I am a rising senior and am very interested in the University of Michigan.
I received a 31 on the ACT and have a 3.72 GPA U/W, and about 4.2 W. I’ve always taken hardest classes I can, some I’ve been more successful in than others. I want to major in economics in school of LSA.
I am an All-State trumpet player and an Eagle Scout, and a member of NHS. Thoughts?
I have lots of service, as well. More on my resume but I really only posted what I think are the highlights
I can give more info if that isn’t enough…got two 4’s on AP Lang and AP Gov tests this year…not great but maybe it could help my chances with umich
be brutally honest pls lol…also looking at Notre Dame, Davidson College, U of Illinois, DePauw University, UVA. Let me know if you have other ideas, UMich is my 1, but if you think chances are slim let me know!
What major?
Economics, just school of LSA
goblue, I’ll give you some thoughts devoid of actual expertise, but with an attempt to ground the thoughts in available info for any use it might be to you.
If you go to Michigan’s website here:
http://admissions.umich.edu/apply/freshmen-applicants/student-profile
It helpfully lists a bunch of student profile info. Assuming the average GPA listed is UW at 3.87, and given the mid-50th ACT is 30-34, I’d say your 3.72 UW GPA and 31 ACT is low average.
It also helpfully lists the # of undergrads from each state and the percentage enrollment of URMs. Do you come from an arguably underrepresented state or demographic? That might help.
On this Michigan website page, it gives a ton of info (general to be sure) about the AO application standards and review:
http://admissions.umich.edu/apply/freshmen-applicants/selection-process
If you go to the bottom and click on “Application Rating,” you’ll see a bunch of categories I am guessing the AOs actually use.
With no more info about you, I’d think you are in the “good” ballpark based on their “Application Rating” categories. But hard to tell if could slide into excellent (FWIW from what you’ve shared I think probably not) and down into 'average/fair". The downside risk to average may be greater than the chances of upside gain to excellent, but would need to know quite a bit more about your academic strengths and weaknesses and how they’d be viewed by a Michigan AO (I’m not asking for more info on your strengths and don’t know how a Michigan AO would view them, but you may be able to make educated guesses base don the total app you’ll be submitting).
So from the very limited info you’ve given, I’d say you have a shot, neither great nor slim, but probably somewhat of a roll of the dice (like in so many instances). It could come down to what the AO thinks of your application as a whole. Might be one where essays, letters of rec, and leaving a genuine impression upon the AO of what you’ll add to the Michigan community makes the difference.
They do, of course, have a great marching band. Any chance you’d be value-added there with your trumpet?
That “analysis” is for the very little it is worth. I do think examining their website closely for what you can glean might be worthwhile.
Oh, one other thing. Just having discovered Naviance myself, if you have access go into it and see what other Michigan applicants from your school have encountered in terms of acceptance/waitlist/denials and what the average GPAs and ACT scores were the scattergram for your high school’s applicants. That should give you some good context of how apps from your school/location are viewed from a numbers standpoint.
Thank you so much that is very helpful! Yes, I would very much love to be a part of the Michigan marching band. My sister went to Vanderbilt, and was also a musician but not a major. She sent in a video of her playing flute with her app, and she thinks that helped her get in. Maybe same route will work with me at U of M! Definitely spending a lot of time on essays. I can’t thank you enough, that was extremely helpful!
are you an alum?
No, not an alum. Good luck and enjoy your senior year!
If you are from OOS, your chance would be likely below the OOS admission rate. Your ACT and GPA are both near 25th percentile.
One one more quick question: I go to an Iowa high school, relatively few students at UMich are from Iowa, certainly when compared to states like Illinois and California. Does that give me any kind of admissions angle?
Being OOS actually lowers your chances by quite a bit. Do you know what the costs are?
Yes, I just wasn’t sure if the fact that the class of 2019 has 30 students from my state would benefit me
Current student here, and I have a friend at Michigan from Iowa!
I am no expert, but being from Iowa probably helps (I think there are around 30 people from Iowa). However, the one person from Iowa I know is a super impressive person (national level awards and leadership positions during high school amongst many other things). Try as best you can to keep improving your GPA, and if you can get your ACT up (especially 34+, but even 33) , that would do wonders.
Ah that’s super good to know. Thank you very much, hope to be there next year! Go blue!
Sure, and work hard on those supplements (they matter!) and apply early. If you need any help or have any questions don’t hesitate to inbox me.
Yes absolutely, definitely applying early. Thank you so much I really appreciate the help
There are states like Montana (only 2 for at least one year) that have even less students admitted to UMich. The reason of having low attendance from certain state obviously means they don’t care much as long as there are at least 1 from each state. They just want to have complete coverage, not even distribution. If there are already 30 students from Iowa, why do they want more? They are even happy with 2 from Montana.