Chance me please

<p>Basic info:
Gender: male
Race: African American
State: North Carolina
Grade: rising senior </p>

<p>ACT composite score: 24 ( I realize this is low but this was my first attempt and I'm planning on taking it again in September) </p>

<p>Academics
UW GPA: 3.56
W GPA: 4.43</p>

<p>List of all honors and AP/IB classes:
Freshman year: honors English, honors geometry, honors civics and economics, and honors biology
Sophomore year: AP environmental, honors algebra II, honors chemistry, honors english, and honors world history
Junior year: honors precalculus, honors Spanish 3, IB English 3, IB psychology, IB history of the Americas, IB biology, and IB theory of knowledge
Senior year: IB SL Math, IB Spanish SL, IB english 4, IB psychology HL, IB 20th century topics, IB biology HL, IB theory of knowledge, and IB Geography</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
Spanish club (10-12)
Spanish honors society (12)
National honors society (11-12)
Mock Trial (10-12)
MSEN Pre-College (9-12) may have leadership position this year
Brothers of Distinction (9-12) president (12)
Coalition for the homeless (11-12)
Habitat for humanity club (12) co-founder/president
Mens Cross country team (9-10)
JV mens Lacrosse (9-10)
Varsity lacrosse (11)</p>

<p>Community service: will have had 125 hours done by the end of senior year.</p>

<p>Awards:
Excellence in Spanish I
Academic achievement for cumulative gpa of 3.8 and above (9-12)
Recommended to participate in the National Young Leaders Conference (9 & 11)
Excellence in Spanish III
Honor roll, distinguished honors (4.25 gpa and above) (9-12)
Highest gpa out of pre-college students for my grade and class</p>

<p>Also forgot to put my class rank: I’m 61/532 which is about 11.5%
Thanks in advance for reviewing this. I really appreciate this everyone.</p>

<p>Glad to hear you’re interested in W&M.</p>

<p>Are you an IB diploma candidate? It appears so from the classes you mentioned but you didn’t state it outright. If you are that’s certainly something that will be a plus factor for you. Given that right now your class rank sits just ouside the top 10% (and given that you’re OOS which is a more competitive) we’d encourage you to continue to work hard and make strong grades your first semester. If your school re-ranks after first semester you might be able to move into the top 10% which could only help you.</p>

<p>Your ACT score, while only one part of our process, is well below our middle 50% (27-32) so taking it again in September is a great idea. You may also want to consider trying the SAT in October as about 1/3 of all students do better on the SAT than the ACT. We will only consider your best outcome so it can’t hurt you.</p>

<p>Looks like you’re really involved outside of the class which can certainly help you stand out. Definitely pursue the leadership positions that are available to you and keep up with the ones you’ve already earned. Those are also plus factors. We’re also not familiar with MSEN or Brothers of Distinction so make sure you clarify what those activities are on your application.</p>

<p>If you’re interested in W&M, you should definitely apply. Highlight what makes you unique and diverse. Every student has a chance as we have no minimum criteria that you might meet. Just remember we are highly selective, especially OOS, so manage your expectations accordingly.</p>

<p>For more on our process and any students chances, check out our Admit It! Blog ([W&M</a> Blogs Chance Me](<a href=“http://blogs.wm.edu/2010/12/14/chance-me/]W&M”>http://blogs.wm.edu/2010/12/14/chance-me/))</p>

<p>Thank you. I am in the IB program and i am pursuing my IB diploma. I feel that it is entirely realistic for my rank to drop below 50 by the end of the school year as well as both my UW and W GPA to rise. And i am pretty confident that i will be able to reach a 27 on the ACT and i will also consider retaking the SAT.</p>

<p>Sounds great. As we said, we certainly consider pursuing the IB Diploma a plus factor (assuming students are doing so successfully) and if you can raise your GPA/rank and ACT that will only serve to make you more competitive.</p>

<p>We of course also consider all kinds of intangible factors like background, perspective, special talents, experiences, etc. so do share how you will add to our campus in any of those forums.</p>