University of Michigan: College Panel

Webinar Transcription

2024-01-03 – University of Michigan: College Panel

Hello, everyone. Welcome to CollegeAdvisors webinar, “University of Michigan College Panel.” To orient everyone with the webinar timing, we are first going to begin with a discussion, and then we’ll have the opportunity to answer any questions that you may have in our live Q&A. So before we get started into our presentation, let’s first.

Meet our panelists. All right. I can kick us off. Well, hi, everyone. Thank you for coming tonight. My name is Megan Taylor, and I am coming to you both as an alum and as a staff member from the university. So I did both my undergraduate where I studied, um, philosophy, politics, and economics. I’ll share a little bit more about that later. Um, I also did my master’s degree at the university of Michigan where I studied higher education. And then after that, I worked in admissions for several years. And also as an academic advisor in our College of Engineering. So excited to answer any questions you have and share more about why I love Michigan so much today.

Thanks for coming. Courtney. Awesome. Thank you, Megan. Um, my name is Courtney. I also did my undergrad at the University of Michigan, just like Megan. Um, I majored in neuroscience and then I did my master’s degree at Michigan as well in chemical biology and I’m currently still at Michigan, um, doing my PhD in neuroscience.

Nice. Nice. Well, it definitely shows that the two of you love Michigan, um, because you have spent quite some years there in different, um, entities. Um, so this is going to be a great panel for our audience to get a wealth of knowledge about your experience. So with that, we’re going to move into our poll for our webinar.

First poll, which is we would like to know what grade you are in. It allows us to find opportunities to speak to you directly. And so I see. I see the responses are starting to come in. Give it just one, a few more seconds. Okay. Cool. All right. So we have about 57 percent of our audience are in the 11th grade.

Followed by that, we have 22 percent in the 12th grade. And then we have, um, about 11 percent divided between our 9th and 10th grade students. So we have good representation from all high schools. school grade levels. Um, so thank you all for, um, filling out our poll. And with that, we are going to jump into our learning more about your Michigan experience.

So Megan, if you don’t mind kicking us off and sharing, if you can go back into the college application process, let us know how that was. Sure, so for me, I grew up in a small town in northern Michigan, about 3.5 hours or so north of Ann Arbor and growing up in the state of Michigan. It was. Always a dream of mine to go to Michigan, but I was always quite nervous because it can be competitive.

Think about the application process. Um, I have. So often use the term kind of quasi 1st gen to explain my experiences because my parents weren’t able to be super active in helping me think about college. Um, so I often thought about my experience that kind of solo, I’m thinking about, you know, how to navigate the college application process.

Um, I did apply to quest bridge though, which was an amazing resource and opportunity for me. Um, so through quest bridge, I was able to connect with other, um, application resources and get a lot of support to help me navigate that because overall, I did find applying to college to be kind of overwhelming and confusing.

So, if you’re feeling that way, you are definitely not alone in that. Um, but I still was really excited, you know, I was excited to see what was next. I was excited to see what opportunities might come forward for me through the application process. But while I was thinking about where to go to college, I was really focused on.

Scholarships and financial aid and really focused on, you know, what college would be the most affordable for me and my family. So, when I apply the University of Michigan, I was accepted through early action and then received a really supportive financial aid package, which really allowed me to attend there.

So. I’m going to pause here for just 1 second and make sure everything is okay with our webinar platform. So if you are with us here, just hang tight for 1 moment while I check in with our moderator.

Here we are. Hi, Lonnie. Is everything okay on your end with the connection? Great. I just wanted to make sure we can hear you. We can hear you. Yeah. Perfect. Okay. Thanks everyone for standing with us. So as I shared overall, I applied to a number of schools throughout the state of Michigan, as well as various schools within the Big Ten.

It was somewhat important to me to stay close locally because I wanted to be closer to my family. And so for me, when I was accepted to the University of Michigan, it was really a dream come true because I was able to stay in state going to such a you know, um, world renowned institution and still be close to family.

Um, in a way that was also financially possible for me. So that’s something I’m still thankful for now. Um, I will say that for me, the university of Michigan was the perfect combination of academics with a really vibrant student life. I, um, love athletics. I loved sports growing up. And so for me coming into a Big 10, um, atmosphere and being a part of that sports world as well was also very exciting.

I always. And I’m going to say you never ever forget your first football game in the big house. So for me, kind of having that commitment to education and learning, but also just having such a wonderful kind of student life was really what drew me to attend the University of Michigan. Uh, so I always encourage students to think about the overall school atmosphere when you’re thinking about what school is a great fit for you, of course, you want it to be the right fit academically and making sure they have the programs and the majors that are going to help you reach your career goals, but also beyond that, thinking about what type of atmosphere is a good fit for you.

And I know for me, even the city of Ann Arbor was just a really exciting. Um, thing that drew me in and made me excited to be a student at the University of Michigan. So, if we can go ahead to the next slide. So, I just wanted to share a little bit about what I studied as a student there. Um, so I’ll say when I was your age, or when I was a high school student, I was.

Very undecided and what I wanted to study in college. Um, I was honestly really confused about this because in high school, I loved so many different subjects and so many classes, but I didn’t really have a clear kind of career path. I was interested in and 1 thing that made me feel really confident about pursuing the University of Michigan.

Was I knew that no matter what major I ended up settling on, it would be strong and there would be a strong academic program for me because of how well kind of versed and widespread Michigan’s academic focus is. I knew that no matter where I found myself, there would be great experts there to help me learning in that area.

So, I freshman year, mostly was just taking general education courses. I’m called liberal arts classes really to help me think about what I was interested in. I took a few courses that I was really drawn to and political science that I was really excited by. And so I started. Kind of focusing my energy more in that department and then in my sophomore year, I went to what’s called a major minor fair.

So that’s kind of just like a college fair. If you’ve been to 1 of those where all of the different departments came, it was a big ballroom and there was representatives from all of the different majors to talk with you about what it would be like to major in that subject. And while I was there, I met a professor who would become a huge mentor to me and is still a dear friend and mentor to me now, even six, seven years since I graduated college.

And so this faculty member, this professor helped me learn about the major, what it could be like to study philosophy, politics and economics. They really encouraged me. They helped, you know, support me through the application process because this was a major you had to apply for. Um, and ultimately it was a great fit for me.

Now I work in education, so I’m not necessarily working directly in these three subfields, but what I loved about this major is it really taught me how to have strong reading skills, critical reading skills. Strong writing skills, different problem solving and critical thinking that really prepared me well for graduate school.

So I then pursued my master’s degree in education, which really set me up for the career I’m pursuing now and the dream work that I’m doing. With my background in education. So that’s a little bit more about my time as an undergrad. I’m going to go ahead and welcome in our other presenter, Courtney now, and then I’m happy to share more about my experiences later during the Q and a as well.

But thank you. And here’s Courtney. Yeah, thank you. Thank you, Megan. So before we jump into hearing about Courtney’s experience. We want to do our next poll, so we want to get a sense of where you are in the application process. So believe it or not, the application process doesn’t just begin, you know, the summer going into your senior year.

So let us know, perhaps you haven’t started. Maybe you’re researching schools and University of Michigan is one of those schools that you’re really interested in and you’re here today so that you can learn more about it. Maybe you’re working on essays, getting application material together, or you’re a senior and you’re almost done.

Okay, cool. So far, so good. Our responses, we have 33 percent haven’t started, and another 33 percent are currently researching schools. Followed by that, we have 16 percent that are working on their essays, another 16 percent getting their application material together, and then 11 percent that are almost done.

So congratulations to those who are almost done, and definitely congratulations to those who are just getting started. starting in the process too. Okay. So with that, I will turn it over to Courtney now to share about your experience. Thank you, Lonnie. Also, I just want to preface this with, I’m getting over a cold, so if you hear me clear my throat a little bit or take a pause for a drink of water, that’s why.

Um, so my application process I feel like it was pretty similar to Megan. I also grew up in a small town. Not a lot of people in my hometown were going to college. Certainly not any Ivy league schools. Um, like Michigan, I feel like was the biggest. Dream for most of the people in my school if they were planning to attend college at all.

So With that my school didn’t have a lot of resources um Or help in the application process. I also didn’t have a lot of help in the application process at home um, so I was qualified through FAFSA as an independent student for expected family contribution. So that basically means that financially I didn’t have any resources coming from my parents or other means of income.

So that was something that really played into it. My college application process in a big reason why I think Michigan was one of the biggest schools that I applied to because I was from the state of Michigan and I didn’t really think that going out of state was feasible for me, though, Michigan was still my top choice.

Just being in how great of a school I felt like it was. And then now I know to be true. So before I actually accepted and came to Michigan. I had never visited before. So my first visit on campus was actually moving into my dorm freshman year. Um, but throughout that process, I was accepted early action.

So similar to Megan. And then I was enrolled in the Kessler Presidential Scholars Program, which is a program for first generation college students. Um, it’s now expanded into, I think, 15 other universities. Um, it pays the tuition. Throughout your four years of undergrad. It’s a wonderful program. I definitely recommend checking it out.

If you’re in a first generation, um, college student category, or even just looking at some of the other programs that are offered at Michigan. So they’re living, learning communities. I think they’re all excellent communities to make you feel like, um, you’re a little more immersed in a community arriving on campus rather than having to, like, go out and search for a community.

Yeah, so I did apply to eight other universities, but they’re all in state. Um, so Michigan was definitely my top choice. I think for a lot of people from the state of Michigan, it usually comes down to a Michigan, Michigan State. Battle of which school you’re going to go to if you want to stay in state and Michigan was always my top choice.

Um, as Megan mentioned earlier, I think the sports is also a big draw for me. The campus culture that we have around football and our other sports teams is just so unique to anything I’ve seen anywhere else. And I’ve lived in other states since, um. Growing up in Michigan and also attending the University of Michigan.

I’ve lived in a couple of southern states and even being there and wearing Michigan gear or being I’ve been at an international airport wearing Michigan gear and I’ve gotten people that have come to me and said go blue. And I think there’s just like a huge amount of people. In the world that just recognize like how good of a university is it is and a lot of that also has to do with like the sports culture.

So I think you kind of get the best of both worlds academic performance and the sports culture. Um, and then again, the Kessler scholars program offered. amazing support and a really good adjustment for me coming from a small town, a low SES family, and also not feeling like I had a lot of resources or knowledge around, like, how do I choose a major?

How do I, you know, at the time, um, which I’ll talk about on the next slide, I was going to be a pre med student. So, um, I think sometimes, or a lot of the time you hear when you’re good at science in high school that, oh, well, you should be a doctor. That’s just the natural progression. Um, so for me, that was also the natural progression is I’m, I’m good at science.

So I’m going to be a doctor and. I took all the pre med classes my first year. I took psychology and microbiology and molecular biology as part of those intro pre med classes, and I really liked psychology and molecular biology, so I wanted to find a way to merge them together, and that became neuroscience for me, um, so I feel like I didn’t do a whole lot of major exploration.

I kind of just took some classes and realized that’s what I liked and then put it together, um, And then also for being a pre med student, your major didn’t, it didn’t really matter. Um, so for me, I was just trying to fulfill those pre med requirements that I could apply to medical school. And then I changed my mind along the way.

So I became involved in research. Michigan is one of the best places to pursue biomedical research. I started working in a neuroscience lab and I, uh, Loved it. I thought I didn’t know before coming to Michigan that you could do research full time as a job. Um, And then I kind of just stayed on that track and slowly decided, you know, did I want to be a doctor in the medical field or do I want to do research?

And over the years it kind of became more toward, okay, well, I, I did really enjoy helping people and I was also working in the hospital at the time, but research was where I really felt like I belonged. And so I followed that path. And now I’m here. Um, But all that to say, I mean, the path will not be linear, linear, no matter what you choose, and it’s definitely okay to change your mind along the way.

Nice, nice. I really have enjoyed hearing both of you all’s stories and what kind of got you to University of Michigan and where your journey continues to take you. So with that, we are now going to move into our live questions and answers. So for our audience. Um, what you can do is there is a Q& A tab that is on the platform and you can go ahead and begin placing your questions in there for our panelists to answer.

I’ll read the question out loud and I’ll give our panelists the opportunity to answer them. Um, and also if you notice that the Q& A tab may not be working, try logging out. And logging back in through the custom link that was in your email. And then also if you’re interested in downloading our slides, you can click on our handouts tab and the slides are readily available for you to download.

And the last thing I get, I’ll get a lot of questions about, is this webinar being recorded? And yes, it is. And so you will be able to access this. Um, if there’s something that maybe you didn’t catch or you want to go back over, you’ll be able to look at it on our CollegeAdvisor. com website. Okay, so we’re going to move into our first question.

And Courtney, you started to talk a little bit about, um, kind of the community of University of Michigan. As you said, like, you’ll be traveling and someone notices your gear and they’re like, oh, blue. Um, so could you share with us, like, how is the campus culture?

Yeah, I would love to. Um, I think, so I’ve been here for seven years now. And I think the campus culture has pretty much stayed true to being very well, I would say welcoming overall, definitely what, you know, the largest issues surrounding either our nation or the world at the time, you will definitely see a presence of people, you know, debating those things, having protests, having marches, which I think is something that’s very, not just unique to Michigan.

As a school, I think you’ll find that at a lot of other universities, but I feel like in a respectful way, the students here approach those issues and really tend to listen to like both sides and like have good debates about these conflicts that are going on in the world around us. And it’s definitely something.

But I feel like, I mean, we should be discussing, we should listen to other people’s viewpoints. We should have viewpoints of our own, like share those things in an academic setting. And I think the university at large really welcomes that sort of viewpoint and stance on different topics going on. And then socially, I feel like the campus is very vibrant socially.

There’s tons of social activities outside of sports. I mean, I have plenty of friends that don’t like sports, don’t have any interest in going to football games or any other athletic events. And we have a wonderful farmer’s market here. Every Saturday and Wednesday, right next to the university campus. We have multiple theaters where you can see different types of, um, artistic performances, um, such as like concerts, orchestras, plays.

Um, yeah, I think we have pretty much anything that you could think of. And if we don’t already have it, then we have tons of resources throughout like academic support offices to start. The on campus also great. Awesome. Thank you, Courtney for answering that for our next question, which there might be some overlap.

And so, Megan, do you mind answering? You know, how was your experience being at 1 of the top academic schools in addition to being 1 of the biggest state schools? In the country, um, any insight you want to share? Yeah, of course. So this is actually I think 1 of my favorite things about the University of Michigan and its culture and Courtney was just kind of referencing.

That is the students on campus. They truly are.

I think for me, that was really exciting because often in high school, I felt like, you know, the only student, the only person who cared about school. And, um, I always loved school. I always loved learning. And so, for me to be around friends and peers in the classroom, who were just, you know, happy to be there and really taking their academics and the opportunity that we had to study there seriously, and, I’m not taking it for granted.

I was always just so inspired by all of my friends and my classmates. And so I loved that experience is definitely challenging. You know, 1 thing I tell my students now as an academic advisor is, um, it’s not meant to be easy, right? This is a rigorous institution and for a reason. And so. You will struggle in classes, but that’s okay, and you’re meant to struggle truly.

Um, so something I always tell my students is that you can do hard things, and just because, you know, Calc 1 is hard doesn’t mean you’re not capable of succeeding in it and then moving on to Calc 2. So I would say don’t, you know, be intimidated by the rigor, but it definitely will challenge you. Um, I often felt like I was reading hundreds of pages a week as I got into my junior and senior year, and I was shocked by how much I was learning so rapidly, but I was also like, well, I guess that happens.

That’s what happens when you’re, you know, forced to read hundreds of pages a week. So it’s amazing experience to learn so much about the world around you and yourself. Um, but definitely be, you know, prepared for the challenge, I would say, but on the flip side of that, I think our students. No, truly enjoy hobbies and activities and things elsewhere to really kind of, um, just, you know.

Take a moment away from the library and a minute away from studies. And so, whether you’re doing something like the farmer’s market, Courtney mentioned, or one of the theaters, we have amazing food in Ann Arbor, um, or one of our student clubs, our student organizations, our student body is just so involved and so active.

I felt like that as a student and again as an advisor that every student is involved in so many different endeavors that just bring them joy. So whether it’s, you know, I have students who are involved in a fashion magazine where they edit and write an entire publication. And then there are students who go to every single basketball game.

There are students who are Building different engineering projects like our solar car team. So I’m always amazed to see like the fun things that they get up to too. So as you know, challenging as the academics are, it’s definitely rewarding. And then there’s so much to do beyond the academics to still have fun and enjoy your time in college and, you know, have time to take care of yourself and your wellbeing too.

Nice. Thanks. Um, for Courtney, um, Someone asked around just like ACT and SAT scores. Um, and do you have like a sense, maybe like what’s a good average, you know, test score to aim for to, you know, maybe be, um, considered for admissions at the University of Michigan? So I think they used to show, and they should still have this on their website, the average SAT score of, But I, it really varies.

Um, and I think Michigan in, in general is one of those schools that has become test optional for one. And then also they really take that seriously. Um, it’s not. I don’t think it’s necessary to submit your score, but I also feel like I mean, if you’re proud of your score, then you should submit that. Um, but it’s really going to come down to your personal statement.

So something that Michigan values very highly is your personal story and your personal statement. And they’re really, Looking for the type of person you are morally, um, what types of adversity or diversity you have overcome or come from what you’re going to bring to the campus, they care about that a lot more than they care about how well of a test taker you are.

Um, and, you know, When I was applying, it was 2015. So it’s kind of hard to gauge my score versus what your score other students scores would look like now, because in general, we have, you know, an exponential population growth and there’s more people in the application pool than when I was applying. Um, but yeah, just in general, I think if you’re proud of your score, you should submit it.

Um, And, but at the end of the day, not stress about it too hard because it really is going to come down to that personal statement with test optional schools. Um, and that’s something that we always talk about, like also in advising meetings too, is trying to figure out, well, should you submit your score?

Those are conversations that I have all the time with my students. Yeah, and I can go ahead and chime in to Courtney. So Michigan will specifically look at your test score within the context of your high school. And so sharing the average score across the applicant pool isn’t really all that helpful because.

What is a strong score for one school in one region of the country or one county might not necessarily be strong in another because what we know about test scores is that they do very significantly based on the type of high school that you’re attending. And so Michigan will look at the average of your high school and what other students who are applying from your high school are reporting.

So I think actually the best way to answer this question is to talk with your high school guidance counselor and see if your high school counselor can give you any insight into the average scores and your high school class. And that can help kind of advise you, because Michigan is looking to admit the top students from every high school that’s applying.

And so they will be looking at the roster of students who are applying from your school. And so. That’s something to keep in mind. You might see the average is posted on their website, but they really will look more specifically at your high school context. Um, I’ll also add to that the test score, if you choose to submit it is 1 piece of your application.

And so by choosing to submit it, you’re giving them more information about yourself, but by choosing not. to they’re going to rely more heavily on other aspects of your application. And so I do agree with Courtney that the personal statement is one of the most important elements to the application. Um, but Michigan is, you know, a very rigorous academic school, so they will look very seriously at your academic.

So if you’re choosing not to submit a test score, they will look more closely at your transcript, what classes you’re choosing to take your teacher’s letters of recommendations. Your school counselor’s recommendation of you. So if you feel really, really proud of your transcript, your grades, and maybe that’s good to have that more highlighted, but let’s say maybe you had a rocky or junior year and you had lower grades, but you have a really strong test score that can give a stronger.

kind of overall view of your academics. So try to think of how all of those academic components work together. That test score is just one piece of how they’re going to look at your academic background. Great. Awesome. Thank you. Um, so this question still relates to admissions. Um, so Courtney, Megan, you both can answer it if you would like, um, do you feel there was anything unique to your application or anything in particular in regard to your credentials that influence your acceptance to Michigan?

Go blue.

Maybe, um, Courtney, you want to start us off? Sure. Um, yeah, so I think that maybe a little bit hard to say, um, because as Megan was mentioning, I mean, I never talk to my high school counselor about what, I don’t know what test scores looked like at my school or how many people from my school even applied, um, to Michigan.

So I’m not sure, like, how. I ranked compared to like the other students in my high school. Um, I would say I think my personal statement really shines in my application. Um, but more so because of the adversity that I had faced up until that point of applying. And so before I applied to Michigan and for two years before that, I had been an independent student, so I was not living with my parents.

I was not fully emancipated, um, but I think that’s a unique situation that we don’t see with a lot of students. So I feel like that’s probably a big consideration and then but on top of that I still I was taking AP classes or at least my school only had two AP classes and I took both of those and I was dual enrolling at the community college nearest to my high school and taking college courses at the same time.

So I still had the academic rigor with a good personal statement which I feel like is what they’re looking for a lot of the time.

Megan, do you want to add anything? I would say very similar to Courtney. I think overall, probably the 2 strongest components of my application or probably the classes I was taking. And so I went to a small school. So, similarly, we didn’t have a lot of AP, but I was able to take. A lot of dual enrollment through our local community college.

And I think that helped add a lot of rigor to my application. Uh, Michigan really loves to see that you’re just making the most of whatever opportunities you have available to you. So if you’re at a high school where there’s, you know, 20 APs, they’d love to see you making the most and taking those APs that you’re excited about and that are aligned with your interests.

Um, but if your high school doesn’t offer that, that’s okay. Um, but showing that you’re taking advantage of the classes that you do have, um, And then similarly, that why Michigan essay, which is 1 of the supplemental essays, Michigan will ask basically, you know, what draws you to the University of Michigan.

I think that essay is 1 of the most important aspects of the application for Michigan to they really want to see. Why they’re a good fit for you. And what about the campus you’re excited about. And so for me, I had a few alumni in my life who helped kind of mentor me. They gave me a tour of campus and helped that really come alive for me to picture what I would.

You know, want to do as a student on campus. And so I think really focusing your time on that. Why Michigan essay? Um, it’s I know this sounds silly, but it is truly so easy to tell what you’re using a template essay on those applications. And so truly crafting a, you know, a, why Michigan essay that you put the time and effort into will definitely make your application trying to.

Okay, great insight. So, Megan, I’m going to have you start this question answering this question. Who helps advise slash mentor you as you are deciding slash changing your major? And what support does UM offer undergraduates? Yeah, this is a great question. So, um, I guess the first thing is you were definitely not expected to have it all figured out yet.

Um, there are a few specific programs, of course, like nursing, where you would start taking those classes right away as a freshman, but beyond those specific programs, Michigan is really set up to give you time to explore. And so really throughout your first year on campus, you will have different.

Different requirements that you’ll take that can help you explore different majors and different career fields, but there is really no pressure to declare. I would say on average. Students are declaring sometime in their sophomore year. But even towards the end of that sophomore year, you would still perfectly be on track to graduate in 4 years.

So long as you’re working with your academic advisor. So academic advisors are people just like me. I worked as an advisor for several years. And they’re basically just there to help listen to you. And here, what you’re interested in, help listen to your strengths and then share ideas with you a possible majors or career or career pathways.

So, for example, when I was an academic advisor, students would just schedule an appointment with me as often as they’d like. It’s not required by any of our academic units. But it is available, and so some students would meet with me every other week. Some students I only met with one time, but there are different resources for you to come in and talk with an academic advisor who can recommend different classes.

Beyond that, we also have our career center, and so they can also help you think about like, Oh, what types of jobs would this major prepare me for so that you can get a better sense of that as well? And I also mentioned the major minor fair, so that is just a small example of different events. You can go to 2 where different majors will host kind of like open houses or information nights.

So you can go. You can often talk with alumni about how they’re using their major. Now that they’ve graduated, you can get data about different starting salaries. Different grad school opportunities if you pursue that major. Um, so I would say there is a ton of resources, but you have to kind of start and initiate that conversation.

So going and having a conversation with your academic advisor or going and going to a career coaching appointment, um, always tell my students the first year is like a data gathering year. Like you can just kind of see. What you’re learning and take it all in and start to make sense of what you’re enjoying.

Um, and then we can kind of go from there to pick classes that you’re excited about. And hopefully that kind of naturally progresses to a major as well. Courtney, do you want to add on to that? Yeah, just a couple. Um, so you’ll have your academic advisor. advisor. And then once you declare a major, you’ll have an advisor in that program department as well, which is nice.

And I think for, for me, because there was a lot of different science majors, I met with a couple academic advisors, like one in psychology, um, One in BCN, which is biocognition and neuroscience, and then one in the neuroscience department to kind of see which degree pathway would be the best for me. And then it ultimately went with neuroscience.

So I was able to have my academic advisor that I went to a lot for. like general support and questions. My major specific advisor in neuroscience that could help me with coursework, picking classes, like, um, they really understand like the curriculum and what kind of workload each of those specific classes is like.

So they could help me decide like which classes I should take each semester. And then I also went and saw Pre med advise and pre med advisor, which is, um, offered in the regular academic advising office. You can go see them at any time. They’ll help you figure out also what classes to take when you should study for the MCAT kind of like your pre med journey.

And then I’ve also been to the Career Center, as Megan mentioned, um, and I found that super helpful. I took skills assessment tests through the Career Center, so that’s something that you also have access to. Um, I think you can get, like, I did a reduced, like, cost price because they have, like, two of, it’s like two of the, Three, I think there’s three main like career skill assessment tests that a lot of like big companies use and they offer two of them that you can take for a low cost price, which is very helpful.

Um, and then lastly, my research advisor was very helpful along the way and like figuring out my career path. So I feel like no matter like what you’re interested in, there will be other people. That you find along the way that will advise you in some way, especially if you just asked for it. Like everybody is very welcoming and helpful and understands where you’re at at this point in life.

And most of them are very happy to give you their advice in some form or another. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, so moving into our next question. Let’s see. Oh, awesome. Thank you. Megan for for answering that. Um, so, um, is there Megan? Do you want to just kind of shout out loud? Are there are you aware of any summer online programs for high school students that University of Michigan offers in other ways for students to kind of get more of a personal kind of touch with the college itself?

Megan, you’re muted. Sure, I was just going to grab the link to put it in the chat. So someone had asked about summer programs. Actually, if you go to this link here, you can see all of the available summer programs that the university offers for K through 12 students. So you can filter it by your different interests and academic, you know, um, interests as well.

So that is a great place to start. And then we also have a website called Michigan online, which teaches different Online classes and modules. I’m not necessarily for credit, but just kind of for interest sake, kind of like Khan Academy or perhaps even YouTube. Um, so this is often featuring different faculty or different, um, research that’s happening on campus and just showcasing that, um, learning and knowledge with others.

So those are both awesome resources if you wanted to. Take advantage of that in terms of getting more personal with the college. I think my main advice would be to engage with the admissions office directly. So, whether that is the opportunity to come and tour campus. If you’re able to come to campus, I think it’s really nice to get to see it for yourself and experience it.

But if you’re not able to come and take a tour, there are also. Great, really nice virtual tours on the Michigan admissions website, where students walk around and showcase different areas of campus. They offer virtual information sessions as well as virtual Q and A’s with students similar to this, but I think is a great way to learn more for yourself too.

Um, because coming to events like this can really help you learn about things about Michigan that are a good fit for you, that you could then reference in that why Michigan essay that I mentioned earlier, um, which was the other question, someone had asked what essay I was referring to. And so I just shared the link to the essay questions in the chat.

Great, great. Awesome. Thank you for sharing that. And you all can see those responses in the public chat for your reference. Okay, so we’re just going to take a short pause for me to share more about the work that we do within CollegeAdvisor. And so for those who are in the room who aren’t already working with us, we know how overwhelming that mission process can be, even for you.

All that are thinking about, you know, going to the University of Michigan and so our team of over 300 former admission officers and admission experts are ready to help you and your family navigate it all in one on one advising sessions. Take the next step in your college admission journey by signing up for a free consultation using the QR code on the screen.

During that consultation, a member of our team will review your current extracurricular lists, discuss how it lines up with your college goals, And help you find opportunities for growth and leadership. After standing , you’ll be able to select a date and time for a phone conversation with a member of our team.

Okay, so now we’re gonna move into the second half of our live questions and answers. So let’s. Let me go back in to do, uh, someone had asked a question in regards to majors. Let me go. Um, so someone asked, like, how do you pick a major when there’s so many options? Megan, you want to start it off? Sure, so I think kind of as I was sharing earlier, I would just encourage you to have an open mind and look at every semester they’ll launch the LS& A course guide, which is just an online catalog of all of the classes being taught.

You’ll have some different requirements that you have to complete throughout your time. And so it can be nice to work with an academic advisor and think about like, okay, what class could I take that would satisfy, you know, my social science requirement, but would also be, you know, up my alley and my interest.

And I would just have an open mind with that. And then, as you’re taking your classes, kind of check in with yourself over. You know, what classes are coming naturally to you? What classes are you feeling excited about? What classes are you always procrastinating in, right? Try to pay attention to how you’re acting with your coursework and get a sense of what classes you’re really, truly enjoying.

I think when it comes to choosing your major and choosing your career, you really, truly have to try to remove ego and think about, Oh, my friends are doing pre med kind of like Courtney was talking about. There can feel some pressure, especially coming from high school over, well, this is what my parents expect, or this is what, you know, everyone thought I would do.

They always thought I would be an engineer because I love math, but I actually want to study English. So now is the time to really be honest with yourself and allow yourself to pursue what you’re interested in and then start to think about building a career from there. Because so often I talk with a student in junior or senior year who followed a path only because their parents pushed them to, or they thought it looked good on paper, but they’re not enjoying it and then they don’t have.

The energy or the motivation and they’re feeling burnout already, and they haven’t even graduated college yet, let alone worked 30, 40 years in that industry. And so I think it’s so important just to be honest with yourself and think about truly what is giving you energy and what you want to pursue. Um, and so then once you.

Start to listen to yourself and what classes you’re liking. Hopefully that will come naturally. I ended up doing a minor in women’s studies, um, which I had never planned on, but truthfully, I, I took one women’s studies class and I really liked it. So I took another one and then I took another one. And then shortly I had enough credits to make it a minor.

And so pretty often, once you find yourself in the right path, it’ll snowball quite naturally, I think is always the goal. Um, but I know Courtney shared some great. Tidbits earlier about her pivot too, if you want to share more. Yeah, no, that was great. I wish my advisor would have given me the same advice as Megan kind of mentioned.

Um, you know, I felt an immense pressure leaving pre med and even up until, um, after I graduated undergrad, I still was on the path of I’m You know, I’m going to med school. I’m going to become a doctor. And I had to have some tough conversations with myself about, well, I feel like I’m dragging myself to study for the MCAT, but I’m loving going into the lab every day and doing research.

So, you know, as Megan said, like eventually things will just naturally start to feel right for you. And it really became. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to be a doctor because I didn’t want to help people. It was more so the workload, the work life balance just wasn’t all there. Um, whereas I felt like I had creativity to explore different research questions and have a balance and not have to be in a ton of debt to follow the research path.

So. Along your journey, you’ll figure it out. And I wouldn’t worry too much about trying to decide a major now, though. I know it can be a little bit daunting when you start to look at applications and they’re asking. No, first, second, third choice, major options. Um, but you really don’t have to pick right now.

Um, I would, I usually just give the general advice of, well, what sounds interesting to you right now? Well, let’s go with, you know, let’s go with that. Or what did you write about in your personal statement? Let’s go with what you’re interested in now. Nobody’s going to hold you to that when you get to the university.

They’re not going to say, well, you told us you wanted to major in biology. You’re going to major in biology. Nobody’s going to tell you that. Um, you’re going to be free to decide whatever you want when you get there. So don’t stress about it too much. Great. Great. Um, our next question is, um, Are there schools slash programs or majors that have direct admit as a first year at University of Michigan?

So there are, and I will say it is kind of evolving. It has changed a bit in the past few years. And so, especially for our younger students in the room, freshmen, sophomores, juniors, make sure you’re looking at this as you come into the year that you’re applying as well. But for the University of Michigan, there are seven different freshmen admitting units.

that you can choose between. And so starting with the College of Literature, Science and the Arts, that’s our largest unit, the liberal arts unit. And so that’s where the majority of our social sciences, natural sciences are. So that’s where both Courtney and I graduated. It’s the largest unit by far. And we have engineering, nursing, music, theater and dance, art and design.

Architecture and the school of kinesiology, which is athletic training, physical therapy routes like that. So, the 1st step will be choosing which of those 7 units is the right fit for you and then there are some specialty. Um, majors that you will apply to, um, the 2 most kind of common and high profile ones that I’ll mention are computer science and business.

So, computer science is new. It just started last year. So we’re still kind of learning how that process is looking, but. At this time, if you’re interested in studying computer science, that’s something you would indicate when you apply either to engineering or LS& A, the liberal arts unit. Um, same thing with the Ross School of Business.

That’s something that you would be directly admitted to during your application. It is kind of a complicated process, so I don’t want to go further into the weeds here, but if you do have questions, you can always reach out and we can talk more about your individual, you know, questions or I can share links where you can get in touch with the admissions office too.

Awesome. Thank you. Um, this question, um, I’ll turn this one over to Courtney. This question says, um, I’m interested in learning more about research opportunities that exist at the University of Michigan. Do you have any insight, Courtney, that you can offer? Yeah, so I think the first thing that UROP program.

So that’s our Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program. Um, Um, you can start that as a freshman or a sophomore, or you can do it both years. Um, and that allows you to start research in a lab right away. So it’ll be a short application. They’ll ask you a little bit about what you’re interested in and then you’ll get matched with a lab.

Um, and I believe that program is also. Corresponds to work study. If you have work study, you can use that program for a work study as well, which is kind of nice. Um, but I think that’s our first intro into research that most students use. If you want to get started right away when you come on campus. Um, if not, which I feel is understandable if you want to come to campus, kind of take things all in and then get involved in research.

Um, you would really just look at. So what department are you interested in? I mean, we have research all over campus, not just in the medical school or biomedical fields, um, you know, there’s public health, public policy, there’s economic research, environmental research, so you would just look at that division that, that, what, whichever division you’re interested in, and then, you know, With a simple Google search, you could, you know, search environmental research UMich, and it’s going to show you the SEES school, which is our environmental school at Michigan.

Um, and then there will be a page that says like current research or researchers on campus, you look through their profiles, and then really from there, or at least this is the way that I approached it was, cold emailing the people that I was interested in working with. So I sent quite a few emails. Um, I interviewed with a lot of different labs to try and figure out where I felt I would be most productive.

Um, and something that’s always been very important to me and I feel like is A little bit overlooked sometimes when you’re applying to programs like this or opportunities like this is that you should have your own self advocacy and realize that, you know, you’re not just free labor and you have a say and you can work in.

There’s so many opportunities at Michigan for work and research that I wouldn’t just take the first one. I would go visit the lab, visit the people in it, really see if this is somewhere that you feel like you’d thrive. Are the people happy there? That’s a really important one, you know, to Not everybody is happy in every situation, but if you feel like it’s just like any other community that you go into in Michigan, like if it feels like people are a good, solid community, then you’ll probably do well there.

And that for me, even like in my PhD now and working with other people who are, we still rotate through labs. That’s what I’ve been doing this whole year. The fifth lab that I’ve been in for the past year now. Um, and the biggest piece of advice that I always give people in that me and my friends follow is that it’s really about the atmosphere and not about the research, because the research question, you should at least be like a little bit interested in learning more about, but it’s really the atmosphere where you’re going to thrive the most.

Great. All right. Thank you, Courtney. Um, and then our. This may be our final question. Um, so just given the competitive nature of admission process, um, what are some unique ways for an applicant to stand out amongst others? And any creative ideas that you have experienced? And so I’ll turn it over to Megan.

Um, as I know you have an admission officer perspective that you can probably add into this. Sure. I think both Courtney and I have mentioned this throughout the presentation today, but I would say for me, the two biggest things I always encourage my students to focus on for the Michigan application are your essays.

So like Courtney mentioned that personal statement and then the why Michigan essay, the community’s essay is also very valuable to share more about yourself, but truly Michigan wants to see that you are interested in being a student there, that you didn’t just tack them onto your common app because you You know, applying to 30 schools.

So they’re really looking for students that have taken the time to do research, like coming to tonight’s webinar, you could write about your op and your essay, right? You could write about how much you want to work with the career center and go to the different events that we mentioned. So taking the time to poke around on the different websites online, and then really writing a specific essay for you.

Um, I once heard this advice given and I’ve always. Um, thought about it, which is that if you wrote your essay about why you wanted to attend the University of Michigan and you printed it out to edit it and you didn’t put your name on it and let’s say you dropped it in the hallway. If your best friend picked it up, they should know that that is your essay because it’s so specific about you and Michigan, right?

So we don’t just need to hear like, Oh, U of M is a number one school and I love football, right? We want to know why U of M is a great school for you. So really personalizing that essay and taking the time to highlight what you’re excited about. Another strategy I always encourage is, uh, you can imagine it’s the end of your freshman year of college.

Um, what was this year like for you? What did you spend your time doing? What clubs did you get involved with? What, Sporting events. Did you go to what research did you do? Right? Paint us a picture of what types of things you’re going to get involved with and take advantage of on campus. So, um, that would be my best advice for the essays.

The second thing I would say too, is really highlighting in your activities, your leadership and commitment. Um, so I think this is, you know, advice for a Any college you’re applying to, but Michigan truly is looking for students who have committed to their activities and involvement, either over a long period of time or over a significant amount of time dedicated.

And so rather than highlighting, you know, one activity you did one time three years ago, maybe it’s the volunteer activity that you do every week for four years, or maybe it’s You know, maybe you help take care of your younger siblings, but it’s something you do every single day. So they’re looking for the ways that you’re more involved in your different communities, whether that be at school, at church, at work and your family, um, and highlighting any leadership there, even if it’s not a formal leadership role, right?

Maybe you’re not the president. But maybe you took the lead in planning an event. So highlighting leadership and depth in your involvement is something Michigan will really value to. Great. Um, Courtney, is there anything you want to add to this question that hasn’t been shared? No, I think Megan’s got it all covered.

Okay. Awesome. Okay, everyone. So with that, that now concludes our University of Michigan College panel. Thank you, Megan. Thank you, Courtney, for your insight and sharing about your experience attending the University of Michigan and for our audience, Just want to let you know that for the month of January, we have a great list of webinars that are coming up.

Today was our first webinar at the start of the year. Happy New Year. Um, we will continue with a series of different webinars that are ranging from, you know, talking about your resume to getting admission officers advice to some other additional college panels that we will be hosting. So we hope to see you at a future webinar.

Um, and also upon exiting the webinar, you will have a pop up screen that will come up if you are interested in having a free consultation with a member of our team, um, to learn more about our services within college advisor. So with that, thank you all. Thank you, Courtney. Thank you, Megan. Good night, everyone.

Bye

bye Megan.