This is the reason that UMICH has gotten so stingy on EA. There are so many top students who use it as a safety school waiting to get into their Ivy/private top choice.
@ProudDad26 and im trying to slide in as a reach applicant lol
Perhaps in next year’s application UMich should ask “What private college have you applied ED for”…
@as1799 - kudos to you! hope you get good news this Friday!
So here’s the thing. There is a theme in some of these posts that seems insensitive. It is the theme that implies that a U of MI applicant who has also applied to an Ivy League school is somehow less important (in this thread or to U of MI) than those who have not applied to an Ivy. Like – U of MI is “just a backup” for some applicants…maybe U of MI should require those students to confess that they have applied to an Ivy. What’s up with that? Why would U of MI value any less an applicant who chose, in his selection of schools, to include one or two that have very low acceptance rates, knowing that actually getting admitted would be like winning the lottery?
[I get the concern with yield but frankly, that is not the applicant’s problem. It is U of MI’s choice whether to focus on yield above selecting the best overall pool of students for its 2017 entering freshmen class.]
The acceptance rates at Ivies, particularly for “unhooked” applicants (i.e., not a recruited athlete nor a legacy) are SHOCKINGLY low. NOBODY is guaranteed a spot, not at an IVY and not at U of MI (which is also becoming increasingly difficult to get into). Regardless of an applicant’s record, he would be a fool to JUST apply to Ivies, just like he’d be taking a huge risk to JUST apply to U of MI. In that sense, then, for a student who has applied to an Ivy school or Stanford or any other school with ridiculously low acceptance rates - those students aren’t “less equal” to others who applied just to U of MI. Thinking of U of MI as “just a backup” for those students ignores the data.
What an honor it would be to attend U of MI! A year from now, Ann Arbor’s campus will be filled with freshmen from all over the world, some of whom applied to one school, some who applied to 20. They ALL will be equal - lucky as all get out to be on that campus and working their butts off to succeed.
Does anyone know what effect it would have on an OOS student who got an email for an interview but did not act on it? (Hail interview for engineering). My son did this. I only found out about it because I was reading this thread. He said he had no idea he got it on November 1, but when I had him look back at his emails, sure enough it was there. He emailed and the UMich rep emailed back quickly but said “too late.” He did say it would not negatively impact him, but I don’t know if I really believe that. I mean, I think most do it, especially those who were offered the interview. The rep did say “hundreds who weren’t even offered an interview will be admitted.” but that doesn’t cover his situation. Does anyone know? Did anyone else, in the past get an offer to interview, not do it, and still get in, especially OOS? I know, he probably doesn’t deserve acceptance for being so nonchalant. I get that, so no need to repeat that. I’m already disappointed beyond belief.
@kkmabo Wondering same thing, didn’t notice the email and didn’t respond either 
@kkmabo Honestly, I’d hope that it wouldn’t matter and I bet it won’t. They shoot out a TON of emails, and lots don’t get responded to for any number of reasons. I doubt they have the mechanism to record a “never replied to the email but we KNOW he got it” as distinct from " never replied to email, who knows why." My best bet is that he simply gets evaluated without the interview and he will be fine. He’s just a teenager…adults miss emails ALL the time.
This is a big next 5-10 days for these kids - either they will be set for college or will be facing months more of applications and waiting, and THEN they will be set! I wish EVERYBODY the best. I’m grateful that, in my job, I don’t often have to make decisions of this magnitude. I don’t know how the admissions folks do this.
@profdad2021 I don’t think it is a devaluing of the applicant. People have a right to apply to whichever school they would like. And if they choose to use UMICH as a SUPERB “safety” then so be it. But, universities are compared based upon yield. So, UMICH similarly has the right to distinguish which top tier candidates are most likely to accept their offer of admission versus which will make another choice if given the opportunity. There is no foul play on either side of this decision.
For this string, I think it is most important to alert applicants on this site that last year there were many very highly qualified candidates who were deferred from EA probably because of this issue. That doesn’t mean they won’t eventually gain acceptance, especially if they are persistent.
@prouddad26 Yes, I get this. My daughter had been warned about this even before we read it on CC. Honestly, though, she could very well be rejected BOTH by U of MI and her Ivy school. True, deferral would be better! It is virtually impossible for MI admissions to “guess” which ones of these applicants are “highly qualified” - what does that even mean? My guess is that my kid is, simultaneously, highly qualified yet not THAT highly qualified. A couple of months ago she showed her college list to a friend who has some expertise in this area and she said that she could see my kid getting accepted to every school on her list, yet, she could also see her getting rejected from every school on her list. When applying to a school with an acceptance rate under 10%, top tier doesn’t mean much.
So I disagree somewhat with the notion that the applicant and the school are equal. I don’t think they are equal. The kid NEEDS a college to attend. The school doesn’t care which individuals it gets to fill its freshmen class. The school has the power advantage.
And there IS a bad guy in this - the US News and World Report ranking system that values yield so highly, despite the ever shifting applications/admissions process. Now, I MIGHT vote for a system in which no senior could apply to more than some specific number of schools. THAT would change the game radically.
@profdad2021 how would that work? Force private institutions to submit to a system in which their applicants can only apply to a certain number of schools? There’s no way that would work. It’s not fair either, unless the institution itself wants to implement the system.
@drymango Yeah I didn’t really mean it as a serious suggestion! This is all a vicious cycle - acceptance rates driven down, with concerns about yield, driven in large part by students applying to a ton of schools.
Exactly why UMich should offer an ED. They could separate those who would be will to go if accepted (meaning they have a high yield, if not a perfect 100%) and they could still have EA for those that have their foot in a couple of different doors. It would signify that the student has interest but they also have interests else where. They could move up in USNRW because of the higher yield (from ED) and still get students that are very well qualified.
They cant do ed though because they are a state public school. Besides, they already know the in state yield is very high its out of state yield that’s questionable. They have always done rolling until the number of out of state increased a ton and they couldn’t predict if the out of state were going to go.
Is that a rule that public state schools can’t do ED? That’s dumb.
It is definitely not a rule because there are public schools that offer ED. TCNJ and The College of William and Mary are two examples.
@twinsfanpg Same thing happened with my daughter. She received an email end of November asking for an explanation on a supplemental question.
when does the notification comes out? They said by 24th but can it be earlier?
Umich is too big of a public state flagship school to do early decision. The public schools that do early decision are smaller non flagship schools
Does anyone know if its true that most out of state students get automatically deferred?