<p>hi im a senior from seattle, washington so i would be applying out of state.</p>
<p>academics:
attend competitive public school
3.275 gpa (rank: top 50%)
32 act</p>
<p>leadership:
freshman class vp
sophomore-senior president</p>
<p>sports: (not good enough to get recruited in anything except track)
baseball- have played 18u since age 13
tennis- finished 3rd at metro league hs championships
cross country-completed half marathon, number 2 on squad, ranked in county
track- can run 50.0 400 meter. (may be within recruiting range)</p>
<p>debate:
(one of five) first team all american
state champion
nationally ranked</p>
<p>I understand im out of state but i really want to be a poli sci student and i think umich would be a good fit if i could get in, what are my chances?</p>
<p>Reach for sure, because your GPA is extremely low and your class rank is low. A sizeable majority of Umich's students are at least in the top 30%.</p>
<p>You better write some amazing essays, and explain your academic performance if you have an excuse.</p>
<p>90 something percent of UMich students are ranked top 10% in their class im pretty sure. 32 ACT is slightly above average, but your GPA is very low. If you have some phenomenal ECs I would say your chances were OK with a slight reach but they are nothing special. sorry to be negative but i just figured you were looking for the truth. :-</p>
<p>they put a huge emphasis on GPA and not so much on SAT/ACT and ECs. If UMich is one of your top schools, apply anyway, because you never know what will happen. It is always worth a shot.</p>
<p>I could honestly say that you have a much better of chance of getting into HYP than Michigan since all it cares about is GPA. Considering you're a national level policy debater and a possible track recruit, you probably have a 50% chance of getting into Harvard for instance since their athletics blow hard, they love debaters, and your stats are basically permissable i.e. not failing high school. Michigan, on the other hand, is impossible to get athletically recruited it unless you're god since it's part of the Big 10.</p>
<p>Basically, my advice for you is to drop Michigan from your list and sell your soul to the Harvard debate and track coaches to see if they can pull for you when your application enters the boardroom.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, you're probably the weirdest kid I have ever heard of in my life to actually have a better chance at a top Ivy than at Michigan!!! Congratulations for being queer.</p>
<p>Definitely apply to Michigan. You probably will be deferred, but just do amazing in your first semester (3.8 UW +) and I think you have a good chance of being accepted because you are smart evidenced by your above average ACT score.</p>
<p>The debate ECs are outstanding but sports are just sports. It's not like founding a club or even being president in one. There is nothing on those ECs that make it stand out to me aside from the debate, which are awesome.</p>
<p>like honestly- what do you want from me, im "ranked" in the top 5 in a major activity, one of only 3 kids in washington to play 18u in baseball since 13. the 3rd "ranked" doubles team in seattle. and one of only three 3-term presidents in my school's history.</p>
<p>how does founding a club have anything on that? like i hope thats not the sad truth.</p>
<p>Colleges only want you for your sports if you are pro material that they can use for their teams. Otherwise, you are there to learn and that low GPA ain't gonna cut it at UM when 90% of the kids are in a much higher class ranking.</p>
<p>It's not even like your GPA is low b/c your school is hard; your rank is low.</p>
<p>You might have a chance at some school thats big on these smaller athletics, but at UM I don't think you are a good match.</p>
<p>You came looking for answers man, what do we want from you, we want a higher gpa (thats what UM is gonna think)</p>
<p>epsilon said it well, your ability in your sports do not matter one bit unless of course you are a division I-A recruit, which is almost impossible (unless of course you are a man-child). michigan could care less, they look at your sports the same as a bench warmer's sports. of course if you were captain of the team it might have some difference, but otherwise it doesn't.</p>
<p>Success in sports is indicative of dedication, work ethic, character and in most cases being the best on the team implies leadership roles. Gerald Ford credits some of his success to playing football while in college, and apparently almost always asked people when interviewing them if they ever played any sports.</p>
<p>That being said, it's not likely that your extracurriculars are impressive enough to compensate for the low GPA/class rank, including possible athletic recruitment.</p>
<p>I always thought that unless you are man-child, colleges look towards your academics primarily, and your athletics as ECs, which means that you cannot make the assumption that your athletics make up for your low GPA.</p>
<p>Your debate is really cool, and it looks to indicate some dedication and real skill. I would think that would be fine in-state, but B/C mich is so strict, they can probably find hundreds of students just like you, with that debate ranking and stuff, with a much higher GPA.</p>
<p>Apply early and see what happens, but don't expect miracles. And if you do get in, please reply in this thread so that in the future others can read this and realize that a low GPA is not the end of the world; we should make this more of a valuable resource.</p>
<p>I think if you pull AMAZING (4.0 GPA) senior year, you still have a shot.
Your GPA is bad, but your ACT score is high. Although michigan cares alot about GPA it's still semi holistic. One of my friends took easy classes, got a 3.3, 32 ACT, instate but he had one or two amazing EC's. He got deferred then got in.</p>
<p>Sports matter. They are not your average EC, because colleges know that playing a sport takes a lot of time. They will look at a varsity sport like a leadership position at a good club.</p>
<p>Essays, all the small factors (recs, resume, additional info, etc) will be important for you. Try to nail every other part of your app to make yourself as attractive as possible. Retake that ACT and send in a 4.0 senior year transcript and a 33+.</p>
<p>That said, although I still think you have a shot, being OOS will make it tough. I'd say 25-30% chance that you get deferred then accepted provided an excellent senior year.</p>
<p>"Your debate is really cool, but B/C mich is so strict, they can probably find hundreds of students just like you, with that debate ranking and stuff, with a much higher GPA."</p>
<p>no, that would imply a) i am ranked in the 100's b) all "top" debaters apply to michigan. c) all debaters ranked above me also out-perform me in the classroom.</p>
<p>your statement is terminally flawed on all 3 of those levels. im not trying to say ill get in, but there are very few ranked debaters that will compete pound for pound with me. (rankings wise)</p>