OT: College application season

As a former high school senior that went pre med - I would STRONGLY advise him to Go Blue.  
 

Your son could go anywhere- but he loves Michigan and Michigan checks every box.  He is also ahead of the curve with his disdain for the rival teams. Don’t overthink this one. 

If he's pre-med, remember that having a high GPA and MCAT are key. Maintaining a high GPA is easier at some schools than others, and depends heavily on major. Most pre-meds at UM do the neuroscience pre-med major which I heard is not too bad, and it sounds like your kid is smart so he should theoretically be ok. MCAT is all dependent on self-study habits, but it seems like he is good at standardized exams. If he was just an above average student with worse stats I would tell him to consider a smaller, "easier" school to make sure his GPA is high but I think he will be ok at UM. 

My guess is that colleges do admissions in tiers. The top tier are in, the bottom tier are out, and the middle is where they start to read beyond the initial stats for who they're going to select. If you end up in the middle tier I always advise students to stand out as unique in a way that a college would want you. When I started at U of M they started by bragging about how many of us had performed at Carnegie Hall, ran their own business, been an AP scholar, etc. Some of those aren't under your control (such as having representation from all 50 states and as many countries as possible). 

The next couple years might be impacted a bit by the pandemic. Lots of students will be applying with credit for some/all classes for example. At the end of the day it might depend a bit on luck of the draw. 

He's in high school and may change his mind about what he wants to do 100 times before he graduates college. Apply to a bunch of schools and see who takes him and then he can narrow down the ones that he feels may be a better choice for him than UM, if any.

Umich will be a great choice. Hopefully you live close enough so him driving home for a long weekend is feasible. Went pre med (BBCS major) and had no regrets. 

Pity the Inteflex program is not still around. Sounds like your son might have been a good candidate. It sounds like he can get in without problem, but I'm sure that both you and he are aware that--wonderful as a Michigan education might be--there are lots of fine schools, and he can excel anywhere he puts the work in. 

Wish him all the luck in the world. 

If you took even a single class at Michigan, you are an alum, just not a graduate.

Given that your kid can probably pick where he wants to go b/c he'll get in most everywhere he applies, the question is what is the best choice for him? Enviable position to be in with the caveat that 17 year old kids can't realistically know what they want or how they'll feel in a few years. I can't quite tell if you live in state or out of state--seems like maybe the latter--in which case those tuition $$$ are likely a consideration. If you're blessed enough not to be concerned about the cost then more power to you. Michigan is a great school, a great undergrad experience, and the Michigan degree opens doors because it stands out. I personally think that generally speaking where you go to grad school is more important than where you go for undergrad, but Michigan is an exception if money isn't a concern.

You want him to write his essay as a "goodness of fit" exercise, as in Why Michigan: what does he want from the school and what would he "bring to the table" as a four year student. He's trying to convince a judgmental reader that he would be a good school citizen and do the school proud. And. Have him highlight his proudest academic and even civic achievements.

Researching his intended classes and possibly his profs and pointing out how they map to his career shows true interest.

Sorry I have nothing more concrete regarding the pre-med aspect. My legacy was not pre-med. He knew what he wanted, where he wanted and never changed direction, for which I am quite grateful.

Last. Have him end the essay, "I hope you will permit me to be a proud Wolverine. Go Blue!" (trust me on this one 😁 ).

Parent of a Michigan senior and freshman here. Both attended private (but different) high schools, so we got insight and personal attention from the college counselors. 

The essay should bring out some of the applicant’s personality. Should be memorable. They can see the accomplishments and leadership in the portion of the application that asks for a listing of these elements.  

Our son wrote about his life-long passion for cars. Our daughter wrote about how her life is like a quilt…made up of different interests and passions. 

Just to clarify, the above references the common app essay.  For the Michigan essay prompts, you obviously want to be as specific as possible why you want to attend Michigan.  My kids made it very clear Michigan was their first choice.  

Depending on where you live and your son’s school, he might get deferred. This happens to some highly qualified kids, as Michigan rightly believes that many of them view Michigan as a safety/back-up school. 

If he has a 36 ACT and solid extra curriculars, he probably shouldn’t have much issue getting into Michigan imo. For essays, I like to recommend that your essays should show who you are, your unique story, and your unique voice. It doesn’t need to be anything insane or crazy or how you climbed Mt Everest or went to South America to help impoverished kids. Try to stay away from cliché college essays because they get a lot of those. The Common App prompts are designed so you can basically write about anything and it should fit one of the prompts

What helped me big time was asking my teachers for recommendations at the start of the year, before the school year really picked up. If your son hasn’t already done this, he should be asking first thing in the morning. 

Once the school year starts, they are so buried in daily agendas, putting together tests, grading, planning periods, they’re hardly going to have time for writing your son’s recommendation. Much less writing him a good one. 

Showing up at my teacher’s desks on day one and asking for the recommendation then played a huge part in why I was able to get all of my applications in via Early Action. Pretty sure I was done with all of my applications by late September, if not sooner, and it was so nice being done and knowing my status with almost all of my schools by November-December while a bunch of kids in my class were still scrambling to get things done in January-February. 

I don’t remember a darn thing about what I wrote on my essays, though. 

One last thing I’ll say though. If your son is fortunate enough to get full rides to other schools, DO NOT let him discount those options just because they’re not Michigan. There are many instances where a Michigan degree doesn’t give you a definitive leg up over, say, a Georgia degree. Especially if that other school is in or near a big city center that recruits that school heavily and will offer up a ton of opportunity. 

In some instances, yes, of course there are degrees where Michigan is just flat out better and will get you more money and opportunity in the long run. But as some others here have said, don’t light your money on fire just to go to Michigan and get a degree that gets you as much leverage as a degree from Oklahoma. Especially if we’re talking about the possibility of taking on student loans. 

My personal recommendation of course is just tell him to get a full ride to Michigan and then you don’t have to worry about it anyway! Easy peasy!

My daughter is at NYU and I would imagine admissions at most top tier schools are pretty similar, as are the candidates they actually consider, re: grades and scores.  So it's the areas where they can stand out as individuals that will get the attention of the admissions dept. I think having a focused resume is important, with activities that you've stuck with over your four years in high school and that you seem truly invested in rather than just a laundry list of things that seem like you're trying to pad your resume. The essay can also provide a way to stand out. My daughter wrote about working in the bakery department at a local grocery store chain, but more specifically about the times she worked in the kosher bakery alongside the rabbi who worked there. She took a menial job and made it meaningful. It sounds like your son has all the credentials and will likely get into Michigan, so the question then is, will Michigan be a good fit for him? Of course I think yes! But ultimately he'll have to decide that for himself. 

Every time I read accounts of what kids need to get into U-M today I realize I was damn lucky to apply to U-M when I did. 
I started school at U-M in 1971 and eventually got two degrees. In HS I had very good grades and strong SAT scores plus track & cross country, but that was it. I wasn’t a special student and TBH I was as focused on partying during my junior and senior years as I was on studying.

If I was applying to U-M today I wouldn’t even get wait-listed—MSU or some small college would be a more likely destination. I’m not entirely convinced that state-supported institutions are serving their nominal public constituencies by being so selective.

Congratulations on your son's success Phil.  With college today being such a huge financial "investment", and having recently become an empty nester after putting two daughters through college (happily leading to gainful employment), I agree with others here that for in state tuition, Michigan is a really great choice, and well respected in the job market.   It's pretty hard for someone in high school to answer the question what does he see himself doing in 10 years, but it is still an important question to ask as a starting point.  Also agree his prospects are excellent based on his academic accomplishments.  Of course its great to have choices, and he likely will, and may even have scholarship opportunities and other quality or Ivy schools available.  Sure you understand it's partly a business, career, and quality of life decision, and very much a personal decision for him based on the opportunities he generates.  Good luck to him.  He will be out in the real world before you know it and you might be asking "where did the time go" as my wife and I sometimes do.  Sounds like you will always have Michigan football to share wherever he goes, and that's a great thing. 

I am somewhat active in the northern Ohio Alumnae association and every year we award a small (4K per semester) scholarship to two incoming Freshmen  students from our area.  And for the past three years I’ve spent a Saturday as one of the judges.

Having done this now a few times and seeing the incredible academic and extracurricular accomplishments of these kids I am absolutely sure of one thing.

I would have absolutely NO chance of getting admitted to my Alma Mater if I applied today.  I mean no chance at all against these super-achievers.  Thank God back in 1978 the school still had room for middling students like me.

I went to Michigan for both undergrad and law school, and I can't endorse it more strongly. I love the University and I love Ann Arbor.

With his stats, his odds of admission are excellent, even assuming you guys are out-of-state. That said, Michigan (like most colleges) cares deeply about demonstrated interest, and if he writes generic essays, they might think he's likely to go to a higher ranked school and reject him simply to protect yield. Make sure he puts particular effort into the "Why Michigan" essay. Since I applied almost a decade ago, they've reworded that essay prompt to be more academically focused. I still recommend working in a few lines about his lifelong Michigan ties/interest/fandom, even if just as a hook at the beginning -- the essay is his main chance to show them that his interest in Michigan is serious. Avoid cliches, but be genuine and be very detailed. Definitely apply Early Action, but be aware that Michigan defers lots of Early Action candidates, especially those who are out-of-state and non-legacy. If he gets deferred, don't stress and have him send a letter of continued interest. Many (most?) of my friends were deferred and admitted in Jan-March.

Once he's admitted, definitely visit campus, even though it sounds like he's already familiar with it. Michigan's admitted student visitor program is called Campus Day, and it's a great opportunity to talk to current students and decide if Michigan is right for him. 

There's lots of factors that should inform his eventual decision -- fit, cost, size, distance, career goals, etc. -- and ultimately only your son can know the right school for him. With that said, my advice is to ignore prestige, unless he personally cares about it. I'm a lifelong Michigan fan, but I twice was tempted to pass up Michigan for Ivies -- first when I was choosing a college and then when choosing a law school. In fact, when I was making my undergrad decision, I had (in my head) chosen the Ivy route, but the day before the deposit deadline, I pulled up the 2011 Michigan-ND highlights on my laptop and changed my mind. I'm so glad I did. I wouldn't trade my college experience at Michigan for any amount of prestige. And in terms of career outcomes, this is the Internet so I can only speak vaguely, but I ended up at the same best outcome if I had gone the Ivy-route -- prestige really was the only tradeoff. I don't know much about pre-med, but Michigan is an all-around elite institution, and I can't imagine your son would be foregoing any career opportunities by going blue.

Good luck to you and your son, and hope he finds his way to Ann Arbor!

2 degrees from UM and my oldest son is an UM Engineering graduate (out of state). He applied to MIT, Stanford, Cal Tech and Michigan. Other than the Michigan acceptance he only got a wait list at MIT.

During the Stanford visit, the admission person made a statement that stuck with me and disturbed me a bit. She said, "Pretty much all of you have perfect SAT scores and GPAs and tons of extra-curriculars, but we aren't looking for a well rounded student. We are looking for a well rounded student body."

I always took that to mean if you were a robotics awards winner but couldn't carry on a conversation with your fellow humans (as an example) you have a better chance than a kid with perfect scores that lettered in 3 sports and was president of his student council.

My advice for premed and engineering kids is to take calc and chem at Washtenaw or the equivalent CC that has a track record of being able to transfer credits to UM. 

Schooling wise, it appears that your son has accomplished enough to get into any school.

My son had the 4.00+ GPA b/c of AP classes, played hockey, school musicals, school choir groups, math club, but he only had a 29 ACT, after his 2nd attempt. (Some don't do well with these tests.) I even encouraged him to take it a 3rd time, possibly get a 30 and a free ride into U of M Dearborn, and then transfer to Ann Arbor the next year. He did not want to test again and wanted to go straight to Ann Arbor.

That being said, his high school experience with classes, sports, and music were diverse and showed he had multiple interests.

When he writes his essay, make sure that your son mentions as many of his connections to U of M as possible. Aunts/uncles/cousins, etc... that may have attended, clubs he may be interested in at U of M, and YES, even the fact that he has been going to the U of M football games since he was in 5th grade.

My son's essay mentioned how he loved living in the state of Michigan, the four weather seasons,  and that I had season football tickets for 28 seasons, at the time. He mentioned how he loved the fact that he has been to a home U of M football game EVERY year of his life, and that we attended basketball and hockey games as well. I doubt that this would work out well for all applicants, but I think the counselor(s) saw his dedication and love for U of M.

I'm sure that me having those tickets and making additional $100.00 annual gifts to the university also went a long way in his acceptance.

Finally, he made sure to ask his AP Math teacher to write a letter of recommendation, which he did, and that the teacher sign it with his certifications listed, and the year HE graduated from U of M. (Every connection helps.)

My son now has two U of M degrees: Undergrad is Mathematical Economics (LSA) and he just finished his Masters of Applied Data Science from the School of Information 2-3 months ago. 

I plan on going to the M Den in Ann Arbor this week for a second diploma frame.

Every connection to A-Squared does help.

Best of Luck and GO BLUE!!!!

I don't think you'll get an unbiased perspective on Michigan around here, but one thing to bear in mind is that a lot of people change their minds about their field of study in ways they don't anticipate. Half of the people I knew who came into college intent on pre-med ended up not even taking the MCAT or not applying to medical school because they fell in love with another field. Being at Michigan positioned them well to pivot into a different field because Michigan is great at everything. So although it may be easier to achieve a higher pre-med GPA at a less competitive school, that route won't leave as many doors open for your son in case he decides to pivot and pursue something else entirely.

I'm an alum and former admissions officer.

1. Don't pick a school based on football alone (unless you have a football scholarship). What does he want out of the college experience? Partying, vibrant social life, contact with faculty, a specific major, small classes, research opportunities, etc? See this page for some questions to consider that are based on what works in the college experience. I'd also suggest going on a college tour to see the different environments and make sure to see different types of schools. Maybe an Ivy, an elite smaller private like Swarthmore, a state flagship, etc.

2. If he is that good, he shouldn't have an issue getting into UM. But, it would not guarantee admission to the Ivys and elite private schools.

3. For essays, it depends. The last thing you want to read is a rich kid describing how he did not make the varsity football team as a freshman and it was the hardest thing they have had to deal with in their life. If you have a strong and unique story, write it, but most don't. Some of the best essays I read were from an island community and described how the lack of maintenance on the bridge negatively impacted their community.

4. For the parents, don't call admissions offices on behalf of your child. It is against the law for the colleges to provide any information to you. It shows they are not adults. Just don't do it.