You asked, so here goes...

Thank you to everyone who left me comments from my last update...I'm going to do my best to keep up!

I'm going to address some of your questions in general and if I need to clarify anything -- feel free to keep leaving me your comments.

-------------------------------------------------------------

WHAT ARE MY CHANCES OF GETTING IN?

Some students asked me what their chances are of being accepted, and the truth is that there is no way to predict if you're going to be admitted.

Since we're a private university, admission decisions are based on the competitiveness of a student applicant among all students who have applied for admission. The application process is very involved, and the only concrete thing I can share with you is that the committee takes great care in reviewing all applications.

If you're very interested in applying to UM, I would encourage you to apply. We won't know if you're admissible until you've applied and have been properly reviewed by the committee.

I would also encourage students who are very interested in UM to apply under an early option. We offer both Early Decision and Early Action (both have a November 1 deadline). Our website offers more details about these options.

---------------------------------------------------------------

SPEAKING OF APPLYING EARLY - If I apply early, am I obligated to enroll?

If you apply under the Early DECISION option (as most college will offer this as an option) and you're accepted, then typically -- yes, you're obligated to withdraw all other applications and enroll in that college. You'll want to clarify that college's specific conditions, but generally, that is how Early DECISION works.

Early DECISION is not an option to take lightly. Wherever you apply, if you're applying Early Decision, I would strongly advise you speak with your school counselor about how this impacts your college application process.

Many colleges, UM included, offer an Early ACTION option -- where you apply early, receive a decision relatively early in the process, but you're still able to keep your options open. Typically, you're given until May 1 to make your final decision. You're not obligated (typically) to enroll under this option. Again, check with your college about their specific conditions.

-------------------------------------------------------------

SCHOLARSHIPS and FINANCIAL AID

UM offers academic scholarships to incoming students. For more details about what academic credentials we look for, I advise that you visit our scholarships website.

David asked if we have a community service scholarship -- the answer is that our scholarships are only awarded based on your academic credentials, but that doesn't mean these scholarships can't be earned from outside (non-college specific) organizations. You might want to see if someplace like http://www.fastweb.com/ has some leads on scholarships you can apply for and use wherever you choose to go to college.

-------------------------------------------------------------

TUITION RATES

Tuition is approximately $34,834 per academic year. Some of you asked about out-of-state rates, but since we're private, this is the tuition rate for all students.

--------------------------------------------------------------

AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE

While we offer a variety of language courses, American Sign Language is not one of them. For more information on the languages we do offer, please go to our Modern Languages and Literature department website.

--------------------------------------------------------------

HOW DO YOU KNOW IF MY SCHOOL IS COMPETITIVE?

When you apply, we ask your counselor to send us your transcripts along with information about your high school. Your high school's profile will provide us with information about your curriculum and the classes you're taking.

Please be aware that when we review an applicant for admission, we do not compare you to other applicants from other schools. We look at you in the context of your high school. We look at what classes you chose to take among the classes offered by your respective high school. There is no need to worry about grading practices, systems and scales at other schools.

When we look at an applicant, we're looking for a student who has a strong academic performance in comparison to his/her classmates. In that light, I advise that you concentrate on performing to the best of your ability at your respective school.

----------------------------------------------------------------

I'll tackle more of your questions later on this week.