UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN APPLICANT INFORMATION
This year, Michigan is continuing an early admissions option.  The primary goal of implementing an Early Response program is to give students a guaranteed decision date. For students who have Michigan as one of their top-choice schools, a decision of admit, defer, or deny before the end of December allows them to plan accordingly.  The Early Response application deadline for prospective freshman applying for Fall 2010 is November 1s and have made it a postmarked (as opposed to received by) date.  Students that apply by this date would receive a decision by the end of December.  Students whose applications are complete after the Early Response deadline will receive decisions on a rolling basis, approximately 8-12 weeks after their completed application is received by the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. Our final deadline for applications will continue to be February 1st (applications must be postmarked by this date).  Students should keep in mind that as the application volume continues to increase the later a student applies and competes their file the more competitive the review process may become.  For more information and FAQs regarding Early Response, please visit:  www.admissions.umich.edu/early

SCHOLARSHIPS
Scholarships are a reward for all of your hard work, extra effort and extra curricular activities that have filled your free moments while attending high school.  The criteria for scholarships all differ.  Examples of some are gender, religion, ACT/SAT scores, positions of leadership, sports involvement, club participation, GPA, hobbies, talents, volunteer and community service, financial need, parent’s military affiliation, future career choice, parent’s occupation, height and handicaps.  Now is a good time to start a scholarship search on the web.  Visit the following sites that will generate a list of scholarships that fit the profile that you provide:  www.fastweb.com and www.finaid.org
 These sites are very good tools for acquiring leads to get cash for college.  Once you provide your profile, your file will be updated as new scholarships become available.

SCHOLARSHIP SCAMS
If you have to pay money to get money, it’s probably a scam.  Every year, several hundred thousand students and parents are defrauded by scholarship scams.  Scam operations often imitate legitimate government agencies, grant-giving foundations,, education lenders and scholarships matching services, using official-sounding names containing words like “National”, “Federal”, “Foundation” or “Administration”.  Visit:  www.finaid.org/scholarships/scams.phtml  to learn how to identify such scholarship scams.  In general, be wary of scholarships with an application fee, scholarship matching services who guarantee success, advance-fee loan scams and sales pitches disguised as financial aid seminars.