I think the same thing very often! On CC, “4.0 uw” means any level of A, whatever that is at your school, even if it is all A- and at your school that is the “average” grade. At some HS, people in the top several kids have an occasional B range grade, in others, “all As” UW can be almost half the class. I have realized you just cannot tell the whole picture with GPA alone, and no relative rigor or estimated rank. Like it or not, a “4.0” in the middle of the pack with average rigor is just not the same as all As with highest rigor at the very top of the class.
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This is the prompt:
Everyone belongs to many different communities and/or groups defined by (among other things) shared geography, religion, ethnicity, income, cuisine, interest, race, ideology, or intellectual heritage. Choose one of the communities to which you belong, and describe that community and your place within it. (Required for all applicants)
Lots of possibilities here for a creative response, but I would not presume there was a strong political incentive above all other possibilities. I’ve seen variations on this question that have produced really strong essays about the bonds of the theater kids or the robotics team, for example. It can be done. Anyway, I think your other comment about your student’s lack of rah-rah enthusiasm for Michigan in his application is more compelling, not that we know what tipped the decision.
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While there may not be a political objective to this question there certainly could be. But, I guess we’ll never really know. I’ve seen many more interesting prompts.
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I think our kids LORs were a big plus. Both kids knew their teachers very well over multiple years. Both S19 and D21 had teachers ask if they could write their recs instead of the other way around. One shared part of her rec with us and it was clearly a real and very specific endorsement of our D as a person who the schools should want on campus. I think the LOR seems an underrated part of the app here on CC. So many kids think theirs are good but I’m guessing not that many are really really good.
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Our D had that prompt, or one very very close to it, on multiple apps.
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That seems like a more accurate way of ranking. But it is not clear to me in terms of rigor. For example, when some students take many APs, while others take fewer to insure the best grades.
Using just an UW GPA for class rank seems not to make sense unless you want lots of Vals. A weighted GPA seems a bit better. But then rank can come down to who took the most APs regardless of subject interest.
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Usually the kid who is near the top in rigor also ends up being the val, even if rigor is not explicitly counted for being a val. The strongest kids are not gaming the system to get the best GPA. They are taking the hardest courses. If they don’t, they won’t get the best reccs. APs are not necessarily the hardest courses at the school. And I have not seen more than one val in the several years I have known the school.
Most students will not see their LORs as they waive their right to do so and most teachers do not share them with the students. Presumably students are asking teachers based on a positive relationship. One college said in their acceptance letter that the LORs were stellar, which I appreciated. Rather than assume not that many are really good, I would assume the opposite, that most are really good. Kids from our public high school go to many impressive colleges each year, including HYP.
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I am confused by the prompt-what is a shared intellectual heritage that forms a community? Or cuisine-wouldn’t that be more accurately an ethnic or cultural subgroup, rather than just those who love tacos or chocolate or whatever?
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I don’t know. I highly doubt that “most” LORs are really good. I’m guessing of course. I bet many of them do not talk about the student as personally as the best ones do. Our D went through some tough stuff sophomore and junior year and confided in one of her teachers. I think this teacher saw the trajectory of how D worked through what was happening both inside and outside of school and saw D’s empathy and maturity over two and a half years. Different than a student who just asked their APUSH teacher for a rec when they were the star of the class. D’s teacher was able to write about her as a student over that time but also as a human.
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I didn’t write the question, but we know these prompts can be interpreted fairly broadly. This is part of the advice College Vine offers for responding to the Michigan prompt:
Community, as used in this prompt, is a broad category and is by no means limited to race or gender. If you have a creative or uniquely personal understanding of community, write about it! The goal is to convey sincerity and authenticity and to demonstrate as a thoughtful person who cares about more than just yourself.
Taco lovers of the world unite!
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Our daughter used that prompt to talk about the “community” of people who walk their dogs every morning on our city block. It was a nice essay full of witty and even insightful observations, but if a school wanted an overt political statement, it definitely didn’t do the job! 
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On “is community through cuisine a thing?” …
Although my D didn’t encounter that prompt, I could easily see cuisine being a topic she’d have talked about. When she was young, we lived in a community where we had multiple shared potluck meals each week. Corn farmers, emergency room doctors, musicians, T50 college students, truck drivers, artists, grizzled veterans, college professors with degrees from MIT and the Ivy league, country grandmas who’d dropped out of high school to raise a family — all would bring food, then sit around the table and break bread together. It was a beautiful time in our lives, made a deep impression on my daughter about what community could look like, and fed into her later interest in food justice (which she did, actually, write about in her essays).
I have no idea what my D would have written about on this prompt, but could easily see her crafting something about being “people of the potluck” and building off of that to incorporate all the elements of an essay that an AO might hope to see.
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that sounds like an amazing experience!
My D actually encountered a food essay prompt for a competitive scholarship. It was something about a dish that has special meaning for your family.
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My kid’s best essay of the season (IMO) was his answer to this question. He wrote about being a part of the skater community - how they govern themselves and how his role has changed over the years into leadership. I thought it was more passionate, reflective, and descriptive of what kind of human he is and how he applies his moral compass than his main essay. But Michigan only waitlisted him, so not quite successful! hahaha
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There was nothing political written by my son for this. He wrote about marching band. I thought it was fine, but nothing exciting and probably similar to other essays they read. But he got in, so what do I know?
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D22 committed to MIT last night, a very long journey has come to a smooth end. No deposits needed. She’s getting ready for the rigor. It’s going to be tough to decline acceptances from some great schools, we are so grateful to those awesome schools who folded her into their wings. Time to move on!!!
Best of luck to all those kids who committed and looking to do one soon.
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2Devils, Grade inflation is a fact of life. That is why SAT/ACT and AP scores are still necessary.
God help the student who goes to a HS that is old-school and doesn’t give out "A"s like candy.
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Can I ask, are you still considering UMD? We are considering it for my son but the bureaucracy is giving me pause
I know. Highest grade in the class on my sons last Calculus quiz was an 85. He doesn’t curve. A’s are tough to come by.