University of Michigan - Chance Me

Hi! I am a female oos applicant from California and I am applying to the business school. I was hoping someone could give me a realistic idea of my chances at UMich. Thanks!

GPA - 4.4 weighted, 3.97 unweighted
SAT - 1480
Gender - Female
Race/Ethnicity - White/European
AP’s - Human Geo (5), US History (5), Lang and Comp (5), Computer Science Principles (5)
I am currently taking 5 AP’s (Stats, Lit, Gov, Bio, and Seminar)
I have strong EC’s (Varsity Sports, 200+ volunteer hours, editor of school newspaper, leadership experience, tutor, work experience, etc.)
I also believe my letters of rec pretty strong.
My personal statement and supplements are decent.
Oh and I am applying RD

you have a good chance, but it’s tough these days. many many qualified applicants don’t get in or get deferred. a lot of Ivy League types apply to UM as their safety backup.
nothing jumps off the page from your EC’s. I think you deserve to get in and it makes me angry that you might not, but unfortunately top schools seem to want a well rounded class rather than well rounded students. you are actually very similar on paper to my daughter, who also applied to UM. she does not expect to get in but the competition from her school is intense for UM, with 60+ kids applying each year.

Thank you so much for your response! I appreciate the honesty and I wish the best of luck to your daughter!

I have very similar stats to you and have a very good chance of getting in, however being out of state will make it harder for you. You definitely have a shot if you nailed the Why Michigan essay bc they want to make sure ur committed to going there.

Do you know your HS’s acceptance and yield rates?

A 3.97/1,480 certainly is very competitive, but IMO, RD will make acceptance a bit more difficult since UMich defers a lot of EA apps to RD and then will evaluate all the deferred EA apps, now considered RD apps, along with the RD apps together. And roughly 50% of the acceptances are EA and 50% are RD. So, the RD pool is large, larger than the EA pool.

BTW, Mich doesn’t use weighted GPA’s, but does look for course rigor.

You have strong credentials and a good chance. What may help is strong interest, if demonstrated in your essays or LOCI. Yield is important. My daughter’s school had multiple applicants who were accepted ivy league and denied by Michigan (yes, you read that right). We’ve been consistently told they look for students who they believe will most likely attend. They say some of the ridiculously high achievers get declined because the school senses they are the backup plan, and “spending” a coveted acceptance on that student isn’t likely to yield an admission. Also, don’t get discouraged if you get deferred. About 15 from my daughter’s school (class of 90 students) enrolled at UMich this fall, and 3/4 of those were accepted RD. Many get deferred EA.