What are my chances at U of M

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Michigan
1

Hi

I am a senior in high school applying to U of M and I’m wondering if anyone could weigh my chances of getting in holistically based on college stats, personal experiences, etc.

I live in-state and currently have a sibling at Umich.

Here are some of my stats/activities:

I have a 3.5 GPA, 1520 SAT, and 32 ACT. I have entered senior year with 6 APs under my belt- with 4s and 5s in all of them- and am currently doing 5 more. Honestly, my GPA is low because of peer + parental pressure pushing me to enroll in classes I wasn’t interested in or inherently good at (I suck at STEM). However, I know this is not an excuse and will not be writing about it in my essays.

I have been in varsity tennis all four years of high school. I am in Model UN and HOSA (a business-related event), winning multiple, state-level awards in both over the course of 2-3 years. I volunteered at a hospital and worked on a political campaign. I participated in SIEMENS and was a semifinalist; subsequently, I was invited to present my study at the Midwest Society for Preventative Research (my abstract was also published). Additionally, I am a student representative on our school district’s Foundation for Educational Excellence. I also did two internships at law firms (one was criminal, the other corporate).

Most importantly, I am heavily involved in music. I am in the symphony orchestra at my high school and have received numerous awards in violin. I am more passionate about vocal music and perform/practice in a local conservatory; I have participated in national music competitions and have won semi-finalist and honorable mentions in 2. I also have sung at hospitals for patients.

I consider myself to be a proficient writer and love English, so I think that my essays will turn out great. I also have two amazing teachers and my vocal coach writing my rec letters. I know I’m not perfect, but I think I can safely say that my essays will not be an issue/my downfall.

My highschool and internship experiences have shown me that I want to pursue law; I plan on majoring in political science.

Based on this information overload (lol sorry), can anyone offer an opinion of what they think my chances could be at Umich? It would be greatly appreciated.

2

You have a great SAT score to make up for your GPA, plus you’re in-state! If you’re planning to submit your app by the EA deadline, you’re definitely in!!

3

wow thank you so much. I’ve gone through so many stages of depression wondering about this haha- thanks for taking the time to respond

4

So your bio is great but your not definitely anything. This is Michigan. What is your school’s relationship to Michigan? How many kids get accepted there and what’s their stats? This could be much more reliable.

But your interesting. Everything is great but the GPA but your challenging yourself.

So their avg GPA for LSA is 3.9 unweighted with 32-35 Act. Your Sat gives you a 34 equivalent. That’s great.

The big question is if you get All As will your GPA be high enough especially when they compare you to your peers at your school. You have a lot to offer and you just likely will get deferred but your application to me is very interesting. Apply EA. Email your school’s Michigan AO prior to sending in your application with a question that can’t be found on their site. Show interest in different ways. Good luck.

5

Also make sure your counselor can write something about you maybe taking APs to early or something

6

thank you!

7

Your ECs and SAT score make up for your low GPA. Plus, you challenged yourself with a tough course load, which looks good on your application. Nothing is for sure at Michigan, but you seem like a good candidate.

8

thank you for the feedback!

9

You stand a great chance, just show a lot of belonging n flaunt the Maize n blue in your essays. UM is truly a public Ivy.

10

I will! Thank you

11

You definitely are qualified and with being in-state and legacy, you have a good shot! The SIEMENS competition and state-level awards are definitely a standout!

12

thank you for the feedback!

13

Please post whether you made the EA cut! You should be fine - as long as you are not applying to engineering!

15

I will as soon as I get the result! Thank you!

16

Could you explain more what you mean about “as long as you aren’t applying to engineering”? Is that harder to get in to, do you need higher stats than what they say their average is?

17

You say that ‘you suck at STEM’ so you would not be too happy in engineering. You would need outstanding math scores and excellent grades in the sciences. Engineering is generally harder than LSA for admission, but the standards are slightly relaxed for women.

The odd part is that someone with your obvious musical talent is usually quite talented in math, and combined with a musician’s creativity and discipline, does very well in engineering. Maybe you are underestimating yourself.

18

LSA - 3.9 unweighted with 32-35 Act
Engineering - 3.9 unweighted with a 34 Act…

Having better Math scores then reading is common in engineering.

So at Michigan not really in theory harder for engineering. It used to be. Now it’s just hard… To get into Michigan… Lol.

19

UM is a top engineering program and is one of the hardest schools to get into there, so yes it is harder to get into because the candidates applying, just like at other top ranked engineering schools usually have higher stats and more course rigor.

UM also unweights all courses, takes out fine arts courses and recalculates gpa based on their own formula. You can look on Naviance or something like Niche and see what their avg stats are for Engineering compared to LSA but nothing is a cakewalk at UM.

For the OP @lilylane0456 I’m not familiar at all with UM in state but everything you’ve done and accomplished sounds so impressive and any school would like the Honors and Awards and no doubt the Siemens thing is a big deal there especially with having your abstract published. One issue this year is that flagship universities are expecting to have more students who want to stay closer to home, so if that holds true then in state applications will be way up for UM and MSU and students who might have gotten into UM in the past may now instead have to settle for MSU. We’re dealing with the same in my state. Your SAT shows great and I hope it all works out for you. If not, any school will be lucky to have you.

20

Thanks. Lol. My son graduates engineering from Michigan next semester. I have been a regular on this board for about 5 years. Yes, I understand that. My point is the GPA and stats are about the same. This wasn’t the case just 4 years ago. They raised the LSA GPA unweighted to the engineering level. It was lower and applying to LSA to transfer into engineering was a strategy. Now that they are virtually the same there really isn’t that strategy anymore. Just apply to the school of your interest. Trust me, I get how going to UM is tough to get into. We are OOS from Chicago. It’s a bigger deal to get into UM then Northwestern in my area. I see UM gear daily and tell someone “Go Blue”. :wink:

21

Michigan has a huge alumni base and amazing engineering school but as a whole it’s never going to be a bigger deal to get into UM than NU.