cool!
So, with regards to the âsingle release vs wavesâ theory of UMich admissions (I realize that sounds like a quantum physics problem 
) here are the indicators supporting one or the other. Feel free to add anything I missed.
Supporting the waves theory:
- Past precedent
- More likely option due to Ross admissions dependency
- Keeps to the spirit of âearly decisionsâ for deferred applicants
- Notes from the interview manual as posted above
- Priority deadline for Michigan Learning Communities is March 27th
Supporting the single release in April theory:
- One posterâs account of a call with the admissions office
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Can you point to this statement that they say there are all these benefits of applying early.
It is very upfront on that EA offers. It spells it out also what the decisions could be.
Donât forget the priority deadline for Michigan Learning Communities is March 27, which is one more thing supporting the idea that there could be waves. At least I hope there are, lol.
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Thanks Stephanie. Edited my post to include this.
Hi everyone
Seeing as to how weâre all entrenched in our positions (either: UMich is a great school but the admissions office has some shortcomings, -or- UMich is a perfect school that can do no wrong and any perceived shortcomings are due to applicantsâ misunderstanding) and given that none of us are likely to switch camps, may I suggest to all that we agree to disagree and move on from this topic onto other topics that may be useful to deferred and accepted applicants?
Thanks, and happy Friday! 
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Frustration. Applying to colleges gets frustrating. No question at all. Schools have different rules. Why canât they all be the same? When researching schools with our kids we made a pretty extensive excel spread sheet. Extensive! We knew the quirks of every single school. Being deferred at Michigan is a very known fact. My son College counselor warned the kids and parents. Itâs all over the net. Talk to some accepted before you etc. Itâs not a new thing. Itâs the way Michigan just does it. It might suck for some but for those that really, really want Michigan they all knew waiting to April is a fact of life. Play the admissions game or donât. Especially people from Michigan. Nothing surprising here.
I hate to defend their positions because I know how much this actually sucks but⊠All of this is on their website. No riddles to figure out. If applied EA and you are not accepted in EA you are deferred /postponed or denied admission. Once you are deferred/postpones you are no longer in EA. Pretty simple. Aggravating but simple concept. Now at this point everyone is an RD candidate. You just started earlier to get this decision. Yep, not what you wanted so more aggravation. Itâs a numbers game with 80,000 applications. Approximately half the class will be accepted at this point. Maybe less or more. So the RD pool will find out BY first week of April I believe it says. No trickery. Itâs stated on the website. Some might find out earlier. Some might not. More aggravation if you donât get the results you seek. Yes, it sucks even more.
All I can say is I am sympathic to all of this as a parent. But nothing and I mean nothing had really changed for the last 6 years or so I have been on this site and even a few years yearly just looking.
So some will say well, if this is how they treat me now how will they treat my children once there. Well, excellently is all I can say. If your kids take initiative they will bend over backwards to assist and make things happen for them. It is very much a family atmosphere once your here. Your kids will have opportunities that they /you never imagined. They will be working with leaders in their fields and use laboratories that are world class. Even sometimes little miracles happen like Michigan basketball (not a great season) beating Number 3 Purdue last night by almost 30 points!
Michigan doesnât give up. Ever. Neither should you. Sometimes great things happen for those that wait for them.
Good Luck and Go Blue. 
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100%, and extremely well said. The only caveat I might add is IF UM decides to hold all RD decisions until April. That will be a complete change from how theyâve always done things, it would be unnanounced (outside of hiding behind the naturally vague admissions statements all schools put out), and it would have a fairy siesmic impact to many students who have counted on UM postponing them BUT releasing in waves prior to their other late March/April RD decisions.
It was a big shift when they moved from December, but understandable and clearly announced. Again, Iâm skeptical whether UM is holding all apps till March, but if they do I agree with others that it is a major shift that rightfully would cause upset. If, as many of us believe, they release in waves? No harm, no foul. Thatâs UM.
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Anyone else wants to move on?
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Well, no one knows and will see soon, right. I havenât had any whispers that things have changed. I would love to know but no secret Michigan person this year⊠Still waiting⊠
⊠But March is still before AprilâŠ
If I was a family looking at colleges now I would make sure my kids were looking at several options and getting to know this and other schools well. There shouldnât be a âif I have known earlier we could of plannedâ situation. If one school doesnât work out Chuck it, and move on to the next one. Might have to do this a few times this year. Be prepared for the unexpected. Again Been there, done that. Itâs never easy not getting what you want. But making those colleges lists should be for a reason. Kids should be happy to go to schools on your list for a reason.
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There is a postponed thread started on the Michigan board. Iâm wondering if that might be a better place for all of us postponed people to go to discuss things? Iâm not sure how to link it though.
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100%. Went through it with our old S. Postponed at UM (eventually admitted), and decided early April where he was going. The UM acceptance, though, was his âpressureâs offâ moment when he could relax and know he was in at a school he saw himself being very happy attending. The irony is that is probably one of UMâs biggest complaints- lots of kids using them as their #2 or #3, but thatâs going to happen at any public school of this size.
The crazy deferral numbers (not UM, as thatâs expected) this year has created a very pressured environment for so many.
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Totally get it but they have always deferred to get approx half the class in EA. What, no one wants their kids applications to get âanother lookâ? Really? Do people really want Michigsn to rush through all their kids applications? I would say take as much time to give everyone a very fair shot to get in. Take as much time as you need. Other schools have factors that if your kids donât meet it then your rejected. Everyone want that? Or do you want a realistic holistic review? They are telling you if you want that, that it takes time.
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Do you really believe that needing to take another look is the only reason UMich defers applicants? Thatâs one of the reasons, certainly. But the only reason in your opinion?
80,000 is a lot of applications for sure. But as examples: UCB and UCLA get well over 100,000 and they do holistic reviews too. Somehow they manage to finish them all in 4 months.
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Never said only. The process sucks. Michigan has had the same process for a long time. There shouldnât be surprises here is all I am saying. More applications but the process is the same with basically the same results. Never said it was the best or only process but the process has been the same for a long time. In the end, they seem to get it right. Ask anyone with kids at Michigan.
Yes, have spoken to several people familiar with UMichâs process. And anyone whoâs knowledgable and honest will tell you UMich cares a lot about whether an applicant, if admitted, will want to enroll. So in a lot of cases (certainly not all) - theyâll postpone a decision until they have a better sense of who to extend an invitation to, and itâs nothing to do with the strength of the application. As an example, a poster up-thread wrote above what her son saw in his admission file, and there was no mention of being postponed (although he had been), or of a second look, etc.
What Iâm trying to say is that - just as itâs insensitive of anyone who got postponed (or their parent) to question why someone else got admitted - itâs just as insensitive to those postponed to suggest somehow their application wasnât good enough, hence needs a 2nd look. Iâm going to guess that wasnât your intent but unfortunately thatâs how many of us postponed families will read it.
Thanks.
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Unfortunately for U MIch this is an irony (being the back up target rather than the reach for the many who go to more selective places -U MIch knows this and deal with it. Their yield as others point out will never be as high as other places but could be tweeked if they offered ED/ED2 if it was that important to them as it might be to other places. They choose not to and offer EA which on the surface is nice for students but does less for yield -to U Mich it doesnât seem to matter as much.
The many EA deferrals may be a product of sheer volume or may be a way theyâve chosen to approach the admission process. I suspect the decision to defer EAs at U Mich falls some place between what has been called the Machiavellian ways of some more selective schools who defer many by giving soft deferrals not wanting to upset alumni contributions and the more blunt but forthright ways of other schools like Stamford for whom many are rejected early and a deferral is often a positive sign after a long and excruciating wait.
Good Luck to all whenever you find out from U MIch and where ever you (or your kids) go.
Thank you for pointing that out. No not by intent at all. Every school wants to know their applicants want to go there. But yes, applications do get another look. Donât know how many. With the amount of applications they have to go through some will get stronger looks then others. Some will get rejected for whatever reasons or wait listed which is even more frustration. Getting through the first EA round is pretty lucky. Yes, luck. I here about examples of 2 applicants from the same schools with identical stats etc and one gets in and one deferred. Sorry, if you took my comments in a different way. Anyone that applies to Michigan has a chance and if within their GPA /stats has a fair consideration. Some that didnât make it the first round will get another chance. Not all my kids applications were acceptances. Yep, get it.
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SureâŠhere are a few direct quotesâŠ
"The Chief Advantage of Early Action
Early Action provides you with a guaranteed decision date. For many students, this enables better planning."
"⊠this fast-paced approach may fit your needs by providing you with a decision by late January. Itâs a great option if you know that Michigan is one of your top choice schools. "
I know that Iâm focused on the semantics, but I think itâs an important distinction that they are glossing over. Postponement is not actually a decision.
Yes, in one place, they say that an Early Action âdecisionâ could be postponement, but they are not upfront about the fact that the vast majority of EA applicants will receive this type of âdecisionâ. Nor are they upfront about WHY your decision might get postponed. Becuase, further down on the page it saysâŠ
"Deadlines and Decisions
Complete application and materials â postmarked by Nov. 1
Early Action decision release â by late January
Final equal consideration deadline â Feb. 1
Note: Students who apply via Early Action but donât meet the requirements or deadlines will be rolled into the regular decision applicant pool. All materials must then be postmarked by Feb. 1 and decisions will be released by early April."
This is the only section which addresses a reason for postponement. And, that stated reason is that you havenât met the requirements or deadlines. So, an applicant who has met the requirements would have no reason to think that their decision wouild be postponed. So, given that there is another reason which presumably applies to nearly all of the postponed applicants, then they were certainly not upfront about that either.
Look, maybe Iâm naive about this process. This is my first child going through it and, until I discovered this thread, I had no idea about the scope of these deferrals for a school like Michigan. Iâll take responsibility for my naivete. But, Michigan most certainly could have been more upfront about a) the likelihood of postponement and b) the reasons one could get postponed.
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I am not here to play devils advocate but postponement is a decision. Not one many like. They also somewhere say they will look for mid terms grades and if other honors etc let them in the loci. So they are saying what they are seeking. Not everyone needs to send grades. So maybe their judging interest. Maybe that didnât come through in the essays? They also look at recommendations. Some might assume theirs were stronger then what they were. Some schools use templates and others write essays about their kids. Which ones do you think will wear better?
Again, I have sympathy for all going through this. Itâs never easy. I have known and helped many through this process. People that I know personally didnât see it this way at all. They knew the waiting game was brutal but something they had to go through to get into the school. Nothing will change about thatâŠ