<p>I really think it would be helpful if we could organize the three types of letters that were sent out. And it would really help future applicants if we kept track of who got accepted and when they heard back. So here are the three letters:
1:
Thank you for your application to the U of M college of LSA. we are pleased that you have applied and are impressed with your acheivements. however, our high application volume, coupled with the very strong credentials of our applicants in recent years, has contributed to an increasingly competitive admissions process. as a result, we are writing to inform you that your app. is currently being deferred for further review. </p>
<p>2: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>3:After multiple individualized and comprehensive evaluations of your application to the University of Michigan College of XXXXXXX for Fall 2010, we believe that you have something uniquely valuable to contribute to our campus. However, our high application volume, coupled with the very strong credentials of our applicants in recent years, has contributed to an increasingly competitive admissions process. As a result, your application has been deferred for a final decision until a later date.</p>
<p>So in this thread please post your stats, and which letter you received. and (in the future) when you hear back from UM let us know what the final decision was!</p>
<p>GPA: 3.4
Class Size: 750
State: MI
ACT: 28
College Applied to: Engineering
Essay’s: Great
E.C.: Sports, Not a whole lot of “outstanding” activities
Letter: 3</p>
<pre><code>* Essays: Common app essay about my relationship with my brother after my mom passed away. Michigan supplement on being in a community of multi-taskers
Teacher Recs: glowing
Counselor Rec: very nice
</code></pre>
<p>ECs:
-Managing Editor at national-award-winning newspaper (CSPA Silver Crown, NSPA All-American with five marks of distinction, CSPA Gold Medalist, Named #1 newspaper in CT by Hartford Courant)
-Radio DJ for #1 ranked high school radio station in country (John Drury High School Radio Awards)
-Sports broadcaster for school television network
-Self published novel written junior year
-Varsity baseball, two letters, starting pitcher, conference champions junior year.
-Volunteer work through Church Youth Group, mission trips to Mississippi for Hurricane Katrina relief and Costa Rica to build a school for orphaned and single-mother inner-city children.
-Sales Associate at Athletic Shoe Factory (part-time job)
-Sports writer for Connecticut Post and Westport News
-Beat writer for the Jacksonville Jaguars on NFL.com
-Internship at Green Village Initiative, a local environmental-awareness group. Worked on creating an all-purpose spray cleaner made from entirely organic materials, marketed and distributed the product through town functions.
-Syndicated sports writer for BleacherReport.com</p>
<p>[ b]Stats:[ /b][ list]
[ *] SAT Superscore: 2090- (750 English, 710 Critical Reading, 630 Math)
One Sitting: 2040- (750 English, 660 Critical Reading, 630 Math)
[ *] SAT IIs (if any): 730 U.S. History, 610 Literature
[ *] Unweighted GPA: 3.79
[ *] Rank (if applicable): N/A
[ *] Other stats: 3,4,5 on World History, U.S. History, and English Language respectively
8 AP classes all-together including this year
[ /list][ b]Subjective:[ /b][ list]
[ *] Essays: The strongest part of my application: Common app about being a twin and finding my own identity within my relationship with my sister, and Umich supplements were about the political science program, and for the background essay, I wrote about being half catholic and half jewish but completely irreligious.
[ *] ECs: </p>
<p>President of the Policy Debate Team, and teach a two-hour debate and public speaking class three times a week.
California State Champion in Parliamentary Debate
Top 93 Policy Debaters in the Nation
Won 11 other tournaments, and placed in the top 3 in 24 others.
National Honor Society
California Scholarship Federation - Seal Bearer
AP Scholar</p>
<p>[ *] Teacher Recs: Didn’t read them, but both teachers are smart and great writers
[ *] Counselor Rec: Should be fine… didn’t read
[ *] Hook (if any): Twin, and State Champion in something?
[ /list][ b]Location/Person:[ /b][ list]
[ *] State or Country: California
[ *] School Type: Public
[ *] Ethnicity: White
[ *] Gender: Male
[ /list][ b]Other Factors:[ /b] I spent my last two summers at month long debate and research programs at Whitman College and Northwestern University respectively.
I also showed a lot of interest in Michigan and went to an info session at my school if they even care about that. </p>
<p>[ b]General Comments:[ /b] I have a meh GPA and my SAT score is just alright, but I felt like my extra-curricular achievements and leadership and my essays were the strongest parts of my application. I think they deferred me so they could see my grades go up, and hopefully they will!</p>
<p>[ *] SAT (Breakdown + Combined): 1950 M:660 CR:630 E:660
[ *] SAT IIs (if any): M:660 Chem:640 (did not send)
[ *] Unweighted GPA: 3.65
[ *] Weighted GPA: 4.31
[ *] Rank (if applicable): UW: 20% W: 10%
[ *] Other stats:
[ *] Essays: Excellent
[ *] ECs: Johns Hopkins Oncology Internship, Run a nonprofit tutoring organization called GlenTutors, FDA Internship (just got it a day after deference letter), Attended a medical mission in Vietnam, organize health fairs in the community, Apart of a group called VNMAP which organizes charities and activities for those without healthcare, secretary of SGA, head of the tutoring and tech commitee in NHS, NHS, DECA President and Vice President, AP Scholars club, Varsity tennis, JV Basketball, Basketball Referee, Waiter at a restaurant. Will attend National Youth Medical Forum.
[ *] Teacher Recs: The usual.
[ *] Counselor Rec: The usual.
[ *] Hook (if any): Will take 9 AP classes by the end of the year. Gov, Calc AB, Calc BC, Chemistry, Biology, English 11, English 12, Statistics, Physics. There’s a thing called GT at my school/ which is an accelerated honors class. People usually take this before going to AP. All of the classes I took, except for 4 electives and World History (Honors) and US History (honors), were GT or AP.
[ *] State or Country: Maryland
[ *] School Type: Small public school with about 300 students in the class. (I know two students who got in UM from my school this year)
[ *] Ethnicity: Asian (Vietnamese)
[ *] Gender: Male</p>
<p>[ b]General Comments:I hope that my extra curricular activities will help me out. I think that’s the strong point in my application. Hopefully they see that I continue to challenge myself and that I’m a dynamic student. . I hate to come off as pretentious (especially in this thread).<br>
What do you guys think? Am I in good shape? :/</p>
Essays: Common App essay and why I want umich essay was good, the community essay was kind of rushed.
Teacher Recs: One was phenomenal, while the other one was alright
Counselor Rec: Not sure, but my counselor knows me very well (in a school of 2000 kids) so hopefully decent.
*Other: Will have taken a total of 7 AP classes and 9 AP exams by the end of my senior year. </p>
<p>ECs: National Honor Society, Student council, Student ambassadors, Symphony orchestra, Key club, lots of volunteer hours at my local community center, worked at a summer camp, web developer for a non-profit organization. </p>
<p>I’m not sure if I should retake the SAT, because the next upcoming test date is January 30th. I’m not even sure how long it’d take the Collegeboard to send that information over to admissions and whether or not they’d see it in time before they made their decision. Good luck to all my fellow deferred applicants out there! We all have a chance, so let’s show them what we’re made of!</p>
<p>No one letter gives you a better chance of being accepted, people get in from all three and people get rejected, too, it just tells you when you’ll hear. Letter 1 means you could hear very soon because you’re still being evaluated now. Letter 2 means you could hear back earlier but not in the first batch, and letter 3 means you’ll hear back after the regular decision deadline (Feb. 1).</p>
<p>jcpsays you are completely wrong. the people who hear first are letter 3 because letter 3 is the only letter that does not ask for senior year grades… if you would like to look farther into this because you think i am wrong… look at threads from last year.</p>
<p>Honestly, #3 and the variant that doesn’t ask for the grades seem to be the best.
Anywho here’s a quick list. I’m not going to format it because I have an AP calc and AP gov test tomorrow and I need to study.</p>
<p>Letter: 3
CoE
GPA: 3.850 Unweighted. (My school doesn’t weigh GPAs anymore.)
ACT: 30
Class Rank: 24/150
My community essay was awful but the rest where great.
My freshman year marks where sub-par.
Writing Club founding member, freelance programming, part-time work.
Low income household
instate</p>
<p>Letter: 3
GPA: 3.1 UW (School doesn’t weight)
ACT: 29 (32 English, 31 Math, 26 Reading, 26 Science)
Class Rank: Top 50%
Location: Michigan
Class Size: 650
Applied to: LSA
Course load: Most rigorous (7 AP’s Junior/Senior year and AP Scholar w/ Honor)
Essays: Great, spent a lot of time
Recommendations: Spectacular
EC: Pony league basketball, Youth in Government, a lot of church volunteer work, job, rugby
White, Male, wrote my diversity essay on being a ginger ;)</p>
<p>Honestly, pretty happy to get deferred. I have a low GPA and I do not stack up against most of your records at all. That said, I really put a lot of time and effort into my essays and have done everything I could so far to increase my chances. I hope that I get the opportunity to attend U of M next fall. POWER OF POSITIVE THINKING. And getting the assumed “best” deferral is flattering to me haha.</p>
<p>Lindsy, you are mounting a pretty rigorous campaign in support of your letter being the best without any actual support for your claim, and are bashing other people every chance you get who are trying to find the benefits of other letters. And the link you posted seems to indicate the first is the best btw… How about we all calm down and let the chips fall where they may without making other people feel bad…</p>
<p>Right on Leonard…she has gotten quite nutty on here that HER letter is the best and the rest should be worried-but not her. When you post that many posts regarding what letter is the best you start to wonder if a psychiatrist needs to be summoned.</p>
<p>^ easy there bud, I’m sure she just is trying to make the best out of the current situation and while it may be getting annoying theres no need to bash back</p>
<p>GPA: 3.24
ACT: 26
Major: Biology (Pre-Med)
Class size: 759
Recommendations: Very Positive
From Illinois
Middle class income
Letter: 2
4 AP classes taken, 5 honors classes in all of high school.
I’m taking my deferral as a blessing from God, and I’m not lazy at all. Just took time for me to figure out how I learn effectively, and I’m still figuring out. That’s why my gpa is very low.</p>
<p>@linsyxox seriously have you read the link you posted??? According to it All the lteers ask you for semester grades because the can ALWAYS enhance your status… Listen to the other peolple here and stop being rude to people…letter 3 does sound good but I think admissions ran out of time to take a better look at letter 1 that’s why they are being “deferred for further review” and not for “a lather date” . But that’s just one thing I notice I don’t know people from all 3 letters get rejected so no one is save.</p>
<p>Stats
[ *] SAT (Breakdown + Combined): did not send
[ *] SAT IIs (if any): did not send
[ *] weighted GPA:4.2
[ *] Rank (if applicable):
[ *] Other stats:ap scholar with distinction, 31 on ACT one sitting
Subjective:
[ *] Essays: really good. i applied for the LSA residential college and wrote an essay that conveyed my desire for what that program has to offer
[ *] ECs: principle violin in orchestra for 4 years, concert master of orchestra outside of school, member of gay-straight alliance, over 260 hours of community service, worked as a camp counselor for 2 summers
[ *] Teacher Recs: waived my right to read, but i knew both the teachers very well
[ *] Counselor Rec: most likely decent
[ *] Hook (if any): i was in a humanities magnet program for high school that I had to test into
Location/Person:
[ *] State or Country: Maryland
[ *] School Type: public magnet school
[ *] Ethnicity: white/Filipino
[ *] Gender: Female
Other Factors:
General Comments: I knew I was getting deferred once I didn’t get an email on Friday. I wasn’t really expecting to get in and I’m a little wary about getting in after being deferred because U Mich has already accepted 5 people from my school. Hopefully I’ll get accepted</p>
<p>no, she is being insensitive about this whole letter thing and making everyone else who got different letters miserable. Christmas is just around the corner and these poor kids don’t need these deferral letters to dampen their spirits anymore than than they already have.
Stating your thoughts one time, maybe-but to go on and on about this is thoughtless. No one has asked to have their deferral letters rated.
I wish the moderator would just delete all this rating of deferral letters. I don’t see how it is a help to anyone.</p>
<p>@lindsy, I’m sorry you disagree, but speculation on CC threads can only take you so far. I contacted the office of admission and they said all deferred applicants are asked to send grades for the fall semester. The first letter says you’re “still being considered” which means you can hear back very soon. Letter two says you’re deferred to “a later date” so that’s a little more ambiguous. Letter 3 says you are deferred until after the February first regular decision deadline.</p>