Hi everybody
I’ll be a senior next year and I’m hoping to get a better idea of my chances.
GPA: 4.0 uw, ~4.5 weighted
ACT: 33 (will retake)
SAT: 2000 (will retake)
AP euro-5, awaiting scores for AP english, apush, and apes this year
Consistently AP/honors classes
Amigos self-fundraised community service trip to Nicaragua this summer, club founder and president, non-profit founder, volunteer at elementary school and animal shelter, vice president to other club, ect
White female from California, so OOS for all
Looking at UVA, chapel hill, washington and lee, william and mary
Both chances and info on any schools are appreciated. Thanks!
UVA/UNC: reach. OOS status makes everything harder for these two schools.
Washington and Lee: high match or low,low reach.
William and Mary: match
You have a chance at all. But you need some safeties. William & Mary is also a reach because it’s a state school and only 30% of freshmen can be OOS. Since W&M is smaller it’s probably more competitive than UVA. Look at Common Data Sets for all the schools you plan to apply to.
No UVA is much more competitive than W&M. You derfinitely have shot at all three. I think you are in at all 3. The toughest may be UNC CH, but I still think you will more then likely get in. Don’t submit SAT only ACT.
Both are reaches given the out of state status. Saying that one is much more competitive would be misleading, they differ by 2-3 percentage points. I have known many students get into UVA and not W&M and vice versa, in other words being accepted to one does not preclude acceptance to the other. Which one are you planning to take first? Honestly, I would probably just focus your time on one, and a 33 ACT score is a fine score already.
What would you like to know? I am a current student at the College of William and Mary and I have toured all the other schools with the exception of Chapel Hill. UNC-CH also may end up being the most competitive out of all your choices because there are only a small portion of out of state students accepted each year, smaller than the virginia schools
Thanks for the input, everybody!
@shawnspencer I really like W&M, but I heard the dynamic between the school and the town(esp colonial williamsburg) is a bad one. Is this true?
Are you suggesting I just take the SAT again, or just the ACT? would you mind me asking your score(s)?
Thanks!
Not at all! While I am not aware of all the ongoings, I actually think that we have a very positive relationship with the town. The mayor is a former graduate of the college and is still very involved in its ongoings. He actually came back and started the Sharpe Community Scholars program which I am a member of. Students also have free use of the town’s transportation system as well as have free admission into colonial williamsburg. Aside from tourists, college students are probably their primary source of revenue.
Are there any specific incidents you might be referring to? Occasionally college students get into a bit of mischief when the undergo the “triathalon” (aka a three part ritual that students take part in before graduating WM) and there was some controversy when some students protested the noise ordinances of the town, but overall I’d like to think that the two coincide pretty well. If you are interested in city government, two of my friends this year part of a group called StudentImpact, now have positions on the city council which I think is pretty cool. You don’t get to do that at every school, and I think that is part of the close relationship between the college and the town.
If you are to retake one at all, I think you should retake the one you feel most comfortable with/the one you think you can do the best on. Your ACT scores are pretty strong. I was accepted with a 2210 SAT (1470 CR+M). WM primarily looks at CR+M when it comes to the SAT, but it also looks at your application holistically. When I applied, my high school GPA was much lower than yours but I think it was really the essays and passion displayed in the EC’s that really made a difference.
In any case, it does seem that you have a strong record even while taking rigorous courses and you seem to have some great involvements in your ECs. (I’d love to talk to you about your experience in Nicaragua sometime, I was heavily involved in an organization that built a school there too) Nevertheless, I wouldn’t take admissions for granted because it has been getting more competitive. Make sure you also have some safeties and ones that you know you can afford to go to.
@shawnspencer thanks so much for the input! I just heard that rumor from someone I know who went to UVA. I heard that W&M only looks at SAT not ACT, is that true? everything else sounds great, thanks so much!!
Nope not true at all. That one can be debunked by an easy look at William and Mary’s website (http://www.wm.edu/admission/undergraduateadmission/how-to-apply/freshmanapplicants/application-checklist/standardizedtesting/index.php) I’d be careful who you listen to if I were you 
In any case, if you have any more questions I am available anytime. I’ll actually be in williamsburg interning over the summer, but I’ll have alot of downtime to talk and whatnot. Also if you haven’t already, visit some of the schools on your list. I didn’t know what type of school I wanted until I visited my choices. You’ll definitely click with some more than others and you can get a general sense of the “vibe” of the student body.
Best of luck!