Michigan Early Decision - Any Early Anecdotes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would anyone use their ED card at Michigan instead of northwestern or Cornell?

Because they prefer a bigger school with more spirit than Northwestern or Cornell. The three schools certainly draw from a similar applicant pool, but face it, Ithaca and the Ivy League is not the same as Ann Arbor and the B1G. I visited all three when I went through the process as did one of my two kids, they are different places with different vibes, and Northwestern is on the quarter system which can be a good or bad thing, depending on the kid.

PP. I'm from a Michigan and Cornell family. The schools have a lot in common, including a historical exchange of administrators and egalitarian core values. If you are thinking about academics (what you can study at a deep level), the schools indeed have a lot in common. Hat tip to Cornell for having a higher scoring student body, but it's also completely fair to say Cornell is grindier. Michigan suits a Midwest vibe and Cornell has more than a dash of NYC attitude. For those who don't care about sports, Michigan has plenty of fun things to do, just like Cornell. And it's far less expensive for in-state students.

I took my son to see Cornell and he pronounced Ithaca "Ann Arbor in a gorge". That's when I realized the Ivy legacy situation wasn't going to be a strong pull.

We are a MI, Northwestern and Cornell family. So far no one is back in Ann Arbor, but at the other schools. All are great choices. Just different kids. Mine felt Michigan was too too large.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would anyone use their ED card at Michigan instead of northwestern or Cornell?

Because they prefer a bigger school with more spirit than Northwestern or Cornell. The three schools certainly draw from a similar applicant pool, but face it, Ithaca and the Ivy League is not the same as Ann Arbor and the B1G. I visited all three when I went through the process as did one of my two kids, they are different places with different vibes, and Northwestern is on the quarter system which can be a good or bad thing, depending on the kid.

PP. I'm from a Michigan and Cornell family. The schools have a lot in common, including a historical exchange of administrators and egalitarian core values. If you are thinking about academics (what you can study at a deep level), the schools indeed have a lot in common. Hat tip to Cornell for having a higher scoring student body, but it's also completely fair to say Cornell is grindier. Michigan suits a Midwest vibe and Cornell has more than a dash of NYC attitude. For those who don't care about sports, Michigan has plenty of fun things to do, just like Cornell. And it's far less expensive for in-state students.

I took my son to see Cornell and he pronounced Ithaca "Ann Arbor in a gorge". That's when I realized the Ivy legacy situation wasn't going to be a strong pull.

We are a MI, Northwestern and Cornell family. So far no one is back in Ann Arbor, but at the other schools. All are great choices. Just different kids. Mine felt Michigan was too too large.

PP of replied-to-post. I understand the overlap of Northwestern, Michigan, and Cornell very well. It makes sense. All great schools to attend, with strengths in a wide variety of programs.

I got a grad degree from Michigan.

My major issue with Cornell is still that the college names/program names are traditional and relics from the 1900s. That really was a factor in my decisionmaking in high school. Plus the insane tuition prices. Because the degree name stays with you for life (both my parents and sibling have quirkily named Cornell degrees). Two years out of college, I realized that ILR would have been perfect for where my college and career journey took me. But I couldn't have predicted that at 16 when I was torn between being a history or business major.

I decided on Michigan vs. Cornell for grad school due to post-grad regional living and employment preferences and trailing spouse career needs. Ithaca is really isolated, and although I would have loved the chance to be a Cornellian, I really should have done it for undergrad like my sibling.

One thing that seems true of both Northwestern and Cornell is that even ED gives a poor chance of acceptance. I would have asked my kid to look at Northwestern but I knew he would not ED there, so I knew he had no chance. He also didn't ED Cornell because Michigan was likely to be far less expensive for us.

For engineering and comp sci, I think Michigan is very competitive with Cornell.

Regarding ED, Ross, and limiting transfers from LSA, I think that makes sense. Demand has pushed them to it. It makes sense not to have a bunch of disgruntled economics majors who are mad they didn't get picked to transfer. It's better when students start where they want to be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would anyone use their ED card at Michigan instead of northwestern or Cornell?

Because they prefer a bigger school with more spirit than Northwestern or Cornell. The three schools certainly draw from a similar applicant pool, but face it, Ithaca and the Ivy League is not the same as Ann Arbor and the B1G. I visited all three when I went through the process as did one of my two kids, they are different places with different vibes, and Northwestern is on the quarter system which can be a good or bad thing, depending on the kid.

PP. I'm from a Michigan and Cornell family. The schools have a lot in common, including a historical exchange of administrators and egalitarian core values. If you are thinking about academics (what you can study at a deep level), the schools indeed have a lot in common. Hat tip to Cornell for having a higher scoring student body, but it's also completely fair to say Cornell is grindier. Michigan suits a Midwest vibe and Cornell has more than a dash of NYC attitude. For those who don't care about sports, Michigan has plenty of fun things to do, just like Cornell. And it's far less expensive for in-state students.

I took my son to see Cornell and he pronounced Ithaca "Ann Arbor in a gorge". That's when I realized the Ivy legacy situation wasn't going to be a strong pull.

We are a MI, Northwestern and Cornell family. So far no one is back in Ann Arbor, but at the other schools. All are great choices. Just different kids. Mine felt Michigan was too too large.

PP of replied-to-post. I understand the overlap of Northwestern, Michigan, and Cornell very well. It makes sense. All great schools to attend, with strengths in a wide variety of programs.

I got a grad degree from Michigan.

My major issue with Cornell is still that the college names/program names are traditional and relics from the 1900s. That really was a factor in my decisionmaking in high school. Plus the insane tuition prices. Because the degree name stays with you for life (both my parents and sibling have quirkily named Cornell degrees). Two years out of college, I realized that ILR would have been perfect for where my college and career journey took me. But I couldn't have predicted that at 16 when I was torn between being a history or business major.

I decided on Michigan vs. Cornell for grad school due to post-grad regional living and employment preferences and trailing spouse career needs. Ithaca is really isolated, and although I would have loved the chance to be a Cornellian, I really should have done it for undergrad like my sibling.

One thing that seems true of both Northwestern and Cornell is that even ED gives a poor chance of acceptance. I would have asked my kid to look at Northwestern but I knew he would not ED there, so I knew he had no chance. He also didn't ED Cornell because Michigan was likely to be far less expensive for us.

For engineering and comp sci, I think Michigan is very competitive with Cornell.

Regarding ED, Ross, and limiting transfers from LSA, I think that makes sense. Demand has pushed them to it. It makes sense not to have a bunch of disgruntled economics majors who are mad they didn't get picked to transfer. It's better when students start where they want to be.

Everything does end up working out. Don’t look backwards.

My 2 got into these schools in RD after misplaying ED. Never would have predicted the RD outcomes.

I do think MI offers a lot but don’t think it’s helpful for me to second-guess or rethink their decisions. Plus there’s always grad school.

All great undergrad options - and all only 4 years

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of the kids at my DC’s school applying ED to Michigan have stats that are slightly under what the “average” EA acceptance would have been at our school last year. They are hoping ED gives them a boost. The really top stats kids are not applying ED. One I know applying ED is even applying test optional—not a good idea out of state.

Also, PP is correct. Michigan totally favors legacy kids.

Michigan favors legacy kids, but I wonder if there will be as much of a difference now that ED is an option. Their OOS yield is pretty low and admitting legacies were a way to boost it (more likely to attend). Now OOS kids can clearly demonstrate strong interest.

I think the above is true. However, legacy kids may also be well-placed to answer "Why Michigan" effectively.

People on DCUM endlessly debate small, socially elite, and personalized vs. large, T20-30, and make your own way in the world schools. Michigan legacy families know the school and understand the strengths and weaknesses.

Michigan and MoCo have aligned wealthy and liberal psychographics. And with the difficulty of getting into UMD for engineering and comp sci, Michigan looks like a logical fit on a list of schools.

As an overall observation, DMV kids are not really the demographic force at Michigan that California, NYC metro, and Chicago kids are. It's my guess this is why there are unusual situations with the waitlist at DMV schools. They probably indeed can't predict yield very well for DMV. ED will definitely help.

Good luck to the applicants. I am excited for ED to strengthen the pool of attendees. The best case situation is to have more students who are truly happy to be at their ED school.

Michigan alum whose DC graduated from LSA this May.

The loyalty of the OOS alumni reflects Michigan's historical willingness to take in Jews (and now Asians) when the Ivies wouldn't. That demographic is reflected in the CA, NYC, Chicago and MD applicant pools.

Michigan views the OOS population as a funding source in tuition and donations (e.g., almost no financial aid for OOS applicants unless they are off the scale academically). The big donors are reflected in the names on campus, such as Tisch (Ross is in-state), or otherwise (the quarterback got a $10 million NIL payout from Jolene Zhu Ellison, class of 2012).

All of these factors make Michigan popular in MD. UVA's availability as much cheaper and pretty comparable alternative makes Michigan not as popular in VA, but getting into UVA from NOVA is difficult and less predictable, so there will be some applicants from VA.

Agreed, there is no longer an explicit legacy preference, but expressions of loyalty to Michigan in the "why Michigan" essay and full-pay mean a lot for the OOS applicants. ED was designed for them. DC applied EA, and would have applied ED if it had been available back then.

[Anonymous]

Like a lot of the public flagship colleges, OOS students subsidize in state students.

Some are limited by policy, others welcome as many full pay students as they can.

Michigan has almost 40,000 undergraduates which allows it to admit a large cohort of lower stat students (roughly 75% of Michigan students don't submit an SAT or score below 1360) It is a win win for the university. It gets more dollars and gives more access to lower perfoming students.

[Anonymous]

I think of Cornell and Northwestern to be peer schools.

Michigan is a tiny little notch lower.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think of Cornell and Northwestern to be peer schools.

Michigan is a tiny little notch lower.

Depends on the program - sure a notch lower for LSA, but not Engineering or Ross.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Like a lot of the public flagship colleges, OOS students subsidize in state students.

Some are limited by policy, others welcome as many full pay students as they can.

Michigan has almost 40,000 undergraduates which allows it to admit a large cohort of lower stat students (roughly 75% of Michigan students don't submit an SAT or score below 1360) It is a win win for the university. It gets more dollars and gives more access to lower perfoming students.

^this. UVA does the same for OOS. At University of Virginia, the total cost is $44,180 for in-state students and $81,969 for out-of-state students.

UMich OOS costs about the same OOS UVA. UMich>UVA in a lot of program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why would anyone use their ED card at Michigan instead of northwestern or Cornell?

Maybe because it’s their top choice or perhaps the other two weren’t appealing. Just a thought.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Like a lot of the public flagship colleges, OOS students subsidize in state students.

Some are limited by policy, others welcome as many full pay students as they can.

Michigan has almost 40,000 undergraduates which allows it to admit a large cohort of lower stat students (roughly 75% of Michigan students don't submit an SAT or score below 1360) It is a win win for the university. It gets more dollars and gives more access to lower perfoming students.

If you mean about 35,000 undergraduates then you are at least in the correct ballpark.

[Anonymous]

UMich OOS costs about the same OOS UVA. UMich>UVA in almost all comparable programs.

Fixed for accuracy.

[Anonymous]

A W school in MoCo typically sends 6-7 students to Michigan every year. If 6 get through ED then there will be 0 spots left for the other rounds

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would anyone use their ED card at Michigan instead of northwestern or Cornell?

Maybe because it’s their top choice or perhaps the other two weren’t appealing. Just a thought.

Can’t speak to Northwestern, but Cornell and UMich are definitely different atmospheres. Have done admitted student days at both., the vibe Cornell gives off is that of a “grinder” school. UMich gives off more of a rah-rah, work hard/play hard culture. Both DCs were not interested in Cornell after the visits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like a lot of the public flagship colleges, OOS students subsidize in state students.

Some are limited by policy, others welcome as many full pay students as they can.

Michigan has almost 40,000 undergraduates which allows it to admit a large cohort of lower stat students (roughly 75% of Michigan students don't submit an SAT or score below 1360) It is a win win for the university. It gets more dollars and gives more access to lower perfoming students.

^this. UVA does the same for OOS. At University of Virginia, the total cost is $44,180 for in-state students and $81,969 for out-of-state students.

UMich OOS costs about the same OOS UVA. UMich>UVA in a lot of program.

UVA offers OOS students need-based financial aid. UMich does not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A W school in MoCo typically sends 6-7 students to Michigan every year. If 6 get through ED then there will be 0 spots left for the other rounds

Our school sends 6-10 each year, with 12-15 getting in. So I’m guessing they’ll accept 4-6 in ED and still accept another 8 or so in EA because they know yield from our school is very good.