<p>Reading all the acceptances (AND CONGRATS TO ALL OF YOU!), rejections, and wait lists coming out of UMich today. S was accepted to COE with very good stats, but maybe not as good as some of you that I have seen denied or wait listed today. He applied EA to UMich, because there was NO penalty or commitment if he decided to go elsewhere (and he has, so hopefully that opens up a spot for someone). If Michigan is really what you wanted, WHY would you not apply EA? It seems the standard was not quite as tough for the EA kids, but once they took those spots, it left little room for some very strong applicants who just waited later...</p>
<p>It’s annoying to fill out apps and people sometimes just later realize they have interest. I’m not sure but maybe RD apps get their 7th semester grades taken into account, or later test scores? That’s all i can think of.</p>
<p>My son applied as a transfer, so he was advised to apply in January, after the fall semester ended.</p>
<p>We just got back from Good Friday observances and I prayed earnestly for those who are deeply disappointed with the results. As a mom, my heart goes out to them so much. I wish that I could deliver pints of Haagen Daaz to every applicant.</p>
<p>granipc, even with extremely involved parents and/or paid consultants (which is another whole issue), it is very hard to gauge exactly how to play everything. Clearly there are advantages to EA and ED, IF one can get him/herself together enough to make that happen. But which EAs and how many? Some of us used those to lock in a couple of semi-safeties. Getting the apps done which in the case of schools like Michigan requires quite a bit of extra work (to write the essays and do the research necessary to make the essays specific to the school), maybe prepping for that last shot at SATs, trying to ace 4-6 AP classes fall term, playing a fall sport, etc, etc. Exhausting. Kids including mine are applying to too many schools to do a great job on every app, but how do you cut down if you’re reaching for a few Ivies or small Ivies, and then the Michigans, Wash Us, Northwesterns, Rices, Vandys, NYUs, etc, etc? How do you convince 12-15 schools you are in love with them, and if you love only 5 then the odds are against you. There is a fear of being completely shut out so you apply to some you feel confident about, and then you want enough reaches to win the lottery on at least one or two of them. It’s tough. And it’s tough to see some of these kids with near-perfect scores and gpas with lots of ECs not having their dreams come true when they seemingly did everything in their power. It is an interesting scene and an interesting problem.</p>
<p>@finalchild… totally agree and see your point. I’ve followed several kids on this board who just seemed to want Michigan more than any other, but applied RD. I can understand if they needed to wait on one more set of grades or one more test score, but it just seemed like some maybe didn’t understand the edge EA would give them. Like I said S got in, and his stats are very good, but I’m not sure had he been put up against the larger RD pool and combined with fewer spots left for them to offer, that he would have been so lucky. But you’re right, I feel for kids who don’t have a parent who is willing to help, or the means to find someone else who is in the know about admissions. My S has had a crazy busy senior year, and if not for the BIG LIST of due dates posted on the fridge and a fair amount of nagging from me, he would probably have missed quite a few deadlines.</p>
<p>I agree granipc. Applicants who are serious about Michigan should know that applying EA can enhance their chances. But not all serious applicant are aware of this. Michigan should alter its admissions approach from a university that received 20,000 applicants in 2000 to a university that now receives over 50,000 applicants today and that will likely be receiving 80,000 applicants by 2017. With only 15,000 acceptances, Michigan needs to approach the applicant pool from a much more strategic angle. The EA cycle is handled appropriately, although the University should probably limit EA acceptances to just 20% of the total acceptances (no more than 3,000 acceptances from the EA pool). Michigan should also not defer more than 20% of the EA applicant pool. Currently, Michigan either admits or defers virtually all EA applicants. That’s makes no sense. </p>
<p>Most of all, Michigan needs to push its deadline forward from February 1 to January 15, and should forget about the rolling approach and move to a single date announcement, preferably in the March 27-April 2 period.</p>
<p>Some people don’t apply EA because they know they’ll get in RD to michigan. It’s still not incredibly sensible because EAs can often get more money, but all my friends who applied to Michigan did so RD because they knew they would get in. EA is a good choice for borderline applicants who may or may not be admitted.</p>
<p>There is a double-edged (actually triple which I’ll get to) tension working against kids.</p>
<p>Because it’s tougher and tougher to get in kids need to focus even more on how to get in their dream schools (when to apply, tailoring the essays, still keeping immaculate grades, boosting SATs/ACT, doing something special to appear special, etc, etc). But since the dream schools are getting harder and harder to get in then the more energy a kid puts into each of these with low probability of acceptance even with great profiles takes away energy from other schools one could be getting into. I’ve seen kids here getting in Harvard and Columbia waitlisted at Mich. I’ve seen kids getting in Northwestern and similar schools getting waitlisted at American. So you have to work much harder and be more focused to get in but then that hurts you in terms of putting sufficient energy into other schools. And the 3rd thing is the FA piece. How many kids on these threads say “thrilled to get in…now waiting to see if it’s doable”??? What happened to meeting “full demonstrated need”??? Kids are getting in their dream schools after all the effort and then still can’t go! My kid got an “offer” of 60K+ in federal loans to pay for the 64K price tag at NYU. So NYU reasonably expects my kid (or us) to take on 250K+ in loans not counting the extra hidden expenses of living in NYC. Seems almost criminal.</p>
<p>allcapella, with all due respect, there are a lot of kids here getting waitlisted who don’t look “borderline” or had no reason to suspect they were borderline (2400s with 4.0?).</p>
<p>I was referring more to instate students. Out of state is a different ballgame.</p>
<p>Though, I’d still be surprised to see a 4.00 2400 out of stater not getting in. On that note, I wonder if Umichigan practices yield protection?</p>
<p>finalchild,
I agree more with what you said on an earlier post - kids apply to far too many schools. They can’t manage time because they apply to 12+ schools. It is just too many. I don’t have all the answers but I do like my D’s strategy - she applied EA to 3 great schools (one being Michigan) and worked hard on those apps. She got in places by Dec 15th - had she not she was ready to apply to more by the January deadlines. She was lucky and ended up only applying to 2 more which she had great interest in but had no EA option.</p>
<p>Anyway it is tough but not impossible - it just takes planning. I feel for the kids that don’t have proper parent or school guidance in these matters.</p>
<p>One final comment about stats and where people get in - this is the internet - people can make up whatever they like (see lionsandtigers). Certainly not all do but I suspect more do than we think…on CC the stats reported seem very inflated - if you don’t have a 2200+ and a 3.9uw you are in the minority…i don’t buy it.</p>
<p>I pity the kid who “knows” he’ll get in to UM.</p>
<p>Bigdoglover, I totally agree that things can be made up on the Internet (see lionsandtigers). But I suspect that these forums draw a particular sub-group of students and parents… those who have an especially high interest in college and the admissions process. Mightn’t they be the ones who also have especially high grades and test scores?</p>
<p>True VillageMom - its just like sometimes you can make it a sport here to follow curious posts and posters. Someone says "fine school X don’t take me … I’ll take my 4.0, 2400 to Yale instead…then you look up that persons posts and they never have been on a Yale board. Possible yes, but doubtful.</p>
<p>Anyway that was just an aside, not really important in the big picture.</p>
<p>Yes, I think no one can consider Michigan an automatic admit these days… in-state for sure has a better chance, but those are not really the kids I’m talking about. For us, we knew Michigan as an OOS kid would be tough, seemed smart to get in that early pool and since it’s EA vs. ED there was no penalty in doing it that way. We made a list of the schools he was applying… 1 definite safety (state school where he was an auto admit) and for the other 5 he worked on apps based on which were due first. Michigan and another that was also on the Common App went first, and then the next due date, then the next, and so on… Seemed to work well and so far he’s been admitted to all schools except the one that is not notifying until next week. But yes, if he had applied to 12+ schools I think a lot would have been lost in the QUALITY of his applications.</p>