Legacies

Hi, I am a junior in high school right now. I know many people who want to apply to University of Michigan next year. Some are smarter than me but have no legacies. But there is one specific person who is smarter than me and has a double legacy. I have a sister who actually attends University of Michigan now. Both my mom and dad did not go to college and do not make more than the average income. I know that some colleges prefer this over people who have parents who went to college and earn way more than the average income. Also, last year University of Michigan accepted 3 people out of 8 people from my school, but this year they only accepted one out of 14 so far. I have a 3.7 weighted GPA and plan on getting 1450 on my SAT. I took it once before and I got a 780 in math and a 20 in the optional essay writing section, but I did really bad on the other reading/writing section, so I plan on retaking the SATs this March. My GPA has increased a lot consistently every year and I am a female who wants to apply to their Mechanical Engineering program. Do you think I would be able to get in, despite the other people and the history in my community?

And I would also like to add that I am Asian and when my sister applied she had a 3.8 weighted. We both went/go to the same high school and I also have many extracurricular activities and classes fitting my major. I excel in math and science. I have already took AP Calculus and am currently taking AP Statistics in school right now as well as 2 other AP courses relating to science and math.

Are you a Michigan resident?

Have you tried ACT practice test?

No, I am not a Michigan resident and I have tried a few ACT practice tests, but the scores are worse than my SAT scores.

What is your uwGPA without subgrades?

Being an OOS applicant is something that is considered in the admissions process, as set forth in Part C7 of the Common Data Set; and there is a lower acceptance percentage for OOS applicants (@billcsho would likely have those specific numbers). The CDS also tells you, among other things, that GPA is a “very important” admissions factor, whereas standardized test scores are an “important” admissions factor.

It’s always good to have alternative plans if you are applying to a highly competitive university.

Legacy does not help much at UMich as it has one of the largest alumni network. Many applicants have legacies. With a low GPA and from OOS, it is a high reach.

You would need closer to a 1490-1520 and get “a’s” on your Ap’s and get mostly A’s next year especially to midterm grades. I would also suggest not applying for engineering but apply LSA. You can do a cross campus transfer into engineering as a sophomore. All engineering students take the same classes as LSA your first year but one English class. This year’s engineering class had a 33 Act and 3.91 unweighted GPA average.

That admission average stat has been the case for the last couple years too.

@Knowsstuff: Regarding a cross-campus transfer from LSA to COE, we were told during our tour/information session that if you are accepted to LSA, you have to apply for a transfer to COE; and it is by no means guaranteed that you will be allowed to make that transfer.

@gandalf78 nothing in life is guaranteed. But sometimes in life you need to bet on yourself. The requirements for cross campus transfer are not that hard and Coe doesn’t have limits of how many students can be in any discipline. Michigan encourages students to change their course of study and makes that attainable. They seem to be very supportive of whatever the students choose to do. All my information is coming directly from engineering admissions leadership and personal experience. The application is a resume and another essay and your current grades. You have to be on track to complete certain classes for transfer.

Yes, it is not that difficult to transfer from LSA to CoE. There are some considerations though. First, make sure you are taking the course required for transfer as well as fulfilling LSA requirement. Second, school specific scholarships are not transferrable.
I still recommend students interested in engineering should apply directly to CoE. The gap in admission stat between LSA and CoE is getting smaller and smaller in the last few years. The admission rates are getting close as well.

I was just suggesting since there are different paths to accomplish the same goal. My son that just did this cross campus transfer successfully had a 3.95 unweighted with a 34 Act. His school is the number one in our state with an average Act of 31. He choose to go this path since after analyzing 3 past years of Naviance and consulting with college counselors he noticed that his school acceptance to Michigan engineering was low but to LSA was high. He decided to bet on himself. There are 8 kids from his class at Michigan and 3-4 of them have full rides from outside scholarship programs. They have 25 at Northwestern and 25 at University of Chicago with many at the Ives etc. Since the OP stats seemed low for engineering statistically he might have a slight better chance LSA. But he also has a year to improve the above.

BTW since this thread is legacy… My wife went to Michigan… Did it help my son being out of state? Really have no clue but as they say… It couldn’t hurt…

By next year, it is probably not worth the effort to go through the transfer route. The last 3 years, there was a very small upward trend in the CoE admission stat or decrease in admission rate. While it is much more significant for LSA (or UMich as a whole). The mid 50 ACT of enrolled freshmen at CoE remains at 31-34 from 2014 to 2017, while that of LSA climbed up a point or so.

At the engineering open house this year they stated that engineering was 3.91 with 33/34 Act and general population was 3.84 with 32/33 ACT. Pretty amazing if you ask me. The general population at Michigan can get accepted to some of the better engineering programs in the United States…) :

Again, one is not moving much, if at all, in the last 4 years and one has been going up steadily. On the other hand, your data ma be from previous year. The admission average GPA was 3.87 in 2017 for UMich as a whole which is pretty much the same for LSA. OP is applying for 2019.
The admission rate of CoE was 23.6% in 2015 when it was ~27% for UMich as a whole. Now both are approaching 20% this year.

@Knowsstuff: The way you described the process, you made it sound as if the transfer process from LSA to COE was automatic or guaranteed. That is not the impression I received from the admissions staff I spoke with.

I agree with you that nothing in life is guaranteed.

What they say and what they do are two different things I am learning. They gave me the same discussion since policies can change like they did with Ross. But once the student is in their system it is hard to deny them access if they meet the requirements. This is coming from both admissions heads and not the people answering the phone (who is very knowledgeable and honest). They tend to do anything that will positivity affect the student. It is unique.