Chance Me Please! William and Mary - In State

I’ve seen a bunch of these and William and Mary is my dream school so I really want to get in!
SAT - 1540
ACT - 34
AP Calculus AB - 5
AP English Language and Compsition - 5
AP Microeconomics - 5
AP World History - 5
GPA - 4.46 (weighted)
Class Rank - top 10%
-I conducted research during my junior year in collaboration with researchers in Singapore testing a treatment for cancer
-Won second place at my regional science fair for this award as well as a special award from the US Public Health Service
-Over 300 hours of medically related volunteer service in a hospital
-About 100 hours of volunteer tutoring at my elementary school
-About 50 hours volunteering as a coach and a judge for Odyssey of the Mind
-Participated in Speech and Debate for 3 years (won an award one year)
-Took dance lessons for about 13 years - there are “exams” we take to demonstrate mastery of skills and I recently passed the final one, earning a certification
-Participating in Odyssey of the Mind since Kindergarten - about 2 years ago, my team qualified for the World Finals tournament where we placed in the top 10
-I’m a national merit semifinalist
-My CommonApp essay was about learning new languages and how this helped to connect me to my family abroad
-My W&M optional essay was about my passion for becoming a doctor
-I’m asian and a Virginia Resident. I applied to W&M for pre-medicine as my first choice, biology as my second, and neuroscience as my third.
-Decent teacher reccomendations.
-I’m just a little worried because I haven’t had many leadership positions in the activities I’ve done. My GPA could also be better (the girl from my school who got into W&M for early decision had a 4.5+ GPA and is ranked in the top 10 people). I also got deferred from UVA and both schools have very close acceptance rates.

I think you have a very decent chance to be accepted. My OOS D got a Cypher Card yesterday and she has similar stats to you (1560 SAT, 35 ACT, 4.0 unweighted, 6.03 weighted, similar AP’s) Best of luck to you…W & M is a lovely school but there are so many great schools out there!

So, the acceptance rate for W&M in state last year was 45%. Of course, that includes ED, but even so, the acceptance rate is likely above 35%. Your GPA is within their range, and your SAT is in their top 25%. So It is a match.

However, that means that you are just as likely to be rejected as to be accepted. Your gender may also be a factor. Many more women apply to W&M than men, and so the acceptance rates are higher for men.

So you have a very good chance, but it is not a sure thing by any means.

You were deferred at UVA as an in-state student with those stats? That tells you everything you need to know about the state of admission to the top 40 schools. Talk about crazy competitive. Sheesh.

I think you look like an excellent candidate, but what I don’t understand with ED 1 and 2 why you just didn’t seal the deal in December if it is your dream school. I don’t know a single ED kid with those kinds of stats that were not accepted.

I think W&M would be lucky to have you. I’m also surprised you were deferred from UVA with your record. I’m wondering if you did something unusual with your class selections, like taking only three years of language? UVA prizes taking the hardest classes available in the core courses-- more so than other schools, I think.

It’s probably more difficult to gain admission as a pre-med because there are so many students looking at those majors.

@mommamelmommamel I actually applied to a couple of BS/MD programs earlier on, and although W&M has been my dream school for a while, I didn’t want to commit to one place just in case I got any offers later on.

@rosemaryandthymerosemaryandthyme I took 4 years of my foreign language and then had to drop it due to scheduling conflicts. Is that something that could’ve affected my application?

In general, an applicant’s location within VA is important to know when guessing their chances. However, in your case, I think your raw numbers are good enough no matter where you’re coming from. I think W&M would have a hard time turning you down. To be honest, I kind of did a double-take when I read that you were deferred from UVA. Did you do something wild on their application? An in-state applicant with a 1540 SAT, a top 10% rank, and the breadth of extracurriculars that you have should be nearly an auto-admit to UVA. I would say you’re in at W&M and that UVA picks you up in the RD round.

i think you have a high chance! w&m has a holistic approach to reviewing applicants (probably moreso than UVA), so i think your extracurriculars definitely help out a lot.

I was just waitlisted for UVA and Case Western which isn’t making me feel too good about my chances for William and Mary. Hopefully it works out : (

Update - I got in!!

@rpk2152 Congratulations…William & Mary is a lovely school. All the best in your future.