Hi. My classmates always say UMich will defer applicants that seem overqualified. So what's the standard of "being overqualified"? Are their any highest ACT/SAT score to be admitted EA?
You are more likely to be deferred as a high stats student - anywhere - because you complete your application in a way that suggests you don’t really care about attending the school but figured your stats alone would get you in. Examples might include skipping optional essays, referring to another school in an essays or supplement, writing about your desire to pursue a program the school doesn’t have, etc.
There is a reason to be deferred, but it is not due to overqualification. Indeed, tbere is no overqualification if it is considered a reach school. For a less competitive school, it is described as Tufts syndrome.
Michigan will sometimes defer OOS EA applicants with high stats until January or February. Michigan is often a “backup” for ED applicants to Ivies, Northwestern, Duke etc. UM admissions understandably waits until after the New Year to see whether these students are accepted ED and consequently withdraw their Michigan application.
There is no need to wait. If one got accepted ED to other school, one has to withdraw the application.
from UMich. It does not make sense to wait. Also, ther is no overqualified applicants for UMich. There are plenty of near perfect stat applicants.
Yes but the EA acceptance from Michigan may come a few days before or after the ED acceptance from another school. Michigan does not want to “waste” EA acceptance slots on students who have 0% chance of attending.
Michigan does consider “level of applicant’s interest”, so (theoretically) being an “overqualified” applicant who appears to be using it as a “safety” may result in less favorable admission results. But is anyone really that “overqualified” in the context of Michigan’s admission selectivity?
https://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg02_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=379
@dtrain1027 There is no set limit is EA space and it is non-binding anyway. It is better to have admitted those who get accepted ED by other schools that those are not. They can always admit more in RD to fill up those spots instead of waiting till after May 1 to find out. There is no reason to worry high stat students accepted by other schools ED. If so, they can simply cancel the EA. Again, there is no such thing as over qualified applicants at UMich, particularly from OOS.
Michigan will just accept the high stat in-state applicants EA, because they know a huge percentage will attend. We know many such applicants who only applied to UM and MSU as the backup - Cost, legacy, and proximity being the main reasons. It’s hard to go to another school when you have rooted for the Wolverines all of your life.
In my experience, the EA admit rate for high stat candidates (1550-1600 SAT, perfect GPA, good ECs etc…) is significantly higher than the EA admit rate for “safe” applicants (1350-1450 SAT, 3.6-3.8 GPA). As such, for the applicants I have seen, Michigan does not defer applicants simply for being “overqualified”. Indeed, with 25% of the incoming freshman class have SAT scores over 1530 and ACT scores over 33, there is no such thing as overqualified applicants. The common thread I have seen in the high stat applicants who were admitted EA is a genuine interest in Michigan, clearly demonstrated through having written very well fleshed/thought out essays. Indeed, most of them ended up at Michigan, choosing it over other peer institutions such as the Ivy League, Cal, Chicago and Northwestern. Michigan definitely can tell when Michigan is high on one’s list.
This “deferred” myth–a variation of the Tufts Syndrome–is just that. A myth. High stat students are often deferred because Michigan practices Holistic admissions. Your stats might be great but on some other dimension, other students may be ranked higher. In our family, we had members accepted EA to Michigan and also get into Columbia, Brown, Claremont etc. So you won’t be deferred because you are high stats. The issue is how you compare in terms of other factors.