there is a chance it would be less stimulating and the guarantee that there’d have to be a change in 2 years. So it really depends on personal preference, financial capability/considerations, etc. Each are valid routes to UMich or to their own ends respectively.</p>