Out-of-state going Early Action
3.74 unweighted GPA, 3.95 weighted
29 ACT
1320 SAT (650 Reading, 670 Math)
National Honor Society
Co-chair of club that raises money for African village
You are right there in the middle range for stats with thousands of other applicants.
@Madison85 do you think out of state helps, hurts or is irrelevant when you’re in “middle range”?
Out of state “hurts” in general since the admit rate for Wisconsin residents is almost 70% but for non-residents is much lower.
Thanks, @Madison85, I figured as much!
@Fisnlines29 the admit rate for domestic OOS seems to fluctuate between 45% - 50%. Last year they admitted about 1,000 additional OOS kids over the prior year due to lifting the cap in anticipation of fewer WI college age residents over the long term. However, the number of OOS applicants has also increased the last couple of years so there’s more competition to consider. Ballpark admit rates are 2/3 for WI res, half for US OOS and MN, and 1/4 + for International. For various reasons they are toying with the numbers they let in; in addition, UW has become an increasingly popular school to apply to across the US and globally. Therefore these numbers are fluctuating from year to year. Here are the current and historical stats (page 3 breaks it down by residency):
https://apir.wisc.edu/admissions/New_Freshmen_Applicants.pdf
An ACT of 29 is higher than the average for WI residents (28) and is around the overall average for the admitted population; however, OOS is going to be somewhere around 30 on average. So your ACT is a tad on the low side but not bad.
Your uw GPA, not weighted, will matter; the average GPA for UW enrolled is 3.85 and about 94% are 3.5 or higher. So you are below the overall average (not sure how it breaks down WI res. vs. OOS) but it’s still a very good GPA! Don’t give them any reason to postpone your admission - write essays that are out of the ballpark and make sure your recommender can sing your praises. It might come down to these factors given that, as @Madison85 points out, you are in that middle range along with thousands of other applicants.
Also, if you have time you you might page through the UW threads on CC till you find last year’s postings and see what the decision was for those from OOS with your stats. My guess is that a good number were admitted, some postponed or waitlisted. First notification for OOS seemed to be the end of January (so Jan. 2016) and the regular pool/postponeds (I think everyone so no particular order by residency) were notified around 3rd week of March.
Good luck to you!
Remember that if you don’t apply your chances are zero. You should have a list of other schools that you also apply to and likely can get into.
This is what I found from last year January 31st…lots of answers:
Rejected
Act 29, super scored 31
3.8 GPA
OOS NY
Interesting as I got rejected from Miami as well this weekend but accepted to Tulane, Indiana Kelley school of business, and only deferred from Michigan. Oh well, congrats to everyone who got in!
Accepted!!!
1980 SAT
3.90 GPA (uw), 4.2 (w)
class rank N/A, but within the top 9%
Great Recs/ Essays/ ECs
IL
33 ACT
91/100 GPA
Very Competitive HS
Straight axed, very disappointed
Postponed
33 ACT
3.98 W GPA
Great extracurriculars/ recs/ essays imo
Got deferred by Northwestern earlier and now this … don’t even know what to say
Accepted
Illinois
33 ACT
3.53 unweighted GPA/3.85 weighted gpa—brother goes there right now.
Had a strong upward trend.
OOS postponed……GPA 3.85, SAT 1950, lots of AP’s and extra-currics……sad……
Postponed. California 1940 SAT and 3.7 UW gpa. Lots of leadership and extracurriculars.
ACCEPTED
CT Resident
30 ACT
2030 SAT
3.86 Weighted GPA
5 AP classes
@wis75 is right. You won’t know unless you apply. The scores and applications are all different. You never know what WIS is looking for so good luck!