I’m wondering what my chances of getting into the University of Wisconsin Madison are.
I’m Vietnamese
Middle class family
First in Family to go to college
Scores:
22 on ACT but I just retook it this October
3.75 weighted GPA
2 years of Post Secondary College Enrollment Options (College courses full time during high school)
(Finishing with 50 college credit)
Extracurricular:
Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society
Dean’s List 2016 at Anoka Ramsey Community College
Member of National Honor Society, Student Council and Key Club
Lettered in Football, Wrestling, Track, Track, NHS and Academics
Graduating with Highest Honors
Youth group leader at my Buddhist temple.
Vietnamese Singing and Dancing Group
Volunteer Weekly at Temple
Certified in First Aid/ CPR
Fluent in 2 Languages
Help my with my parents barriers (Language, Social, Technical, Economic etc.)
Work 2 jobs.
Thanks a lot for your thought and time! My feelings won’t be hurt! be Honest! Thanks so much guys!
Are you applying as a Wisconsin resident or out of state?
OP is MN so out-of-state but under the MN Tuition Compact.
What is your unweighted GPA? Also, what do you think your new ACT score will be?
Your background is commendable and will help in a holistic admissions process. However, the ACT score definitely hurts your chances and there is no way that your unweighted GPA is going to make up for that. MN - at best - faces the same admission rate as other OOS applicants which is significantly lower than for in-state residents. Your October re-take is well within time for the Regular Decision deadline but may be too late for Early Action. And your first ACT is low enough to risk getting a “Deny” rather than a “Defer” should you go Early Action. A “Defer” gives you a chance to submit a higher ACT score; a “Deny” takes you out of the running entirely.
You might want to wait and apply Regular Decision? A lot depends on 1) how much you think your ACT will improve; and 2) how much of a help is that First-Generation hook (i.e. is it strong enough to bump you into a Defer on Early Action, rather than a flat-out rejection).
Lots to ponder!
Thanks for the comments guys!
3.75 is my unweighted GPA. There is no weighted grade. Sorry about that.
Yea, my ACT is really low. I feel pretty confident that my score has improved by a couple points. 25 at least. I called the admissions office a while back and they told me there’s a chance that the ACT will count but that’s not 100% certain. My application is in my opinion a pretty strong one. My essays are good and my letter of recommendation from my high school counselor is also good.
@Minnesota21 if 3.75 is your uw GPA that helps you a lot! So yeah, reasonable to chance Early Action given all your other factors, esp. if you think your application is strong overall. Hopefully you arranged to have your ACT score sent directly to UW-Madison as soon as scored in order to maximize the chance of it being used.
Good luck!
Thanks JB!!
2 Quick question though.
Do people with applications similar to mine get accepted frequently?
If my ACT scored stayed at a 22 would that wither a chunk of my chances of getting into Madison?
Not sure, @Minnesota21. I’m a MN resident just like you. You should page though last year’s results thread and see what the stats were for OOS’ers accepted EA and RD.
Excuse me but what’s does OOS’ers mean?
Only 5% of admitted students have an ACT composite score in the 18-23 range so, no, not many people with an ACT 22 score are admitted.
OOS’ers = “out-of-state’ers” (non WI residents).
OP really needs to get that ACT up. If October didn’t cut it, then December is a possibility. That date is OK for the Regular Decision deadline.
I already submitted my application a while back. I don’t plan on stopping The application from going through but if I wanted to, could I?
@Minnesota21 you might call and ask if it’s possible to be switched to regular decision (or - does the application tracker allow you to do that online? Not sure). Very little chance of being accepted Early Action; however, if you are deferred, that’s ok because it gives you a chance to get the higher ACT score in (or even take the test again if you need to). So if you think you have a strong chance of being deferred and not denied outright, you should stick to the current plan of applying EA. However, if your ACT is low enough for an outright rejection then you should definitely look into pulling it from EA and only applying (RD) if your ACT is good enough. Those are my thoughts.
You seem to think you have a strong application except for your ACT score. Your status as a first generation student will help, your work experience will help, your advocacy for your immigrant parents and your ability to speak another foreign language will help, you say your essays and rec. letter will help. Your GPA is fine on it’s own, assuming it’s unweighted. So really, the only negative thing is that ACT but it’s a doozy, unfortunately. On the other hand, they hopefully won’t look at your score in a vacuum.
The person who should weigh-in would be your HS GC. All of the MN schools should have some familiarity with what it takes to get into UW-Madison. So maybe have a heart to heart with that individual today and make a decision from there.
Good luck!
No need to switch- it’s an early action which could mean what was called postponed and now waitlisted. UW has rolling admissions- the early action is just letting those who apply earlier get an answer earlier, by a certain date.
OP- you are an underrepresented minority (Southeast Asian) which may make a huge difference. You have good grades and it sounds like you have a rigorous curriculum. I think UW would welcome you because it looks as though you have a good knowledge foundation with those college level classes and more A’s than B’s so you should be able to do UW college work. Somebody’s test scores have to be lowest, your grades and classes show a lot more than someone with top test scores and mediocre grades. Be sure you have some good recommendations and essays.
Good luck, hope they take you.
Just to make sure the issue is crystal-clear: the three outcomes from an EA are Admit, Defer, and Deny. So it IS possible to be denied outright from the EA process, although maybe that’s not a significant risk for OP given the other aspects of his/her application? Is that what you are thinking, @wis75?
https://www.admissions.wisc.edu/apply/freshman/deadlines.php
I feel like I have a strong application with many great extracricular and achievements with other contributing circumstances and conditions. 50 college credit, Honor Society in college, dean’s list for consecutive semesters and a 3.9 GPA in college sounds really solid. In the end it will come down to My ACT score. I retook it last October and I’m confident I have improved. If I don’t get accepted that would be a shame but it is what it is. If it’s meant to be then it’s meant to be lol. Thanks guys! You guys have been very helpful.
@Minnesota21 I think you will be a slam dunk if your ACT is a bit higher. All the advice about possibly switching is to keep an inadvertent “deny” from prematurely happening. If those with the knowledge of the acceptance parameters think you are ok - then you probably are. Good luck and definitely post when the time comes!
Does anyone know if being Instate or Out of state contributes to the decision making?
Yes it does. They accept about 2/3 of the in-staters who apply. However, those kids also have an avg. ACT of 28 which is pretty high for a 2/3’rds admit rate. Therefore, the GC’s are doing a great job directing the appropriately-prepared kids to apply to UW-Madison. Either that or all the kids in Wisconsin are above average!
Out-of-state and MN compact are around 49-50%. Last year MN was 43% but that was due to a large increase applications which wasn’t replicated by the HS class of 2016. Also, UW seems to have bottomed out in terms of MN admits (they were admitting about 5-7% fewer MN kids each year). Better news for other out-of-staters NOT dealing with tuition reciprocity: they have lifted the caps on those admissions. So I would expect thosadmits to increase a bit compared to MN admits (which are under the tuition agreement and therefore aren’t expected to pay the same $ amounts. However, it cuts both ways and UW system benefits as much as MN from tuition reciprocity so that will hopefully help to keep the MN admit numbers consistent over time).
So. My chance of getting in just went down a bit huh? Thank you so much! You are very knowledgeable JB. I appreciate your helpfulness.