<p>My D got in Michigan, but the process of notifying decision by Michigan admissions is cruel and unorganized. Since Mich is not my D's 1st choice, she wasn't that anxious, but I can imagine many kids out there who are agonizing over the wait for e-mails which come in waves in several days. It is not hard in this day and age to set up a website and let the students "pull" at the same time (a la Ivy schools) rather than have the students wait for the "push".
This process adds unnecessary stress to an already stressful situation for the students.</p>
<p>Or at the very least explain the logic of how e-mails will be sent (e.g. Michigan resident defer first, then xxx, then yyy).</p>
<p>C'mon Michigan. You can do better for a world class university!</p>
<p>Following the same logic, would you prefer Michigan to end using the rolling admission process. I’m with you on that one. I’d rather see Michigan adopt a two-notification dates process like UIUC and a few others.</p>
<p>It used to be rolling for everything, with a “Early Response” program where it is rolling but guarantee that is you applied by November 1, you’d get a decision by December 23. Then this year they moved to the Common App, and did EA for the first time, which required different (read: new and confusing to admissions who had never done it before) procedures. And thus all h*** broke lose.</p>
<p>and what makes you think that UMich really cares about how their applicants “feel”? </p>
<p>They have a ridiculous number of applicants for a limited # of spots; people are falling over each other to attend, even OOS at close to $50,000/year…</p>
<p>honestly, they could release decisions on December 25th and still have more than enough kids attending…</p>
<p>so, if you want to be part of this esteemed institution, one must deal with the process…</p>
<p>I agree with crazydad (too bad your daughter does not wish to attend) and Goblue, Michigan should be more organized. The number of applicants is not excuse. Cornell gets more applicants than Michigan, and their admissions process is more organized.</p>
<p>^^absolutely; but why should they be more organized? </p>
<p>that was my point…unless people start complaining with “their feet” they have NO incentive to change…horrible process…</p>
<p>and fwiw, it wasn’t any better when it was rolling in many situations…and the kackamame way they used to calculate GPA’s…well at least that has changed…</p>
<p>They will do what they do because they can…</p>
<p>I don’t really have a problem with their process. They said they’d notify EA applicants by December 23 and that’s what they’re doing. It’s about a weak earlier and people are complaining because someone in another state heard a day or a few hours earlier. The tax deadline is April 15 but not everyone gets their refunds processed on the same day or direct deposits at the same time.</p>
<p>Last year people were upset that U-M sent out EA decisions on a rolling basis: “I applied on 9/29 and had a 3.9 W and 30 ACT and haven’t heard anything. How can this other person with a 3.8 and 29 that applied 10/12 already have a decision?” Now they’re lumped together within a week long timeframe and it’s still causing concern. In my opinion, people get too hung up on what’s happening with everyone else. Sites like this can be a great resource and community for students and parents, but can also contribute to some of the anxiety.</p>
<p>danloeb, students should never compare themselves to others. Grades and SATs/ACT don’t tell the whole story. Michigan does not go solely on that. Essays, background, recommendations, ECs all play a significant role. Finally, even identical students will likely not be reviewed by the same group of people and as such will not be given the same treatment. People should only be concerned about their own unique case and not worry about others.</p>
<p>Someone from my school got in (I’m out of state) and I still haven’t heard back and I have to study for finals, but I can’t because I’m freaking out about this! Why would they send this other person’s decision and not mine? Probably because I’m going to be rejected…</p>
<p>The communication is extremely poor and this is what has been frustrating for students and their parents. It would be nice if the communication would be stronger and more forthright. As an alum, it is a bit embarrassing that you have to find out what is going on through gossip and chat rooms. It is also embarrassing that there is a tendency not to give out rejections to students who have no chance of being admitted but the defer them and then let them wither on a waitlist.</p>
<p>Congrats to the newly accepted students! Michigan is a great place to go to school and an amazing experience.</p>
<p>UMich is notorious for stringing students along with these deferrals until well into the spring. It’s not a new practice, as I know several people who have had deferrals in the past and eventually given up waiting, going to other universities (where they have been very happy, btw).</p>
<p>It’s frustrating for the kids like my daughter, who has great stats (32 ACT, high GPA, in-state, awesome extracurriculars) and been deferred, while other kids with lesser (but still good) stats have gotten in. It’s very hard not to take it personally, because you just don’t know what it was that put others over the edge but not you. </p>
<p>Having said that, it is hardly the end of the world not to get accepted to your first choice. There are a lot of good schools out there, and I am a firm believer that the best and the brightest will make their own way in the world, regardless of the name on their diploma.</p>
<p>I love UMich–I WORK at UMich, for heaven’s sake, and that wasn’t enough to get my kid in. But I’m not blind to the holier-than-thou attitude many faculty and administrators have, with regard to acceptance and rejection of these kids. Even my daughter was taken aback by the attitude shown in her campus visit, with the director looking down their nose at the kids so excited to be touring campus. </p>
<p>It’s disheartening, especially as a proud employee of the U, and also knowing the warm welcome we received at other institutions.</p>
<p>mkbs40: Thanks for the insight! Great information for those denied/deferred and even for those that have been accepted but who may want to attend a university that is more appreciative of them.</p>
MKBS, I am telling you this not to defend UMich’s rather erratic admissions process, but because as an employee you also need to hear/see when your employer is doing well.
My son was treated like gold in all his dealings with UMich, during his visits, in terms of accommodations made for him to sit in on classes and ask questions about the program he was interested in, and even by the admissions counselors, who gave him great advice THE YEAR BEFORE he applied based on the school he was attending and the highly selective program for which he intended to apply. </p>
<p>That may be in part because he had two separate tours (LSA and School of Music). The School of Music is very highly organized, accommodating, and professional, and the tour was conducted by the assistant dean. But folks at the film department were equally as accommodating, and met with him before he applied to discuss a dual degree.</p>
<p>The rolling nature of the admission process (time two, in our case, as he needed portfolio-based acceptance at the SOM plus LSA) was very stressful and did temporarily dissolve some of the “goodwill” the school has established with us. I suppose the scholarship that came days after the acceptance restored whatever effect the wait had on us.</p>
<p>In any case, I wanted you to know that UMich obviously gets it right, and often, despite itself ;)</p>
<p>Now, as an employee, can you petition the admissions office to do a marketing study to research whether or not an ED and RD singular notification date would be beneficial (or adverse) to UMich’s unique needs? Eg. the Ivy’s are not dealing with a 43% yield rate, so the logistics are simplified. The deferral process, however, is very germane for Michigan given its low yield, I suspect.</p>
<p>Thank you for the kind words, kmccrindle. I am pleased to hear of your positive experiences. Sometimes, all you hear on these message boards are the people who are unhappy, so it’s very nice to hear the the U redeemed itself a little bit, in the end.</p>
<p>I have heard very good things about the music school in the past, so your experience bears that out. I don’t know much about the film department. Unfortunately, my daughter’s tour experience was not very positive, with the tour leaders implying that the kids there just might not be…good enough…for U of M. It was not subtle. (By far, Purdue has it going on with their campus tours. It was really, really nice.)</p>
<p>I suspect the admissions department was simply overwhelmed with the sheer numbers of qualified kids. They have made some noise about fears of crashing the computer system by sending out all the decisions in one fell swoop. That doesn’t really ring that true, to me, but whatever. It does seem as though they are trying to get substantial numbers out, pretty quickly.</p>
<p>I should ask around. I have a meeting with a provost next week. I’ll see what she has to say.</p>