<p>“Michigan’s peers are Duke, Berkeley, UVA, and Cornell-not Columbia or Chicago”</p>
<p>Goldenboy finally admits Michigan is a peer of Duke! It’s a revelation!</p>
<p>goldenboy, I am not going to go into a Law school debate. It is pointless, in your corner, you have your opinion, or rather Leiter’s, and on mine, I have the entire Legal profession covered; academe, thousands of practicing lawyers and judges, and recruiters and hiring partners at Big Law (the top and most prestigious law firms in America). You can claim whatever you like, the fact is, Michigan Law has a very high rating across all segments of the legal profession.</p>
<p><a href=“http://premium.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/law-firms-rankings[/url]”>http://premium.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/law-firms-rankings</a></p>
<p>As the link shows, it is not academe, but rather practicing lawyers and judges (#4 tied with Chicago, Columbia and UVa) as well as recruiters and hiring partners at Big Law (#4 tied with Columbia) that give Michigan Law a top 5 rating. Those are very much active today and not out of touch with reality. </p>
<p>At any rate, the above does not address the point of this thread, which asks about how this year’s 16% increase in EA applicants should be viewed and when will this increase in applicant pool level off. Our debate about law school ratings neither addresses nor alters the fact still that Michigan had a 20% increase in applicants for undergrad 2 years ago, and should have a 15%+ increase in applicants for undergrad this year. In three years, Michigan has gone from 30,000 applicants to 50,000 applicants, the University does not intend to increase the size of the undergraduate student population and the yield is holding at ±40%. </p>
<p>It also does not change my opinion, and that of most people, that while the 2003 WSJ was interesting, it was grossly incomplete. I don’t see why you would object to such a survey including top 15 graduate programs in each field, and expending for more fields of equal importance to human development, such as Engineering/CS and the traditional disciplines, such as Bio, Chem, Econ, History, Math, Physics, Poli Sci etc…</p>
<p>Since this topic was originally about admissions data for Michigan undergraduate, I can see Michigan hitting a 29% admissions rate within 7 years or less. Comparable to what large public universities like Berkeley and UCLA have already been for years, granted California has a larger population, better weather, and students are attracted to the Bay Area and LA.</p>
<p>ForeverAlone, if Michigan’s overall applicant pool grows by as much as the EA applicant pool this year, Michigan’s acceptance rate could hit the 29% neighborhood this year. In 7 years, Michigan’s acceptance rate will likely be around 20%.</p>
<p>Times sure have changed. When I applied to Michigan 20 years ago, I postmarked my application on the last possible day in the spring and didn’t even write the optional essay. I still got accepted 2 weeks later. I know I would have no shot today.</p>
<p>Good for the university to be more selective. In order to stay an elite university, I believe Michigan has to become (or maintain) a global brand. In order to augment its brand, I agree with the general strategies of becoming more selective, increasing financial aid and increasing the ratio of OOS and international students (assuming they are more qualified in general). </p>
<p>In the next few years, high school seniors will no longer consider Michigan as a safety school.</p>
<p>tranandy, with roughly 50,000 applicants for 15,000 acceptances this year, I estimate that Michigan is no longer a safety. Michigan will likely accept 30% of its applicants this year. The mid 50% ACT/SAT for admitted students will probably be 30-34/1320-1520. The range for the 2013 Freshman class will probably be 29-33/1280-1480.</p>
<p>Good thing I am a student of the biggest feeder school to Michigan!</p>