Dear U of M

Guest Writer:

To whom it may concern,

My name is Bartholomew. I am a senior at generic high school in City Town, USA. Since a very young age I have dreamed of attending the University of Michigan. My room has been swallowed whole in maize and blue since the fourth grade.

Today, however, my eyes may rest. The loud and annoying paraphernalia has been removed completely, and destroyed.

Generally, students write this time of year to express their ongoing interest in attending a university. My purpose is in fact the opposite.

I am disgusted at the way your institution’s admissions process is being run.  The spots should be awarded to the students most deserving, not simply the one who writes the prettiest e-mail, metaphorically connecting the campus to God’s pearly gates.

I have worked my entire life, despite the obstacles that have been put in my way. There are absolutely no grounds to deny me admission. My test scores are impressive and well above your averages. My GPA is spotless and filled with AP and Honors courses. My writing is phenomenal, and my abilities and ambitions as a student are unparalleled by any other.  Simply because I refuse to kiss the ground you walk upon, does not for a second mean I am ill-qualified to attend.

I am not the only one in this position. I have countless brilliant friends who are in the same position as I. They’ve been pining for admission from day one, yet for some reason have been unsuccessful.

I am not speaking for them, but I am absolutely finished with this process and with your university.  You have denied admission to some of the best and brightest and pushed away the students that can potentially improve our world.  You have upset, without grounds, the very people you claim to want at your sham of an institution. 

Unfortunately for you, I will most certainly not be attending the University of Michigan in the fall of 2011. I would much rather attend a university where my input is appreciated, my intelligence noticed, and I, as a person, am respected, instead of being recognized as an ATM with a number. 

The classes at U of M are gigantic, the professors careless. The environment is that of a diploma-mill, not one of a group of people who wish to learn.  Given the opportunity to re-do my entire application process, I would not even bother to apply. 

I could not be happier to be attending a rival school.

Good day,

Bartholomew