OT - Good luck to any parents waiting on Michigan EA decisions that are expected to drop today

My son (who is a junior at Michigan today) began watching and attending Michigan games when he was five years old.   So - though his youth had some great nights - such as the UTL games - he also "caught a lot of flak" for his Michigan fandom during the RR and Hoke years.   

He enrolled in Michigan in the fall of '21 - and, to say the least - he's enjoyed following the Maize & Blue since.   He was on the field after the '21 win over Ohio State - been to B1G CCGs in Indy - and, was at the Rose Bowl.

Hopefully - your middle child - and mine, are "good luck charms" for the Maize & Blue.

Perhaps we should consider having them follow up their undergraduate times with an application to grad school!

Go Blue!

College admissions is such a weird dichotomy. 

You have students falling all over themselves to try to get admitted to a small group of supposedly "elite" schools, while you have a large number of incredible schools falling all over themselves trying to get strong students to enroll.

We are going through this right now with my daughter.  It is very strange to be stalked, Taylor Swift-style, by colleges who really want you, while simultaneously being outright disdained by colleges that think they are above everybody.

It gets in the kids' heads.  They start to take the schools that want them for granted, and obsess over the schools that defer or push them off.   

The best statement I ever heard on this topic is this:

Your college decision is a match to be made, not a trophy to be won.

I laugh my ass off at kids that apply to both Cornell and Columbia just so they can say they got into the Ivy League.  Those schools could not be more different.  If you think one of them is a great match for you, then the other one clearly is not.

Seth - hoping there's good news for your nephew.   And, this fall - you, he - and "his freshman crew" - are most welcome to join us for a tailgate.

(I can share more details on our location, etc. - we're pretty close to the Stadium.)

Go Blue!

I'm going to have to ask my nephew (or better yet, his mother) if he applied EA or not.  I just know that he applied.  Fingers crossed!  And for all fellow mgobloggers as well!

Yeah, in my days (early 90s), if you were in-state, had decent grades and test scores, you were almost a shoo-in. I remember being happy I got in, but it wasn't a dramatic moment. 

FWIW, my friends who didn't get in all went to WCC for 1 - 2 years and then transferred in. Different era, perhaps...

Good luck to all those parents out there! My 5 year old son insists he's going to Michigan, so I'll be going through this in 12 years!

I feel sheepish admitting this, but I don't remember anything special about getting my acceptance letter (started Fall of '97 so I guess admission letter would have come in fall of '96 or winter of '97?). Couldn't tell you the date I got it, couldn't tell you my reaction. I was in-state, an engineering type and Michigan was just where I always wanted to go and assumed I'd go (parents were MSU grads so no help there).

Yeah, I'm jealous of everyone who had that excitement when they got in. Don't get me wrong, I grew up absolutely loving U of M and Ann Arbor, and I bled maize and blue from a young age, having gone to football games since before I can remember. But my dad was adamant that I go to an Ivy, so after years of him trying to steer me in that direction, by my senior year of high school that was really what I had set my sights on. (And I'm sure it didn't help, from an excitement standpoint, that I never had any real doubts about getting into U of M; I feel kind of bad saying it, but I kind of felt a safety school vibe). So yeah, I don't remember when I got my acceptance (sometime in the spring maybe, since I'm not sure I even applied until November or December), and I'm sure my reaction was fairly ho-hum since I fully expected to get in. Well, I struck out on the Ivies I applied to, so Michigan it was, and looking back, it was the best thing that could have happened to me. Since I was in-state, I got an amazing education for a fraction of what an Ivy would have cost. I would have graduated with well over $200k in debt had I gone to an Ivy, and I ended up in the same place anyway (U of M's law school, with a ton of Ivy League-undergrad classmates).

But I do vividly remember when my sister got into U of M off the deferred list a number of years later. She called me screaming so hysterically I thought someone had died, my aunt sent her maize and blue dyed roses, etc. That was pretty special. And I did have a joyous moment of my own when I got into M's law school, so I can't complain.

I only remember being excited for getting in and my parents snorting derisively and saying, "Don't expect us to pay for that...."

Admissions to many selective colleges are no longer done on a rolling basis.

Admission decisions come out on a particular date.  Used to be just before Christmas.  That's when our son (2023 UM Grad) got his acceptance notice.

Due to the pandemic and the increase in applicants, it was moved to the last Friday of January in 2021 and has remained there.  Michigan also has a round of admissions that get announced the last Friday of February and the last Friday of March.  

Over the past twenty years - the college admissions process has changed quite a bit.

Without getting into significant details - "rolling admissions" are offered by a number of schools - but, I don't believe Michigan does that.   So - you'll see most schools offer - "EA" which is Early Action and with either "accept, decline, or defer".   "ED" which is Early Decision and commits an applicant to that school if they are accepted.   And, Regular Decision - this is usually later in the Spring.

Michigan's not an easy school to get in to these days - especially, if you're an out of state student.

Go Blue!

I hope . . . 

Me neither.  I got in on a scholarship in 1982.  With those same credentials, I would not even get in today.

To be fair, you probably only took the SAT once, and without a prep course. And your high school teachers probably handed out actual Bs, Cs or even Ds and Fs when it was warranted.

I believe that's almost universally true. It brought to mind an instance from long ago (someone from my hometown who transferred from Michigan to Stanford, which was, and still is, a leap upward).

What a great path - journey you've taken.

I have a question - and, it's a bit "Cal" specific.   The ACC released it's schedule for this year - and, it appears (what I always felt was a protected rivalry) the Cal v Stanford game no longer ends the season.

For Cal - it looks like their "end of season, protected rivalry" will be against SMU.

Do you have any thoughts about that?    Personally, I think it's a travesty - Cal v Stanford represented so much of what collegiate athletics, competition, tradition, etc. - is all about.

That's too late.

Slacker.

Lots of U of M competition from New Trier.

"I'd go back in a heartbeat."

Wendy - as our children were growing up - with their sports and activities - there wasn't much of an opportunity to get back to Ann Arbor for games / visits, etc.

Since my kids were admitted - we tailgate about five times a season (though this year's schedule has a lot of games that are incredibly attractive - but five consecutive home games to start the season won't be manageable).

After the Rose Bowl - my son asked me if I could join him and "his crew" for the NC game.  Of course, I said yes - and, enjoyed a fun filled evening at Scorekeepers.  It was a memorable evening.

So - if you want to go back for a Game Day - you & yours are welcome to join us for pre / post game tailgating this fall.   Go Blue!

Yes, I believe it is.

Crazy times we live in.

How much of this is a function of the adoption of the common college app, which makes applying to multiple schools far less work than it ever was?  Sure, some components are unique to each school, but the effort required to apply to, say, 10-15 schools today versus before, where you would apply to maybe 5-6. seems significantly reduced.