Why? EA demonstrates interest early. And UMich considers demonstrated interest per their CDS.
A 3.8/1590/high SAT 2’s (with a foreign language being the culprit for not having a higher GPA) will HIGHLY likely NOT be rejected, probably deferred, possibly accepted. Essays would be very important, obviously.
The UMich acceptance rate in EA is roughly 20%. The overall acceptance rate is 23%, so that’s about the same, although we don’t have an instate/OOS breakdown. And nearly 2/3 of all apps are EA.
IMO, getting an answer before Christmas is fantastic. If deferred, then you’re automatically entered into RD anyway, which typically has decision releases on 2/1, 3/1 and 4/1. You wouldn’t get your regular RD app answer until 2/1 at the earliest anyway depending on when your RD app was submitted.
The other important piece of missing info here, unless I missed it, is the S’s HS historical acceptance/rejection data from UMich. My gut feeling is that UMich will “plow fertile fields.”