Chance a Rising Senior

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Washington
1

<p>Applying for computer science (College of Arts and Sciences); out of state.</p>

<p>ACADEMIA:</p>

<p>Freshman GPA: 3.52
Sophomore GPA: 3.52
Junior GPA: 3.75 W, 3.7 UW
Overall GPA: About 3.6</p>

<p>SAT Critical Reading: 610
SAT Math: 680
SAT Writing: 680
Total: 1970</p>

<p>My School does not rank.</p>

<p>AP Courses:
Biology (This year)
Computer Science A (Next Year)
Economics (Next Year)</p>

<p>3 letters of recommendation (math teacher, club advisor, guidance counselor)</p>

<p>EXTRACURRICULAR:</p>

<p>President of Support our Soldiers Club (10,11,12)
-Interviewed WW2 Veteran, contributed to National Archive</p>

<p>Red Cross Volunteer (8,9,10,11,12)
-Office management, computer database organization, phone duty, etc.</p>

<p>Varsity Swimming (9,10,11,12)
-Not a recruit!</p>

<p>Member of School Atmosphere Committee(11,12; Club was founded this year)
-Group of students selected by faculty
-Helped create a video to send to New England Board of Accreditation to display information about our school
-Spread word about school ideals and beliefs in various ways</p>

<p>HOOKS:</p>

<p>I am of Hispanic descent.</p>

<p>I will not be applying for financial aid (?).</p>

2

<p>Very hard to tell. Your GPA is rather low, but your SAT is great. EC’s are great, too.</p>

<p>How many AP courses are available at your school? 3 AP’s throughout your high school career seems very minimal. UW doesn’t take your letters of recommendation, so we won’t factor those in. I also don’t believe they will place any weight into your Hispanic heritage, since they are a public school.</p>

<p>If you’re taking all the available AP courses and have a great essay, then you’ll have a strong chance of getting in.</p>

3

<p>My school offers quite a few AP’s, so I guess that won’t be in my favor. I believe my essay is strong, though. </p>

<p>Thank you.</p>

4

<p>How many? If it’s over 10, you might be in trouble.</p>

5

<p>My school offers 18, but we aren’t allowed to take them until Junior year. Also, we can only take 4 max each year. My school is pretty rigorous, so even top tier students will limit their schedules to 3 AP’s each year.</p>

6

<p>Lol there isn’t any ratio of AP classes to take. I know a few people this year who have only taken APes and/or AP gov. and got in.</p>

7

<p>My son never took a A.P. and was admitted into Honors, his GPA was 3.76 with a 2040 SAT. Take time on your essays and your whole application.</p>

8

<p>He did take a full load at the local community college in his senior year in the Running Start Program.</p>

9

<p>you have a decent chance of getting in…most probably as a pre computer science major…no worries…do well in cse 142 and 143 and you will get admitted into your department sooner or later</p>

10

<p>If you’re in-state, then you will most likely get in with some strong essays. Plus, you’re Hispanic, which is a huge deal to UW. If you’re from out of state, then you have an OK chance, but since UW is in the need for more money, they are accepting more out of state students.</p>

11

<p>Don’t let anyone dissuade you from what you want to do. Anything is possible.</p>

12

<p>@travelgirl: I just post these threads to get a general idea of my chances. I am still applying regardless.</p>

13

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<p>Wasn’t there a law passed in Washington state that public colleges could no longer admit applicants based on their ethnicity, nor even take it into consideration? Labeling himself as Hispanic on the application won’t affect anything, but he could still write his diversity essay about it.</p>

14

<p>@mrlaurencenguyen,</p>

<p>Yes, there was a law about it, but let’s face it that a lot of colleges want the diversity and even if they do say that they don’t admit students based on ethnicity, it will still give the student the slight edge, especially those who are at a “disadvantage.” I’m not saying that a Hispanic or Native American will automatically get in based on just that, but emphasizing it will definitely open some eyes.</p>

15

<p>Either way, being Hispanic in itself isn’t a HUGE deal to UW like you said. If it was, Hispanics would make up at least 10% of the demographics. But still, he can emphasize it in his essay, if he wishes.</p>

16

<p>It might be that they don’t receive many qualified (or even partly qualified) Hispanic applicants.</p>

17

<p>That is most likely the truth. Still, it proves that UW won’t go easy on an applicant just because they’re an URM.</p>

18

<p>I agree with Propane, but I disagree with mrlaurencenguyen. As much everyone hates admitting to the truth, Affirmative Action does exist, and not JUST at UW, but at many other schools, as well. A recent survey was implemented by a group of sociology grad students at Western Washington University and UCI and it was proven that AA still exists at UW. I graduated earlier this year (and was accepted by UW) but plenty of my friends of all ethnicity did/did not get in, and all of them were qualified. In fact, one of my friends (girl, white) did not get into UW, while she was accepted by Emory and UCLA. What went wrong there? She was a salutorian, great SAT scores, great involvement in communities, and I’m sure her essays were “good” enough. In the end, she got rejected by her own in-state school. On the other hand, a black kid with a 3.3 with 1600 SAT got in at my school. For some reason, people are so afraid to talk about AA at UW. My high school English teacher was an admissions officer at UW and she even said in class that sadly, UW did practice AA when she did work there (2007-2009) during a seminar. And while they did not state that they do this, obviously, she said the mentality continues in the admissions process. People at UW will hate to admit that the school still indirectly practices it, but it’s true…and the students there agree. If it’s hard to believe, then go listen to a Sociology lecture at your school.</p>

<p>Source: Life and friends at UW.</p>

19

<p>university of washington do not take letters of recommendation!</p>

20

<p>UW gets around straight up affirmative action using their essays… notice how they’re about diversity. Every. Single. Year.</p>

<p>Almost everyone I know who is a URM pulled the race card in the essays.</p>