All I will add is that this thread shows the same unbelievable level of passion about Michigan from alumni that I see at work. Whatever I think about this I know that it will serve my daughter who will attend in the fall well.
Michigan’s early action program engenders undue anxiety among its deferred early action applicants. Other top-30 universities typically bedevil their deferred early action applicants with admission snafus and delays, once in December and then again in March. By contrast, Michigan (I believe) defers all or substantially all early action applicants it does not admit in December. Then it distresses thousands of them with bureaucratic ineptitude every two weeks or so in January, February, and March by releasing piecemeal admission batches that unnecessarily magnify the anxiety of an already stressful admission process. After Michigan admitted my child early last year, I watched this process as a bystander. It wasn’t a pretty sight.
Agree with @espenser.
Michigan and many other schools have admission notification policies that are definitely not student centric. True, admission related stress is self-inflicted to a large degree, but some sensitivity would be prudent on the part of the college.
I understand colleges feel the need to play the yield and numbers game, but the way Michigan dribbles out results with no announced calendar of events is unnecessary. Michigan’s EA deferral, waitlist handling, etc. can be improved and it would be wise to rise above these and not fall into the trap of USNews rankings game. Look at University of California system for example, most of them get twice as many applications as Michigan and they don’t use the common app. While UC’s selection criteria may be different (and has its own issues), what is admirable is the that have a very clear application and notification method and timeline. There are frequent claims about how Michigan has bigger endowment in these forums and it would be wise to use some of that for improving administrative procedures.
Michigan is a fine school and has many redeeming qualities and the behavior of the front office can be off-putting to many…but too often, the fresh batch that comes in next year will not make decisions to apply based on this behavior and there is no incentive for Michigan or other colleges to improve, except how they feel when no one is looking.
People just need to learn how rolling admission works. Several years ago, UMich was all rolling admission even for the early round. The original idea was to allow some students to be admitted and notified earlier. Then they switch to the current arrangement with EA and then rolling RD. The idea is to let most students receive the admission notice before April 15. It is funny that because of anxiety of some applicants, they want the admission office to hold back all RD admission notice until April 15. I don’t see how would this be for the good of the applicants. The main question is whether UMich should reject more EA applicants instead of deferring most to RD. Again, the idea to have mostly deferral instead of rejection is to allow the applicants to improve their stat before RD final decision. Perhaps they should reject those who needs miracle to be accepted. Nevertheless, those would be in this group should not put much hope at UMich anyway. Those who are in the grey area may want a second chance to improve their stat and do not want to be rejected up front. There is no perfect admission system. I do think UMich does have good intention but probably focus too much for the students to be admitted rather than those to be rejected.
One thing Michigan could do to ease anxiety is to announce set dates for release. Instead Michigan seems ( especially this year with its Tumblr messages) to imply that it has no knowledge of or control itself over when admissions decisions will be released… Even hours before they actually are. This artifice ( or at best poor internal communication) adds to student stress. You can argue it shouldn’t. But it’s human nature to react this way to this kind of unpredictability. I do believe that Michigan thinks that it creates some kind of excitement for students not to know exactly when the release will be. Personally I disagree. I speak is the parent of a child who got in early decision and did not have to bear the anxiety that many of her friends did.
@maya54 If it is still rolling, there is no set date.
“This artifice ( or at best poor internal communication) adds to student stress. You can argue it shouldn’t. But it’s human nature to react this way to this kind of unpredictability. I do believe that Michigan thinks that it creates some kind of excitement for students not to know exactly when the release will be.”
Despite making an argument devoid of actual facts, I appreciate the fact that you continue to bring your creative assertions and telepathy to this thread…“artifice”…"…creates some kind of excitement…".
I continue to assert that in looking at the input, a passel of anxiety riddled students who are substituting guesswork for facts, rather than the output – a 97% retention rate – you are focusing on the wrong event. Despite your concerns about Michigan’s process, Michigan routinely ranks #1 or #2 in the teaching of higher education administration, and its former students and administrators decorate the C-level (President, Chancellor, Provost, dean…) at a number of elite institutions. Further, each year – while the yield holds steady – the number of applications for admission increases and the entering class metrics increase as well. All of this despite rising costs nationally.
So while Michigan may be able to improve its process, your concern about the institutional ethos and success appears to be misplaced.
I find it suspicious that many of the naysayers here have fewer than 10 posts to their handle, all of which are negative and on this forum, and “validate” their neutrality by claiming that they are associated with successful applicants and are merely suggesting “constructive” criticism. On a forum such as CC, where posters’ identities, and their intentions/agendas are hidden, establishing some sort of credibility is essential. It goes without saying that Michigan’s admissions process can improve. But as blue85 aptly points out, the process is far from broken.
I am not sure how Michigan defines rolling admission…typically it means no deadline to submit the application. You can submit anytime between sept-march (say) and you get a decision 6 weeks later…of course, this method works for a less selective school than Michigan. Michigan’s current status may be better described as rolling (at unpredictable times) notification.
Michigan can improve its admission notification procedure by simply announcing and sticking to a timeline. As long as they are considering improvements, pre-announced notification dates are more important than the number of notification dates, IMHO.
In an ideal world, all colleges that use CommonApp should notify using CommonApp on the same date at the same place. This will eliminate the need for keeping track of many portal IDs, waiting for the mailman, etc. Cynical me says colleges use CommonApp when it is advantageous to them, but do not think of students at notification time 
@eondude Your definition for rolling admission is the case for some schools only and certainly not “typical”. Each school may have a different way to do rolling. What is common (or “typical”) is the earlier application will be reviewed sooner and some students may hear back earlier than others instead of a fixed announcement day. Most rolling admission schools still have a definite deadline although sometimes the application may be closed even before that when the spots are filled.
CommonApp only involves in the application submission process, not for announcement of admission result at all. It is a one way data flow from applicant to CommonApp to Adcom. They have no control at all on how the schools process the application and would not know the outcome of application either. This is different from the common/united college application processes in some other countries.
@maya54: How many of the 100+ students you helped were admitted in Dec, Jan-Mar, and April respectively?
As I recall only about 20 got in ea in December. The experience was quite different than we experience in the past because some relatively weaker students ( including my daughter ACT 30… Weighted GPA 4.06 unweighted 3.82… Though u mich 4.0 recalculated. She had a good number of a- grades) got in while some of our strongest were deferred. In the past it was the strongest that uniform ally got in ea. Very few got in ( maybe 5…I’m approximating ) got in during the dates before the final round when another 20 or so got in. As I’m only a volunteer helper I don’t have access to exact numbers at this point). But I believe we got about 40 in this year with many attending.
I do want to point out that I have over 100 posts @alexandre. And that I simply agree with you that UMICH would serve needs best by just two dates for admission.
As for my guesses about what The u mich Tumblr was doing there really are only a few explanations for the " not tonight post" 1) they didn’t know that decisions were coming at midnight ( lack of internal communication) 2) they did know but were trying to be sly/ funny. I can’t see how there’s a possibility that they knew and were serious because that doesn’t explain what would be the purpose of that post. There was a definite change of tone to a more mature/professional one after that post.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
The ad hominem attacks, which I have deleted, have no place in this thread, not any other, on College Confidential. Please keep it civil.