University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan | Admissions Phone: 734-764-7433
E-mail: admissions.umich.edu/contact-us | Website: www.umich.edu
ADMISSION
Admission Rate: 23%
Admission Rate - Men: 21%
Admission Rate - Women: 25%
EA Admission Rate: N/A
ED Admission Rate: Not Offered
Admission Rate (5-Year Trend): -10%
ED Admission Rate (5-Year Trend): Not Offered
% of Admits Attending (Yield): 45%
Transfer Admission Rate: 39%
# Offered Wait List: 14,783
# Accepted Wait List: 6,000
# Admitted Wait List: 415
SAT Reading/Writing (Middle 50%): 660-730
SAT Math (Middle 50%): 670-780
ACT Composite (Middle 50%): 30-34
Testing Policy: ACT/SAT Required
SAT Superscore: No
ACT Superscore: No
% Graduated in Top 10% of HS Class: 79%
% Graduated in Top 25% of HS Class: 96%
% Graduated in Top 50% of HS Class: 99%
ENROLLMENT
Total Undergraduate Enrollment: 30,318
% Part-Time: 4%
% Male: 50%
% Female: 50%
% Out-of-State: 41%
% Fraternity: 12%
% Sorority: 25%
% On-Campus (Freshman): 98%
% On-Campus (All Undergraduate): 31%
% African-American: 4%
% Asian: 15%
% Hispanic: 6%
% White: 58%
% Other: 4%
% Race or Ethnicity Unknown: 5%
% International: 7%
% Low-Income: 14%
ACADEMICS
Student-to-Faculty Ratio: 15:1
% of Classes Under 20: 57%
% of Classes Under 40: 78%
% Full-Time Faculty: 82%
% Full-Time Faculty w/ Terminal Degree: 91%
Top Programs
Business
Communication and Media
Computer Science
Economics
Engineering
English
Political Science
Psychology
Retention Rate: 97%
4-Year Graduation Rate: 79%
6-Year Graduation Rate: 92%
Curricular Flexibility: Somewhat Flexible
Academic Rating: 
FINANCIAL
Institutional Type: Public
In-State Tuition: $14,934
Out-of-State Tuition: $49,022
Room & Board: $11,534
Required Fees: $328
Books & Supplies: $1,048
Avg. Need-Based Aid: $19,145
Avg. % of Need Met: 91%
Avg. Merit-Based Aid: $4,478
% Receiving Merit-Based Aid: 41%
Avg. Cumulative Debt: $27,224
% of Students Borrowing: 37%
CAREER
Who Recruits
1. Hudson’s Bay
2. BP America
3. Bain & Company
4. United Talent
5. News America Marketing
Notable Internships
1. Uber
2. Nike
3. Lockheed Martin
Top Industries
1. Business
2. Education
3. Engineering
4. Operations
5. Research
Top Employers
1. General Motors
2. Ford Motor Company
3. Google
4. Amazon
5. Microsoft
Where Alumni Work
1. Detroit
2. New York City
3. Chicago
4. San Francisco
5. Washington, DC
Median Earnings
College Scorecard (Early Career): $63,400
EOP (Early Career): $68,700
PayScale (Mid-Career): $112,200
RANKINGS
Forbes: 20
Money: 8
U.S. News: 25, National Universities
Wall Street Journal/THE: 27
Washington Monthly: 28, National Universities
Inside the Classroom
What do you get when you combine one of the best college towns in the country, one of the premier research universities in the world, and stir in a passionate sports scene? The answer is the first public university in the Northwest Territories. Originally dubbed the “Catholepistemiad of Detroit,” it is now known by the catchier name of the University of Michigan. Brilliant teens flock to Ann Arbor for 263 undergraduate degree programs across fourteen schools and colleges, and their success can be measured in countless ways, whether you look at the 97 percent freshman retention rate or the fact that more current Fortune 100 CEOs are alums of the Ross School of Business than any other school on the planet.
All applicants must apply to one of the fourteen schools right off the bat. The College of Literature, Science, and the Arts (LSA) serves the majority, and those accepted are held to school-specific rather than university-wide academic requirements. However, all Wolverines ultimately end up with broad academic requirements in the areas of English, foreign language, natural sciences, and social sciences. Freshmen in the LSA take a first-year seminar that is capped at eighteen students and affords an immediate opportunity to connect with a professor in an area of academic interest. LSAers also have the option to sign up for a “theme semester” in which major topics such as India in the World or Understanding Race are explored in-and-outside the classroom through activities such as museum visits, guest lectures, and film screenings.
With almost 46,000 students on campus, including grad students, it’s not surprising that undergrads will end up sitting in some large lecture halls. Michigan sports a 15:1 student-to-faculty ratio, and 18 percent of classes contain fifty or more students, but a solid 57 percent of classes offer a more intimate experience with fewer than twenty students. Opportunities to conduct independent research or work in a laboratory beside a faculty member can be found. In the 2018-19 school year 1,300 participated in the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program. For students in all academic programs at Michigan, study abroad opportunities are taken advantage of at high rates. In fact, the university is fifth in the nation in the number of students it sends to study in foreign lands.
In general, the faculty is exceptional and overflowing with award-winning researchers. Michigan finds itself atop any ranking of best public research universities. The Ross School of Business offers highly rated programs in entrepreneurship, management, accounting, and finance. The College of Engineering is also one of the best in the country. By sheer numbers, the school confers more engineering degrees (16 percent) than in any other discipline. The social sciences are next (12 percent), and encompass incredibly strong majors in political science, economics, and psychology. Computer science, another top-notch offering, attracts 11 percent of the student body. Graduating Wolverines are routinely awarded prestigious scholarships to continue their studies. In 2019, the school produced twenty-six Fulbright Scholars, more than any other research university in the nation.
Outside the Classroom
Ann Arbor is a prototypical college town, the type you would show to a Martian who wanted to know what a quintessential American college was like. Vibrant, stimulating, and extremely safe, the 3,200-acre campus and surrounding town are ideal places to spend four years. When your football stadium seats more than 100,000, that’s a pretty solid indicator that the sports scene is thriving. Donning the iconic maize and blue jerseys, Michigan’s twenty-seven Division I sports teams have enjoyed a ridiculous level of success. A substantial but not overwhelming 12 percent of men and 25 percent of women belong to one of the sixty-two fraternities and sororities on campus. A hard-to-comprehend 1,600 student organizations exist. If you can conceive it, Michigan probably already offers it, and 82 percent of the student body participates in at least one club or activity. Intramural and club sports also enjoy wide participation. The Ginsberg Center for Community and Service is popular, and 54 percent of Wolverines have engaged in volunteer experiences. Only 31 percent live on campus, almost all of whom are first-year students.
Career Services
The University of Michigan Career Center employs fourteen full-time staff members as well as seven peer advisors. Only counting the full-time employees, UM has a student-to-advisor ratio of 2,166:1, one of the highest of any school featured in this guide. Thus, hand-holding is limited, but appointments with peer advisors are available for mock interviews and resume assistance. One-on-one appointments with a professional career counselor can be scheduled to discuss finding internships and jobs. The career center reaches more students through hosting workshops, putting on more than 200 per year with a total attendance exceeding 6,000 undergrads.
Staffing may be less than desired, but on the plus side, Michigan’s alumni network is one of the largest and most powerful in the nation. With over half a million loyal alums spread across one hundred countries, there is always a fellow Wolverine willing to dispense advice, facilitate a job- shadowing experience or internship, or help you get your foot in the door in the industry of your choosing. Also working in the school’s favor is the fact that Michigan grads are highly sought after by major employers who are happy to travel to Ann Arbor for recruiting purposes. The Ross School of Business alone arranges for hundreds of companies to recruit on campus each year, including all of the big boys: Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, EY, and Morgan Stanley. At UM counselors are not going to personally hunt you down to take personality inventories and create a killer LinkedIn profile, but large-scale resources are available that will get motivated students on the right path to their next destination.
Professional Outcomes
Within three months of exiting Ann Arbor, 93 percent of the graduates of the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts are employed full time or attending graduate school. Health care, research, nonprofit work, and consulting are the four most popular sectors in which LSA alums launch their careers. Ross School of Business graduates fare quite well on the open market; within three months, 98 percent are employed with a median salary of $72k. The companies listed above that recruit on campus are among the top employers of the Class of 2017 along with PwC, Deloitte, and Amazon. Engineering grads have similar success with 96 percent employed or in grad school within six months. Computer science/engineering students, the largest group within the School of Engineering, walk into jobs averaging close to $100k. The companies employing the greatest number of alumni across all years include General Motors, Ford, Google, Microsoft, Apple, and Facebook.
As with employers, elite graduate and professional schools also hold a Michigan diploma in high esteem. University of Michigan grads applying to law school are well prepared, averaging an LSAT score in the 80th percentile and gaining acceptance at a 92 percent clip. Those aiming for medical school average MCATs above the 85th percentile and get accepted at a 54 percent clip, a rate more than 10 percent higher than the national average. In short, if you succeed at Michigan, there isn’t a graduate or professional school in existence that will be beyond your reach.
Admission
After a 10 percent increase in applications in 2018, the university now has a streak of a dozen consecutive years of breaking its own record for wanna-be Wolverines. The overall acceptance rate for a place in the Class of 2022 was 23 percent, but in-state applicants fared far better, enjoying a 41 percent rate (out-of-state was 19 percent). The SAT range of current Michigan students is 1330 to 1510, and the ACT range is 30-34. For comparison, in 2014 the SAT range was 1280-1480, and the ACT range was 29-33, which tells us that admission into this popular flagship university may be a touch more difficult now than in the recent past.
The school ranks the two most important admissions factors as “rigor of secondary school record” and “GPA.” Average Michigan students earned a 3.86 GPA on a 4.0 scale in the most challenging courses available to them. Standardized test scores are listed as a secondary factor alongside recommendations, personal qualities, and first-generation status. While the University of Michigan does bring a holistic approach to the process, at the end of the day the admissions staff still needs to wade through almost 65,000 applications, which means test scores are still a major selling point. However, the office means what it says about giving preference to first-generation students. First-gens make up 13 percent of the student body, and the school does not super-score the SATs or ACTs as that practice benefits the economically advantaged. The University of Michigan has more than doubled its number of applications received in the last decade, and gaining acceptance is genuinely more challenging than ever. Top students who hail from in state will face better odds than out-of-staters who need to bring an impeccable academic record to the table to garner serious consideration.
Worth Your Money?
The average amount of debt held by a University of Michigan graduate is slightly below the national average. For residents of the Great Lakes State, the school is in the “ridiculous value” category—at least by the standards of an out-of-whack marketplace. Michigan’s total cost of attendance for in-state students is $30k; the out-of-state price is over $64k. Two-fifths of undergraduates receive a merit aid award, but the average amount is under $5k and is unlikely to put a huge dent in your bill. For the 38 percent of students who qualify for need-based aid, Michigan does a phenomenal job meeting most of an individual’s demonstrated financial need. In fact, 78 percent of those eligible see 100 percent of their need met. The average award is $19,145. This is truly exceptional for a public institution and is only one of the many reasons this topflight university is worth your money.