“Data of over 90% of high stat kids being postponed at UM…”
Aren’t most kids that apply to UM high stat kids anyways? Sorry, but the peers of my kids I know that applied did so because of their standing and knowing they have a shot, it’s just a matter of percentage admitted and what sort of student slots they want filled, IMO. 
First, it’ll depend on what someone defines as “high stat.” Second, as I mentioned way up thread, it’s not always about “high stats.” At some point, when some threshold is hit, then it’s a deep dive into the rest of the application.
It’s been a while so please forgive me, but I remember for D21’s SAT test, the difference between a 770 and 800 on math was one, maybe, two incorrect answers (out of 40?) for her sitting. And so on down the line. I’m sure that’s gotta be factored into the admissions algorithm(s) somehow.
@Twiceblessed75 I’d agree with you. The applicant population at our local CA public self-selected for a school like Michigan and were mostly in the upper echelon of seniors.
Obviously, there always some students who take Wayne Gretzky’s advice and say to themselves, and their parents, “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” 
I agree. I tend to be somewhat versed in engineering schools etc. Look at facility’s and faculty and that will tell you a lot. Forget about 2 year outcomes and the like. It’s silly. Region determines starting wages. Also if a company hires from different schools they all start at the same wage /benefit package. Again, region usually determines outcomes. What companies hire at each school can be different. My son’s international company came to Michigan last year to grab an engineer. Just happened to be him 
. They already had someone from GT and other schools. They only take 6-10 Americans yearly. That kind of thing is where they better programs have lots of value. Otherwise you are interviewing with more regional companies. Remember, Michigan is an international brand and reputation.
I would also look at Virginia Tech if staying in that area. Greatly undervalued program.
According to our GC, who was an AO and a public school GC prior to her coming to our school a few years back, there are simply certain schools where UM is going to postpone everyone. A lot of it IS because all of the top students apply to UM, and the yield rate very well might be lower than average. So they combat that by postponing everyone, allowing for some to melt off through ED or other acceptances. In her prior school- a public HS in the northeast- she had a much more normal rate of acceptance in EA rounds.
Which means they don’t seriously consider ANYONE in our HS until the first general EA wave after postponement. This year there was one acceptance…but he is going to be a preferred walk-on for the football team, lol. Is it fair on a 1-1 basis? That’s the complaint.
So when comparing schools especially Big Ten publics. Michigan has always been known for Academic Excellence. Even 40 years ago when my wife went there. Saying that, the discussions about Michigan taking high Stat kids is funny to me.
Michigan’s LSA avg student is 3.9 unweighted with a 32-35 Act.
Michigan’s engineering is 3.93 with 34 Act avg.
There used to be more of a difference even like 5-6 years ago but they closed that gap. Michigan’s avg student could possibly be accepted into almost most engineering programs in the country (if they took the proper classes).
Michigan deferres , rejects and accepts and wait lists some very high Stat students.
Yes, students with lessor gpas and scores get in. Just the result of holistic reviews.
Other publics don’t really as a whole have the same types of students as their entire student body. Right there is the major difference. Most schools have these stats in engineering but not the entire university as a whole. This was one of the main reasons my son picked Michigan over his other choices. It was very similar to his school and he wanted to be pushed and learn with top students,as a whole student body.
Ask any student about their friends at Michigan and most will tell you they were top students at their high school and active. Those same students are usually active currently on campus.
It’s the culture of the school and one of the best college campuses that draws students to the university regardless of when they get accepted. Add in top faculty and world class facilities and it’s a hard package to beat.
Good Luck and hope there is a wave tomorrow.
Over the years, when someone has asked me, either by PM or by post here, “why do I think they were deferred?”, the first question out of my mouth has almost always been “What’s their HS’s historical yield?”
It’s like a decision tree for me. If the answer is “Our historical yield is high,” then I/“you” begin asking other questions. But it’s of no surprise to me at least that Michigan doesn’t continue to try to hammer a square peg into a round hole. Their computer algorithm must account for every HS’s historical yield.
Michigan isn’t the only school that wants their admittances to attend.
Our local CA public HS, which both my kids attended, has the absolute worst yield to one UC in particular, UC Irvine. It’s a terrible record, like zero attend, when admitted. So, acceptances to UCI are more recently about “as rare as hen’s teeth.”
So, it was no surprise to me that my older D was waitlisted and my younger D was rejected a UCI. Neither would have attended, if accepted anyway. But I totally see why UCI accepts very few, if any, from our local HS for the last 5-6-7 years that I’ve been looking.
ETA: I do recognize that parameters do change over time and/or year-to-year, especially during the pandemic, so Michigan’s HS “profiles” (in-state and OOS) aren’t static.
When do students have to commit? Seems like it could be possible that student wont know until april 15 and would have to make a decision by May 1? Does anyone know how this process works?
It is very likely not getting UMich result until the first week of April. Then students have to choose from the accepted colleges and move on.
I totally get this and have no reason to believe that it is not accurate. I understand the motivation/logic of UM AO, too. But, and seriously, is this fair to any applicant who has literally nothing to do with prior years’ graduates? It just seems to be another point to demonstrate why the colleges hold all the power and use it for maximizing number of quality applicants and then for yield management (which in turn is used marketing in the future cycles). UM is not much different from other top colleges in that sense but they also seem to do “wild” things — in our OOS HS, there is a good historical pipeline to UM and they admitted at least two students (not URM, first gen, etc.) who however had relatively “inferior academic profiles” (lower GPAs, less rigor in classes and lower test scores) while deferring the “better” candidates - holistic much?
What makes you say that?
The UMich student newspaper article someone posted earlier in the thread showed that of the 20 or so students admitted from my son’s high school that year zero attended. Zero. I told my son and his friends (it is top choice for at least two of them) to blame the class of 2019 if they don’t get in. 
Spot on @sushiritto! Your comments are consistent with what I’ve heard from other sources.
While acknowledging that there are many factors in an admission decisions and therefore multiple reasons for deferral, the answer to:
“why did my high stats student with a well written essay, great LORs and strong ECs get deferred?”
is quite likely to be:
“because past students with your profile from your high school tended to not enroll at UM”
While it may seem unfair to current year applicants to have to pay for the sins of their ancestors, from a college’s yield management perspective past results are the best predictor of future results.
This explanation is also consistent with the observation of many folks on this thread who pointed out that their high stat kid did get accepted EA. It’s very likely because either kids with similar profiles from their high school have had a good enrollment record, or there haven’t been enough applicants in the past for UM to doubt their level of commitment.
My son’s school and others in Chicago typically get 44 acceptances and like 12-14 go to Michigan. This has been very consistent. Lots of these kids are looking for better merit/financial opportunities, like most people it seems. But Michigan knows they will at least get that many. It’s been very consistent for over 5 years. Then they do track performance. So yes people before you does have an influence on how well your childs chances are.
They not only need students that will commit but will also be successful.
There is one school that had 14 applied and 13 accepted and went to Michigan. The chances of getting accepted from that school is incredibly high.
Not sure if I honestly ran this business (yes, it’s a business for every college), how to do it differently.
The last Ross decision date is April 15.
Any portal astrology? We still see the withdraw button on the portal.
New to Michigan waves as my S applied RD. Does UM send an email notifying of decision or is it a matter of rechecking portal? Thanks. And sorry if answered above.
both! they put the decisions in at 3pm EST and send emails shortly after to alert of a change.
i still have my withdraw button
My son was accepted into IU Kelley, Purdue & Wisconsin; debating btwn these 3. Still waiting EA for Michigan. Seriously thinking of accepting one of the others, since he only applied LSA at M.
You have some great choices. Congrats. If business Kelly is an obvious choice and great campus. Good Pizza place also. Lol.