The problem is some schools don’t have a good working relationship with their AO. Our sons school would have no problem calling. Some counslers just won’t for any reason. @Nhatrang… Any personal recommendation is good for the student. If the AO has a relationship then it’s like a tip off that X student really will commit and BTW is a great student and would be successful. Also it’s the school’s history with the college at hand.
I keep coming back to this same thought and I’ve mentioned it repeatedly. Students have been accepted with and without LOCI’s over the years, but I believe one of the strongest factors in admissions is the student’s high school record of yield and producing qualified students who will be successful at UMich.
@sushiritto. Exactly. I would think if the colleges received students that ended up being successful and yield wise it worked out with a history of this, then why not. Why are some schools “feeder” schools for that college… I would think this has something to do with it.
I understand about all of those factors in selecting students for admission. But when you write an email telling the school that you will attend the school if admitted, you just don’t ask someone to speak for you. This is one of those things you need to speak for yourself. Now if they are asking for a letter of testimonial, then sure by all means. It’s just a strange approach but i guess stranger things have happened.
@Nhatrang. Let me put it a different way. We are hiring people for our staff. I go through mountains of applications and the person is rarely as good as their resume. Trust me. So if someone I know and trust gives me the name of someone they think I might want hire… That usually leads to me hiring them. If there has been a history of this person sending me great talent… Then why wouldn’t I trust that person.
Yes, the student absolutely should advocate for themselves but if they have an “inside” person to also advocate that is even better. Many sites /books on this subject suggest having an “inside” person (usually the AO) makes your chances that much better of an acceptance.
I do a ton of hiring as well, and yes I would absolutely take the words of the person I know that so and so is an excellent candidate. But I wouldn’t necessarily believe the person if they said so and so would take the job. Only that so and so person should tell me they would absolutely take the job if offered.
@Nhatrang, a LOCI from the applicant won’t hurt, but the college counselor who has a pre-existing relationship with admissions staff may mean more, because there is a reservoir of good will at stake. Put another way, high school counselors are “repeat customers” with admissions, so they won’t put their credibility on the line unless the applicant is sincere in calling the school his/her “first choice”. Applicants often are disingenuous about the level of their interest …e.g. “I will attend if admitted”, because there are no consequences to the applicant. School counselors will want a firm commitment from the student about the level of their interest.
For the record when my area admissions rep visited my school in NY she recommended that we send an LOCI if deferred
Interesting pov on having the guidance counselor call … do you guys think it’s too late to do that?
A little too late, but hey they always said better late than never…
Around these parts, GC’s make calls to AO’s all the time. Calls may be more prevalent with GC’s at private schools than large public HS’s with less resources, but calls are made on behalf of students every admissions cycle since dinosaurs roamed the Earth. :))
If it were me, then I’d certainly ask the GC to call the AO.
YES!!! If they are willing to do so. But remember they might not want to do so so you don’t blame them if you don’t get in. At my kids school like Northwestern and University of Chicago reps seem to help out at our school a lot. They did the financial aid talk for the auditorium filled with students etc. So the counslers know them well. Other schools know that if they get one of our students that they tend to be successful in college. Why wouldn’t they want that kid? When we were on tours of schools they would ask what school my son went to and the tour kids were like “they do great here” kinda answer.
Also I am the type when someone tells me I can’t… I usually do and have a great outcome. If you want it then go for it and make it happen.
I guess each school and experience are different. At our school as soon as the kids entered freshmen, they were told to learn to advocate for themselves. They (GCs/teachers) will do their part in providing the guidance and rec letters and whatnot, but they will not make house call for anyone. That was very clear from all the information sessions. They even have session to teach kids how to talk on the phone to the admission office. Because apparently kids don’t know how to talk on the phone these days. They would call the office, then hang up b/c they didn’t quite formulate what they wanted to say. So they were taught to be prepared to make phone calls/emails, etc…Basically learn to advocate for themselves as they enter adulthood.
It is unheard of that a GC would call the admin office on behalf of a particular kid in the context of trying to get the kid admitted. That concept is very foreign not just to me but to all the parents and teachers I know at public schools. Sure if the paperwork get messed up and emails didn’t resolve the issue, then they would call but those are the ONLY situation when a GC makes a call on behalf of a student.
You guys are lucky to have your kids at schools where you can just ask the GC to do this for your kids. I am not saying you can’t do it. I am just saying it’s strange that you would do it. But now that you all telling me that this is normal practice in your world then i will have to take your words for it
when do yall think the next wave will be?
someone please give me a guess
Educated guess @jojhnjojhn - next Friday, March 1st
March 1…thats my guess. Of course I can be wrong.
Hi everyone!
I know I am late but here is my story…
I was deferred EA, and found out i got ACCEPTED to LSA at exactly midnight on the night of feb 1st! I refreshed my portal at that time, and my status was updated. An email was sent the following day I believe telling me I was accepted.
Here are my stats
-OUT OF STATE student
-SAT: Math- 780, Reading- 720 (1500 total)
-GPA: 4.0 unweighted, 4.42 weighted (each AP class added .06)
-AP classes: 9th Grade (AP Euro History), 10th grade (AP US History, AP Capstone), 11th grade (AP Biology, AP Statistics, AP English Lang, AP Human Geo), 12th Grade (AP BC Calculus, AP English Lit, AP Physics I, AP Economics) = total of 11
MY TIPS:
-You MUST send a letter/ email of continued interest to the admissions office. Michigan is definitely a school that considers demonstrated interest, especially since they defer an insane amount of people.
- VISIT if you can! I did this right after I found out I was deferred and I talked to my admissions rep in person about my interest in the school and what program I was interested in. If you can do this, I highly recommend it and truly believe it is the reason I got accepted in the first “wave” of students.
I assume a wave of decisions is coming out at the beginning of every month so keep refreshing those portals! If you REALLY want to go to Michigan you have to put in the effort. Simple as that. By being deferred, they clearly already believe you are a strong candidate so at this point it is just about showing them how badly you want to attend!
Congratulations, @rucker831!
(Telling the rest of the deferred students that getting in is as “Simple as [putting in the effort]” might sting a bit–and, of course, it isn’t true for everyone. But congrats to you, both for getting in and for your great work in high school.)
@rucker831 - Congrats on your acceptance. But saying the LOCI and the visit to the school are the reasons you were accepted is rather silly. You have outstanding credentials and there is really no reason to assume that whatever you did (other than build your credentials during high school) in the recent past was the reason. This sounds like saying vaccines cause autism, because autism is usually diagnosed around the time vaccines are given. I don’t think you should alarm a lot of worried kids into regretting what they did or didn’t do. This board is full of people who thing there is some secret formula to getting in. Bottom line, there are more qualified outstanding candidates applying that can be accepted. There is variation in the people reviewing the applications. People get it in with/without loci, with/without college visits. The body of work submitted, including test scores, grades, and ESSAYS, are what is really evaluated and a judgement is made. There is a degree of randomness to the whole process.