<p>I'm a junior right now</p>
<p>Class rank: 5/350
GPA UW: 3.98
AP's: Stats so far, will take Calc and Physics next year
ACT: 32 retaking hopefully higher
EC's: Student Council, Varsity Soccer, volunteer at animal shelter over the summer, considering starting a science club...</p>
<p>Male, white, from michigan. I'm thinking U of M is a good match but I'd like a couple safeties just in case I don't get in. I'm thinking about majoring in Physics if that helps. Any suggestions?</p>
<p>Are you by any chance a potential NMSF?</p>
<p>I’m not sure but I doubt it. I took the PSAT I think at the beginning of my sophmore year? Or maybe that was beginning of my junior year? Either way I don’t think I got anything back about it so I don’t think so.</p>
<p>Edit: I’m pretty sure I didn’t I got a 177 on it.</p>
<p>…Any thoughts?</p>
<p>How much can your family afford to pay for your education? Your grades and ACT score are good enough to get you merit aid at some colleges and universities. Read through <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html</a> for ideas.</p>
<p>I know a student with stats similar to yours who is a Physics major at Guilford College. However, I don’t know how much of that student’s financial aid is due to merit, and how much is due to need. [Guilford</a> College](<a href=“http://www.guilford.edu/]Guilford”>http://www.guilford.edu/)</p>
<p>For your Rock-Solid Safety, I’d suggest that you investigate the community colleges near you that have articulation agreements with U of MI. Should all else fail, you ought to be able to commute from home for two years and complete your A.S. for almost nothing before transferring directly into the Physics program at U of MI.</p>
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<p>Yes, this is the ultimate safety, if you have a local community college that offers the transferable math and physics courses appropriate for a physics major.</p>
<p>Here is some information on [transferring</a> to the University of Michigan](<a href=“http://www.admissions.umich.edu/transfers/]transferring”>Transfer Applicants | University of Michigan Office of Undergraduate Admissions), as well as information for [community</a> college transfer students](<a href=“http://commcoll.umich.edu/transfer/equivalencies.html]community”>http://commcoll.umich.edu/transfer/equivalencies.html).</p>
<p>Look up the required math and physics courses for the physics major on the University of Michigan web site, then use the above sites to check for equivalent courses at your local community colleges.</p>
<p>I think your chances for U-M are pretty solid with a 3.98 UW GPA. If you are looking for a safety school, I would consider Indiana and MSU - you will get into both of those schools. With your 32 on the ACT, you should qualify for at least a $9,000.00 scholarship. The IU application is easy to fill out (no essay or teacher recommendations). If you send the application in early, you will find out that you are accepted in a couple of weeks and you will have a two and half months to know you are in college while you wait for U-M to respond. MSU has a good reputation in science and they also respond quickly and there may be merit aid there as well.</p>
<p>I agree with happymom that you should look into merit aid possibilities. I would also consider if you are interested in more selective schools than Michigan. I don’t think you will need to worry too much about safety.</p>
<p>res ipsa -</p>
<p>Every student needs to identify at least one Rock-Solid Academic and Financial Safety. This is a place where the student is guaranteed admission based on their stats, and that the student’s family can pay for without any aid other than federally determined (FAFSA) aid. It also needs to be a place that the student will be happy to attend if everything else goes wrong in the application process. </p>
<p>In nine days, CC is going have a whole bunch of new threads started by students who didn’t do this, and for whom everything did go wrong. Some of the threads will be in the Financial Aid Forum asking how to pay for colleges and universities that are unaffordable, and some of the threads will be in College Search or Admissions asking how to find a college or university that still is accepting applicants. Please do yourself (and the rest of the CC community) a kindness, and find yourself at least one Rock-Solid Safety.</p>
<p>As a resident of Michigan, MSU would be a lock and Michigan a safety match. I would apply EA to Michigan to have that acceptance in the bag come late December.</p>
<p>^How does EA work exactly? I think I have a pretty good chance of getting deferred EA don’t I?</p>
<p>Note that “Rock Solid Safety” needs to be safe for both admissions and financial aid.</p>
<p>For example, for many students, Harvard may be a financial safety, but certainly not an admissions safety. On the other hand, there are some not very selective private universities that may be admissions safeties for many students, but not generous with need or merit financial aid, so they will be expensive to attend.</p>
<p>If the community college route is viable for your academic goals, then that can often function as both types of safety.</p>
<p>mtv, EA is pretty simple. Complete the application (common application, supplement, school transcripts, recommendations and SAT) before November 1. </p>
<p>Given your IS status and stats (4.0 GPA, top 2% class rank and 32 ACT score), I think you have a reasonably good chance of getting in EA, but it is hard to say what the effects of the common application will be. You could be deferred and admitted in the late period and there is always a chance you may not get in at all, which is why I am reluctant to say that Michigan is a safety. But I like your chances. Should you improve your ACT to 34, your chances improve.</p>
<p>No, you usually have a better chance of getting in EA if you’re within the school’s target range, which you are actually above for U of M. ([College</a> Search - University of Michigan - U of M - SAT®, AP®, CLEP®](<a href=“College Search - BigFuture | College Board”>College Search - BigFuture | College Board)) </p>
<p>Honestly U of M seems like it’d be your safety to me. And since it’s pretty highly ranked in physics as it is, and you get in-state tuition, I can’t really come up with a good alternative as a “safety” OR “reach”. Not a bad place to be…</p>
<p>MTV…</p>
<p>Have you asked your parents how much they will spend? Once you have a budget, it’s easier to find financial safeties.</p>
<p>Might look at some LAC’s like Holy Cross and Colgate. Holy Cross has good physics program and nice campus. HC also is need blind for admissions. Colgate is similar to HC but is located in rural Hamilton NY.</p>
<p>meg, Michigan is not quite a safety. The mid 50% GPA for admitted students is 3.8-4.0 and the mid 50% ACT range for admitted students is 28-32. Those figures were for the 2009-2010 admissions cycle. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.admissions.umich.edu/about/[/url]”>http://www.admissions.umich.edu/about/</a></p>
<p>This year, Michigan saw a 22% increase in applicants as a result of joining the common app. This should raise the mid 50% ranges a little. For next year, when the OP will be applying, I anticipate another 20% surge in applicants. Back-to-back 20% increases in applicants will likely have an impact on selectivity and ACT ranges.</p>
<p>This said, I still like the OP’s chances and I agree that Michigan is a great safe match considering that the OP would pay in-state tuition and that Michigan’s Physics department is ranked #11 in the nation.</p>
<p>Alright so I’m learning more towards applying EA to Michigan. Now what are the best ways I can improve my chances of getting accepted? Would summer programs help at all?</p>
<p>If you are interested in Michigan, you should definitely apply EA. The best way of improving your chances is to keep doing what you are doing. Most important is to keep your GPA up and to take a solid college prep curriculum in high school. ACT of 32 is good enough. A higher score will not do much to improve your chances but could improve your chances of merit aid. If you have not gone on a campus visit, that would be helpful. You may also want to visit a class in Ann Arbor - this would give you an experience that you could use for your essay. You will want to think about your essays -you will want to write an essay that gives the reader a feel for who you are as an individual. The readers only have a minute or two to read an essay and most will be forgotten. The essays change from year to year but not by much. There are essay writing workshops that can help give you direction. Think about teachers to ask for recommendations. You will want to find teachers who think of you as a student who has distinguished himself from other students. It doesn’t have to be the most popular teachers or the best teachers but should be someone who you have connected with. If your parents have gone to parent teacher conferences, they may be able to tell you which teachers had the best things to say about you. The summer program will not help you get in - go on the program only if you are interested in going.</p>
<p>I never said that you shouldn’t apply to a safety school but you shouldn’t worry about it too much. Your chances at U-M are pretty good. If you apply to MSU and IU, you will get into both of those. After those three (or other safeties, if you have no interest in MSU and IU), I would consider schools that are your dream schools (if you have any) or schools that can give you substantial merit aid (if finding a school less expensive than U-M with IS tuition is important to your family).</p>
<p>MSU is excellent in Physics, is a pure safety for the OP and may offer a significant merit scholraship. Michigan has been hit or miss for top students lately, which is why I am reluctant to say it is a safety.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot res ipsa. My #1 school choice right now is UChicago but I know how hard it is to get in and that’s why I’m looking at U of M.</p>