<p>from the Michigan Daily.....</p>
<p>Be glad that you've already been accepted to the University.</p>
<p>On Friday, letters will go out to the last crop of high school seniors who applied to the University for next fall. Early next week, they'll arrive in their mailboxes, and the hopeful applicants will find out if they got in. Chances are, they didn't. </p>
<p>The admissions cycle for next fall's freshman class is ending Friday, and statistics suggest that this is one of the most competitive admissions cycles ever. </p>
<p>The acceptance rate for this year's freshman class is expected to be about 45 percent compared to about 47 percent last year, according to the University's Undergraduate Admissions website.</p>
<p>Chris Lucier, the University's director of recruitment and operations, said the University set a new application record this year, with about 27,000 applicants. That includes an increase in in-state, out-of-state and international applications. </p>
<p>The University's targeted freshman enrollment is 5,400 students, but it sent out only about 12,300 acceptance letters because slightly more than half of those accepted will not enroll.</p>
<p>Last year, 25,733 people applied for admission, about 1, 200 fewer than this year.</p>
<p>Because University does not admit more students in response to an increase in applications, admissions is becoming more selective instead, Lucier said.</p>
<p>Lucier said the application increase is a reflection of the University's growth in popularity. </p>
<p>"I think Michigan is truly recognized as one of the premier institutions," he said. "Students embrace the type of environment and diversity of thoughts, ideas and perspectives available here." </p>
<p>Former University President James Duderstadt, though, said universities nationwide are seeing increases in applicants. </p>
<p>"Actually every university is seeing a substantial increase in applications," said Duderstadt, who recently served on Security of Education Margaret Spellings' Commission on the Future of Higher Education, in an e-mail interview. He said that the nationwide increase is probably due in part to efforts to standardize applications for electronic submission, which makes it easier for students to apply to more universities. </p>
<p>Almost 300 universities use the Common Application, which allows students to apply to multiple schools by filling out the same form. The University of Michigan is not one of them. </p>
<p>Although data is not yet available for this fall's class, the grade point averages and standardized test scores of freshman classes at the University of Michigan have been inching upward over the last 10 years. </p>
<p>The range of composite ACT scores for the middle 50 percent of enrolled freshmen has increased from 25-30 in 1996 to 27-31 last year. The middle 50 percent of combined SAT scores has increased from 1140-1360 in 1996 to 1210-1420 last year. </p>
<p>The middle 50 percent of the 1996 freshman class had high school GPAs ranging from 3.4 to 3.9. The same group of last fall's freshman class had a high school GPA of 3.6 to 3.9. </p>
<p>Applicants are also involved in more extracurricular activities each year, Lucier said. </p>
<p>Colleen Creal, a guidance counselor at Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor said she has seen the quality of applicants increase over the seven years she has worked there.</p>
<p>"The kids are just so involved in so many things," she said. "They are just more well-rounded kids." </p>
<p>Lucier said it's these things that make reviewing the 27,000 applications interesting for him and his staff. </p>
<p>"It's so great because each student has a story to tell us about who they are and why they should attend the University," he said. "It's exciting to find that type of interest, passion. It's something beyond GPA and test scores." </p>
<p>By the numbers</p>
<p>27,000 Approximate number of freshman applications received for fall 2007</p>
<p>25,733 Number of freshman applications received for fall 2006</p>
<p>45 Approximate freshman acceptance rate for fall 2007</p>
<p>47 Freshman acceptance rate for fall 2006</p>