Letter from Umich...

<p>So I applied Early Response to University of Michigan and I just got a letter from them that says they want to see my fall grades before they give me a decision. In one of my essays, I mentioned that my GPA has been going up consistently every semester of high school, so could that be the reason or do they just want to make sure I don't slack off? As long as my grades stay as high as they are (4.0-4.1 weighted), am I basically in or not?</p>

<p>yeah, I'm guessing they were split on whether to admit you (likely because of a low overall GPA) and if your grades continued to increase, then you're in.</p>

<p>AWESOMEzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz</p>

<p>I guess that means you were deferred. What does it say on your wolverine access page?</p>

<p>i think its better than being deferred cause if you keep your grades up you have a really good chance of getting in</p>

<p>What was the exact wording of the letter? I remember when I applied there were two types of letters sent out. I got one that was the "good" deferment letter. From what i've heard, if your letter specifically says "deferred" it means you're deferred; if not it means do well senior year and you are accepted.</p>

<p>Oh, so there are two levels of deferment. Didn't know that.</p>

<p>Sounds like they might give your application a second look. If GPA went down alot, probably will get rejected. Although if GPA increase, or stay about the same probably will get accepted.</p>

<p>This same thing happened to my friend last year. His grades were kind of iffy because of having cancer and he had to take a semester off of high school to get surgery. He was admitted pretty easily after they looked at his fall grades and is now doing really well at Michigan. I think you are in a relatively good place, and good luck!</p>

<p>That makes me feel so much better... Btw, I don't have the letter right now so I don't know the exact wording but it doesn't use the word deferred specifically so...</p>

<p>Okay here's exactly what the letter says:
Thank you for your application to the University of Michigan. After an initial individualized and comprehensive review of your application, we find that we will need additional information in order to make a decision.</p>

<p>The quality of grades earned in academic courses is one of several factors taken into consideration in evaluating a student's admissibility. To give your application a fair evaluation, we will need your fall semester grades. Because it is important that we receive these grades as soon as possible, it is your responsibility to ask your high school counselor to fax a report of your fall semester grades to our office at ___. </p>

<p>We appreciate your interest in the University of Michigan and look forward to receiving the information requested. We will notify you of a final decision on your application by mid-April. Please do not hesitate to contact me, or have your high school couselor call me, if you have any questions or concerns regarding your application. Your U-M ID is XXXXXXXX and should be included on any materials you submit or any communications you have with our office.</p>

<p>seems to me that it is an unofficial deferral</p>

<p>This is not a deferral, it's much better. If you do very well this first semester (3.8+), you are in.</p>

<p>One of my friends got one of these letters... after he sent his fall grades (3.95), they kept stringing him along, leading him on... then rejected him really really late (June).</p>

<p>My advice? Keep your other options open.</p>

<p>Michigan has three decisions: Accepted, Rejected, and Deferred. Since 'defer' basically means to postpone, your decision is most definitely a Deferred. I suppose writing a letter in that tone is much nicer than flat out saying "You were deferred".</p>

<p>^I don't think so. My letter (and I think that letter above) looked very different from the official "deferred" letter. The deferment letter specifically has the word "defer" in it while mine did not.</p>

<p>It basically means do well senior year/better than you have been doing and you're in.</p>

<p>Do you know for sure what the 'official' defer letter looks like? If you do, then I was right about the 'different levels of deferment' thing. Every U of M presentation I've gone to (and that is about 4 or 5) stated that there were only 3 decisions.</p>

<p>Actually, we are not really disagreeing. I'm just saying that the situation you are in can only be classified as "Deferred", since that is what 'to defer' means.</p>

<p>scar are you instate or out of state?</p>

<p>Subroutine, the letter the OP received is NOT a deferral. There is a 'true' deferral letter which explicitly states that the applicant was deferred. At least that's how it was when I applied 3 years ago, I doubt anything's changed.</p>

<p>Hmm, come to think of it, the umich representatives actually stated that the decisions were Accepted, Rejected and "not now". They never used that word "deferred". So I guess in that sense, you are not "deferred" but received a "not now" decision. This is purely semantic. In my view, to defer = to postpone. So to me, any decision which postpones one's acceptance is a "defer" decision. This apparently differs from you guys' interpretation of "defer" which is strictly what U of M determines. </p>

<p>tl;dr OP may not have been "deferred" as U of M would put it, but in my view upon taking a denotative definition of "defer", the OP was deferred.</p>

<p>This is semantic and stupid and a waste of time. You're welcome.</p>