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.”
Based on historical results from school - he has better chances at Northeastern (school sends 25-30 kids annually - among 50+ applicants) - its a popular college at the school and reps should know in and out of the school (advantage to DS - he leads/participates in the most popular/selective clubs). Also the average stats of all admitted kids is much lower than S. This is a definite EA
UMd is the second most popular (from among the list I gave above) and stats are favorable to S - another possible EA to take advantage of any merit aid.
UIUC - not many kids apply (5 or 6 apps; mostly stem kids - around 3 admits every year) but surprisingly better results - stats of admitted students are around S.
Michigan and GT are tough ones to judge - both had around 15 apps each year with around 4-6 admits/year in the last three years. Stats are still favorable to S but don’t know other things (hooks; majors; admission-round etc). DS is meeting GC next week - I will ask him to get more info on the historical trends.
That was actually one thing we didn’t like about the UofM decision process. My son applied by Nov. 1 and didn’t get a final decision until April and even that wasn’t really final.
Unfortunately, your kid got the short end of the stick. April is literally the last batch or wave of decisions. In our case, my kid was admitted EA in December and was extremely SO happy knowing she would be attending one her top choices, if not her top choice. Roughly 50% of the acceptances are sent out in December. And then the other 50% of acceptances are released in later waves.
But around here in CA, personally I’d trade the probability, even high probability, of getting an earlier decision in the windows of December (before Xmas), February 1 or March 1 instead of 100% getting your answer from the UC’s in mid-to-late March with zero possibility of an earlier decision, unless you receive one of the few elite Regents scholarships (announced in February). Or Ivy Day is late March too.
I’d like to know sooner, if possible, and if deferred, then just wait. We have to wait for everything in life. It’s just one more thing to wait for, if deferred. That’s my $0.02 on the UMich process.
@sushiritto don’t get me wrong, I like the idea of EA. Just not being dragged out until April for the decision when you applied EA. I think what made it worse was the fact they were rolling out decisions over the months so he really didn’t know when it was coming. It was not a huge deal, just annoying. It was the last decision he got, even after all the RD applications he submitted. Like I said, he pretty much had made his decision before then anyways.
The problem isn’t a 3.8. It’s getting B grades- and one in hum, one in stem. (I.e., not just a hum hiccup for a stem kid.) And OP rightly recognizes this happened in soph and jr years.
If anyone can fly without the 4th year of foreign lang- or with B grades in that- it’s kids taking college post calc courses. There often isn’t room in the hs schedule.
What AP did he get the 4 score in?
This is up in the air. A little more complicated than just looking at the 3.8. With only the info we have here, I’d say, apply to the college he most wants. Early doesn’t add points, they still focus on the kids they want most, who best meet their full expectations, send a bang-up app and any supps. Those kids benefit from an early decision. It doesn’t makeup for some other issue(s.)
He got a 4 in AP World History that he took in freshman year (that is the only AP allowed in freshman year). The other completed AP’s where he got 5’s: Calc AB, Calc BC, Stats, Phys 1, Phys 2, Phys C/M, Phys C/E-M, Chem, US Gov, Micro. Note that Phys C are tests only - no classes - all others are classes. In senior year 4 more AP’s and 2 dual enrollment classes. The stem course that he got bad grade is Chem (he later did well in AP chem test and also in sat chem subject test).
He is going to apply Northeast and UMd-CP in EA for sure; maybe UIUC as well.
Michigan and GT - we are still debating - they are his most important universities (among top 5 where he will be most happy to go - per him). Will decide based on how essays comes out.
Well, you know my position, I wouldn’t hesitiate applying EA to UMich.
racereer’s experience excepted (there are very few that are deferred to April and then waitlisted), truly a bummer no doubt, there are no drawbacks applying EA to UMich to me, based upon probabilities. Best case, he’s accepted EA. Worst case, he’s deferred and then accepted in one of the “waves.” with those stats. Of course, the caveat is the EC’s and essays. Also, your chances of acceptance go up a little, if applying CS to LSA versus CS to CoE.