2013-2014 University of Michigan Application Thread

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Not trying to be cynical but sharing my honest opinion. Michigan's 'transparency' works for those invited for interview/accepted but against all the rest. Judging from my interview day there and impression of the admissions staff, Michigan seems like that insecure person we all know who is always one-upping others and looking for an edge to seem better than those around them. School pride is great, but why on interview day do they have to refer to Harvard as the 'Michigan of the East?' Seems to me like it's a Napoleon complex, or because they are recruiting ivy-leaguers who aren't accepted to Harvard/Penn/Stanford/Hopkins Med? Compared to other schools who use Twitter and Facebook to post helpful information - Johns Hopkins MD Admissions Facebook page is a great example - Michigan's use of Twitter is less than helpful; personal musings from the admissions director (do we really need to know about his bus commute home and weekend golf sessions?) peppered with a mix of attention grabbing admissions posts. Perhaps if they spent more time on negative admissions decisions and less on improving their brand, they might actually have closed hundreds or thousands of files at this point like other non-rolling schools - again Hopkins is a better example in this regard as well; is it ethical to string hundreds or thousands of people along for several months? Not if it can be avoided, yet Michigan is the only non-rolling top 10 school that does it and the only top 10 school that gave me a bad impression (other interviewees felt similarly). Michigan seems to be building a class primarily around stats/pedigree, with one of their top goals being to move up in the US News rankings. I'm thankful to have had the opportunity to interview here so that I could see that UMICH is not for me. To those of you who have been hopeful and under review for several months - please don't question/blame yourselves, your abilities, self-worth, etc. - there are many other schools out there that are the actual leaders and best, and that would be happy to have you. Please like this comment if you agree.

I agree with this. UMich comes across has having some sort of inferiority complex. Someway or another, they are always seeking attention and want recognition. If you look at USNWR top 10, UMich is the only school that seems out of place.
 
I agree with this. UMich comes across has having some sort of inferiority complex. Someway or another, they are always seeking attention and want recognition. If you look at USNWR top 10, UMich is the only school that seems out of place.

This comment reminds me of my alma mater. Our college (not disclosing) was comprised of students who could easily have prospered at any Ivy League school, but for some reason or another we were all rejected by them. So we had to "settle" for another [still relatively prestigious] school. A competitive, inferiority complex type mentality pervaded. I think that also applied to our law school. It's an interesting phenomenon. (Not saying that this necessarily applies to UMich.)
 
This comment reminds me of my alma mater. Our college (not disclosing) was comprised of students who could easily have prospered at any Ivy League school, but for some reason or another we were all rejected by them. So we had to "settle" for another [still relatively prestigious] school. A competitive, inferiority complex type mentality pervaded. I think that also applied to our law school. It's an interesting phenomenon. (Not saying that this necessarily applies to UMich.)
hoestly that sounds like jhu, and I mean that in an entirely unoffensive way.
 
I agree with this. UMich comes across has having some sort of inferiority complex. Someway or another, they are always seeking attention and want recognition. If you look at USNWR top 10, UMich is the only school that seems out of place.
Edit: the post directly below does better justice in to replying to this, but I'll keep my post as well.

If by "out of place" you mean "not also ranked top 14 for undergrad" or "public university with awesome D-1 sports teams," then yes, UMich is "out of place" (noting that UCSF, while public, doesn't have an undergraduate program).
Sure, places like Harvard and Stanford are the first that come to mind academic prestige, but the general population is primarily mindful of undergrad rankings because ~20 million students enroll in US colleges each year, while only ~17,000 enroll in US med schools. UMMS is a top 10 school with a 5% acceptance rate, and anyone within the medical/science community at large would be very impressed if you said you were coming here because of its reputation. Everyone in my class is proud to be a member of this community and has tons of genuine school spirit; there's no sense of an "inferiority complex" whatsoever.

If anyone is interested on how USNWR rankings are determined, here's some info: http://www.usnews.com/education/bes.../11/methodology-best-medical-schools-rankings
 
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I think there is
Not trying to be cynical but sharing my honest opinion. Michigan's 'transparency' works for those invited for interview/accepted but against all the rest. Judging from my interview day there and impression of the admissions staff, Michigan seems like that insecure person we all know who is always one-upping others and looking for an edge to seem better than those around them. School pride is great, but why on interview day do they have to refer to Harvard as the 'Michigan of the East?' Seems to me like it's a Napoleon complex, or because they are recruiting ivy-leaguers who aren't accepted to Harvard/Penn/Stanford/Hopkins Med? Compared to other schools who use Twitter and Facebook to post helpful information - Johns Hopkins MD Admissions Facebook page is a great example - Michigan's use of Twitter is less than helpful; personal musings from the admissions director (do we really need to know about his bus commute home and weekend golf sessions?) peppered with a mix of attention grabbing admissions posts. Perhaps if they spent more time on negative admissions decisions and less on improving their brand, they might actually have closed hundreds or thousands of files at this point like other non-rolling schools - again Hopkins is a better example in this regard as well; is it ethical to string hundreds or thousands of people along for several months? Not if it can be avoided, yet Michigan is the only non-rolling top 10 school that does it and the only top 10 school that gave me a bad impression (other interviewees felt similarly). Michigan seems to be building a class primarily around stats/pedigree, with one of their top goals being to move up in the US News rankings. I'm thankful to have had the opportunity to interview here so that I could see that UMICH is not for me. To those of you who have been hopeful and under review for several months - please don't question/blame yourselves, your abilities, self-worth, etc. - there are many other schools out there that are the actual leaders and best, and that would be happy to have you. Please like this comment if you agree.
I think there is a way of supporting those who do not interview or are accepted here without trashing the school. I am sure those people WILL get into medical school somewhere wonderful, will enjoy their 4 years, and become excellent physicians. Umich is not for everyone, I agree. But when I decide where to go, I will be deciding based on its curriculum, student life, financial concerns, geography, and patient exposure. Not because someone on SDN found the school to have an inferiority complex. Every school I visited brags and every school boasts. Maybe people feel Umich is "out of place" for doing so because they are not an east coast Ivy League? I would say that is quite elitist.

Also "leaders and the best" is part of the fight song. They sing it at football games. At a sports game, you generally don't sing "we are number 8 according to USNEWS" you sing "we are number one". A school with a huge sports program is going to have that kind of thing. If you aren't a fan, that's okay! But there is a pride and slogan-y thing that comes from that. I like it; other people don't. Again, not for everyone.

Finally, "Please like this if you agree"? Really?
 
Well no 10:10 on Tuesday, but I jut got an interview invite at 5:20 today, a Monday!!!. I thought I had silent rejection, as I was complete on 9/3/2013. Was thankful I dodged the closed file bullet. It ain't over yet folks. IS!!!
 
Well no 10:10 on Tuesday, but I jut got an interview invite at 5:20 today, a Monday!!!. I thought I had silent rejection, as I was complete on 9/3/2013. Was thankful I dodged the closed file bullet. It ain't over yet folks. IS!!!

Has anyone received notice of a "closed file"?
 
Has anyone received notice of a "closed file"?
The consensus is "no"... or, at least, "not a single person who's talking on SDN!". 😵

My personal opinion (that I've shared a few times, so I feel like a broken record) is that this has not been communicated to applicants yet. I know SDN is not representative of everyone, but if they have actually closed somewhere between 1k-2k files, I think we'd know something.
 
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II today. Complete 10/30
3.8/37 OOS

I also received an interview invitation today, but the dropdown box where you pick your date is empty! I plan to call the admissions office tomorrow, but I am just curious, which dates can you (or anyone else who got an II today) see?
 
There was December 13th and January 10th. I chose the latter because the 13th falls on finals week for me.
 
This is very frustrating for me. I suspect I have not really been selected for an interview and there is some kind of mistake. My dreams will be crushed. This is a very big reach school for me.

I'll let you all know what I hear from the admissions office tomorrow.
 
This is very frustrating for me. I suspect I have not really been selected for an interview and there is some kind of mistake. My dreams will be crushed. This is a very big reach school for me.

I'll let you all know what I hear from the admissions office tomorrow.

Lol take it easy. I'm sure it wasn't a mistake. You'll see tomorrow that there's a logical reason for why the dropdown box is empty. Then you'll feel completely relieved and go on celebrating your interview invite.
 
This is very frustrating for me. I suspect I have not really been selected for an interview and there is some kind of mistake. My dreams will be crushed. This is a very big reach school for me.

I'll let you all know what I hear from the admissions office tomorrow.

Have you tried various web browsers?
 
I also received an interview invitation today, but the dropdown box where you pick your date is empty! I plan to call the admissions office tomorrow, but I am just curious, which dates can you (or anyone else who got an II today) see?

It was empty for me too, but this morning, it now has January 17 and Feb 7 available. Check you status again. Sadly, I'll be in S. America during this time. Trying to get them to arrange a different day/time, as I'm a local student. We'll see. Hate to give this one up, but have other irons in the fire that may pan out!! Good luck to you on your interview. U of M is a fine school, and Ann Arbor is a great place to live
 
Okay, I tried logging in again after they opened this morning and I scheduled my interview at MICHIGAN!!!!!

WOW! I am the luckiest person ever. I'm sure most of you have been making rounds at all the top schools, but this is far beyond anything I could have expected this cycle.

3.5cgpa / 39 OOS
(Secondary submitted 11/30 !!!)
 
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Okay, I tried logging in again after they opened this morning and I scheduled my interview at MICHIGAN!!!!!

WOW! I am the luckiest person ever. I'm sure most of you have been making rounds on all the top schools, but this is far beyond anything I could have expected this cycle.

3.5cgpa / 39 OOS
(Secondary submitted 11/30 !!!)
Congrats. You'll Love Ann Arbor, GO BLUE!!
 
Congrats. You'll Love Ann Arbor, GO BLUE!!

This is probably a bad time to mention that I have already been accepted at Ohio State...but still, this is the perfect reason for Michigan to accept me. They would have no problem stealing me away from the Buckeyes. :soexcited:
 
This is probably a bad time to mention that I have already been accepted at Ohio State...but still, this is the perfect reason for Michigan to accept me. They would have no problem stealing me away from the Buckeyes. :soexcited:

Congrats to you, if you are instate at Ohio, the tuition difference will be hard to beat. Once you are OOS at Michigan, you are OOS forever!! Big Ten Rocks, and congrats to the Buckeyes for a well fought game last Saturday. Heartbreaking for us Wolverines!!
 
Congrats to you, if you are instate at Ohio, the tuition difference will be hard to beat. Once you are OOS at Michigan, you are OOS forever!! Big Ten Rocks, and congrats to the Buckeyes for a well fought game last Saturday. Heartbreaking for us Wolverines!!

I'm OOS both places. Ohio State CoA is still less than my state schools though!

Cost is something I can worry about once I have an acceptance offer on the table. I have to say, it would be hard to turn down Michigan even if it were to cost the same as, say, Tufts or EVMS.
 
It was empty for me too, but this morning, it now has January 17 and Feb 7 available. Check you status again. Sadly, I'll be in S. America during this time. Trying to get them to arrange a different day/time, as I'm a local student. We'll see. Hate to give this one up, but have other irons in the fire that may pan out!! Good luck to you on your interview. U of M is a fine school, and Ann Arbor is a great place to live

WOW, U of M is the best at being responsive to prospective applicants. The person from michigan alternate medical school interviews called me, I will be talking to her soon about other dates, as I'm out of the country in January. Woo HOO!! GO BLUE!!
 
For anyone who hasn't seen it on their Twitter page, UMich has announced that all pre-interview decisions will be made by 1/31!
 
For anyone who hasn't seen it on their Twitter page, UMich has announced that all pre-interview decisions will be made by 1/31!

Is 'pre-interview decision' just a euphemism for a rejection? Seems like that.
 
Is 'pre-interview decision' just a euphemism for a rejection? Seems like that.

Yup. Director Rodriguez actually joked about how they don't say rejection. They say "file closed with no further consideration." lolz
 
1- Unfortunately yes, "pre-interview decision" is a politically correct, lighter way of saying rejection in this context.
2- Congrats to all the recent II's! If you have questions about the interview day/getting to Michigan etc, let us know. You'll hear from your Interview Day Ambassadors (point-people for your day who you can ask questions to as well) the Monday of the week of your interview, but we're always here for questions as well. You can also pose questions on next Wednesday's TweetChat.
 
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1- Unfortunately yes, "pre-interview decision" is a politically correct, lighter way of saying rejection.
2- Congrats to all the recent II's! If you have questions about the interview day/getting to Michigan etc, let us know. You'll hear from your Interview Day Ambassadors (point-people for your day who you can ask questions to as well) the Monday of the week of your interview, but we're always here for questions as well. You can also pose questions on next Wednesday's TweetChat.

So does this mean all interview invites are done and that everyone who is still under review will officially be rejected in Jan?
 
So does this mean all interview invites are done and that everyone who is still under review will officially be rejected in Jan?
No definitely still more to come. Based on above posts they're scheduling the two January dates now, but they still have another 40 spots for the February one and then some additional spots for the January interviews. Both December ones are full now. I'd say ballpark another 70 invites to go out. Sorry to prolong the waiting...

If you get an II, you'll know sooner than 1/31 for sure, especially if the last interview date is 2/7. Last year the shortest notice I had for an interview day was 2 weeks, so perhaps around 1/20 is when interviews will be completed, but the Twitter will probably give some details about that. They've been closing a lot of files recently, which is why I equated "pre-interview decisions" to "rejections"
 
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A few comments:
1) I wouldn't call Michigan a "safety school" by any means. A number of people in my class and the M2 class turned down other amazing offers to comparably ranked schools (i.e. Harvard/Penn/Hopkins/Stanford etc) to attend Michigan, several of whom came from out of state. They provided accepted students a list of contacts in the current M2 class who held multiple acceptances to help people deciding between Michigan & School X make an informed decision and see how the decision-making process played out. While there is a small cohort (~20/172) of Ivy League undergrad alums in my class, many chose Michigan over other great offers, so I wouldn't say that part of your argument is true. We have a very bright, diverse class, and selection/recruitment is based on much more than MCAT & GPA, but with such a low acceptance rate at every school these days, you can't treat anywhere as a safety school anymore (one of the Admissions directors I encountered last year informed our group that he rejected an applicant with a 45 and high GPA).

2) The non-admissions-related tweets are to help applicants/interviewees/accepted students get a sense for the community and opportunities outside the classroom. The Admissions Twitter and the student-managed UM Dose of Reality Twitter account are not just to give the play-by-play for admissions, but to rather paint a picture for life in Ann Arbor as a member of the vibrant medical community, to show that med school can in fact be a very enjoyable experience.

3) Every school has its own method of admissions. For some of the top-10 schools (using last year's threads for reference), Harvard, Yale, and Columbia send all rejections in March (albeit they're non-rolling), Stanford and Hopkins (both rolling) send batches of rejections starting in Nov/Dec through April, and Penn (non-rolling) doesn't send rejections until late January/early February (not counting the ambiguous "Status of Death" in November some people get). For Michigan, you won't be waiting past mid-January for a pre-interview decision. I find Michigan to definitely be the most transparent with its admissions process, providing positive and negative decisions to applicants in an expedited fashion. There are certainly some schools that get back to many applicants faster/earlier pre-interview (i.e. Pritzker, Pitt, Vanderbilt), but as far as transparency goes Michigan takes the cake. EDIT: I knew someone who interviewed at Hopkins in late March and was accepted late April, after their Second Look.

4) Rankings and metrics are important, and are often the only "objective" way for people to make decisions between schools and the trend is moving this way (as nemo123 pointed out). Admissions doesn't make the official rankings, match results, and other university stats. The Public Relations branch of the med school & Admissions simply compiles them into infographics and conveys them to prospective students to highlight the quality of the clinical and research programs at Michigan. It's a school that strives to be continually better. The primary goals of Admissions are to review files, accept students, and recruit the class each year, and of course off-campus recruiting is a part of any Admissions team, but a ton of time is spent carefully reading applications, so much so that it takes several months to do (especially with a small team), so patience is important for the application process.

5) Calling other schools the "actual leaders and best" is pretty disrespectful to Michigan. We hope you enter med school next year with a positive attitude toward your school and your peer institutions, including UMMS. You will no doubt network with med students across the country during the next four years, and you'll end up in a residency training program with a broad range of alums. Additionally, referring to Harvard as the "Michigan of the East" is meant in jest; the two schools differ in many ways.

6) While Michigan is not for everyone, and we're sorry to hear that you didn't have a good interview experience here, our SDN group and Admissions would love to hear your feedback on how we can improve how Michigan paints its picture for future interviewees. If you have any follow-up questions please feel free to send us a PM.

Completely agree.Thanks for offering your perspective as a current Michigan student! I also want to offer my perspective as a prospective medical student who interviewed at Michigan, as I had one of my best interview days there. This is just my opinion, of course, but I thought I would put my thoughts out there as an antidote to gocards1's rather harsh perspective.

First of all, I think that it's intelligent on Michigan's part to keep in touch with their applicants throughout the interview season, since I'm sure they are well-aware (as we all are) that most people apply to many schools, and it never hurts to keep yourself in the forefront of people's minds. Just as applicants want to stand out to adcomms, adcomms also want to stand out to accepted applicants, so there is really no need to use inflammatory words like "desperate" or "pathetic" when describing Michigan. Additionally, I appreciate the random tidbits of information on student life (and students' blogs and perspectives) as much as the information on the curriculum, financial aid, and other more "concrete" pieces of information. After all, it all factors into the final decision. Also, on interview day, Director Ruiz specifically said that Michigan notifies its applicants as early as possible, aka Oct 15, (and seeing as how it was my first decision notice of the season, I would say that they definitely delivered on their word) to avoid stringing people along for many months even though the adcomm had made its decision months ago, so I'm not sure what you mean when you say that Michigan is unethical in that regard. I agree that Michigan seems to want to up its standing in the rankings, but I'm not sure why that is perceived as a negative quality. After all, which medical school wouldn't want to up its rankings? Again, just as we (applicants) want to attend a good medical school, medical schools also want to attract talented students. Makes sense to me.
 
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Has anyone received notice of a "closed file"?
Along those lines has anyone received an email about the tweet chat next week? I haven't and I think it could be a sign of a silent rejection? Might also just be paranoid at the moment
 
No definitely still more to come. Based on above posts they're scheduling the two January dates now, but they still have another 40 spots for the February one and then some additional spots for the January interviews. Both December ones are full now. I'd say ballpark another 70 invites to go out. Sorry to prolong the waiting...

If you get an II, you'll know sooner than 1/31 for sure, especially if the last interview date is 2/7. Last year the shortest notice I had for an interview day was 2 weeks, so perhaps around 1/20 is when interviews will be completed, but the Twitter will probably give some details about that. They've been closing a lot of files recently, which is why I equated "pre-interview decisions" to "rejections"
Thanks for the info!.
 
No definitely still more to come. Based on above posts they're scheduling the two January dates now, but they still have another 40 spots for the February one and then some additional spots for the January interviews. Both December ones are full now. I'd say ballpark another 70 invites to go out. Sorry to prolong the waiting...

If you get an II, you'll know sooner than 1/31 for sure, especially if the last interview date is 2/7. Last year the shortest notice I had for an interview day was 2 weeks, so perhaps around 1/20 is when interviews will be completed, but the Twitter will probably give some details about that. They've been closing a lot of files recently, which is why I equated "pre-interview decisions" to "rejections"

If you have one of the interview dates in January or February, does that mean the chances of admission are lower? I.e. does the admissions office accept a smaller percentage of the interviewees (typically around 60%?) on these days to prevent over accepting?

I'm interviewing on 1/17, and the more I read up on Michigan, the more I reallllly hope there is still a seat left for me!

Anyone who thinks of Michigan as a safety school is downright nuts. Regardless of what happens next month, it will be an honor just to visit 🙂
 
For those concerned with TweetChat notifications, my intuition is that you're likely reading into it too much, but since you've heard about the upcoming one you're more than welcome to participate! Hope to see you (tweet you?) then!
 
If you have one of the interview dates in January or February, does that mean the chances of admission are lower? I.e. does the admissions office accept a smaller percentage of the interviewees (typically around 60%?) on these days to prevent over accepting?

I'm interviewing on 1/17, and the more I read up on Michigan, the more I reallllly hope there is still a seat left for me!

Anyone who thinks of Michigan as a safety school is downright nuts. Regardless of what happens next month, it will be an honor just to visit 🙂

I think certainly there is a greater percentage of acceptances for the earlier interview days (~65-75%) than the later days (45-60%), but every interview day is well represented in each class. Interviewees on later days are still strongly considered for admission and scholarships (not just saying this to appease the crowd -- I know winter interviewees in my class who received scholarships)

Furthermore, worrying about whether it will be 50% or 70% really shouldn't affect your confidence if you're interviewing next Friday or in Jan/Feb. With the small number of interviews conducted at UMMS, the acceptance rates post-interview skyrocket above most other med schools. You should be content that it's that high, not 20-30% like the schools that interview 1000+ people 😛

Of course, not everybody will be admitted -- a cold, hard fact of the competitive process -- but winter interviewees should come in confident and ready to kick butt on interview day!

As far as overaccepting goes, it happens every year. Instead of using the waitlist to fill the class, they offer deferrals to bring the class size down to the target # of ~170. Yields post-SLW are quite good.

PS- sorry if the percentages are wrong, I've only briefly looked at the twitter AEC stats throughout the year and didn't backtrack through the whole twitter to confirm
 
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Interviewees on later days are still strongly considered for admission and scholarships (not just saying this to appease the crowd -- I know winter interviewees in my class who received scholarships)
Apologies for the seemingly neurotic question, but you seem to imply that applicants from earlier interview dates are more likely to receive scholarships. Is that a trend you've seen? Also, given the cost difference, do OOS students tend to get any special preference for scholarship allotment? (Really hoping I get one if you can't tell haha)
 
Apologies for the seemingly neurotic question, but you seem to imply that applicants from earlier interview dates are more likely to receive scholarships. Is that a trend you've seen? Also, given the cost difference, do OOS students tend to get any special preference for scholarship allotment? (Really hoping I get one if you can't tell haha)
As far as IS vs. OOS scholarship distribution, it's more weighted to OOS people actually. Not just because the M1 class is 55% OOS and 45% IS and statistically should be, but they want to recruit some of the awesome OOS applicants who might have otherwise stayed coastal.
As far as early vs. late interview scholarship distribution, I think it's fairly uniform. I was trying to make the point that late interviews don't screw you out of acceptances and scholarships. As readers are well aware, the admissions tracker shows GPA/MCAT stats throughout the cycle for interviewees and accepted students, and the numbers tend to decrease slightly with time (i.e. median MCAT 38 to 36), so the season is frontloaded with high-stat people, but Michigan will recruit heavily throughout the season despite common expectations. Maybe it might be slightly preferential to the first half, but not significantly lopsided in any way.

So you have an idea of the competition you're up against, I believe I've read that 1/3 of the incoming class has a scholarship of some kind (170/3 = ~56 scholarships). With ~350 accepted students by March, everyone has at least a 20% chance of getting something (I'm rounding up because they'll obviously give more scholarships than they have -- year after year there are always those pesky accepted students that don't come to Michigan!).
 
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Via Twitter:
UMich Med Admissions: "MD candidates who have received "Defer/December" decisions will receive an update on Friday, December 20 @ 5 p.m."
 
As far as IS vs. OOS scholarship distribution, it's more weighted to OOS people actually. Not just because the M1 class is 55% OOS and 45% IS and statistically should be, but they want to recruit some of the awesome OOS applicants who might have otherwise stayed coastal.
As far as early vs. late interview scholarship distribution, I think it's fairly uniform. I was trying to make the point that late interviews don't screw you out of acceptances and scholarships. As readers are well aware, the admissions tracker shows GPA/MCAT stats throughout the cycle for interviewees and accepted students, and the numbers tend to decrease slightly with time (i.e. median MCAT 38 to 36), so the season is frontloaded with high-stat people, but Michigan will recruit heavily throughout the season despite common expectations. Maybe it might be slightly preferential to the first half, but not significantly lopsided in any way.

So you have an idea of the competition you're up against, I believe I've read that 1/3 of the incoming class has a scholarship of some kind (170/3 = ~56 scholarships). With ~350 accepted students by March, everyone has at least a 20% chance of getting something (I'm rounding up because they'll obviously give more scholarships than they have -- year after year there are always those pesky accepted students that don't come to Michigan!).
Thanks for the quick reply! Director Ruiz actually provided a little more detail about the scholarships on the interview day. I'll relay it here for others to see -- but it's strictly from memory so don't quote me on it. IIRC, he said that all interviewees were ranked from 1-575. The top 10 would receive 5 yrs on a full ride, the 5th year being for an extra degree or research. The next 40 (rounding out the top 50) would get 4 yrs of half tuition scholarship. He said more but I can't remember the rest. The printed flyers all say that ~50% of students receive some sort of scholarship, though I don't know if those include need-based varieties.
 
Thanks for the quick reply! Director Ruiz actually provided a little more detail about the scholarships on the interview day. I'll relay it here for others to see -- but it's strictly from memory so don't quote me on it. IIRC, he said that all interviewees were ranked from 1-575. The top 10 would receive 5 yrs on a full ride, the 5th year being for an extra degree or research. The next 40 (rounding out the top 50) would get 4 yrs of half tuition scholarship. He said more but I can't remember the rest. The printed flyers all say that ~50% of students receive some sort of scholarship, though I don't know if those include need-based varieties.
Is it really 50% now? My source was this: http://med.umich.edu/medschool/financialaid/sources/institutional.htm
This site looks fairly outdated, so I wouldn't be surprised if it's gone up from 1/3 to 1/2 (while I and my SDN teammates are very involved with admissions-related activities, none of us have been to those interview day sessions on admissions updates this year). I'll trust your info! Also bear in mind the Rogels' $30M donation will probably amp up the # of scholarship offers this year, since it's a donation specifically for that purpose.
Need-based financial aid in the form of grants is probably not included in the calculation. And I don't think the in-state tuition discount is a scholarship either 😛
 
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To address the confusion about file closings and subsequent notifications, Director Ruiz posted on Twitter that applicants are "notified as we make decisions and NOT held until some later date." Not sure how to explain the silence on the forum, but you can trust that you're still in the running if you haven't heard otherwise. SDN is a self-selecting, high achieving group I suppose... :clap:
 
To address the confusion about file closings and subsequent notifications, Director Ruiz posted on Twitter that applicants are "notified as we make decisions and NOT held until some later date." Not sure how to explain the silence on the forum, but you can trust that you're still in the running if you haven't heard otherwise. SDN is a self-selecting, high achieving group I suppose... :clap:

I just don't see how this is possible.... I wonder if theres some kind of technical glitch with the system preventing the file-closed statuses from getting update. or maybe i'm just a pessimist..
 
I just don't see how this is possible.... I wonder if theres some kind of technical glitch with the system preventing the file-closed statuses from getting update. or maybe i'm just a pessimist..

I agree. Should've heard of someone with a file closing by now...the SDN population isn't that small for us all to still be under consideration.

I've been complete since July; my guess is that my file was silently closed back in August.
 
No status email but I found an update on my page saying screening has been completed and while my file remains open they can't offer me an interview at this time.

Complete early July, oos LM75+ nontrad
 
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