According to the UMich CDS, class rank is NOT considered.
Here’s my guess for you S at UMich. He’s deferred EA and then accepted during RD. I have a gut feeling that not taking a foreign language for 4 years may “hurt” his chance(s). We live in CA, and the Top UC’s find that 4th year of foreign language highly desirable. I kinda think UMich is the same IMO.
And there were plenty of instances where kids from OOS applied EA with 3.8 uwGPA’s and accepted during RD.
UMich does have a top math and CS department. I’m not as familiar with the other schools. 