The University of Michigan is a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It’s a big school with strong academic programs and more than 1,600 clubs. The acceptance rate hovers around 23%.
Michigan is extremely popular and one of our most asked about schools. They changed their supplement this year by removing the long-standing question about which activity you’d most like to continue pursuing. Let’s take a look:
Essay #1 (Required for all applicants.)
Everyone belongs to many different communities and/or groups defined by (among other things) shared geography, religion, ethnicity, income, cuisine, interest, race, ideology, or intellectual heritage. Choose one of the communities to which you belong, and describe that community and your place within it. (300 Words)
For the third year in a row, we would like to ask @Michigan why income is listed as a type of community. Please share with us a supplement that convincingly wrote about income because we truly cannot conceive of this working to benefit a student. It seems classist and weird, at best, but here we are again!
Let’s start by talking about the concept of community. At TKG, we consider a community the place where you feel your best. A safe place that you enjoy. We think small. If your religion, race, or ethnicity is that place for you, that’s totally fine. But don’t send yourself into a tizzy fit trying to fit into one of the boxes that Michigan suggests. The important thing about this prompt is not just the community, but your role within it. So, if the first thing that came to mind is “well, my grandparents came to America from another country….,” know that you are on the wrong track. Grandma isn’t applying to college, you are. You need to pick a community that you contribute to in a meaningful way for this prompt to resonate.
Back to thinking small about community. A few examples that come to mind are your book club, the group of people you play volleyball with at the park, or your friends from camp who you rarely see but keep in touch with via Spotify playlists and an email chain. These are all communities defined by interest, and we like to start with this area because it achieves two goals: it speaks to how you like to spend your time, and allows you to explore your specific role within the group because you’re writing about something that you genuinely enjoy.
We suggest brainstorming until you think of a few communities. This is because while it’s true that you might be a member of a bunch of communities, you’re also looking for a community where you make an impact. Sticking with the examples above, you might see your volleyball friends all the time. But if you’re the person that just shows up and hopes that a game in progress, you don’t have much of a role other than being a member.
Whatever you decide, visualize the scene. This is crucial because your response should be in the form of a story with a beginning, middle, and end. There are no introductory paragraphs and conclusions here. Instead, you want to drop the reader into the scene and paint a vivid picture of what it’s like. And while scene-setting is key, it’s equally important to flesh out your role within the dynamic. Instead of saying “I’m in charge of deciding what recipes to make, so I start the day by logging into Pinterest,” you want to show yourself in action. Take the reader through the day, and make your contributions clear.
When working with TKG clients on this prompt, we start by writing down all of the details that you can remember about your community and talking about the scene out loud. You can also revisit your community and pay special attention to specifics. As for actually writing your response, have some fun with the narrative! Make it vivid, use a lot of detail, and double check that you’re explaining your role.
Essay #2 (Required for all applicants.)
Describe the unique qualities that attract you to the specific undergraduate College or School (including preferred admission and dual degree programs) to which you are applying at the University of Michigan. How would that curriculum support your interests? (550 Words)
Michigan is asking you very clearly why you would like to attend Michigan. And only Michigan. While we ordinarily love playing around with form and getting creative, there is a very specific formula that you should use to answer this question. Your goal is to prove that there is a strong link between Michigan’s offerings and your interests both inside and outside of the classroom. We’ll dive into what you should include in a few, but a few things to keep in mind before you start writing:
Research is key. You need to set aside a few hours to look through all that Michigan has to offer before you start writing.
There is a separate application for Michigan Ross, and applying to another school at Michigan and then trying to transfer into Ross is not a good application strategy.
Yes, you can study pretty much anything at Michigan. But under no circumstance should you write that you’re yet to decide what you want to major in.
Now that we have that out of the way, here’s what you should include in your response:
Your origin story.
This is a short story about how your academic interests came to be. Let’s say that you’re applying to Michigan to study Global Environment and Health. You might be the kind of person who has always loved the outdoors, and started researching climate change during your freshman year of high school. You then joined the environmental club at your high school, became president, and organized a trash pick-up at the beach by your house. This is a story that we just made up, but it would work! Whatever your story is, tell it. And don’t worry if it’s not entirely fleshed out, your goal is simply to provide some background material about your academic interests. The story that you write will serve as a direct lead in to your reason for wanting to major in X.
Your intended major at Michigan.
There are over 250 degree programs at Michigan. This is one of the many reasons why Michigan is so popular. But when 65,000 students are applying, you need to get incredibly specific. If you are unsure what you want to major in, think about the classes that you’ve enjoyed AND DONE WELL IN thus far. When Michigan looks at your transcript, the major that you choose should make sense. So if you’re only taken one STEM course and got a C in that class, it’s not going to make sense if you write about your desire to major in Biology. With so many programs offered, there will likely be majors that you can skip over entirely. Keep going through the list until you find something suitable. Should you get into Michigan, you can major in anything that you want. But for the purposes of the supplement, you need to paint a concise picture. Do not move on to the next part of the supplement until you can confidently say that you’re applying to Michigan to study X.
Two upper-level classes you’d like to take.
Once you’re on the homepage of your major, you should find two upper-level classes that you’d like to take. You absolutely must choose upper-level class because introductory classes (100 level) are offered everywhere, and therefore are not specific to Michigan. Now, we’ve had beef with Michigan’s website for the past few years. For reasons that remain unclear, Michigan’s course offerings can be hard to find. Their website is not as user friendly as other schools. You might have to google “University of Michigan Undergraduate Biology courses.” You can also check the LSA Course Guide, depending upon what school you’re applying to.
Not the biggest deal in the world, but it would nice if Michigan would make it a bit easier to find the classes directly on the website. When working with TKG clients on this supplement, we set aside 1-2 hours for finding the courses and confirming that they’re current offerings. Once you’ve found your classes, you need a reason for wanting to take them. Let’s say that you’re writing about wanting to take BIO 207: Microbiology. Your “why” might be the lab work that you did in high school. Think about books you’ve read, classes you’ve taken, documentaries you’ve watched, and jobs and internships. Prove that you know a little bit about the subject matter, but taking the class would help you level up on your knowledge. It might take you a little while to find suitable classes, but keep looking until you have two. If your reason for wanting to take a class if that you’ve “always to learn more,” you have not looked hard enough.
A professor who you’d like to do research with.
Next, look through the professors on the homepage of your major. Then find someone whose work you admire and explain why you’d like to do research with them. But keep in mind that you should only write about them if you are familiar with their expertise. Explain what you’d bring to the table and don’t be afraid to do a deep dive (aka stalk) on Google to familiarize yourself with their work.
An extracurricular activity you plan to join.
You will not be spending all of your time in a classroom during college. Wahoo! Michigan has many student clubs and organizations, and you can look through them here. Similar to choosing a major, you can’t write about a random club. Should you get in, you can join any club that you want. But for now, you need to write about a club that is an extension of the activities that you did in high school. Due to the number of clubs, it should not be hard to find something that makes sense within the context of the rest of your application. If you are avid computer science fan, 1 Team Coding would work. If you are a sign language tutor, the American Sign Language club is a good fit. After naming the club, write about why you’re a good fit and how your background will help you contribute to the club.
Conclusion.
Let’s go back to the word count. 550 words is a lot of words, but you also have a lot to cover. If you hit the conclusion segment of your supplement and you’re under 400 words, it’s likely that you haven’t been thorough enough. We tend to use almost every word when working with TKG clients. A good use for the conclusion is anything else that is HIGHLY SPECIFIC to Michigan that you have not had the opportunity to write about yet. A bad use for the conclusion is writing about how your parents met at Michigan and you can’t wait to go to a football game. If you don’t have anything that is truly of value to include, just wrap things up nicely.
Now that we’ve gone over what you should include, let’s discuss how to actually write your response. Start by taking a look at all of the data that you’d like to include, and then start to find a narrative. Maybe it starts with a younger version of yourself, watching the History channel or begging your parents to explain how bridges are made. Your origin story will draw the reader in, so do your best to frame a narrative that you can maintain throughout the essay. You can play around with the order in which the facts appear, but do not skip over any of the components. Your response should be presented in story format with a beginning, middle, and end.
When you are applying to a competitive school alongside of 65,000 other students, it’s crucial that your supplements are perfect. Now that their supplement is out, finish up your common app essay and start thinking about what else needs to be expressed.
Let us know if you need help, we’re pros at streamlining the process.