<p>Hi! To be honest, I hate that I am here right now asking this question. I wish I could get over being rejected from UMich, but I just can't seem to. I am hoping your answers to this question will give me at least a tiny bit of closure. My best friend and I had always dreamt of going to UM together, but now she is there while I am headed to MSU (which makes it even more painful seeing as I have learned to despise the Spartans). She was accepted to the summer bridge program, and I don't understand why she was offered that option, and I wasn't. I was ranked above her in our class, have superior grades, superior test scores, and a took a much heavier course load than she did (I took 7 AP classes while she only took 3). I also have over 300 volunteer hours spanning over my 4 years in HS while she has none. Her parents both went to UMich while neither of mine did. Is this something they take into consideration when selecting students to place into this program? I really just want to get excited for MSU and forget about Michigan, but I don't know how to do that, and her leaving for AA today just made everything worse.</p>
<p>Summer bridge is for people “at risk.” Even though you are admitted, the university wants to make sure that you can succeed here. Summer bridge is not optional, but mandatory. If you do not partake in the program you can’t become a Michigan wolverine in the fall. The classes you take count towards your Michigan GPA, however It isn’t for legacies. Many African American students I know were apart of that program.</p>
<p>Sent from my iPhone using CC</p>
<p>It’s impossible to figure out admissions. There does seem to be a slight bias towards women and minorities IMHO.</p>
<p>Haha, thank you for explaining that. This is completely irrelevant to the thread but I just moved into Stockwell today as a junior transfer, and I’ve been talking to people all day utterly confused as to what they were talking about. I had never heard of the bridge program but I didn’t want to feel stupid and ask. :)</p>
<p>curios, in a few short months, I hope you are enjoying yourself in your new setting and that you have some closure over UMich and can maintain a nice relationship with your friend. Sometimes UMich makes decisions that don’t make sense to “local” observers, and indeed this is one of them.
But there are many reasons this could have happened. For example, perhaps she has really struggled to do well, or is viewed to be exceptionally conscientious and seems on paper to have overcome obstacles. UMich always says that you are evaluated both among your peers but also in consideration of “what you’ve done” with whatever advantage or adversarial conditions you’ve found yourself in. So it’s possible that there was some aspect to her application that emphasized overcoming adversity for which they felt she deserved both a shot AND the coaching of the bridge program. </p>
<p>Another possibility is that while your scores are higher than hers, she might be an especially good writer, for example. The impact of a high verbal IQ on applicant acceptance is noticeable – because clear communication and compelling engagement makes a student more attractive. As well, sometime students who are not overall super achievers can be “particularly” talented in a given area – eg. concentrated in an ec or a discipline that offsets the poorer overall performance. </p>
<p>Of course, it’s also entirely possible that the decision was a simple matter of different ratings by different ad coms – or different recommendations, etc. etc. etc. Whatever the reason, if she’s attending bridge, she may find the level at UMich quite daunting – or on the other hand might excel in that environment. Regardless, sooner or later we all have to accept that “the universe is perfect” and do our level best to live a life you love.</p>
<p>So please don’t “make it mean” anything about your prospects or accomplishments. Just move forward to meet your future with open arms!</p>
<p>The one person I know who was admitted through the “bridge” program was given a letter of recommendation by Governor Granholm. This person had scores that definitely qualified him for Michigan, but only barely (3.6-3.7 GPA, 28 ACT). I was told that most people admitted to the bridge program had special circumstances like this.</p>