Exactly. Nicely put. I am sure some computer analysis might do the wait list. People have to understand that there are many great applicants that don’t get accepted every year with the same stats and GPA and rigor then the ones that got accepted. Michigan attracts highly talented applicants. Their waitlist could make up a great student body for a college. Lots of this is luck when you have close to 90,000 applicants.
Get excited now about your other choices. If your not selected upcoming, at least you’ve done the research and can easily pivot. Too many hold out hope for one school. As great as Michigan is, don’t do that.
Maybe bad choice of words. But it depends who you are speaking of. Potential Ross students have separate dates of release. People do get selected in very small batches. Then there are the major releases. I just edited that…
alumni donations are meant to be made because you believe in, and want to support the university and its missions and objectives. Not as a quid pro quo to get an admissions boost.
But yes, I agree with you this policy change will likely have at least some negative impact.
Points well taken. And I was not really talking from the standpoint of somebody’s $500 per year donation providing an admissions boost or having any relevancy to admissions at all.
But for overall alumni relations (there’s that term again), this seems like a pretty big shift for U of M. To tell its strong alumni base that legacy is no longer even considered at all, I posit will not be taken all that well.
Most highly selective colleges have moved away from considering legacy. It perpetuates elitism and disadvantages groups like first gen and URMs that colleges are trying to attract.
Huge donors will always have a back door to admissions, but the days of children of Ivy alum getting into Ivies…or Michigan progeny getting an advantage at Michigan…solely by luck of birth are thankfully ending. Those children will have many advantages already (having educated parents already gives them a head start), and will be able to compete on their own merits.
The following is taken directly from the FAQs posted on the UMich Admissions website:
> Is being a legacy applicant a factor in U-M’s holistic review process?
Legacy status is not a preference in the admissions process but does serve as context - outside of the admissions review - in understanding a student’s interest. Most importantly, it helps us calculate the likelihood of enrollment. Information about a student’s status as a legacy can also be used to acknowledge their relationship to U-M in communications with families during both the application process and when it renders their admissions decisions.**
Yep, I know times have changed. I won’t get into the merits one way or another, but I understand how things are trending. Just seeing “first generation” as “important”, and legacy as “not considered”, is quite the shift for someone who hasn’t been involved in this process for some time. Is what it is.
While I know it’s a change on the CDS, Michigan as noted by @BeefStew2 has not considered being a legacy in admissions for several years.
Again, as noted, it was used post-acceptance, to help estimate yield.
Essentially, to the best of my knowledge, it’s only really a change in boxes checkmarked on the CDS. Like, they’re finally acknowledging or maybe just correcting the CDS to reflect what has been their policy for a few years.
Yes, Michigan for 2022-2023 waitlisted 21,000 applicants of the 85,000 applications or 25%. And yes, I think that’s overdoing it, a smidge.
And what’s even more eye-opening is that the 77 taken off the WL includes every school, Ross, LSA, CoE, Nursing, Kinesiology, Architecture, STAMPS, and on and on.
FYI, just for comparison, UCLA’s 2022-2023 (large elite public) WL #'s are (rounded):
Offered waitlist: 17,000
Accepted place on waitlist: 11,000 (66%)
Accepted from waitlist: 367 (3%)
Don’t discount the significance of following statement in the FAQ:
Most importantly, it helps us calculate the likelihood of enrollment.
I take that to mean that if two candidates have exactly the same statistics and are equally qualified and rated, the Admissions Office may give the advantage to the applicant with a legacy connection because the Admissions Office believes the probability of the legacy applicant matriculating is higher than the non-legacy applicant.
As @sushiritto said, yield is important to UMich. That is why a legacy connection is helpful.
I don’t think they come out and say it but I think they still consider it. Also a mention in an essay can alert them that a parent etc went here. The statistics of alumni children is too great to pass on BUT like 7 years ago we saw lots get in. The last 3 years lots got deferred and rejected. So definitely a shift change.
Regardless, if affordable and one gets accepted it’s a great school for many.
When you say “offered” a spot do you mean offered a spot on the waitlist or kids who are on the waitlist and then offered a spot in the class? If so, I think the CDS includes that number, and it was cited above. If not, can you provide some more information? Also not sure what you mean by some people thought it was worth it and some didn’t - what is the “it?” Again, is it the spot to reside on the waitlist?
I think you are confusing the terminology. Someone isn’t offered a spot OFF the waitlist, they are admitted from the waitlist. “Offered a spot” refers to asking an applicant if they want to be placed ON the waitlist in the first place. Many students will have moved on from that point and will decline a spot.
The two students you know weren’t “offered a spot off the waitlist.” They were admitted; one declined and one matriculated.
I know they had to accept a much larger number off the waitlist during the covid year, so maybe that’s when they increased the number of kids they waitlist because you never know how many you’ll need.
, but…