Admission Decisions Explained

The Office of Undergraduate Admission is able to offer the admitted student a space in the incoming spring first-year class. The admitted student will be prompted to complete important next steps via the admitted student website and their UM Applicant Portal. These important next steps must be completed by the corresponding deadline and prior to matriculating at UM in the spring semester.

Admitted students must pay their nonrefundable enrollment deposit by May 1. This can be done through their UM Applicant Portal. The Office of Undergraduate Admission accepts nonrefundable enrollment deposits for the spring semester after May 1 on a space-available basis.

Please bear in mind that switching admission offers from spring to the fall is unlikely to happen as the Office of Undergraduate Admission projects that it will receive a sufficient number of fall enrollment deposits from the various admission plans, including, if necessary, from the waitlist.

Spring admitted students may not be switched to the fall waitlist.

Being deferred simply means that the Office of Undergraduate Admission needs additional time to assess your application and supporting documents within the context of the entire applicant pool and will render a final decision in the Regular Decision (RD) admission plan. A defer is not a deny decision. It is important to note that deferred applicants must opt in to be reviewed in RD. Deferred applicants may wish to submit new academic information for the next round of consideration. Any new academic information, such as first semester (or trimester) grades, must be submitted via the Common Application, Slate.org, SCOIR, or Parchment by February 9 directly from a school official. Deferred applicants will receive a final decision by April 1.

The Office of Undergraduate Admission allows applicants deferred out of Early Action (EA) to switch into Early Decision II (EDII). Deferred applicants who are interested in this option must complete the Early Decision Agreement Form by February 9. Deferred EA candidates that switch into EDII will receive a final decision in late February. The Office of Undergraduate Admission does not recommend this option for those deferred EA applicants for whom enrollment is contingent on receiving a merit scholarship or for whom there is interest in comparing need-based financial aid offers.

The Office of Undergraduate Admission offers applicants a place on the waitlist because the University does not have enough space to accommodate all the competitive students who have applied for admission. In other words, the Admission Committee has completed reviewing the student’s application and supporting documents and the student has not been admitted. However, if enough admitted students choose not to attend, waitlisted students can still be considered. To be considered, waitlisted candidates must accept their place on the waitlist by responding via their UM Applicant Portal by the date stipulated in their waitlist offer letter. If students do not respond to the Admission Committee’s waitlist offer, they will not be placed on the waitlist.

A student’s chances of getting admitted from the waitlist vary from year to year.

Following a review of the student’s application and supporting documents in our holistic review process, the Office of Undergraduate Admission is unable to offer the student a space in the incoming fall or spring first-year class. This can be due to a variety of reasons. Unfortunately, students may not appeal final decisions, including a deny.

For those who have been denied, the door to UM doesn’t have to stay closed. Each fall, we seek to enroll nearly 500 incoming transfer students. We encourage denied applicants who are still interested in attending UM to apply as a transfer student after completing one academic year of full-time study (i.e., 30 transferable credit hours, not including dual enrollment/concurrent enrollment coursework) at another regionally accredited postsecondary institution.

Further guidance regarding the transfer admission process can be found online or by contacting our office at 305-284-6000.

The Office of Undergraduate Admission offers applicants a place on the waitlist because the University does not have enough space to accommodate all the competitive students who have applied for admission. That is why it is important for transfer students to submit their application and supporting documents by the stated priority deadlines (April 1 for fall and November 1 for spring).

However, if enough admitted students choose not to attend, waitlisted students can still be considered. To be considered, waitlisted candidates must accept their place on the waitlist by responding via their UM Applicant Portal by the date stipulated in their waitlist offer letter. If students do not respond to the Admission Committee’s waitlist offer, they will not be placed on the waitlist.

A student’s chances of getting admitted from the waitlist vary from year to year.

Following a review of the student’s application and supporting documents in our holistic review process, the Office of Undergraduate Admission is unable to offer the student a space in the incoming transfer class. This can be due to a variety of reasons. Unfortunately, students may not appeal final decisions, including a deny.