BTW, my D21 attends Cal Poly SLO. They say upfront, all decisions will be out by 4/1. No EA. Cool right?
But in late February, acceptances are notified. Then, mid-March, waitlist notices are sent out. A couple weeks later, rejections are released.
Everyone, or nearly everyone gets their decision on or around 4/1. Do they get dinged? Are there hurt feelings? You betcha! Terrible process, applicants are left hanging, but they certainly meet expectations. 
Quick thought, the early priority deadline to the Michigan learning communities application is March 27. I am guessing that is only for people that got in EA. It says the final deadline is May 5, but itâs a bit strange to have a priority deadline that is earlier than RD notification, especially if they say they arenât doing waves and will notify everyone in early April. Just food for thought.
Maybe itâs a bit of a tell that there will be waves? Or maybe itâs just my own wishful thinking.
OK I will first appoligize. If the understanding is U Mich is going to do something like releasing admissions at a certain time or in a certain way and they spell it out in their communication and choose to do something else - yes that is wrong.
With respect to the Ivies comment - there are plenty of deferrals in those schoolsâ early rounds(rumor has it Harvard defers many in the early round - and they waitlist a ton in RD when the likelihood of coming off Harvardâs waitlist is small). U Chicago is even worse - in the EA round they defer many and âencourageâ them to apply ED2 effectively forcing them to show committment. The admit rate for those who do not take this option ( Choosing to wait on an EA deferral for RD rather than converting it to an ED2) is virtually zero. Guess U Mich is different in that it only has EA - but being deferred EA from UMich and deferred ED from Harvard puts you in the same limbo.
Still other schools play the âLikely letterâ game which is cruel ( good for those who get it, cruel for those who dont, but doesnt necessarily mean youâve been denied) - cant schools just keep quiet and stick to their decided release date or decide to release earlier ( several Ivys do this- its like a little kid who cant keep a secret).
Every place has their gimmick - nice for some students/cruel to others. System needs an overhauling but with so many schools each having their own stake itâs unlikely something uniform with ever come aboutâŠheck itâs like living in the âunitedâ states during a pandemic where every state, every city, every school, etc has their own interpretations of what is right and what is not.
Once again I would be shocked if no waves. Too many reasons that they actually need to.
A new wave of HAIL interview registration e-mails going out to engineering applicants. Daughter just got one, will be good for her to really get an insiderâs view. Understand it is informational, but help in the process and more importantly her psyche as she seemed to take the deferral as mostly an outright rejectionâŠ
Also a potential hint at decision waves as the confirmation e-mail after registration clearly states no need to complete the HAIL interview if you receive decision ahead of interview date.
We got the same email today as well (Daughter missed the first HAIL interview offered to her in November as she didnât see the email in time 
While we know coming off the large list of EA deferrals is a longshot, it made her day just a little bit brighter to get that HAIL interview request this afternoon.
I wish you would stop comparing an Ivy, like Harvard, a private school, with a large public school like Michigan. Not the same limbo. I donât know much about Harvardâs process, but:
Maybe someone can chime in, whoâs familiar with the process, that can characterize Harvardâs REA deferral as a soft rejection or a real solid chance of admission, like Michiganâs.
ETA: I just googled it. Harvardâs deferral is a soft rejection. Michiganâs deferral is not. So a Harvard REA applicant, whose been deferred, can make solid future plans knowing itâs a soft rejection. The characterization of the two deferrals is different IMO.
Did your daughter not have a HAIL interview previously? Iâm assuming this email just went out to those who didnât already have an interview. Interesting hint in the confirmation! This offers a glimmer of hope 
No she did not have an interview earlier. And we have not given up hopeâŠBoth she and dad (hard pill to swallow as an Ohio-State alum) really love the engineering school at Michigan, so on we marchâŠ
I REALLY want waves. I hope you are right. It does make far more sense to do it that way. As I mentioned previously, Admissions told me no. I hope the woman who told me that was mistaken!!!
I just got the HAIL interview as well. Weird to conduct interviews after getting deferred.
Good memory.
Also @sxr I have a kid at UT-Austin as well in CBHP/McCombs. So if you have any questions happy to answer.
Good points. Like I said, I think the whole system is messed up nationwide. I just looked at it from my studentâs point of view. He has a few acceptances and was thrilled with a deferral from Michigan and would love an answer earlier, but would be happy with an acceptance in April. He is mentally preparing to go to one of the other schools but is also waiting for two RD responses which are scheduled for April 1, so it always was April in our minds. I guess for us the deferral was a win over a rejection, which could have been one of the outcomes too.
I agree with @sushiritto above, Michigan deferral is not a soft rejectionâŠWhy would they bother their limited number of alumni interviewers etc. if that was the case. I believe they were very selective in the EA round thatâs allâŠThe only person who got in EA from my daughterâs school will have multiple T20 offers, clearly the top STEM student in the school + has a demographic plus factorâŠI donât see many admissions officers passing him up. All the other applicants are essentially in the top 10 in school and everybody has been deferred. Cannot entirely blame them when you have a flood of highly qualified EA applicantsâŠCanât help but think that there are some pre-sorted deferred piles who will be looked at first in the RD pool, but may be just wishful thinking.
My son received an invitation for a HAIL interview after he was postponed. I think they may put that disclaimer in there mainly because some of the interviews go well into March and at least last year, there were a few small waves that occurred before all the interviews were finished.
Good luck to your daughter! I canât remember much about my sonâs interview, but I do remember one of my daughterâs had such a phenomenal HAIL alumni interview her that she really felt bad that Michigan wasnât her first choice. This guy really did a fantastic job in selling UM. After she was accepted, but chose the other school, she did reach out to him. My other daughter had a horrible experience with her person and I encouraged her to provide input that the person shouldnât be doing them. If youâre not committed to the process then it can be a bad experience all around. The person cancelled on her the first time, then didnât show when schedule and my daughter had to email her and the person forgot. It was a cluster to say the least. But, if your D gets someone like my other daughter had, it really goes far.
Trust me they arenât instructed to give out that much information. I would doubt they would do anything that drastically different from years past.
I just looked up the yield rate at Harvard: 85%
Michiganâs yield last year was 45%. Just a different ballgame altogether.
Thatâs great that your son is taking the news as he is. Itâs definitely all about oneâs outlook and expectations. I wish him the best of luck in his admissions process.
The whole process this year is different. I am talking to parents that kids are getting deferred from their safeties or rejected. Kid gets into Michigan but rejected at Tulane and Case. All schools that I know people at and on here at different school threads are reporting this.
Saying this many acceptances this EA. No clue on the numbers. Michigan has invited students to open houses and paying all expenses. Probably for merit kids.
Things are moving forward. Never have your kid love one school. Look into all your options.
Also on the ground level hearing some schools with Michigan contacts. They want to know you can be there. If your counselor at school is willing then reach out. Send in the Loci and yes some luck.