ANN ARBOR, Mich. — University of Michigan officials have decided to continue making race, gender and national origin information visible to admissions officers.
In November, voters approved Proposal 2, a ballot initiative that banned the use of affirmative action by public institutions in Michigan, but university didn’t delete that information from applications. Some criticized the university, arguing that admissions officers would either consciously or unconsciously take that information into account when judging an applicant.
The university is required by federal law to ask for race, gender and national origin information on applications.
Admissions officials said in March that they hadn’t decided whether to restrict that data. But they decided over the summer to keep the information available for this admissions cycle with the understanding that it would not play a role in decisions, said Erica Sanders, the interim director of recruitment and operations for undergraduate admissions.
Sanders said she didn’t think letting admissions officers see the data would pose a problem.
“We simply have stated that race and gender cannot be considered in the process,” she said.
Sanders said the criteria for admission are the same as last year, except the essay applicants to every one of the University’s schools and colleges must write has changed.
The essay asks prospective students to respond to a statement made by University President Mary Sue Coleman in a speech she delivered the day after Proposal 2 passed.
“We know that diversity makes us a better university — better for learning, for teaching, and conducting research,” the statement reads.
The application then asks students to “share an experience through which you have gained respect for intellectual, social, or cultural differences.”
The previous three applications used a question created after the Supreme Court overturned the university’s point-based undergraduate admissions system in 2003, which asked students how they could contribute to the “diverse talents, experiences, opinions, and cultural backgrounds” on campus.
The biggest difference in this year’s application process is the creation of an early response program, which ensures that students who apply by Oct. 31 receive a response by Dec. 21.
The program differs from early decision programs used by other schools because the decision isn’t binding. While students admitted in early decision programs are required to accept the decision, early response applicants can wait until May to tell the university whether they intend to enroll.
Students who don’t apply by the early response deadline will still receive an admissions decision within eight to 12 weeks under the University’s existing rolling admissions process.
Although the early response program may encourage more students to apply early in the admissions process, the goal of the program was not to make the application process more competitive, Sanders said.
“We want to relieve anxiety for their senior year,” Sanders said.
Tom Hu, a high school senior from West Bloomfield who plans to apply to the university this fall, said the program will reassure stressed-out high school seniors.
“A lot of kids were waiting a long time last year before they got their results from Michigan,” he said. “It’s kind of nice that now they guarantee a response by that date.”