University of Michigan- What are my chances?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Michigan
1

Hello, I’m currently a Junior in high school and I’m starting to plan what colleges I want to attend. I live in Florida, but really want to attend an out of state college–primarily University of Michigan. I have family that lives in Michigan, so I would have family nearby, while still being independent. I am pretty set on going to law school and becoming a lawyer, and University of Michigan has one of the best law schools in the country, as well as being a great undergrad school. I fell in love with the school, and now it’s basically my dream school. My parents would prefer that I attend a Florida college, as it’s much cheaper and closer to them, but I want to shoot for higher. Now for my predicament: UM is very expensive for out of state students, if I’m even qualified enough to get in. I’ve heard out of state applicants are held to a higher standard than in-state ones when it comes to test scores, GPA, etc… I was wondering if anyone here could tell me what my chances of getting in are at this point, and what I should work on to help better my chances. I would also like to know my likelihood of getting into University of Florida and/or Florida State, just in case. This is my make-shift resume so far:

8th grade (high school classes were offered in 8th grade at my school)
First semester:
Algebra 1 honors: B
Earth space science honors: A
Intro to Information Technology: B
Spanish 1: B

Second semester:
Algebra 1 honors: B
Earth space science honors: B
Intro to Information Technology: A
Spanish 1: B

9th Grade
First semester:
AP Human Geography: A
Biology 1 Honors: A
English 1 Honors:A
Geometry Honors:A
Legal Office Technology 1:A
Recreational PE:A
Spanish 2:A

Second Semester:
AP Human Geography: A
-Scored 4 on AP exam
Biology 1 Honors: A
English 1 Honors:A
Geometry Honors:A
Legal Office Technology 1:A
Creative Writing:A
Spanish 2:A

10th Grade:
First Semester:
Algebra 2 Honors:B
AP World History:A
Chemistry 1 Honors:B
English 2 Honors:A
Humanities 2 Honors:A
Legal Aspects of Business:A
Spanish 3 Honors:A

Second Semester:
Algebra 2 Honors:B
AP World History:B
-Scored 3 on AP exam (horrible teacher, no one has gotten higher than a 3 on this exam with this teacher in years)
Chemistry 1 Honors:A
English 2 Honors:B
Humanities 2 Honors:A
Legal Aspects of Business:A
Spanish 3 Honors:A

11th Grade (current)
First Semester: (only one quarter completed so far)
AP English Language and Composition:A
AP Art History:A
AP Psychology:A
Legal Office Technology 2:A
Analysis of Functions Honors:A
AP U.S. History:A
Dual Enrollment Constitutional Law:A

Second Semester (course lineup)
AP English Language and Composition:
AP Art History
AP Psychology:
Legal Office Technology 2:
Trigonometry Honors:
AP U.S. History:
Dual Enrollment Criminal Law:

Unweighted GPA:3.702
Weighted GPA:4.135

I have been a student council officer–secretary-- for two years. On top of that I am in National Honors Society, Gay Straight Alliance, and Florida Law Honors Society. I have been on my school’s mock trial team since freshman year as well. I have had two jobs so far: cleaning two office buildings and a temporary job at a halloween store. I’ve volunteered at a nursing home and tutoring at my school, although I do not have many hours accumulated. I plan to work on this in the near future. I haven’t taken the SAT or ACT yet, but I’ve taken the PSAT twice. The first time, in sophomore year, I scored a 1220 cumulative score. My reading score was 710/760, and my math was 510/760. I have yet to receive my scores from this year, but I’m sure they will be better than last year–especially in math.

That’s really all I can think of for now, Please let me know what I can/should improve on. Thanks!

2

Aside from doing well on SAT/ACT and keeping that grade up, I think you should try to intern at firm and ask them to write you a recommendation. It truly shows that you have a passion. If you can’t find an intern job, try looking for research. Research volunteer to admission shows that you know how to think or what not.

3

Like you said it’s really difficult for anyone to get into UofM and worse for out of state. Even if you were in state it’s not looking awesome. Study hard and give it a try. Never hurts to try.

4

Take the real tests. We can’t chance you without them. Your gpa needs a boost for UMich out of state. After you’ve taken the ACT or SAT, you’ll have a better idea.

5

Apologies in advance for some of my straight forward answers but I believe it’ll help you :slight_smile:

First off, I see way too many B’s. Lowest you should be getting ideally is 1-2 B+ at the most considering you are applying as out-of-state. However, what’s done is done and can be made up in other areas. Do you by chance play any sports or instruments? Club activities are great but if you haven’t competed and won anything, it really is more of just a filler that everyone else has. When applying, consider these types of questions- what makes you different from other applicants? What have you done to demonstrate your interest in a particular major? Besides academics, how do you characterize yourself and your relationships?

Like others pointed out, ACT/SAT is truly a significant factor in determining your eligibility. I suggest improving your math score as much as possible- by tutor, self-study, family, asking your math teacher, etc. Not to sound too harsh, but your ACT/SAT score can make or break all your hard work you’ve built in your academic career. So make sure to give it your all and have that final push :slight_smile:

msg for any further questions/advice. Best of luck.

  • 3rd year out-of-state student, University of Michigan
6

Your 8th grade scores do not matter, and if you continue to make progress for the remainder of 11th grade that will help you. Your ACT/SAT scores should be around the 75th percentile as an OOS student, currently around 34 for LSA and 35 for engineering. Finally have some serious conversations with your parents about costs, CoA at Michigan is around $60K/yr if you are full pay (run the NPC) vs $25K for UF or FSU. Justifying $140K extra because you want to go out of state is going to be difficult unless your family is well off or your get significant financial aid.

7

Just to add my 2 cents…
My son was accepted EA to CoE at UMich as a male International Asian.
U Mich was his second choice ( M &T program at Upenn was his first)). He received his EA acceptance on DEC 21 or 22 , just before XMas if my memory is correct.

He had a 4.0 GPA, topper among 200 students at a reputed international school. Only one student from his school was accepted to UMICh CoE though 10 applied.
2 were accepted to Georgiatech, 4 to UCLA and 5 to UIUC, 10 to UT Austin, none to Berkley, CMU and the Ivies

SAT 2330 ( super scored) with 800 on Math
SAT Subject test _ Math 800, Physics 750, Chem 800 and Bio 760
Had already 10 Aps at the time of application- 5s on Stat, BC calculus, Microeco, Psychology, English
4s on Macro Eco, Env Studies, Comp science, Biology
3’s on Human geography

Senior year: 5s Physics 1 & 2, Chem.
4’s Eng lit and French
3 on US history
ECs:
School Govt head
Attended 2 prestigious summer programs in the US
Co authored a book for Univ students
Currently attending U-M CoE
Team leader for national level competitions.
Did volunteer work ( 3 yrs)
Certificates for Public speaking, debates etc,

Also accepted to: Georgia tech, UCLA, UIUC, UCSD and in UK to Imperial College London, University College London, U of Southhamptom

Waitlisted at: Cambridge Univ, UPENN, CMU, Berkley.
We were pretty bumped initially but Umich is a great school so everything happens for a reason I suppose.

8

Update: I scored a 1370 on my first SAT, but plan on retaking it once or twice more before applying to colleges. My unweighted GPA is now a 3.75 and my weighted is a 4.25.