<p>I was wondering my chances of admission at the University of Wisconsin- Madison. I have a 3.8 Cumulative GPA, and an ACT plus Writing Composite score of 29. I attend a private school (supposedly college prep). I have taken Honors Biology and Chemistry courses, Physics and Calculus. I received my Eagle Scout award, and have participated in a robotics club and Chess Club, along with "Academic Challenge" or Quiz Bowl, for four years. I played football for two years, and baseball for four years. I have over 110 service hours. I am not in National Honor Society (I am wondering how much this will affect me). Please post any thoughts you have. Thanks!</p>
<p>I’d say you were in the vast middle range of applicants. I hope that 3.8 is unweighted. Lack of any AP courses may hurt you, especially as you are at a private school which should provide a rigorous college prep curriculum. Write excellent essays and get great recommendations. Good luck!</p>
<p>Yes, the 3.8 is unweighted. My school is considered college prep, but it honestly doesn’t offer very many AP courses. Thanks for the comment!</p>
<p>You are expected to take many of the most rigorous classes offered, students are not penalized because their HS doesn’t offer m/any AP et al ones. Your stats and EC’s put you in that vast pool of students in the middle. Too many good students with similar stats so don’t be surprised with any decision. Be sure to write good essays and show your interest in them. Aw years ago a student on this board said he did not get in partly because he wrote essays showing he didn’t care. A negative attitude can hurt you, gushing about the school won’t help.</p>
<p>So what do you think would have set me in the front of the pack more? Just more rigorous courses, or are there other things that would have put me farther ahead?</p>
<p>Parent of current student here – are you in state or out of state? If instate, your guidance office should be able to offer more specifics but it would seem like you are in good shape for admission. If out of state, then your gpa is strong but the ACT keeps you in the middle. A score over 30 could help push an application like this into the admit pool, but no guarantees. How many times have you taken the ACT? Did you prep a little or a lot? If there is room to push that score to 30+, that could help. </p>
<p>Admissions offices are clear that they only expect students to take advantage of the rigorous courses available at their school – if AP is not offered, you are not penalized for not taking AP. You are expected to take the most challenging curriculum actually available to you. </p>
<p>Good luck, and hang in there, it is a tough season as you head into applications. You might look at U MN twin cities and Univ Iowa if you are looking for a big school matches where you can get an early acceptance and know that you have a solid school to attend. </p>
<p>I am in-state.</p>
<p>The ACT is the one thing you can do as a senior in HS to improve your stats. Spend some time this summer doing free practice tests, get books from your public library as well. Much available online as well.</p>
<p>I think you are in good shape. Instate accept rate is higher now due to shrinking qualified student population in WI. </p>
<p>Huh??? "shrinking qualified …???</p>
<p>Absolutely. They accepted a far higher % this year than in the recent years and got fewer apps from instate. UW has inhouse papers about it.</p>
<p><a href=“http://apir.wisc.edu/admissions/New_Freshmen_Applicants.pdf”>http://apir.wisc.edu/admissions/New_Freshmen_Applicants.pdf</a></p>
<p>Thanks, Barron, very interesting link. Between 2003 and 2013 instate acceptance rate has shot up from 64.6% to 77.5. At the same time, the out of state acceptance rate has dropped from 70.6 to 48.1. </p>
<p>Interestingly, there was a huge drop off in the international acceptance rate between 2012 and 2013, from 41.3 to 24.0.</p>
<p>I am in-state, so that is good news i suppose!</p>
<p>I think local politics had something to do with int drop. Also strategic as they are a volatile group and can leave you short of students and revenue… Dont want to put all eggs in one basket.</p>
<p>I wonder -is the caliber of students applying to UW dropping or are some students not bothering to apply because they don’t think the chances are good for getting in? </p>
<p>It’s not the case that the caliber of students is dropping, it’s that we are entering a demographic trough nationally of college age students, and this dip is most acute in the Midwest, so to fill the same number of in state seats, admissions would have reach down further in the applicant pool. </p>
<p>While this does have an impact on UW and the other Midwest state flagships, the effect at universities like Wisconsin are mitigated by the fact that they also accept a large number of out of state students. Where this trend likely to felt more acutely is at places like UW-Oshkosh, Western Michigan, Eastern Illinois, etc. Not only do they draw almost exclusively from an in state applicant pool, but that pool will have been more picked over if UW, UIUC and MSU are accepting a higher percentage of in state applicants. </p>