My daughter got deferred (not waitlisted)...what's next?
My daughter's application to Michigan got deferred (not waitlisted). Needless to say, she is heartbroken. My questions to my fellow Mgobloggers are these: is it better to be deferred or waitlisted? How long will she have to wait before she hears? What can she do (if anything) in the meantime to improve her chances of acceptance? Has this happened to any of you (or someone you know) and if yes, did they eventually get in or rejected? Any help along these lines would be greatly appreciated.
December 15th, 2012 at 11:41 AM ^
December 15th, 2012 at 11:46 AM ^
I also was deferred as a transfer 2 times before getting accepted to the Kinesiology program... In my case it was GPA though...
Again stick it through, is she apart of any clubs in HS? Such as NHS, Humanities? Those help a ton... Got my brother the nod over out-of-state applicants...
December 16th, 2012 at 10:28 PM ^
December 15th, 2012 at 11:42 AM ^
December 15th, 2012 at 11:46 AM ^
It's all about those extra curriculars now. I had a 3.3 and 32 ACT and got early acceptance, but I also had plenty of extra stuff like varsity sports, Boy Scouts and stuff like that.
December 15th, 2012 at 12:42 PM ^
I worked for the admissions office in undergrad, and I can tell you it's not much about extra-curriculars at all. Maybe in a tie-breaker sort of way, but playing sports or volunteering won't make up for a point or two on your ACT.
December 15th, 2012 at 12:12 PM ^
I got into the College of Engineering with a 3.2 GPA, and got a 28 on my ACT. However, I took all International Baccalaureate (IB) classes, was in 4 varsity sports, 2 clubs, and volunteered over the summer for children with disabilities. Pretty sure that last thing is what got me into Michigan, just a hunch...
December 15th, 2012 at 12:37 PM ^
December 15th, 2012 at 5:15 PM ^
Difficulty of your classes in high school matters a lot. I was in a lot of AP and Honors courses and got in despite not having the greatest GPA or class rank.
December 15th, 2012 at 12:42 PM ^
Not to be a jerk, but I don't believe this.
December 15th, 2012 at 12:49 PM ^
I got in with a 3.3 gpa and a 33 act but also was in IB, played 3 varsity sports was in multiple student orgs and spent one summer working with habitiat in arkansas for two months and anothers summer working with an organization in honduras for 2 and a half months and a my last summer doing research at hopkins (i'm from baltimore). Also I was deferred originally, they told me they wanted to see my first semester senior year grades and would revisit my application, apparently it is not uncommon and it is 100% still possible to get in so your daughter should just continue to work hard and not give up if this is where she wants to go. Also reach out to the admissions office, talk to them about stuff you can do, maybe they want to see her grades or it might be something else but in my experience the admissions office was pretty easy to talk to.
December 15th, 2012 at 1:05 PM ^
December 15th, 2012 at 1:12 PM ^
We do have a relatively high percentage of out-of-state students (which amounts to a nice little cash grab by the school) - but it's still easier to get admitted as an in-state student than out-of-state.
December 15th, 2012 at 1:55 PM ^
not trying to be political but the university is currently aiming for a 50-50 split for out of state and in state because of the cuts in funding from the state have led tuition to become over 70% of the schools budget and they want to maintain high teacher salaries and providing the other amenities that makes michigan a top school. Have a problem with it tell your legislaturs both democrat and republican to stop cutting higher education spending every year.
December 16th, 2012 at 12:28 AM ^
That's the company line. It's misleading. Yes, state appropriations have gone down, but even before the cuts started happening, tuition was soaring above the rate of inflation. For a generation now, U-M and other universities have done very little to rein in administrative costs and instead have passed the cost onto the students. Case in point: my freshman year, the GSIs walked out, complaining that their compensation was inadequate. The school caved, and both sides acted all lovey-dovey (while us students had to foot the increased bill). Three years later, the GSIs walked out again. The contract that had been perfectly fine three years earlier was now inadequate. Again, the school gave in to their demands, and again the students had to pay for it.
The school cries poverty and claims that it needs to keep on jacking up tuition to make ends meet, but at the same time it builds new dorms, brags about how rich its endowment is, and really makes no effort to streamline costs. Maybe the school needs to re-evaluate its fiscal priorities.
December 15th, 2012 at 2:07 PM ^
Can someone please explain to me why people get so up in arms about the OOS percentage? "Oh no, our University has national appeal!" "Oh no, we have all these students paying insane tuition bills to subsidize lower in-state tuition."
December 15th, 2012 at 3:02 PM ^
I mean as a public university it was founded and funded to benefit the state and residents of michigan. Out of state students tend to not stick around in the state, I know I plan on leaving, and thus don't really benefit the state. If michigan was a private school then the percentage wouldn't matter, but its a public school and thus should consider how its impacting the state and that includes what percentage of the class is in-state.
December 15th, 2012 at 3:35 PM ^
Except that many quality in state students tend to not stick around either. Brain drain is a pretty big issue in Michigan, which isn't simply because of OOS students.
December 15th, 2012 at 4:17 PM ^
Well obviously the economy isn't helping and all that but an in -state student is more likely to stick around than an out of state student. My point is the university exists at least in theory, to benefit the state of michigan not just itself and oos student percentage is something that is and should be considered.
December 15th, 2012 at 4:50 PM ^
I would love to learn a compelling reason to stay in this state. The political climate is one of the most toxic in the union. The economy sucks, especially for STEM based careers. I teach physics in Wayne county, I literally tell my students that plan on majoring in a STEM field, to not plan on living in Michigan after college. There are better areas in the country to start a family and career than Michigan. Am I helping to prevent the brain drain, nope. It isn't like any of the corporate, industrial, and government leaders of the state are helping as well. Last one out of the state of Michigan turn out the lights.
December 15th, 2012 at 7:07 PM ^
As someone who grew up in Michigan and went on to live in Illinois and California for a combined 15 years before moving back to MI, I am comfortable saying you know not of what you speak regarding toxic political climate. Yes, it is quite bad in MI, but it's just as bad and worse in many other states (not all). I was shocked at the sliminess of California politics. Ask people in Wisconsin about their current political climate... sadly, it's a national thing. How many Illinois governors in a row went to jail? Yeah...
At the end of the day I do kind of agree with your position on better places to live and raise a family, state wise, but A2 is a pretty neat place overall.
December 15th, 2012 at 7:37 PM ^
After too many years away, I long to return to the pleasant peninsula. Any day now, I hope.
December 15th, 2012 at 6:02 PM ^
While I was born and raised in Michigan, graduated from M, and left the state of Michigan soon after, I also feel that the citizens of the state should have an advantage over non-citizens. It's the tax payers that fund that school and by golly, they have a right to go there. (At least be preferred to a certain percentage = 60/40?) The state of Michigan may not have that many rocket scientists, but it's still the state of Michigan's school.
December 15th, 2012 at 7:51 PM ^
Except the taxpayers barely fund the school and have complete control in who the select to run the school.
December 15th, 2012 at 2:54 PM ^
Don't compare Michigan to UCLA or Texas because those schools are in huge states where a much higher percentage of their applications are from in-state. Michigan is not like that.
December 15th, 2012 at 4:17 PM ^
What about UNC? 80% of its student population is in-state and it is highly regarded as well.
December 15th, 2012 at 8:14 PM ^
This is an interesting comparison. UNC is known for its high in-state population - it is very difficult to get in if you are OOS. It'd be interesting to hear an admissions person compare the two.
December 15th, 2012 at 2:55 PM ^
Michigan residents have every advantage compared to out of state applicants. If you want those advantages to be even more pronounced vote for serious funding of higher education.
December 15th, 2012 at 12:56 PM ^
My friend got deferred with a 3.7 and a 34 on his ACT. And he took like 5 AP classes. And both his parents went to the school.
Are you sure your friend's telling you the truth about all that? If he has all those credentials and is a double-legacy, he should have gotten in, no problem.
December 15th, 2012 at 4:37 PM ^
Yea....this is simply not true
December 15th, 2012 at 11:44 AM ^
December 15th, 2012 at 11:45 AM ^
http://www.admissions.umich.edu/drupal/deferred
sounds like they should let you know by early April...
December 15th, 2012 at 11:46 AM ^
Sounds like she is in limbo; she didn't make the 1st "admit her" cut, so they keep her in application pool for when the next batch of admissions comes out
"To be able to offer admissions to the best qualified applicants, the first review guidelines are set at a very competitive level. Students with strong credentials who are not offered admission on first review are deferred; the latest they will receive a final decision of admit, deny, or waitlist will be early April."
https://umich.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/249/~/deferred-decision
I knew people who got in off the waitlist. Don't remember if the deferred program was in existance when I applied many moons ago.
December 15th, 2012 at 11:48 AM ^
Defferred just means "we'll deal with this later" (i.e. March. I think.). Same thing as the coin flip in football. I guess they want the class to come in to clearer view before pulling the trigger one way or the other.
December 15th, 2012 at 11:49 AM ^
best of luck to you. I was originally wait-listed, but got in a few months later. I hear it is better to be deferred than wait-listed. I am now a PhD student at UM, so this occurred 8 years ago or so. not sure if helpful, but gives hope
December 15th, 2012 at 11:53 AM ^
Really sucks, but they basically just want to see the rest of the class before they accept you. I had a 3.6 GPA unweighted and scored a 28 on the ACT, took almost every AP class and was apart of a few clubs along with the Varsity baseball team. Like me, she has the grades to get in, they just want to compare her application with other applications before giving up an acceptance spot to someone who may not have as good as a resume as the other applicants.
December 15th, 2012 at 12:58 PM ^
Don't confuse "apart" with "a part." They are complete opposites.
December 15th, 2012 at 2:42 PM ^
Must be why he got deferred.
December 15th, 2012 at 11:54 AM ^
Deferred means that the admissions committee is not prepared to grant early admission nor outright reject and application by the early action deadline. She'll either be accepted, rejected, or waitlisted during the normal decision period.
December 15th, 2012 at 12:01 PM ^
You can't get waitlisted at this stage of applying. When you apply ealy action/early decision, there are three possible outcomes.The first two are accepted and rejected, which speak for themselves.
The third is deferred. Deferred basically means that they think you may be good enough to get in, but they want to see how you compare against the larger, regular decision pool. No one who applies early ever gets waitlisted, you can only get wait listed after you hear back at the regular decision deadline.
Basically, now that your daughter's deferred, it means that Michigan wants to see more of her credentials. This probably means sending in her first semester senior year grades, any new standardized tests she's taken, or whatever else the school asks for or you think would help her case.
Then, once they get all that, they will make a decision on her application along with the rest of the regular decision kids. At that point, she will either get accepted, rejected, or waitlisted.
As for when she'll hear back, I'm not sure. My guess is the latest she'll hear back is whenever the deadline for telling regular decision kids their results are, which is sometime in April I think, but it could possibly be much earlier. It varies.
As for personal experiences, I go to Michigan now as a freshman. I know many kids who got in after being deferred and currently go here. But I also know a few kids from my high school who got rejected after being deferred. One of the kids I know who got in heard back 3 weeks after he was deferred. While I doubt your daughter will hear back that soon, it is possible I guess.
December 15th, 2012 at 12:09 PM ^
December 15th, 2012 at 12:05 PM ^
Being wait listed just means that she'll only get in if enough people who were accepted decide not to attend. And she might not find that out until the summer.
I don't think there's much she can do except play the waiting game, which is unfortunately the hardest part. But again, I wasn't deferred or wait listed, so I'm not the best authority on this matter. But best of luck to your daughter.
December 15th, 2012 at 12:06 PM ^
I got deferred when applying and they asked for 7th semester transcripts. It makes a huge difference to admissions if they see a senior taking tough classes and still getting good grades rather than blowin off senior year. If your daughter had a good semester find a way to send in those grades, it made the difference for me.
December 15th, 2012 at 12:20 PM ^
I'm a high school senior that was accepted yesterday! However, a bunch of my friends - including many of whom had similar resumes to me - were deffered. Getting deffered, while it sucks, does not mean that she won't get in. Many students that got in early will opt not to attend (like myself...), which will open up plenty more spots.
For early action, they typically take the top crop of students. The ones that are boderline, or even slightly above borderline, get deffered, and pooled in with the regualr applicants. Then, they evaluate the rest of the applications, and see where they stack up. They are also looking to see how the student did first semester of his/her senior year. If the student took hard classes and got good grades, then they have a very good chance of getting in. Deffered applicants should find out around February, and a large group of them will be accepted. As long as your daughter does well in her first semester, while taking difficult classes, she should be accepted. She still has a very good shot of ending up at Michigan.
Deffered is much better than waitlisted. I'd put odds of getting accepted once deffered at around 50%. Getting accepted once waitlisted is closer to 10%.
December 15th, 2012 at 12:20 PM ^
Out of curiosity, why are you opting not to attend?
December 15th, 2012 at 12:24 PM ^
I was accepted early decision to Northwestern on Thursday. While I love Michigan, and will always be a huge Michigan fan, I feel that Northwestern is a better fit for me.
December 15th, 2012 at 12:32 PM ^
Congrats. College is a great time and Chicago is an awesome city, so its hard to imagine any combination of the two being anything other than an awesome four (or more) years.
December 15th, 2012 at 1:05 PM ^
Thanks!
December 15th, 2012 at 12:32 PM ^
Well, we wish you luck in your endeavour at Northwestern and hope you do very well there, so long as your interests don't conflict with ours.
December 15th, 2012 at 1:07 PM ^
Thanks! I will always root for Michigan - unless they are playing NU of course!