<p>Hello, I've been reading these forums for a little while and this is my first post so I apologize if this has been asked already.</p>
<p>I applied to Madison in November. I knew it would be a stretch for me but it is still my number one choice. I was rejected in January. Long story short, I cried forever, thought about going to another UW school and transferring, but I have worked my ass off the past 4 years to get into Madison and I'm deciding to appeal my admission decision. I have a lower ACT score and fairly low GPA (to Madison's standards) - I was relying on my outstanding extra curricular activities, recommendations, and my well written essays. I've also won a few awards and have a unique talent/ambition that I went more in detail in my essays on...</p>
<p>So I originally called the office of admissions and asked them about appealing. They originally said to just send a letter of appeal to the director of freshmen admissions. I asked if I would be able to set up a meeting to discuss my appeal and application. They said I would be able to set up this type of meeting. I called a few weeks later to finalize a date, and the guy on the phone said that they usually don't have appeal meetings. I then sent an email to the director of freshmen admissions telling him my situation and received a response from another lady who is the freshmen admissions operations manager. She said that I wouldn't be able to have an "appeal meeting." And that I could send my letter of appeal to her through email or in the mail...</p>
<p>So now, I have received three additional recommendations, (one from my principal), and am working on my appeal letter, which will be written very well. The thing is, I would have felt a lot better with an "appeal meeting" since I know they would have to listen to me there. If I write a letter- I think they may just look at my ACT score again and reject me. (my ACT score is much lower than expected in comparison with my GPA, AP and Honors classes, and level of extra curricular involvement). There are a few things that I would have liked to discuss with them in person: my test anxiety, lower grades my sophomore year exc. </p>
<p>Since turning in my application, I have received a few more awards and achievements that I feel will make me stand out. I was wondering what you guy's view on my situation. I plan on sending my letter of appeal soon. Most of the teachers that I have told that I have been rejected couldn't believe it. Two of them have encouraged me to go to Wisconsin anyways - and try and "make myself a meeting." I am very persistent and am willing to do this, but I've thought about doing it for a while- but I don't want to give the admissions people a bad first impression. I've heard of successful appeals to Madison before and I was wondering what you think I should do? How often do appeals work?</p>
<p>I live in Minnesota. White, male (not sure if that affects my admission standings).</p>
<p>i would definitely appeal...no questions if it is your number one school...I am kind of in a similar situation, where the only thing holding me back is my act score...If this happened to me I would do everything I could to get in. But, how low is your act score? Is it in the 20-25 range, 25-27 range, or 28-32 range?</p>
<p>It's probably too late, but what about taking the SAT? I've heard multiple times that people who didn't do as great as the wanted on the ACT tend to do a bit better on the SAT.</p>
<p>Could just be myth, but I don't think it hurts. If you do bad, you just don't send it.</p>
<p>If all else fails, it's really not that bad to transfer, even though I know it's not what you want.</p>
<p>I would still appeal. If it is something you really want why not try? And yeah, it really sucks that you work your ass off, get good grades, but a 3 hour test ruins it. I kind of know how it feels, and it blows. In alot of these forums it says that all Madison cares about is Standardize test scores and gpa.</p>
<p>You might want to talk to your school counselor about contacting UW Madison on your behalf. If the counselor knows what they are doing, they might have more sway than a student.</p>
<p>When I applied to college, I applied to 3 reach schools, and a safety school (local state U). I was denied at the 3 reach schools, but accepted to the safety school. It was a top 10 engineering school, that is what I wanted to study, so no problem. Well, somehow my counselor found out about the rejections, and without asking permission, contacted a few engineering schools, and got me admitted to one. I thanked her, but said I am happy going to the State U.</p>
<p>Even though you consider your ECs, recs and essays outstanding most of the other applicants will also have similar ones. Unfortunately the competition is tougher every year. Hopefully you applied and were accepted to U of Minn. You will find many Wis residents there with better stats et than yours who were rejected by UW and accepted by U of M.</p>
<p>It's a little late for the SAT, but I've considered that a few months ago and came to the conclusion that standardized tests are not my strong point.</p>
<p>The counselors at my school aren't the greatest... and I don't think mine would be willing, or would know what to do in an appeal situation. I will look into that tho, and will ask her first thing next week on what she thinks.</p>
<p>My unweighted GPA is a 3.26 and weighted is 3.7something. I've heard they only look at unweighted so that 3.7 doesn't really help. I've taken honors classes when available, and some AP classes. My schedule this year has been ridiculous as to how much work I have been doing. I am currently enrolled in all honors and AP classes, including AP Chemistry and AP Physics, which is a challenge. </p>
<p>My GPA is mainly so low because of my sophomore year. I was working 30 hours a week, but those 30 hours consisted of only working on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays (do the math, 10 hours a day...) I was busy during the week with spring track, and spring/summer soccer. I also had poor study habits, and didn't really have much time to study. I became exhausted from all of this and finally consulted a doctor. They said that I was doing too much at a young age, and suggested that I re-evaluate my schedule. Long story short, I quit that job and got a newer one where I work much less. I enrolled in more clubs, and my grades sky rocketed, and have been on an upward curve since. The thing is, I neglected to put this part in my essays. I originally mentioned this, but I felt that I didn't want to give them a negative first impression of me, and thought that they would think "I couldn't handle too many things." It also didn't fit within the suggested length and didn't really flow with the rest of my essay. </p>
<p>I'm thinking now that I'm going to give them everything I got- in my appeal, and hope it works. I'll probably mention my sophomore slump. I'm definitely qualified for the school, I think I just need to be persistent and show them how bad I truly want this.</p>
<p>Thanks for the help thus far you guys,
Has anyone here ever had a successful appeal to UW-Madison?</p>
<p>I sent my appeal materials in the third week in March… do you guys have any idea of when you think I will hear back? I know the deadline for housing is May 1st.</p>
<p>I would have to presume before May 1st, but I honestly couldn’t give you a straight answer. Some of the other schools I had a chance to apply to assured me that it would be before May 1 so I would presume that’s a deadline. Plus I’m sure they would have some sort of housing to give so I wouldn’t worry if it got to that point.</p>
<p>I look at it this way: you’re already rejected so how much worse could it be to appeal? </p>
<p>They’re either going to say yes or no.
If it’s no, well, that’s what they’re saying right this minute, so no change there.<br>
If it’s yes, however, suddenly you’re thrilled and life is spectacular for you! </p>
<p>I’d say it’s worth the effort.<br>
The rest of your life is a long time to wonder “What if I had tried…”
GOOD LUCK!!!</p>
<p>UPDATE: So, the deadline for housing for UW - Madison and other schools is next week, and I still haven’t heard back from Madison about my appeal. The last I heard, someone responded to my “follow-up email” confirming they had received my new materials (March 24th). Now I am a week away from deadline day, and still waiting for their response. I think I’m going to call them either Wednesday or Thursday this week and check up again - but I don’t want to keep bugging them. I actually found out of someone who sent their letter of appeal after mine, and they received an acceptance letter this past weekend. This person however lives in a different state, and has a different admission counselor, so I’m am unsure if that changes anything. Anyone have any suggestions, or is anyone else still waiting? (If this doesn’t work, its going to suck because my back up choice is going to be last minute…)</p>
<p>If they don’t get back in a day I would call them. It’s not going to hurt your chances at all if you “bother” them because you honestly need a decision in order to try and figure out alternatives if needed. Also for UW housing, you have up to two or three weeks to enter housing preferences for the lottery if I’m not mistaken after you receive admittance to send them or May first. So you would potentially have until mid-May to get that done. You just need to know in order to let other colleges know by the May 1 deadline. Good Luck!</p>
<p>I am an hispanic male with 33 act and a 3.89 GPA and 2 AP classes, in state resident and 3 sport athelete. I graduated in 2011 and have been rejected twice. Should I appeal and if so how do you do that?</p>
<p>I have no experience (personal or thru friends) with UW-Madison and admission appeals. I did attend a seminar at my high school where U Mich, Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, and a couple of other school’s admissions reps did a Q&A session. Somebody from the audiance asked about appealing decisions. The answer was almost identical across all the schools…out of the thousands of appeals over the last 10 years or so, only 1 was reversed and that was because someone manually loaded a test score and reversed the numbers (instead of a 31 it was entered as a 13 or something).</p>
<p>I wish the best for anyone who is appealing their decision. I really do. I think it’s probably hard for the Admissions reps to take someone who was denied (and appealing) and move them ahead of the hundreds, if not thousands of applicants currently on the wait list.</p>
<p>Do not misunderstand, I’m not trying to discourage you. If you’re passionate and think it’s the right to do, you should appeal. The only facts I have suggest it’s pretty unlikely to be reversed.</p>