- Junior from Catholic High School in Michigan
- green card holder (immigrated to the US as a Sophomore)
- terrible GPA of Sophomore year, but upward trend in Junior year (no AP or Honors, unweighted: 3.5-3.7)
- going to take AP Calc and Bio to boost my GPA
- being a Honor Roll in Junior Year
- pretty high SAT score (1240, 1250, 1370, 1480)
- extracurricular: German club, STEM club, JV and Varsity soccer team
I am deeply hoping to get into the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Because of my English, my GPA wasn’t that good enough, and still not competitive. Some people say it is possible me to get in if I boost my application with high score of SAT and killing essays which explain what happened to my GPA and show my eager to Wisconsin. Is that true? Major I am looking forward is Biochemistry. I’m really good at math and Chemistry. I got one A- and all A or A+ for Chemistry, and all A or A+ for math. I’ll get a letter of recommendation from my Chem teacher. Does this fact help me to get into the Chemistry department? Counselor of my school and I had a conversation about Wisconsin and she highly recommended me to go to Wisconsin for visit and talked to an officer to tell my story and show my eager. I booked flight and registered visiting. Is this a smart move? Please tell me if this game worths a try. if not so, please suggest me something. Thank you!!
Admission to undergraduate colleges/universities is to the whole university unlike graduate studies (after bachelors college degree) that are to specific departments. Therefore doing well in chemistry alone is not sufficient to get admitted.
Your overall ability to succeed in many fields matters. UW and other schools might take into consideration your understanding and use of English but you need to be able to handle English in order to do well. No matter what your proposed major is (and you can change it after starting college) you need to take and pass courses in a variety of courses to meet breadth requirements. You should be taking those HS classes to boost your knowledge base and because they interest you, not to boost your gpa. Your junior year grades are the last ones seen on your college application- your HS senior classes matter but you won’t have grades for them when schools evaluate you.
Your chemistry teacher’s recommendation is like that of any other teacher who knows you and how well you do. It will help you with admission to UW, but which department you choose a major in is not the deciding factor. Strong test scores and essays explaining your circumstances will make a difference. No guarantees, however. Teachers at your HS feel it is worth your while to consider UW- it seems they will give good recommendations. You must be overcoming the language barrier to do as well overall on the SAT as well.
From your post it seems worthwhile for you to visit Madison and see if you like the school. In recent years there have been many more qualified applicants to UW (meaning students who can do the work) than spaces for them. All you can do is to continue to learn as much as you can, apply and see what happens.
Another important consideration is family finances. You need to discuss how you and your family intend to pay for your college education- at any school. Out of state students should plan on no scholarships from UW and need based money may not be enough. Perhaps your family has funds to send you anywhere for college- find out what they can afford before you apply to various schools.
Underrepresented minorities do get special consideration. You can find out if you fit into this category on the UW website. Note- I expect potential UW students to be able to search for this type of information.
To my knowledge visiting campus to show interest will not affect your chances. It is, however, a good idea to check out UW to see if you like it.
The above post was long since I tried to gently help. The desire to go to UW does not make any difference- there are many, many students who feel as strongly about UW. There will be many others who do as well or better than you do who deserve the chance to go to UW as much as you do. But- you do have a chance and it is worth pursuing.
Ran out of time to edit. You might get in- but you can’ if you don’t apply. Go for it.