I noticed that Michigan died by really try to attract students. For example, they send out very few information packets to juniors and seniors, and don’t really try to interact with accepted students. It was my birthday a few years ago and 2 colleges sent me birthday cards and videos, while UM didn’t. Many other colleges send out information and reminders, but not UM. Why? I’m not one to choose a college over a birthday card or another picture of students in a lab, but I’m just wondering why Michigan doesn’t really try to impress/attract students?
They have more applications than they can really handle every year already. Why would they spend more man power to do things that would further slow down their reviewing process.
My S has received post-acceptance emails/mailings from U-Mich. He got a Christmas email/card and other emails/postcards. Even before being accepted, he received a hand-written postcard from someone encouraging/reminding him to apply.
Do you want to pay a slightly higher admission fee so they can do extra mailings to you? Michigan is a world-renowned large research university. There isn’t a lot of hand holding there. If you need closer attention, pick an LAC. And I don’t say that in a mean way – I attended Michigan, and my kids went to LACs.
Are you going to one of the schools that sent a postcard or Christmas card?
woah16, Michigan is a public university. It does not chase alumni for donations like most private universities do, it does not manipulate data to look better in the rankings or to impress parents like most private universities do, it does not advertise its accomplishments and its greatness like most private universities do and it does not woe applicants like most private universities do. In other words, Michigan operates under a strict code of conduct.
I’m a freshman but I received many mailings and a personal application essay review session where a U of M counselor read over my essays and suggested changes before I submitted it. However, as people mentioned above it’s a huge school that’s not hurting for applications. They even had a 5% jump in yield last year.
Ah… I beg to differ on them not chasing alumni for donations. As an alum, I can assure you they chase me for donations. Under the guise of the alumni association or the individual Michigan colleges, we get plenty of requests. And most public flagships request donations from their slums. But their #1 priority is to serve students of the state of Michigan, and the state residents are very well aware of UM. 
intparent, I am an alumnus as well. What I mean by “chasing” is aggressive to the point where it can be considered harassment. Merely sending out email once or twice a year notifying alums of the different initiatives that we can contribute to is hardly “chasing”.
UM had a development arm just like all major universities do. If they thought you could be a big donor, you would be wined and dined. Fundraising is quite sophisticated these days, and Michigan is no different from the rest. I don’t really know why you think other universities harass – I also have a masters degree from another Big 10 university, and I would put the “harassment” level at about the same level between them and Michigan. Michigan has plenty of virtues – there is no need to make any up.
“I noticed that Michigan died by really try to attract students. For example, they send out very few information packets to juniors and seniors, and don’t really try to interact with accepted students.”
Well, despite the fact that every snowflake is precious, the above isn’t really English and it certainly has no tangency with logic. I’m guessing there was a shortfall somewhere in your application.
“UM had a development arm just like all major universities do. If they thought you could be a big donor, you would be wined and dined. Fundraising is quite sophisticated these days, and Michigan is no different from the rest.”
Agreed 100% intparent. In fact, in this regard, I think Michigan excels. Collectively, the sum of our alumni donations is definitely among the largest among universities. Ross, Munger, Taubman, Zell, Frankel, Brehm, Knorr, Stamps, Davidson etc…have each donated 10s, if not 100s of millions of dollars to the university.
“I don’t really know why you think other universities harass – I also have a masters degree from another Big 10 university, and I would put the “harassment” level at about the same level between them and Michigan.”
“Michigan has plenty of virtues – there is no need to make any up”
I am not making anything up. Perhaps I am not being clear. Michigan does reach out to alumni. That is not in dispute. What I said is that Michigan does not chase after alumni the same way that many private universities do. Below are a couple of examples that I had heard about in recent years that illustrate how aggressively some universities solicit alumni.
http://chronicle.com/article/Students-at-2-Ivy-League/125056/
http://dailyfreepress.com/2013/10/01/new-alumni-feel-unwanted-pressure-to-donate-to-bu/
They seem to do as much PR as most schools.
Are you confusing “stalking” with trying “to impress/attract”?
And were you born in a leap year, so that’s how your birthday was “a few years ago”?
I’m not whining first of all. This is something everyone I know talks about because most other schools will do SOMETHING to attract students. Second of all, I’m not basing my decision on what a school sends me. That’s stupid. I’m asking why Michigan has done nothing to make students feel wanted. Also, the schools that did send me birthday cards were public schools. Again, I’m not not basing my decision on this. “Years” was a typo, so I’m going to fix the incorrect grammar/word choice in the order I find them. I noticed that Michigan doesn’t really try to impress students it was my birthday a few days ago (I’ll admit that one was my fault, I was thinking of something and accidentally wrote years). Sorry for the atrocious grammar mistakes, but autocorrect was to weak to handle my terrible spelling 
Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Berkeley, etc. generally don’t do much to attract students either. They don’t need to. Neither does Michigan.
@citygator - (if your question is for me) U-Mich was son’s #1 choice to begin with and he was accepted, so husband and I will send him IF we can pull the $ together without taking out loans.
Colleges send you birthday cards?? Wow, that just smacks of desperation to me. There’s no way I’d want to go to a college that thinks they have to send birthday cards to get students to go there.
My S has received a lot of “junk mail”. Mostly from random uni’s. He also gets from the ones he put in common app. Otherwise, not much. For instance, of all the schools he applied to, none sent him random snail mail. None. So I was not surprised that Michigan didn’t. Honestly, when I see unsolicited mail, I just think “Is this how you are going to spend my $”?
Now (free) email…Some schools send several a week! But again, of the ones he applied to, not so much. They sent “reminders” around deadline time. Tulane sent a lot. Bucknell and Lehigh did too. But not once he record them. No junk mail from The rest tho, including Michigan.
These schools don’t need to woo you. You need to impress them. If you visit, they’ll woo a little…
I think random mail is silly, but it does get the word out for the lower tiered schools without name recognition, or who are trying to move up the rankings.
“They seem to do as much PR as most schools.”
Correct. Some schools go above and beyond. Thankfully, Michigan, and most other universities, do not.