I totally agree based on what we have seen.
And you also need to send condolences to those of us who heard nothing yesterday and are still in the utter frustration of limbo. Completely agree on the pivoting though!
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This is a common theme this year. There was no way to read the tea leaves. TO last year meant many still submitted scores. I think this year, TO meant many applied to schools that would have been out of range according to CG and historical analysis. Many kids also applied EA to many schools. All these factors have left many top kids with high scores without good results.
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@Ironmanfgo - I think the Sport Management immersion program/January start is a great idea, especially since it has been said there were a record number of applicants this year!
My son wants to start college in the fall, so he probably wonāt accept the waitlist and try for that program. Even though he knows UMich School of Kinesiology is one of the best, the financial burden would be much greater for us OOS at UMich. He will likely go to another school where he was offered honors and merit and plans to double major in Spt Mgmt and Finance. Sounds like your son has some excellent sports experience already and some great opportunities ahead! Best wishes!
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My son was waitlisted at WashU (his top choice). He was also waitlisted at Michigan. He was accepted at Boston College and University of Richmond and some other good schools. He will keep WashU in the back of his mind, but he is moving forward with either BC or Richmond. He is declining waitlist from Michigan. He has pretty much forgotten about them through this long process. He is happy with his choices.
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That was the single hardest part of the process. Coming up with a list of likelies that DD22 would have been happy to attend.
Son just got accepted into Boston University!
ā¦Biomedical Engineering majorā¦
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Congrats! DD22 also applied but Iāve not asked her about BU or USC.
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You very well could be describing my son!! Very logical hence very hard for him to understand or make sense of it. I donāt get all the stress that these kids have to go throughā¦ I also donāt get some of the parental pressureā¦there is one parent whose kid got into MIT and stresses that is their first choice any day and would withdraw from other schools and still keeps posting acceptances at other schoolsā¦ when did it start being about the parents and less about the kidsā¦We take pride in the fact that we let our student organically plan his college path offering advice only when asked and not overcoached! You are absolutely right all that hard work doesnāt go to waste!
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My 2 cents (likely worth nothing) 
I think this year was an unpredictable year. My high stat son was postponed EA and now waitlisted. Of all the schools he applied to, he is the most disappointed by this outcome given his āpackageā was light years better than kids from his top public high school that were admitted last year and the class of 2020.
DS22 - Waitlisted
4.0/4.0 UW GPA - usual honors and APs - school does not rank
1570 SAT (one sitting 790M/780V)
Accomplished musician (played national venues - NY, Chi, etc)
NHS officer etc
Varsity athlete
Top public HS outside of NYC.
As of this morning, he has only heard of 1 acceptance out of > 20 applications and that was an athlete commit last year.
The likely valedictorian (not 100% grades based) was waitlisted as well as several legacy candidates with near perfect test scores, straight As in honors/APs and unique ECs.
I am an optimist and believe it all works out in the end but the process left him (a young senior) frustrated as well. Fortunately he has some great LAC choices but this process has dampened the overall application process/experience.
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DD22 OOS - waitlisted CoE
UW 4.0/ACT-36(ss)/14 APs
ECs- HS Band plays 2 instruments and in leadership
Summer Research internship
Summer Engineering program
BPA-couple state awards, went to nationals
Lots of Volunteer
Math tutor
NHS, National merit commended, AP scholar distinction
Congratulations to accepted students. Seems like lots of COEās waitlisted. anyway my D22 wonāt be accepting waitlist. I am glad this is the last one for undergrad at least. Next few years students will not have it any easier. This thread is the most active one I have seen last few months, has been very insightful though.
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Yeah, us too. 
Itās okay, Michigan is not at the top of my Dās list, so this was not as big a disappointment for her. Sheāll likely decline the WL.
Iām just so sad for all the kids who had life-long dreams of attending.
I have really enjoyed getting to know so many on this thread - please circle up and let everyone know where your S or D landed!
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Has anyone visited the University of Michigan regular decision boards? I wonder if they got a whole bunch of waitlisted as well, or if a lot of them got accepted or even denied. 
Honestly, what this cycle has done is basically say āWe have no idea!ā There is no ryhme or reason to acceptances or denials this year, because there is no way admissions offices can create one. It is, without any semblance of doubt, complete and blind luck. Yes, it is probably very easy to reject a good portion of applications based on their merit. But for thousands and thousands others? How do they decide? I think itās numbers. We have so and so from this region or high school, so letās take X from there. Luck. Thereās literally no other explanation for any school that receives this many applications.
Is it fair? No. Not to the students and not to the admissions office. I say admissions office, because it is VERY fair to the school. They make oodles of $ and get to announce their almighty admit % is the lowest itās every been.
The only kick I have with UM is that theyāre not REALLY an in-state school. I see tons of Michigan applicants on this page and shake my head. Those are exemplary students who have earned their right to a state flagship, over someone like my kid who is an OOS applicant and should be held to a different standard. Except my kid would pay $80kā¦Seems like in-state and OOS lines have blurred more than they should.
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Agreed. The way some of these schools have let this all play out has been disconcerting. DS received WL invite from Dennison with one of biggest FA packages weāve seen. Higher than some who were admitted. Letter in mail said āweāre investing in youā? How? He was WL. UM defers people for 5 months for WL? What more do they need? Something is wrong with this process. ED/EA have changed landscape and not for better IMO
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I am OOS and was waitlisted after being deferred from EA. OOS. 4.7W/4.0UW. 1420 SATs. All honors and APs with 4s and 5s, 2 varsity sports for 4 years, founder of a club, lots of volunteer work, good essays and LORs, PT job as a pharmacy technician for 3 years.
I will be declining a spot on the WL. I am a firm believer that a university needs to sell itself as much as I need to sell myself. Their whole process is a HUGE turnoff. The other schools I applied to EA treated my application as EA. Those I applied as RD, treated my application as RD. No offense but Michigan isnāt special enough to have their own category. Best wishes to all who got in and good luck to those on the waitlist. All the rest, some good advice I got this year was to āgrow where Iām plantedā. That will likely be UCLA for me.
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Sorry to hear sheās not sure about Syracuse. Hopefully the admitted student days will give her some clarity and also get her excited for one of those schools! Maybe Iām being overly optimistic but given the Immersion/January start opportunity I think Kinesiology kids have a real shot at getting off the waitlist if willing to go that route. I have become invested in your D which is kind of crazy but I have so will be rooting for that to be the outcome. I know for now we need to move on and focus on whatās actually an option. Sounds like you are doing just that. Best of luck and keep me posted on the outcome!
Yeah, this is the heart of the problem for high stats kid with great ECs. Absent a hook, the only safeties are schools with >70% acceptance rate.
It is disheartening, and I agree with your childās sentiments. But I would also guess that if college admissions were a true lottery, that your child would have worked just as hard. Because that is his/her nature!
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Pretty discouraged by this processā¦ DS / OOS LSA / Finance
Deferred and waitlisted U of M (his first choice)
Deferred and Waitlisted Villanova
Waitlisted Boston College
Deferred Georgetown
Rejected ND EA and USC
3.9 UW, 5.0W, 1570 SAT, NMF, Varsity athlete, lots of ECs and volunteer hours.
Knew that these schools would be very tough but was hopeful at least 1 would come through. Accepted at some safeties that we will look at more closely and get excited about, but today is tough.
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Feeling the same as my son is in a very similar situation. This feels like it should be a more positive process. Wishing for waitlist offers to come through for your son.
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