Chance Me W&M ED

Colleges and Universities A-Z College of William and Mary
1

<p>(In-state female)</p>

<p>Objective:
SAT (superscored from 2 sittings): CR 800, M 700, W 760
SAT II: WH 740, UH 780
GPA: 4.31 w
Rank: N/A
AP Exam Scores: WH (3), Calculus AB (5), English Lang (5), UH (5)
Course Load: </p>

<p>Sophomore Year
AP World History (A+)
AP Psychology - online (A)
(& others - always honors/highest level in all years of hs)</p>

<p>Junior Year
AP Calculus AB (B+)
IB Chemistry (B+)
IB English (A)
IB American History (A+)
IB French 4 (A+)
IB Theory of Knowledge (A)
Hon Anatomy&Physiology (A)</p>

<p>Senior Year
IB English 2
IB Chemistry 2
IB American History 2
IB French 5
AP Environmental Science
AP Statistics
AP Calculus BC - online
IB Psychology </p>

<p>Volunteer/Community Service: Public Library Volunteer (11-12), Tutor elementary schoolers (11-12), Hospital Volunteer (12)</p>

<p>Extracurriculars: French Club (secretary, 11-12), Leadership Club (11-12), Quiz Bowl Team (11-12), Cross Country (9)</p>

<p>Honors: National French Exam 50th Percentile (9-10), National French Exam 80th Percentile (11), Second Place Nonfiction Local Writing Contest (10), National Art Honor Society (10), National French Honor Society (10-12), National Honor Society (11-12)</p>

<p>Taking Honors Physics summer before senior year
IB Diploma Candidate </p>

2

<p>Congrats, this looks to be a very strong and competitive resume - your SAT’s and courseload are (obviously) very good. A few comments:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Look for some leadership positions in your extra-curriculars. </p></li>
<li><p>Apply ED if W&M is your “dream school” - much easier to stand out in the ED pool than the RA pool.</p></li>
<li><p>Be sure to use your essay prompts as an opportunity to show what’s unique or compelling about you - your essays need to engage your admissions counselor, to make them <em>want</em> you as a student at W&M, and who’ll advocate for you. </p></li>
</ul>

<p>I think a mistake some students make is to assume their stats will carry the day (often, they’re right) - but every admissions season I read of some student with excellent stats complaining about rejections from selective schools. Very often, I suspect they were complacent, and put little effort in convincing the school of their choice <em>why</em> they should be admitted. </p>

<p>So be sure to show something about “you” that stats can’t - write about something you care about, something you’re passionate about - and in so doing, reveal what makes you “you”, what makes you unique. I think “reveal” may be the operative word, here - remember the advice “show, not tell.”</p>

<ul>
<li>You <em>might</em> consider one more take on the SAT - the range for consideration for Monroe Scholars is said to be the “top 5%” - your CR is 99%, math is 93rd percentile - your combined score may well be over the threshold already, but perhaps to be safe, getting your Math score up to 720+ may assure that. I dunno if it’s actually necessary, I’m afraid - just something to think about.<br></li>
</ul>

<p><a href=“James Monroe Scholars Program | William & Mary”>http://www.wm.edu/as/monroescholars/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>That said, I think you have a very strong chance, best of luck!</p>

3

<p>@Squiddy thanks for your advice! :)</p>

<p>As for leadership in extracurriculars, most of my extracurriculars don’t necessarily have leadership positions available (like tutoring, volunteering, etc). I will admit that I’m lacking in that area with only one leadership position and will try to see if I can hold another leadership position in the fall.
I’ve started working on my CommonApp essay and optional submission for W&M (I plan to apply early). I’ll run them by someone for feedback sometime before I submit my application. My optional submission is about a topic that I’m very passionate about and is personal to me so hopefully that shows to admissions.
As for the SAT, I did consider retaking it (for the reasons that you mentioned) but I don’t think I would improve my math score because what helped me to get it to 700 in the first place was AP Calculus exam review (I took that SAT a few days before my exam) and if I take the October SAT (the only one that would allow me to apply ED) I’ll be pretty rusty with math.</p>

<p>Have a nice day :slight_smile: </p>