<p>I screwed up high school bad. I hold a 2.89, screwing up Freshmen and Sophmore year, and improving it a bit Junior, Senior year.</p>
<p>My ACT score was a 26. Average. </p>
<p>Now, I've really fessed up for my mistakes and am going to a lower to medium college - Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. </p>
<p>The school I've been dreaming of going to for probably like forever is University of Michigan and I want to desperately transfer there.</p>
<p>I'm in my 1st week of my Freshmen year at Western Michigan and I already dislike it. So I'm thinking of transfering either in the Winter (if I have ANY chance at all) or in the Fall of 2007.</p>
<p>I plan to study for all the classes and hope to earn at least a 3.8 GPA after Fall and Spring semesters.</p>
<p>Do I even have a chance at University of Michigan? </p>
<p>Basically this thought has been clawing at the back of my mind for a few months now, and I haven't had sleep in the last two days cause of it >_<</p>
<p>I'm a Business Major with wanting to Major/Minor in International Business. I actually have experience as I went to Asia and Europe to intern for companies this summer.</p>
<p>my only AP credit is AP Chemistry, which I got a 4 on. </p>
<p>I honestly don't think I'll get lower than that. The big thing that killed me before was just plain not studying for tests. I knew the material, but always didn't do TOO well on them.</p>
<p>Now, I study whenever I get home.</p>
<p>And my classes this year aren't exactly the most light. I'm taking as many hard classes as I can, which at WMU oddly enough I think is ranked with the number system. </p>
<p>16 credit hours this semester.</p>
<p>Yeah... I'm not even sure how colleges even being to consider or rate you...</p>
<p>Well, no point in looking back, I guess, but I did find it curious that you didn't try your best in HS given that Michigan has been your dream school.</p>
<p>Anyway, submitting a transfer app this early is pointless. You're going to need to submit at least a couple of semesters of solid college work with a high GPA. Otherwise, they'll have to base their app review on your high school record which, as you already know, won't cut it. You could submit a transfer app for next fall, but you'll only have one semester of college grades on your transcript since 2nd semester grades won't be posted until well into next spring. Realistically, I think you're looking at a junior year transfer situation if Michigan is your goal. You'll need to have enough time to show the U that you're a serious, committed college student, making your high school record less of an issue.</p>
<p>There were a multitude of situations during my freshmen, sophomore and half way into Junior year that I guess I could've handled better by not letting it affect my school work. While I didn't study for the tests, 90% of the time, I had a real reason... the other 10% was just me being lazy.</p>
<p>Not thinking of the past, but I'm very determined to get in after 1 year of Western Michigan.</p>
<p>Is there anyway I can improve my application in this year? To even give me the slightest of chances?</p>
<p>I plan on retaking the ACT once I grab enough money up for the next test date. 26 is a really low score for me as on practice exams, I've scored up to 29-31. </p>
<p>anyother thing I can do to improve my chances? (Other than improving college GPA)</p>
<p>and not sure if it matters but I'm a Chinese male. Probably hurts me more than helps me...</p>
<p>Honestly, the most important factors to Michigan are the numbers, GPA and test scores. As much as they may say that they look at apps holistically, the numbers must be in target range. The stronger, the better. There's no EC, amazing essay, rec, legacy, etc. that will make up for low numbers. So, yes, retaking the ACT is probably a good idea, and staying focused on your academics this year is very important. </p>
<p>That's not to say that you shouldn't try to make your app as appealing as possible. Join a club of interest or get involved in some other EC at Western during your time there. Not only will it show that you're a well-rounded, interesting candidate, but it will make your freshman year more enjoyable. </p>
<p>By the way, my S. is a freshman at Kalamazoo College, next door to WMU. He spoke to some of his HS friends about Western's Fall Welcome last week. Sounded pretty crazy. A very different environment over at K College...LOL!!</p>
<p>While I'm not sure if that laugh was an evil one or not, yes Welcome Week was basically mass drunkiness.</p>
<p>I believe I almost killed 6+ people in 2 nights. People would go running on the streets and some girls even danced on a 45 MPH street at around 10:00 PM. I almost hit them when one of them jumped at me. </p>
<p>and that's honestly one of the reasons why I love U of M. The atmophspere of it. </p>
<p>I'll probably retake the ACT sometime when my classes decide not to assign busy work so I have a chance to actually study again for it.</p>
<p>Any idea if 2007 Fall when you'd apply as a transfer, U of M would have both Fall and Spring semesters?</p>
<p>Evil laugh...huh??? Not sure what you mean. I simply was pointing out that K College is a very academic school, a polar opposite environment, with a very similar student body to Michigan's. I'm sure you couldn't have been too surprised by the huge party atmosphere last week given the reputations of the directional schools in this state...Eastern, Western, Central, Northern...along with several other public schools known for their less-than-serious mix of students. </p>
<p>I don't know the particulars about U-M transfer policies. All of that should be clearly spelled out on their website. Did you ever consider attending one of Michigan's satellite campuses instead, Dearborn or Flint? That would have been a much more straight-forward process in terms of transfer credits, etc. You should get some guidance about the courses you're taking this year as Michigan is fairly strict on what they will allow. You wouldn't want to lose too many credits in the transfer.</p>
<p>The recalculated "Michigan" GPA: U-M pulls only core academic courses off the HS transcript, disregards electives, disregards +'s and -'s, disregards freshman year grades, assigns a point system to an applicant's sophomore and junior year academic grades...4 for an A, 3 for a B, etc. and recomputes. Strength of curriculum is taken into account during the app review, but not actually factored into the Michigan GPA which is unweighted. As far as the college transcript, you'd have to check with them to find out if they compute the GPA the same way.</p>
<p>Cores generally include the ones you mentioned plus social studies (history, govt, etc.). I believe Michigan also factors in foreign languages, but you could check with admissions to be sure.</p>
<p>"and that's honestly one of the reasons why I love U of M. The atmophspere of it."</p>
<p>What are you talking about? I was in Ann Arbor during 3 day weekend (I'm from Ann Arbor) and welcome week at UM was INSANE. There were so many parties and drunk people</p>
<p>Yep, definitely a work hard/play hard mentality there. Hope their hangovers wore off before classes began this week. The rude awakening of Michigan academics kicks into gear right out of the starting gate. They're having some fun now...LOL!!</p>