Virtual Q&A Questions

We acknowledge and understand that you and your high school experience have been impacted by COVID-19 in unprecedented ways. To ensure equity in our consideration of each candidate amid that impact, we are modifying our admissions process and requirements for the 2020-21 application cycle.

A new Admissions website will be live in August with the details of those changes, but in the meantime you can refer to them here.

Our Admissions office is here as a resource for students throughout every stage of the admissions process. As you encounter questions about Michigan, please don’t hesitate to contact the member of our recruitment team assigned to the territory from which you are (or would be) applying. You can find your Admissions counselor here.

This page also provides general contact options including our Admissions phone line, live chat feature, and virtual admissions advising appointment opportunities.

We have several wonderful students from different backgrounds and career interests waiting to speak with you through our Wolverine Connection program. This is your chance to learn about the student experience directly from our students by scheduling a one-on-one appointment. If you were hoping to ask questions about the admissions process, essays, curriculum, etc., please find your Admissions counselor on our contact us page. Your Admissions counselor is happy to help!

Our admissions process considers all aspects of your record and experience – we do not admit applicants solely on the basis of any individual criterion. We value the whole record – excellent grades in rigorous courses, strong ACT/SAT scores, participation in extracurricular activities, and evidence of leadership, awards, and service.

Our mission is to enroll a class of students who are academically strong, broadly diverse, and who will be active contributors to our campus community. To identify the students who are the strongest fit, we use a holistic review process that considers your academic record, your standardized test score(s) if available, your noted involvement and awards, and your individual “story” as related by both your recommender(s) and told firsthand through your application essays. You can find a much more thorough discussion of our selection process on our website.

Due to the volume of our first-year application pool, we unfortunately do not have the capacity to include an interview as part of the consideration process. As a result, the application essays are the best opportunity for you to showcase your voice and share the story of yourself – to speak to your background, your experiences, what you would add to our campus community, and the reasons why you believe Michigan to be the best fit for you and your interests.

You can find the current required essay questions on our website.

For the 2020-21 application cycle, you will also have an additional opportunity to speak to the impact of COVID-19 on your personal and academic life these past several months.

Students applying to one of our three talent-based programs – the School of Music, Theater & Dance, the Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design, and the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning – will submit additional required materials for consideration.

These materials will take the form of either a portfolio or artistic profile, and will be reviewed by the talent-based program to evaluate the student's artistic abilities and potential fit for their program(s). In the case of our School of Music, Theater & Dance, the consideration process will also include a potential interview or audition following the review of the artistic profile.

For more detailed instructions and criteria, please visit the website for the talent-based program in which you are interested. You can find links to each of those websites on our application requirements page.

Many students present AP coursework and test scores for review during the application process. However, not all students present a similar number of those courses due to availability of AP in their schools, while others may not yet have scores at the time they apply. We acknowledge that this year in particular, the AP testing process may have been particularly anxiety-provoking.

Like SAT and ACT scores, AP coursework and test scores provide contextual information during the application review. The inability to provide AP test scores will not impact the review of an application. AP courses help us understand the pursuit of curriculum rigor where they are available and AP scores help us understand how a student might perform in college level work but are also only used in context with additional information in a student’s application and where such courses are available.

You can find more AP/IB credit guidelines on our website.

Financial aid comes in several forms: grants and scholarships that are not repaid, loans that must be repaid, and federal Work-Study opportunities which allow you to earn a paycheck while attending college.

Students are considered for most scholarships and do not need to apply for them separately. We encourage you to apply for admission early to receive equal consideration with other applicants. To be considered for scholarships that are awarded to students with financial need, you must also apply for financial aid.

You might also be eligible for scholarships from other sources. We encourage you to explore and apply for any scholarships for which you are eligible. U-M schools, colleges, and departments administer their own scholarships and some may require separate applications. For more information, contact the Financial Aid offices of the individual schools and colleges or your academic department. For more, visit our 5 Steps to Scholarships page.

It may seem counterintuitive, but the first step to getting into Michigan Ross as a first-year applicant is being admitted to another school or college at the University of Michigan. Regardless of your “Freshman Admitting Unit” here at U-M, you will take some classes at Ross as a first-year and begin your pre-requisite courses. Ross students who apply through LSA enroll in Ross as a Direct Admit student. Students who choose one of the other schools will be Preferred Admit Students. For more information about applying to Ross, visit their website.

At Michigan, you don’t apply to the university overall or a specific major – you apply to one of our seven freshman admitting undergraduate schools and colleges: Architecture & Urban Planning; Art & Design; Engineering; Kinesiology; Literature, Science, and the Arts (LSA); Music, Theater & Dance; and Nursing. The Ross School of Business is additionally considered a freshman enrolling unit, as they do make admission offers to incoming freshmen who have both applied and been admitted to either LSA; Engineering; Kinesiology (Sport Management); School of Music, Theater & Dance; or Stamps School of Art and Design.

Several other schools and colleges (Architecture & Urban Planning, Business, Dental Hygiene, Education, Information, Pharmacy, Public Health, and Public Policy) are considered upper-level admitting units, meaning they accept applications from students in their first-year or sophomore year and, if admitted, students may cross-campus transfer to that unit. Of those upper-level units, several (Architecture & Urban Planning, Education, Information, and Pharmacy) offer first-year students the opportunity to be considered for "preferred admission," in which accepted students are guaranteed placement in those programs beginning their sophomore or junior years.

Once you are a Michigan student, you will find plentiful academic advising support to help you shape and focus your academic goals. Depending on the school or college to which you are admitted, you will have time to commit to a major and, if you choose, a minor course of study. Many students do not indicate their major until the end of their sophomore year; Art & Design students do not declare a major.

You'll notice when you read over our 275+ majors that we do not offer a "pre-med" major. Although we do not offer a specific pre-medical undergraduate major, we do offer majors in related fields of study which will help prepare you for medical school admission. University of Michigan graduates are admitted into medical schools at a significantly higher rate than the national average. Medical and other health graduate schools have specific requirements for competencies in biology, chemistry, physics, biochemistry, and sometimes math and other subjects. In addition to your knowledge of the core sciences, the MCAT will test your knowledge of the behavioral sciences, especially as these relate to health outcomes, and your ability to reason critically. The good news is that with its emphasis on acquiring a broad education across all disciplines and developing the skills of a critical thinker, your Michigan education will provide you with top-notch preparation and the opportunity to excel in meeting these requirements. Major in the subject that interests you most! Hundreds of Michigan students who matriculate to medical school each year majored in subjects across the university in humanities, social science, and science disciplines.

Whether you are in a lecture-style course or a smaller discussion setting, all of your professors are required to hold office hours. These are weekly hours set aside for you to meet with your professor to go over class material, to ask questions, or to introduce yourself. While they are optional for students, we encourage you to get to know your professor this way. Typically, they are held "drop in" style so no appointment is needed. However, if you have a conflict, professors are also very accessible over email, and they will set up a time that works best for the both of you.

Michigan is ranked the #1 public research institution in the US. All of our 19 schools and colleges are heavily involved in research projects, and you can be involved in research as an undergraduate student. As a first or second year student, one of the initial ways you can get involved is through our Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP). Through UROP, students from all different majors can work with professors on professional-level research while also gaining credit. There is also the Michigan Research and Discovery Scholars program, which is a Michigan Learning Community, or you can ask one of your professors what they may be involved in and they can have insight on other projects that may need assistance.

There are many ways at Michigan to make a large campus seem smaller and to find your community. The most common way is by joining student organizations. We have over 1,600 different student groups on campus. There are organizations based on academics, activism, culture, fraternity and sorority life, music, religion, service learning, and sports to just name a few. You can sort through all the options on Maize Pages. Other communities can be cultivated through your major or even housing assignment. If you'd like to live with a group of students that have shared goals and common intellectual interests rather than being randomly assigned housing, you can join a Michigan Learning Community.

Student support comes in several forms. We have mental health support, social support, and academic support for students. Below we've linked some of our most common support systems for students on campus, but this is certainly not an exhaustive list. If you're looking for support services not mentioned below, feel free to contact your Admissions counselor at Michigan and ask if we have the specific service you're looking for, we're happy to help!

• Counseling and Psychological Services
• First Generation Student Gateway
• Maize and Blue Cupboard
• Spectrum Center
• Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center
• Trotter Multicultural Center
• Wolverine Wellness
• Sweetland Center for Writing
• Science Learning Center
• Language Resource Center
• Services for Students with Disabilities

There are 18 different residence halls on campus and housing is guaranteed for incoming, first-year students. It is not required to live on campus as a first-year, but about 98% choose to as it's a great way to make friends. Returning students typically move off campus, and Beyond the Diag can help students navigate this option. You apply for housing after you've been admitted to Michigan; housing assignments are random unless you are applying to join a Michigan Learning Community. Many of our residence halls have dining halls built in them and meal plans are unlimited! All dining hall menus are labeled to indicate allergies, restrictions, and ingredients.

Although we are located within the city of Ann Arbor, our campus is easily navigated by foot. Many students choose to walk to classes and others may bike. We also have a Michigan bus system that constantly runs between North, Central, and South Campus. There is also an Ann Arbor city bus. Both of these buses are free for students. There is a real time map that allows you to track the Michigan bus system so you know when buses are arriving at specific stops. We don't recommend bringing a car to campus as parking is limited.