Chance of Getting In? (Fall 2012)

<p>Hello, I'm currently a senior at a very good high school in Colorado</p>

<p>Ethnicity: Indian
(Fresh-Junior)Unweighted GPA: 3.24
(Fresh-Junior)Weighted GPA: 4.24
Current GPA weighted: 5.0
Current GPA unweighted: 4.0</p>

<p>ACT: 29
SAT: Haven't taken it...taking it soon (based on practice tests, I'm usually getting around 2080)</p>

<p>I'm in the IB program (for those of you who aren't aware of what IB is, it's kinda like AP except more work and some say that it's slightly harder) and I'm an IB diploma Candidate</p>

<p>Current Classes:
IB Language Arts 12 HL
IB Theory of Knowledge (Just a class for IB diploma candidates)
IB Economics SL
IB Biology II HL
IB/AP Spanish 5 SL
IB History of the Americas HL
IB Math SL</p>

<p>ECs:
4 year Varsity Football
1 year Wrestling
2 years of Ultimate
150+ hours of service (as required by the IB program)
National Honor Society</p>

<p>The major thing I'm worried about is the dip in my grades from Fresh/Soph to Junior year. As a sophomore, my cumulative GPA was 4.667 weighted but due to lots of health issues and other stuff I didn't do so well Junior year and it dipped to a 4.24 cumulative weighted. I'm definitely doing better this year as I'm maintaing a 5.0 weighted currently, but will my junior year severely hurt my chances of getting in? Any feedback would be appreciated!</p>

<p>Your gpa is quite a bit below the average which might be your detrimental factor. Your sat is slightly above those admitted into UW. Your course load looks great and so does your EC. You probably might want to talk about your “health issues” in your essays and the drop in your grades because of it. Other than that you look set. Hope you get in (I’m also applying as well, my preferred school in going to).</p>

<p>Thanks for your feedback and I’m definitely going to explain my Junior year in my essay. How much is my coursework taken into consideration when looking at my GPA? I say this because I’ve seen lots of people get admitted with less intensive coursework and slightly higher GPA (because of the less rigorous courses) and similar test scores. I’ve taken 6-7 IB classes every year of high school and I only took 1 non-IB/AP/Honors class my freshman year…</p>

<p>Yes, that is a good asset for you, but I am no admissions counselor so I can’t tell you how much UW values it (but I believe with you taking all those IB classes is outstanding). Another thing to be aware of is that UW is weird in the way they accept people. Sometimes they accept people with scores lower than you and me, or reject people who you would never have guessed to be rejected. I had a friend who was rejected from UW, but got into UPenn. Anyways, the best advice that anyone on this site could give you is to APPLY. Most of your hardwork is behind you and most of it can’t be changed. Believe me, we’re all worried about admissions (so am I). All I can say is lets hope we both get in. :)</p>

<p>Thanks Raamzic, I heard a lot about the erratic admissions for UW, so I guess I might as well stop worrying about it and just apply and see how I do. Anyways, I hope you get in as well!</p>

<p>Admissions will take into account your course load, but we don’t really know exactly how much they’ll weigh it. However, your grades are ‘set’ so there’s nothing we can do to change it.</p>

<p>Concentrate on explaining your activities and how they impacted you, or what you brought to the team, service, etc. Write pretty fantastic essays. Have an English teacher (or more than one!) check it, have someone else read it, etc.</p>

<p>Good luck to both of you!</p>