The
college
experience
widely varies, especially amid a
pandemic that makes having a
large social circle and in-person
classes dangerous. But according
to data obtained by The Michigan
Daily, 1 in 10 members of the
University of Michigan Fall 2019
freshman class came from just
10 high schools, meaning it’s very
likely some students in every class
come into college with already-
established friend groups.
Though students from over
2,000
different
high
schools
enrolled at the University, our
data shows that nearly half of
the 2019 incoming class came
from just 15% of these schools.
The term “feeder school” is often
used to refer to schools with
high volumes of applications to a
certain university.
The
Daily
spoke
with
students from feeder and non-
feeder schools to the University
around the country to learn how
their high school experiences
influenced
their
social
and
academic transition to college.
Students
from
feeder
high
schools in general expressed
greater
social
and
academic
comfort, while students from
high schools where very few
students attend the University
said they experienced culture
shock
and
sometimes
felt
academically underprepared.
As one of the most prestigious
public universities in the United
States, the University of Michigan
attracts
high-achieving
high
school students. This includes
students who took Advanced
Placement
or
International
Baccalaureate classes — walking
around campus, it can be hard to
find a U-M student who didn’t
take at least one college-level
course in high school.
The
Advanced
Placement
Program was founded in 1952 and
is the most popular way students
receive college credit for high
school courses. The AP Program,
run by the nonprofit organization
The College Board, offers 38
courses and exams to more than
one million students each year.
The International Baccalaureate
programs
were
founded
in
1975, only recently growing in
gaining popularity in the U.S.
However, schools that offer IB
were overrepresented in the 301
schools with the greatest number
of applications to the University
in 2019. 41 of those 301 schools
offered IB (13.6%), a rate 11%
higher than the national average.
Admissions
The Daily’s data shows that
schools that offer IB made up
20.8% of acceptances to the
University from The Daily’s list
of 301 schools, despite students
from schools with IB composing
only 15.3% of all applications.
The yield rate of students from
IB schools — the percentage of
admitted students who attend
the University — was 62.0%,
compared to 46.8% for non-IB
students.
michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, March 3, 2021
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We looked at the 301 high schools with the most
applicants to the University. Here’s what we found
This article is a part of a data-
driven series in which The Michigan
Daily obtained records on the top 301
schools by number of applications to
the University of Michigan for the Fall
2019 freshman class through a public
records request. These data are not
representative of the entire freshman
class, nor are the data about the schools
a perfect aggregate representation of
all students who attend the University.
The college admissions process
is a mystery to many — and the
University
of
Michigan
is
no
exception.
At the University, the trend is
clear: Just under 65,000 high school
seniors applied for the Fall 2019
entering class — more than two times
larger than the 24,000 applicants
who applied for the entering class
two decades earlier. The University
has grown its class size by nearly one-
third, but the growth cannot keep
up with the increasing application
volume. The acceptance rate has sat
around 25% for the last several years,
less than half of the 55% acceptance
rate in 2000-2001, according to the
University’s common data set from
that year.
The Michigan Daily obtained
records on the top 301 U.S. high
schools by number of applications
to the University for the Fall 2019
freshman class through a public
records request. The data shows
that 48% of the freshman class
matriculated from one of these 301
schools, though the schools represent
only 15% of the total number of high
schools with students applying to the
University.
So what does it take to get into
an increasingly selective school like
the University of Michigan? That’s
the question on tens of thousands of
minds each year when applications
for the next freshman class open in
August.
For the Fall 2020 entering class,
75% of entering freshmen received a
32 or above on the ACT, placing them
in the 97th percentile of test takers.
The average freshman’s high school
GPA was a 3.9.
Admissions officers at schools
across the nation — including at the
University, which calls its admissions
process “holistic” — are quick to
note that universities are looking
not only at the complete picture of
a student, but also how they place
within the context of their schools
and communities.
According to Whitney Bruce, a
private college admissions counselor
who specializes in working with
applicants from Ann Arbor, decisions
can also be impacted by institutional
goals. These goals, often unknown
to applicants, could in turn give
students who help meet these goals a
leg up in the admissions process.
Institutional goals can play a larger
role at selective institutions like the
University where the freshman class
could typically be filled two or three
times over without decreasing the
average standardized test scores or
GPA, Bruce said.
“Creating
a
class
from
an
enrollment management perspective
is more art than science,” Bruce said.
Despite
hurdles
caused
by
Proposal 2, which in 2006 barred
the University from considering
race, gender, ethnicity or nationality
in admissions, the University has
still attempted to attain diversity
within its incoming classes with
varying degrees of success. Though
still often criticized as a rich, elite
university, more than 22% of new
in-state undergraduates in 2019 came
from families with incomes under
$65,000.
The
percentage
of
underrepresented
minorities,
which are students who identify as
Black, Hawaiian or Pacific Islander,
Hispanic/Latino, Native American
or
Native
Alaskan,
make
up
approximately 15.3% of the 2019 class
— below the state average of 21%.
Additionally,
the
University
Record published that more than 15%
of new students in the 2019 class were
the first in their families to attend
college. Erica Sanders confirmed this
in an email to The Daily.
“The University of Michigan
is
a
firm
proponent
of
the
educational value provided by a
diverse, multicultural and inclusive
campus
community,”
Sander
wrote. “The mission of the Office of
Undergraduate Admissions speaks
to the importance of identifying,
admitting and enrolling a diverse
group of students and our holistic
review process.”
The Daily analyzed the data
obtained through a public records
request to shed light on who applies
to, is accepted by and ends up
attending the University from the
60,000-person sea of applicants each
year. Across the board, we found
that schools with high numbers of
applications and admittees each year
are whiter and richer than national
and state averages.
One out of every 10 students
in the class comes from one of 10
high schools
Despite making up less than 3%
of schools on The Daily’s list, more
than 11% of the 2019 freshman class
came from one of 10 high schools.
Almost all of these schools — the
International Academy, Northville
High School, Novi High School, Troy
High School, Pioneer High School,
Huron High School, Rochester
Adams High School, Bloomfield Hills
High School and Detroit Country
Day — are metro Detroit area schools.
Eight out of nine of these in-state
schools are public schools, with the
exception of private school Detroit
Country Day. The International
Academy, though public, is also a
magnet school, meaning students
must take a test and enter a lottery
for admission. Pioneer and Huron
are both part of the Ann Arbor Public
School System. All nine are highly
ranked within the state.
The Bronx High School of Science
in The Bronx, N.Y., is the only out-
of-state high school in the group of
10. New York’s public school system
requires students interested in Bronx
Science and other “specialized” high
schools take a test to get in. Of the
30,000 New York City eighth graders
who take the specialized high school
entrance exam, less than 3% of
test takers made the cut-off to earn
admission to the high school.
Michigan outperforms
other states in applications,
matriculation
Not only is Michigan the state
with the most applicants to the
University, data shows students
who live in the state are more likely
to both earn admission and to
matriculate than students coming
from out-of-state.
Ninety-four of the 301 top schools
were within Michigan, meaning
most, if not all, of those students
pay in-state tuition. Despite being
only one-third of schools on The
Daily’s list of 301 schools, these 94
schools contain more than 57% of the
admitted students and about 68% of
the enrolled students.
But even within Michigan, there
are disparities between feeder vs.
non-feeder schools: Of the total
enrolled in-state students in the Fall
2019 freshman class, 63% come from
one of these 94 schools — despite
these 94 schools making up only 5%
of the 1,870 high schools in Michigan.
On The Daily’s list, California
followed Michigan as the second-
most state with 54 schools, or 18%,
on the total list. Illinois followed
with 43, or 14%. New York and New
Jersey each had around 9% — 27 and
26 schools, respectively — of the 301
schools.
Out-of state students from these
207 schools make up 32% of the
enrolled students in 2019, but 69% of
the total number of applicants.
You’re most likely to be
accepted if you go to a magnet
school
Magnet schools had the highest
acceptance rates on average —
more than one-third of applicants
from these schools were accepted,
noticeably
outperforming
the
overall 22.9% acceptance rate for
the class. Despite the fact that public
magnet school students made up
only 8.2% of applications from these
301 schools, applicants from public
magnet schools made up 10% of total
acceptances.
Bruce said this statistic would
make sense given the fact that
students typically must test-in to
magnet schools, meaning they
already
show
high
academic
performance.
Michigan’s
International Academies, schools
which
offer
an
International
Baccalaureate
program
that
students must test into, are one
example of this. If students can earn
entrance into one, she said, they are
likely to be competitive candidates
to the University.
“It’s not that attending IA gives
you a straighter path to Michigan, it
gives you a really strong education,”
Bruce said. “You’ve pre-selected for
kids who are already going to test
into a band where their SAT scores
are competitive with Michigan’s.”
The University does not separate
magnet schools from public schools
when
reviewing
applications,
Sanders confirmed to The Daily.
The 301 schools on this list had
higher acceptance rates on average
compared to that sub-23% figure
for the overall Fall 2019 class. Every
type of school — public magnet
(32.4%), private secular (30.1%),
public
charter
(29.3%),
private
religious (26.1%), public (25.4%)
and private boarding (25.2%) —
was above a 25% acceptance rate.
This means the majority of schools
outside of The Daily’s list likely had
an acceptance rate lower than the
class acceptance rate of 22.9%.
ALEX HARRING &
THE DAILY’S DATA TEAM
Daily Staff Reporter & Web Team
See APPLICANTS, Page 4
Students discuss impacts
of AP/IB experience and
preparation for U-M
Larger & wealthier districts offer more college
prep courses, leads to academic disparities
PAIGE HODDER
Daily Staff Reporter
See AP/IB, Page 4
From around the country
or across the state,
undergraduates come to ‘U’
with varying experiences
10% of the University’s 2019 freshman
class came from just 10 high schools
See FEEDER SCHOOL, Page 2
JULIA RUBIN &
LILY GOODING
Daily Staff Reporters
Along with the Wolverine, the
colors maize and blue and the
renowned block ‘M,’ the hallmark
exclamations “Go Blue!” and “Hail!”
are an integral part of community
identity
at
the
University
of
Michigan. However, several low-
income students who are financing
their education with the help of
the Go Blue Guarantee or the High
Achieving Involved Leader (HAIL)
scholarship say that for them,
these phrases carry a much deeper
meaning.
The total campus disbursement of
aid for the 2020 fiscal year was over
$1 billion, which includes federal,
state and institutional grants as well
as scholarships, loans and Work-
Study payments. Seventy percent
of in-state undergraduates receive
some kind of financial aid and
one in four pay no tuition at all. In
particular, this last group includes
students from lower socioeconomic
statuses who are either selected for
the HAIL scholarship or qualify
for the Go Blue Guarantee, both of
which fully cover a student’s tuition
for up to four years.
Data obtained by The Daily
regarding the Fall 2019 freshman
class affirms that among the list
of the top 301 schools by number
of applications to the University,
in schools where more than 17.5%
of students qualified for free
lunch, the average matriculation
rate for admitted students was
52%. Comparatively, only 40% of
admitted students from high schools
where less than 17.5% of students
qualified for free lunch chose to
enroll at the University.
‘HAIL,’ ‘Go Blue’ financial
aid programs offer low-
income in-state individuals
education opportunities
Scholarships help to open up options for
underrepresented, low-income applicants
RONI KANE
Daily Staff Reporter
See SCHOLARSHIPS, Page 4
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Design by Aya Salim
Design by Aya Salim
Design by Aya Salim