Badger chances ....boy do i need them

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Wisconsin
1

<p>Hey so i'm a hispanic kid in CA a bit nervous about my chances. my gpa is ugly, but can the AA help make up for it?</p>

<p>SAT-2110 Math-700 Wri.-710 CR-700</p>

<p>SAT IIs: Span: 770 Lit: 710 </p>

<p>AP's: Span- 5 Eng- 4 US History- 3</p>

<p>GPA: 3.3 UW (with hardest courses)</p>

<p>ECs listed on app: football, track, was in 2 clubs, and work</p>

<p>Job/Work Experience: did finances that were really receipts at a family friend's company and also had a job too</p>

<p>Essays (subject and responses): already started so they should be very good- on two hardships that have come down on me the last 2 years, and my dealing w/ them. </p>

<p>Teacher Recs: better than great</p>

<p>Counselor Rec: great</p>

<p>Comm Service: had 2 service projects, and had also separate hours aside from those</p>

<p>School Type: Private, does not rank; nobody else is applying to UW, and in the past people who haven't taken as many tough courses as i have and had 3.4 uw from my school have have gotten in. </p>

<p>Ethnicity: Hispanic</p>

<p>Gender:M</p>

<p>Also: Took 2 summer courses at a local comm. college- pysch and creative writing, both got A's. and i also got 4 academic awards (not sure if it means much, but what the hell)</p>

2

<p>UW is one of the least diverse schools in the country, particularly for Hispanics, so that definitely helps you. Your SAT is solid. If you truly have taken the most difficult classes, I'd say you have a very solid chance particularly because of the history from your school.</p>

3

<p>Your resume looks very solid. I'd say you have a great chance. Good luck!</p>

4

<p>yeah i mean my school isn't the most popular with Big 10 schools, and other midwest schools. it's more of a east coast, or west coast thing. and to put it in perspective, my classes were ranked a 3 on a 4 point scale of difficulty in my school</p>

5

<p>Good chance...........</p>

6

<p>GSW Fan, I'd say you have a great chance at Madison. I know their qualifications front and back (I was postponed and then denied) and I would say that, with your stats and ECs, you will have no problem getting accepted! Also, Hispanics are WAY underrepresented at Madison, so that will help you even further. (I'm white, so I don't add much in terms of diversity, to say the least.)</p>

<p>By the way, could you post examples of which classes would rank at each of the 4 levels of difficulty at your school (level 1 examples, level 2 examples, etc.)? I might suggest a similar system for my school! (I go to a noncompetitive public HS in western Wisconsin.)</p>

<p>My SAT's are the same as yours (2110 composite) but with different individual scores. I assure you that my GPA is even uglier...</p>

7

<p>i think it's a 3= 10-14 and 4 is 15-18. </p>

<p>i'm at a 3</p>

8

<p>GSW Fan, I meant which classes in particular rank at each level, like the actual titles of level 1 courses, level 2, and so on.</p>

<p>Sorry if my original phrasing was ambiguous.</p>

9

<p>oh well that's just like whatever number of honors courses one has taken up to this point. so like frosh year you could have honors sci, math and lang. soph you could have all i believe and junior year as well. </p>

<p>don't worry it was just my mix up</p>

10

<p>oh, sorry. I thought that the classes themselves were assigned the difficulty rankings, not that the ranking depended on how many honors/AP classes you took. My mistake.</p>

11

<p>My son got in with very similar credentials and he didn't even have AA on his side.</p>

12

<p>wait, so are hispanics who apply like, a slam dunk then?</p>

13

<p>yeah, at almost every university being a minority (hispanic is a minority) gives you a huge boost in admissions. universities i can think of that it doesn't matter are the UCs and Michigan, cause they banned affirmative action on their applications (can't put race [and maybe gender--not sure] on app)</p>

14

<p>Not a "slam dunk"; not even close. Hispanics like everyone else need to have the numbers, the distinguishing characteristics, the whole nine yards.</p>

<p>But Hispanics do get a small (but not trivial) edge, since the university wants to be as diverse as possible and Wisconsin as a state is light on Spanish-speaking population.</p>