<p>My mistake, I confused letters 2 and 3. Two says you are being re-evaluated to the regular decision deadline, three says “a later date”</p>
<p>In response to the most recent post, what is the diference between letter #1 and #3 that was sent to deferred students? </p>
<p>My kid got #3.</p>
<p>ACT: 31
GPA: 3.82UW, 4.05W
Rank (if applicable): 30/327
Other stats: 4 AP’s, 3 Honors courses
Essays: good, not exceptional however
ECs: 7 varsity letters, varsity team captain, 3 academic letters, NHS, marching band (section leader), Boy Scouts (Eagle, many leadership positions), various community service projects (approximately 300 hours)
Teacher Recs: Excellent
Hook (if any): none
State or Country: Michigan
School Type: public
Ethnicity: white
Gender: Male
Other Factors: None
LETTER 1</p>
<p>The reason why people claim that the first letter is the best is because it says the following two things. </p>
<p>FIRST: “This is still good news”. It does not say this in any of the other letters. This is UMICH giving you hope, why would they give you hope? </p>
<p>SECOND: “You are part of a select group”. This is a giveaway right here. A “select group”? To me that sounds like they have not filed this person’s application away just yet. The other deferred students were looked at, and the admissions committee decided that they could not accept them at this time- hence deferred. They will “re-evaluate” them at a later time. The “select group” seems like students who are still on the white board in deciding, not exactly “re-evaluating” but still being compared to other applications. </p>
<p>As for which letter means you will get a response the quickest… Um, really, there is no way the letter can let you know how quick you will get a response. Yes, one letter asks for your grades, but to be fair, that seems like the one they would decide on the quickest. They want your grades for the decision, you know that your grades are the difference in being accepted or not. The other letters don’t ask for grades. You could be in a endless limbo of comparisons and re-evaluations before they come to a conclusion. </p>
<p>The fact is, deferred is deferred. Some people get in after being deferred, some don’t. Don’t read too far into get.</p>
<p>-For reference, I got the first letter last year</p>
<p>I got letter 2!</p>
<p>ACT: 30
GPA: 4.03W (not really used because I switched schools)
Other stats: 4 AP’s, 3 Honors courses
Essays: good, not exceptional however
Teacher Recs: Good, I hoep!
Hook (if any): Eh, none really
State or Country: Massachusetts
School Type: Public, very competitive
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Other Factors: None</p>
<p>I’m hoping I got letter 2 because they want to see continuity in my upward trend because I switched schools twice. I was expecting a deferral though, I’m pretty under qualified. Not sure, but I hope I get good news!</p>
<p>Letter 3</p>
<p>Stats:
SAT (Breakdown + Combined):
SAT IIs (if any):
Unweighted GPA: 3.6
Rank (if applicable): Top 10%
Other stats: ACT: 35, W: 4.35</p>
<p>Subjective:
Essays: Rushed them.
ECs: Decent
Teacher Recs: Good
Counselor Rec: Not Sure
Hook (if any): None</p>
<p>Location/Person:
State or Country: Illinois
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male</p>
<p>Just want to benefit future applicants who might freak out when they find that there are 3 different letters Michigan has… </p>
<p>Letter 3</p>
<p>Stats:
SAT (Breakdown + Combined): 2010 CR580 M790 W640
SAT IIs (if any): Didn’t send
Unweighted GPA: 3.83
Rank (if applicable): NA
Other stats: W: 4.32</p>
<p>Subjective:
Essays: rush through
ECs: good
Teacher Recs: Good (hopefully)
Counselor Rec: Not Sure
Hook (if any): None</p>
<p>Location/Person:
State or Country: Maryland
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Female</p>
<p>Letter 3.</p>
<p>Deferred from LSA. </p>
<p>Stats:
SAT (Breakdown + Combined): 1890 SUPERSCORE, 1860 One-Sitting: 570M, 650R, 640W
SAT IIs (if any):
Unweighted GPA: 3.70
Weighted GPA: 4.2
Rank (if applicable): 46/360
Other stats: </p>
<p>Subjective:
Essays: Best part of the application
ECs: Good
Teacher Recs: Very good
Counselor Rec: Very good
Hook (if any):</p>
<p>Location/Person:
State or Country: Pennsylvania
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male</p>
<p>Letter 2 seems to be the least common, why is this?</p>
<p>I got a 3.24 GPA and 26 ACT. I still have semester exams; Anyone think I have a chance at being happy in April?</p>
<p>My D heard from school today there are several “over qualified” kids got deferred. One of them is a national merit finalist with 35 ACT and another one is the president of NHS. Everyone is shocked. We are talking about in-state. But there are quite a few kids with several B’s and C’s got in. Go figure.</p>
<p>ACT: 29
GPA: UW: 3.44 W: 3.85
Class rank: NA
Course load: most rigorous
AP Scores- 3 ap american/euro 4 ap english language
60 com service hours
national honor society
varsity wrestling (nationally ranked team)
Essays: stupendous
Recs: Very good (one from a big time donor)
Internship at a financial planning firm
Hooks: first generation
White
Male
In state</p>
<p>Does anyone know how many people they let in from the deferred pool?</p>
<p>Letter: 3</p>
<p>Stats:</p>
<ul>
<li>ACT: 29</li>
<li>Unweighted GPA: 3.0, Weighted: 3.8</li>
<li>Rank: 250 out of 958</li>
</ul>
<p>Subjective:</p>
<ul>
<li>Essays: Common app essay about my piano trainor and supplemant was about being a part of the Latino community along with my passion for neuroscience
<ul>
<li>Teacher Recs: good</li>
<li>Counselor Rec: hopefully good</li>
</ul></li>
</ul>
<p>ECs:
-Junior counselor and head coach of Latino organization, National Hispanic Institute (9th-12th grade)
-Class Board for the Class of 2012, Vice-President (10th grade)
-Soccer team (9th-12th grade)
-Business management club
-Recycling Club
-President of Spanish Club
-Banquet server at the local country club (part-time job)
-Volunteer for Community Nurse Health Association
-Classically trained in piano since age 3, one 1st place in the Illinois Music Assocation Piano Competition in 2011
-Operation Snowball staff leader</p>
<p>Location/Person:</p>
<ul>
<li>Hook (if any): nothing
<ul>
<li>State or Country: IL</li>
<li>School Type: Public</li>
<li>Ethnicity: Latina (Puerto-Rican and Guatemalan)</li>
<li>Gender: Female</li>
</ul></li>
</ul>
<p>Have taken 5 AP courses and 2 Honors classes. I received the third letter but I had the part that stated “Therefore, please ask your high school counselor to forward your fall semester or second trimester grades when they become available.” So I seem to have the so-called “better” letter (although I don’t believe in these theories about the good/bad defferal letter, a letter is a letter) but I’m still asked for grades.</p>
<p>“My D heard from school today there are several “over qualified” kids got deferred. One of them is a national merit finalist with 35 ACT and another one is the president of NHS. Everyone is shocked. We are talking about in-state. But there are quite a few kids with several B’s and C’s got in. Go figure.”</p>
<p>Perhaps their essays were weak?</p>
<p>Letter 1
GPA: (3.40-3.5UW, 4.1 W)
ACT: 33
SAT: 2110 (800M/620W/690CR)
Applied to Engineering
Most rigorous course load.
Essays: Didn’t put a lot of time in
Recommendations: Phenomenal
EC: Eagle Scout</p>
<p>@JH8888 - yes, that happened at my school as well. i have friends who have gotten 34’s on their ACT, national merit semi/finalist, outstanding gpa’s, and were still deferred. a friend of mine with similar (if not better) stats was actually denied after being deferred. however there are individuals at my school who have not taken a rigorous courseload, maybe have taken one AP course and a sprinkle of honors, (thus allowing them to maintain a high gpa), gotten a 27 on the ACT, and are still admitted. admissions is almost a game, and there is no guaranteed sure way of getting in (which is quite a scary thought…)</p>
<p>@cyu2012 Did your friend who was denied after deferred apply this year?</p>
<p>it’s happening at many good colleges. Over on the Boston College thread where EA acceptance is reserved for only “the strongest candidates” someone w/an 1800 SAT got in, while other w/SATs of 2100-2200 and strong GPAs were deferred. It is not just a few applicants where this is happening, so there has to be some other explanation: holistic review, extenuating or mitigating circumstances (not just having a hook of URM or being an athletic recruit or legacy). It has to be shattering for someone who has worked very hard to produce a significant academic record and test score in the top 3% to be deferred while clearly lower producing applicants are being accepted. Maybe it all comes down to writing a good essay, really researching the school to which one is applying and making an undeniable argument for fit. But then that is rewarding a couple days worth of work and diligence over 3 years of hard work in H.S.</p>
<p>Obviously there is no “secret formula” for gaining admission. If there were? who ever had it, would sell it for a million dollars ;)</p>
<p>My D was accepted to Mich (thank you) but rejected at ND. She has the same academic credentials that you’ve all seen; accepted/deferred or rejected (depending on the school). I can tell you that she did not put as much effort into her ND essays. Whipped them out in a Saturday morning, vs. spending all of a weekend on her Michigan application. I think that is where most of the difference lies. Her “indifference” to ND, I’m sure, came through her writing. I’m curious to test this theory as she has been most enthusiastic about NU, that being her clear #1, but not so much so that she wanted to do binding ED. But she did meticulously execute her supplement for NU more than any other school.</p>
<p>In the end; Mich, ND and NU were/are her top 3 choices and all 3 are OOS for us.</p>
<p>giterdone congrats on UM and good luck w/NU. I think the essays have become more than a “tie-breaking” factor, and rank very highly in making these kids come alive to the ADCOM folks. But for one kid w an 1800 SAT or 1900 SAT to get accepted over someone scoring several hundred points high w/a near perfect GPA does not make a lot of sense. And it happens again and again. It seems it is almost more important to be an interesting person than a dedicated student.</p>