<p>Hi. this is my first post to the forum athough I have been reading it for a while. my son is trying to decide between the two. they were not his first choices and he is a bit anxious about choosing a school as large as umich. </p>
<p>We have a somewhat unusual story. here is his story- he has ADD and gifted. he has been fighting his way up during hs from Bs to As in four current AP classes. his stats are GPA 3.8 (4.5 this year)/5, sat 760/740/660 sat2 800 world/800phys/770 chem. He is vp of his class and coeditor of the yearbook. he was at JHU-CTY for two summers taking existentialism and philosophy of mind. worked as only hs intern on a senate campaign last summer. He recieved letters from every top college identifying him as a "great candidate" and has a round of interviews where he was told time after time that he was a great fit for this schools- sev ivy league (legat at yale, harvard, and penn, deferred from Yale EA), uchic, emory, tufts, then was rejected by all of them!! He had outstanding teacher recs and guidance counsellor. so everyone told him his gpa would be taken "in context" ofhis disability- apparently it was NOT. only acceptances were umich and gw, wl at wash u and bucknell. he would love to go to washu at this point b/c it is smaller than mich and similar academics but ofcourse chances are slim.</p>
<p>so- he is interested in east asian studies/ econ but also possibly physics. Any thoughts on the two schools? size? intellectual atmosphere? strength in those areas?<br>
right now he is very dejected. any words of encouragement would be apreciated. we are so sorry that schools could not see past the GPA. everybody who knows this kid is shocked.</p>
<p>Your S has some very nice options. Since this was the most competitive year ever in college admissions, and since most students who apply to the caliber of college that your S applied to also are very highly qualified for those colleges, the results of your S's applications are not surprising to me. Take a look at the CC boards for the colleges that your S applied to and you'll find plenty of other outstanding students who were rejected. You'll also see some links to articles in the NY Times and other papers talking about how many apparently perfect applicants were rejected by top colleges this year.</p>
<p>A college professor friend of mine has a D who is going to GWU in East Asian studies and has been very pleased with her experience there even though it's costing her family big bucks.</p>
<p>I think that both Michigan and GWU are wonderful colleges, and your S has some excellent options. I went to grad school at GWU, and think that its advantage is being close to places like the White House, Capitol State Dept. and World Bank. all of which can result in ecellent internship opportunities in that who-you-know city and excellent professors with international/national expertise.</p>
<p>If you check out posts by FrecklyBecky (This may be spelled slightly differently), who was rejected by places like HY two years ago although her twin brother got in, you can read about her experiences at Michigan, her safety, which she loves.</p>
<p>mdmom,
My heart goes out to you and your son. At times, this college process really stinks. I don't think those schools misled your son and you must know that, despite his ADD, he is a legitimate applicant to those places. It has been such a tough year for so many students and families. I agree with northstarmom's comments on GW and U Michigan, but if your son had his mind set on places like HYP, Chicago, Emory, etc., those are different (although not automatically better) environments. Have you ever considered a gap year and re-applying next year?</p>
<p>thank for the words of encouragement. yes it really did knock the wind out of him. We have never considered taking off a year, he was sooo enthusiastic about getting to college and pursuing the things he loves. he is a true scholar. I will look into that but the thought that all of his friends in ap classes who are going to princeton and penn etc would be in college and he would be reapplying may be just too much for this kid to take. Although I know that all the kids here take their work very seriously to see a kid struggle through hardship, and then not be recognized for what he is has just sent a crappy message.</p>
<p>I don't suggest taking a year off to reapply to the same colleges. If you check around on CC -- particularly the thread called "we are picking up the pieces" about how Andison, also an excellent student, got rejected everywhere, took a gap year and then reapplied, you'll see that the odds of getting accepted by a college that rejected you are very slim. Andison was rejected again by the colleges that rejected him originally, but he was accepted by some lower ranked colleges that gave him excellent merit aid, and he was accepted by at least one top ranked college that he hadn't applied to before.</p>
<p>Myself, I think that your S has some very nice options now and should strongly consider one of them. Next year, admissions will be even more competitive due to the number of boomers' kids who'll be applying, so he'll face even more competition if he takes a gap year. Perhaps if he visits U Mich. and GW this month, he'll see what they have to offer.</p>
<p>we are going to see both places in the next few weeks. his is committed to going to one of them- we did consider other less competitive admission schools but i think he would still choose what he has. I would love to et any advice from people attending them about what they think of the school. I know that mich is more hghly ranked but I have heard great things about gw and looking over the stats of the admitted kids there, they are quite impressive</p>
<p>Check out this CC thread on what U Mich. has going for it. Includes a comment by FrecklyBecky, who originally was disappointed in having to go there because it was her safety: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?p=942690#post942690%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?p=942690#post942690</a></p>
<p>I know you are reeling from the rejections and I am sorry than things didn't go as you and the S had hoped, but the cold reality is that a student with a 3.8 gpa on a 5.0 scale is not a realistic candidate for the top schools without having a major "hook". Schools send out those nice letters to lure you into applying, simply to improve their numbers and reject more candidates (look, we only accepted 10% this year!).</p>
<p>What you need to do now, however, is check out the schools from which he DOES have acceptances and find reasons to love them - and there are many, as Umich and GW are both great schools (especially UM, I think). UM is very strong in all three areas of study you mentioned, and has a lot to offer.</p>
<p>I don't think GW is nearly in the same academic league as UM. The main thing it has is location.</p>
<p>Barrons is right. UM is top 25. GW is second tier. However, GWU's location is fabulous, giving students who are interested in government or international affairs a big leg up.</p>
<p>GW is about equal to UM when you consider the better location.</p>