<p>Seriously, it seems like EVERYONE does. What is so great about UMich other than the Rolling Admissions?</p>
<p>Maybe it's the fact that it is one of the top public schools. Good education at a reasonable price. Strong in many areas, such as business, engineering, musical theatre, political science, philosophy, and many others.</p>
<p>it's a great school that doesn't seem notoriously difficult to get into compared to the ivy's.</p>
<p>It's not every day that you can find a school that is top 20 academically, offers an honors college and a great social/athletic experience, AND accepts 45% of applicants. I think that combination of factors appeals to a lot of people on CC and around the country.</p>
<p>put on your flame suit...Alexandre will NOT be happy calling his alma mater a "safety" LOL</p>
<p><em>chuckles</em> Michigan is a fine school, I wouldn't worry about it.</p>
<p>Well, the biggest aspect of it is that the people here on CC are obviously a highly self-selected group of people that is not representative of the college student population at large. There are lots of lots of students in the state of Michigan (and elsewhere) who would love to go to UM but can't get in. For example, I'm sure there are a lot of students at Michigan State who would rather be going to UM, but didn't get in, or didn't even apply because they knew they wouldn't get in, or are only going because MSU gave them a scholarship and UM didn't. And how about the students at Wayne State, EMU/CMU/WMU/NMU, Saginaw Valley State, Michigan Tech, Grand Valley State, Lake Superior State, etc. I'm sure that a lot of those students would rather be going to UM. Not all of them, obviously, as I'm sure that some of them really like where they are going and actually prefer it over UM. But a lot of them would rather be going to UM. Let's face it. There are very few students at UM who would rather be going to Grand Valley State but didn't get in. </p>
<p>Look, the truth is, UM is undoubtedly the best public school in the state of Michigan and almost certainly the best public school in the entire Midwest. From an undergraduate standpoint, it can lay an arguable claim that it is the best public school in the country, along with Berkeley and Virginia (however at the graduate level, I think Berkeley is better than Michigan). In fact, Michigan is good enough to compete strongly with many of the top private schools, especially for instate residents. For example, if I was a Michigan state resident, I doubt that I would choose, say, Cornell or Johns Hopkins or Emory over Michigan, unless those private schools gave me significant financial aid.</p>
<p>What a stupid thread. By any standard, Michigan is one of the best universities in the U.S. as in the world. Don't trust me. Just look at most of the academic polls. Use of the expression "safety school" is relative. If Michigan is actually your "safety school", then you're probably brilliant and belong at Harvard or Yale anyway. IMO, every school in the country is a "safety school" for Harvard which pretty much tops every academic poll in the world. Well, maybe Princeton may top Harvard at times in the USN&WR undergrad poll. </p>
<p>However, Harvard pretty much is accepted as the consensus no. 1 institution of higher learning worldwide. In reality, Harvard is the only school exempt from "safety school" status IMO. Ie. If I was accepted to Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, I would easily select Harvard over the other 2. And if you had your choice of these 3 schools, then you're probably a future Nobel Laureate or Albert Einstein (LOL). </p>
<p>For those of you who turn your noses up at the top public institutions like Michigan, perhaps you should be outside on the sprawling lawn of your Georgian mansion, engaged in a spirited match of croquet with Muffy & Mumsy while sipping martinis. Apparently, you're just wasting your time on this board (LOL). For those of you who want to go on to doctoral study, Cal and Michigan have produced the most undergrads that have gone on to earn Ph'd's across all fields of study of all the institutions of higher learning in the U.S. Yes, they're larger state schools, yet it's still a testament to the quality and top notch preparation of the education at the 2 institutions as well as to the high motivation & talent of their students. Believe it or not, graduates of the top public schools are just as motivated to succeed. If you're expecting an academic "cakewalk" at either school, you better think again.</p>
<p>Maybe Michigan should do itself a favor and accept much greater numbers of out-of-staters. I heard that state funding has been cut. Why doesn't Michigan respond by accepting more out-of-staters and by cutting its overall undergrad enrollment? The university is just so large with more schools & programs than most universities and has a much larger number of slots to fill.</p>
<p>60% acceptance rate and the fact that for OOS they accept based upon only numbers.</p>
<p>Miriam, great post.</p>
<p>p.s. Bob, you are living in the past.</p>
<p>Someone posted an acceptance rate of 45% earlier. Michigan has more schools & slots to fill than most universities. I don't see much of a problem with going by the numbers for OOS students as SAT's & GPA are the most important & objective criteria for acceptance IMO. Also most applicants trump up their extracurricular activities & achievements anyway. It would be nice to see Michigan do the same for the in-state applicants in the future. I'm definitely not an opponent of political correctness (PC) or diversity, but Michigan along with Stanford & Wisconsin were at the forefront of the PC movement. Unfortunately, as a pioneer of the movement, Michigan tends to go to controversial extremes to ensure diversity. IMO, numbers should still make the biggest statement for the applicant.</p>
<p>not really i got in with a crappy essay only with numbers honors too. Anyways how good michigan is, it's admissions process isn't that selective at all. Seriously, Michigan doesn't have that random factor that most of the Ivies have along with top private schools. That's why Michigan can be said as a safety while Washu or Northwestern while are at a similar academic level as michigan can't be safeties.</p>
<p>I used Michigan as my safety for two reasons 1) my stats were better than many people I knew had gotten in and 2) by applying with rolling in October I knew I could essentially eliminate the need for safeties since I found out I was accepted by November.</p>
<p>Michigan changed its admission process in 2004 after the supreme court ruling. It is now taking a holistic approach to admission.</p>
<p>p.s. imiracle, did you turn in a crappy EC's list and recommendations too?</p>
<p>
[quote]
Maybe Michigan should do itself a favor and accept much greater numbers of out-of-staters. I heard that state funding has been cut. Why doesn't Michigan respond by accepting more out-of-staters and by cutting its overall undergrad enrollment? The university is just so large with more schools & programs than most universities and has a much larger number of slots to fill.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Probably because it's politically untenable. I have always advocated that Berkeley do the same thing - admit more OOS students who tend to be more qualified and will pay more. However, the problem is that doing so would be seen as 'taking seats' from in-state residents. You know what would happen. The media would portray some in-state guy whose dream was always to go to UM or to Berkeley but couldn't get in supposedly because the school gave his seat to some out-of-state student. Then some demagoguic state politician would ask why is the state spending taxpayer money on this public university if their state residents are being turned down in favor of OOS applicants, etc. etc. It's hard to fight a political battle like that. After all, OOS residents can't vote on an in-state issue like state university funding and admissions criteria. It's the classic insider-outsider problem so famous in political science and sociology. The insiders hold the political power and will exert it to exclude outsiders.</p>
<p>I think Alexandre posted the avg. SAT scores for entering freshmen at Michigan last year, and the average was above 1300. Given that Michigan is larger than most of the top public universities and all of the top private schools, this figure indicates that selectivity isn't as "God awful" as many of the posters on this thread are making out. Yes, compared to the Ivies, it falls short. However, compare the figure to the other top public schools. It's not too bad considering that Michigan has more slots to fill than Berkeley or UVA. </p>
<p>The overall acceptance rate for incoming freshmen just doesn't tell the entire story. It also depends on what school you apply to at Michigan. Ie. One of my friends got accepted to Columbia for engineering but was rejected at Michigan. So he went to Columbia and acquired this superior attitude (LOL). He's very critical of all public universities now that he has graduated from Columbia. However, I keep reminding him that he was rejected by Michigan (LOL!).</p>
<p>Engineering is a different story, its more selective at Michigan. Even with a SAT avg over 1300, this is well short of even the 'middle' ivies and places like Duke with averages in the mid 1400s. Given that these schools take stats AND ECs into account its not hard to see why a top 5%, 1470 SAT kid with avg ECs could view Michigan as a safety but would be really reaching for the 'middle ivies.'</p>
<p>
[quote]
The media would portray some in-state guy whose dream was always to go to UM or to Berkeley but couldn't get in supposedly because the school gave his seat to some out-of-state student. Then some demagoguic state politician would ask why is the state spending taxpayer money on this public university if their state residents are being turned down in favor of OOS applicants, etc. etc
[/quote]
Insightful and so true.</p>
<p>Yea, I think UMich is perfect as a "safety" for me (I don't really like that word because nothing is ever safe, but as a 2300 Sal with decent ECs, I guess I can consider it a safety). What other people mentioned as its benefits are all true: rolling admissions, no extra apps for merit aid, nice location, awesome programs with honors, etc, etc. I think it is rolling that does it for me though, because if I get in there I can relax and maybe apply to some more reaches than I would have felt safe doing otherwise.</p>