Michigan isn’t alone on this one. Many EA schools defer, it’s just one of the possible outcomes. Not a desirable one, but much better than a rejection!
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Trust me… When your kids get accepted soon or in April and you decide it’s the best fit. You won’t really remember this while they are in college. I can’t believe my son graduated last year and has an awesome job. His time there was more then I imagined it could be. But his friends at other schools had equally great experiences and outcomes. It’s what you do in college once your there.
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Yes, agree. I’m not even sure how high it is on her list anymore, now that she’s in UVA. She’s deferred from NU too they say she won’t hear until April. This is my third time in this process, and happily the last!!
Yes semantics as it never says “final” decision.
I’m not a philosopher but the existentialist philosopher Paul Sartre once said -If you choose not to make a choice you are still making a choice ( or in this case a decision).
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It’s the ambiguity for me.
Why not be like Yale and tell applicants that decisions will be released on March 31st at 7?
We will have all wasted too many brain cells trying to “read the tea leaves” to determine when decisions (or non-decisions, in the case of postponements) will be rendered. I want those brain cells back. I need them for other stuff.
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I think most of us are part of the problem also. My family included. We had 37 great universities for my son to go to. He wanted to apply to just 5. We were freaked out he wouldn’t get accepted and had all great GPA /sats etc but we listened to friends applying to 25 schools for merit and other reasons. So we “somehow” pared this down to 12 applications. So many schools we will never know their results. My son thought 12 was crazy like he can only go to one school but he played the game. The result was… He was down to his initial schools… 
.
Schools have to still go through all these apps. When my son applied in 2017 there was only “only” like 50,000 applications and think that was up from the year before. Same process as this year.
Hopefully it’s coming soon…
Hey, guys. I have gone quiet here because we got very specific feedback on our application. And I need to be careful not to push my kid’s app further down!
Some interesting anecdotes here. Take them for what it is worth.
My kid’s app is not in the top stack. A major point was the lack of a “strong” Why Michigan essay.
Interesting that there is a stack. And interesting that this app is “out” but not “out”.
For the record, and sadly, I re-read the essay mentioned and there were numerous references to classes and clubs and things the student could do to make a contribution at Michigan. There was reference to the tour and spinning the cube etc.
The sentence that was missing, which was “weak” I am sure is, “Michigan is my first choice and I have been dreaming about Michigan my whole life.”
Sorry, but I have said it before – Kids who are truly playing the game send in 17 apps with the language that says this school is my only choice.
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Curious how you got that specific feedback?
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From whom did you get this very specific feedback? Someone at your child’s school (like a GC)? Or someone at U Mich?
I’m just curious because I think we’re all at a loss to objectively evaluate things like essays and LORs. Like how are we supposed to know how they compare to other students’ essays and recommendations?
So am I. And again nervous about posting here.
Quite honestly I hope the feedback was not real!!
Our school has a strong historical relationship. And lots of contact points through the process / chain.
Have said enough. Hope the feedback was fabricated!!
I’ve always believed Ross should have a version of ED, where they take half their class on a direct admit basis (circling around LSA and the other schools first-admit). SO many kids would choose this route. I can’t tell you how many students we know that have said “well, Ross is my #1 but it’s such a crapshoot that I’m Ed’ing to X school”. The issue for the uber high stat deferral for many of us (and it seems to not be student specific, but more school specific as our GC has been telling all of the kids for years that they’re getting postponed) is that it makes their first choice within UM much less attainable/viable. Obviously Ross does JUST fine the way they are currently set up, but for students an ED type function would likely present them with an absolute top tier opportunity that they could shoot for as opposed to simply throwing in an application and hoping for the best while they focus elsewhere.
In this instance, LSA also weeds out the “Ross only” applicants, and can consider that every application is for their school as an end game. Not apples to apples, but with Penn you need to apply to Wharton if you want it- it’s tremendously difficult to backdoor into the school after regular college acceptance.
Note to 9th grade son -
- Take the test. Get a high score. Submit it.
- Tell every school that you have a flag on your wall of the school that inspires you every day and that this is the only school you want to attend.
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So starting the essay with “Mich is my dream school since I visited it four years ago while my sister (now a sophomore at UM) was touring college” is a strong essay? And ending with: it’s my first choice…strong essay? Just curious… It really is my daughter’s first choice and she would enroll immediately if she was lucky enough to get an acceptance. Crossing my fingers for her…
Man, I am not going to win any awards here today …
I would not at all say the above. My son never said he wanted to go to Michigan or it was his number 1 or any of that. They will see through all of that. He stated the type of students he wanted to be around and pushed by. He read the mission statements for all schools. Made it come back to his major. The families that I helped all did the same. Never saying “it’s my favorite since childhood”. Trust me, they want more substance than that…
Some schools have close contacts to some schools. Some GC will reach out. Some principles will reach out for a few students. That is who I would be talking to if you know you can afford it and can sign today… 
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I really dislike the shotgunning approach and telling every school that they are your 1st choice. Kids are more or less doing that and creating a tsunami of applications. Then AOs will stop paying attention to kids saying UM or any place is their 1st choice and we are back to the start.
Of course, some need to do that as 0EFC international students. There are not substantially more domestic students. I call this the tragedy of the common app, and there are kids maxing out on common app and coalition. Madness.
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That would totally change the make up of the student body. If they fill 1/2 class with ED/EDII, then they take out kids like mine who apply to UMich as one of many schools. I’d guess they get a lot of their buckets filled with the OOS kids who aren’t as committed to UM initially, but end up going once they have all their decisions in hand. This can be helpful down the road to have more alumni in many places.
From this thread, it seems like many are really HUGE UMIch fans and seem to live in the mid West. Perhaps one of the reasons they have this set up is to attract students from all 50 states. Seems like they don’t need ED at all since they have a robust EA program and then defer those kids to compare to RD admits.
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Agreed. UVA already has ED, catering to (I presume) full pay students or others who are willing to use up ED and wiggle out if package is no good.
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Exactly. My kid doesn’t have a number one school. He has applied to a bunch of schools and will wait to see where he gets in, which school gives him the best aid, merit, etc. and which in the end is the best fit. It’s kind of like a job interview - you are interviewing the company as well as they are interviewing you. He is not going to lie and say that any one school is his first choice. If he had a clear first choice he would have applied ED somewhere.
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I don’t know if this is of any comfort, but my OOS DC22 was accepted to CoE without this sentence and applied to ten other schools without writing it once. Their why Michigan essay was extremely specific, though—so much so that I felt it was kind of boring. I even told them they were their worst essays because there was little room for my kid’s personality to come through. What I think their essays did convey was their intellectual curiosity and seriousness and that Michigan was a place where their energy could thrive.
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