<p>Senior at a top 3 public HS in PA
3.25 UW GPA, 3.88 W (slight upward trend)
SATs: 2200. 730 CR/710 M/760 W
SAT 2: 730 on US History
ECs: NHS (senior year), School Newspaper (writer 9th and 10th, Sports Editor 11th, Op-Ed 12th), Student Council (Member 10th and 11th, Treasurer in 12th), Wrote and maintained website for the school basketball team in 11th and 12th, Volunteer tutor to a disadvantaged elementary student (10th), Volunteer youth basketball coach (11th and 12th), Class President (9th), Member of the Golf Team (11th, 12th), Ref in a local flag football league (10th and 11th, head of refs in 12th), Umpire in a local baseball league (9th-12th).
Curriculum Strength: Took mainly Honors courses, will graduate having taken 5 APs.
AP Scores: 5 on APUSH and AP L&C.
NMSQT Semifinalist (and hopefully finalist)
Applying before November 1.</p>
<p>I would accept you because of your SAT’S, but I have a major concern about your grades. Your SAT’s are at the top 10% of UW’s applicants, but your grades are on the bottom half. Good luck</p>
<p>Only unweighted grades are looked at by UW. They do look at the rigor of your schedule. They will have concerns about you- why you have ability as shown by your SAT but haven’t performed as well as your SAT scores indicate you could. A concern is that if admitted you wouldn’t put forth the work to learn the material at UW. Should they take a chance on you instead of another student who may have lesser test scores but has shown the study habits to succeed? You had enough time to participate in many activities- why not your studies? Your attitude towards your classes- that they weren’t important enough to get the better grades you are likely capable of may be your downfall. If you are accepted you will need to do a lot more studying than you are probably used to. Perhaps you need the challenge of a good college to be motivated.</p>
<p>Okay, enough “yelling”. The bottom line- I don’t know if you will get in based on your grades. You need good teacher recommendations and strong essays.</p>
<p>The message to other students. Do the work. Develop good study habits in HS. Smart students do fail in college because they don’t know how to study.</p>
<p>Thank you for the frank and honest assessments. I would much prefer this too someone blowing sunshine up my you-know-what. I had Nonverbal Learning Disorder, which greatly affected my handwriting. Unfortunately, many of my teachers were not very understanding and were somewhat disrespectful, leading to my somewhat low GPA. Wisconsin is probably my 2nd choice and if I get in I will probably attend. When will I hear back? I applied shortly before the deadline.</p>