<p>@wishfulwolvrine,
when I said sophomore I meant the kids already spent 2 years in UM. Their acceptance rate is lower than the kids spent 1 year in UM from the presentation I saw. So apply again after another year in UM does not increase your chance.</p>
<p>There is no reason not the apply EA, particularly if you are interested in merit aid. You have to apply EA to be qualified, although OP is not likely to get merit aid.
@beckstiles Before they started doing EA at UMich, they had rolling admission. I don’t see how the EA would benefit the school than their old way as they had no deadline to meet in the old way and they started the reviewing process even earlier. The advantage for the student is they will know the answer by 12/24 (actually a week earlier than that usually) which actually put pressure on the admission office. Indeed, they could not finish reviewing all the EA by 12/24 last year. UMich just started EA in 2012.</p>