I am starting my senior year and am starting to come upon all the stress that comes along with it, so the more info the better! I have a 31 ACT (no writing) and a 3.73 Weighted GPA. I go to a top school in Wisconsin and have a pretty tough course load. Also I’m a black male and have lots of leadership, community service, and extracurriculars.
I would like to apply to the College of liberal arts.
When do you recommend I send in my application? I have heard the earlier is best, but is it worth it to spend more time making it perfect? (As you can see I’m very antsy about this as it is my top choice school.) Also on my tour I was told I can apply for housing very early on. When does the housing application open?
Sorry for all the questions and any responses are greatly appreciated!
My daughter, also from Wisconsin, has already applied. I would suggest you take the next few days and get the application thoroughly done and submitted. Last year they started admitting in early October and housing applications open on November 1. Good luck!
One thing you might also want to consider is that I believe Minnesota wants an ACT or SAT score with writing. So you may need to plan for that if you don’t have writing with one of your test scores.
I confirmed with admissions on a campus visit that they like to see the writing portion but that it is not mandatory and that applications without it are not negatively impacted. I specifically asked if my D should retake with writing and they said absolutely not, just submit as is if she is happy with the score.
Spoke to an admissions rep. last year - she disclosed that they don’t care at all about the writing portion. FWIW. You are a desirable demographic with an ACT score above the 75th percentile so my guess is that you won’t need to worry about the writing. Completing the optional essays on the application can easily substitute if you have any concerns.
Colleges will unweight your GPA to assess academic prepardness. What is your uw GPA? If you don’t know it offhand just compute using A=4.0, A- 3.67, B+ 3.33, B = 3.0, etc. Weight each class equally unless you have reason to do otherwise (say, for instance, you have an elective that you trade off with another where both are weighted 50% on your transcript). Divide by the # of total credits. If it’s 3.5 or higher you won’t have much to worry about 3.0 - 3.5 you are probably still pretty safe given the attributes above. Less than 3.0 they might begin to worry about your level of preparation; however, guessing you aren’t in this category.
Earlier is better because they notify beginning in October (or at least that’s been the case the past three years).
Thanks for your response and all your help on the UMN forum! My UW GPA is probably around 3.3-3.5 with an uptrend. I plan to send in my application by October 4th as an admission rep from the U is visiting my school that day so I can ask any questions. When may I expect a decision if I apply by Oct 4th?
@Napzee they admit by the strongest candidates first so you’ll see a lot of 4.0 and 34-36 ACT’s posting early. That doesn’t necessarily mean a long wait for you, but don’t be discouraged if it takes awhile. My D16 (in-state) had a 1960 old SAT (so around a 29 ACT) and a 3.6 uw GPA and applied for CLA in Sept. She found out mid-Dec. That was two years ago and they’ve tweaked timing since then a bit. But admissions have also become a bit more competitive.
Have you applied to UWisc. - Madison as well? Your ACT is clearly fine for that school. The GPA is a tad low but in-state has a much higher admit rate than OOS.