<p>I've been to W&M several times and was able to attend a National History program (NIAHD) there last summer. Needless to say, I've fallen in love with it :-). Do I have a decent shot?</p>
<p>School: Mid-range public HS in MD
Ethnicity/ Gender: Asian (Indian) Male
ACT Composite: 30 (retaking in Fall)
GPA: 3.9 (unweighted), 4.6666 (weighted)
Class Rank: 1 or 2 out of 439</p>
<p>AP Exams Taken: AP US History (5), AP Psych (5), AP Biology (5), AP Calc BC (3, AB subscore 4), AP Macroecon (5), AP Human Geography (5)
Senior Yr Schedule:
----3 Hours each day (1/2 of the day- I'm on a block schedule)- Internship at the National Institutes of Health
----2 Dual Enrollment Classes at Community College (Chemistry Honors; Statistics and Probability)
----AP Lang and Comp
----AP Euro History</p>
<p>Extracurriculars:
3 Yrs of Varsity Track--- State Championships- 1st place shotput; 3rd place 4x400 meters relay
1 Yr of JV Soccer
Team Captain, Mock Trial- Led team to state finals this yr
Vice-President, Model UN Team- 4 awards, all junior yr. Co founded this team this last yr and have about 25 students involved.
Co-Captain, Academic Team
Treasurer, Junior Class Club
President, National Honors Society
* Due to my internship and other extra-curricular involvements, I am discontinuing my involvement with Track... I've basically achieved all I have wanted to from Track and would like to focus my energies elsewhere.</p>
<p>Others:--Volunteered with many campaigns, local and nationally. Deputy Field Director for a Senatorial election in my state this year.
--Played Violin for 16 yrs.
--Computer Programing- designed my high school's website</p>
<p>Thanks! I’m retaking the ACT on 9/11. Depending on how I feel after taking it, I may register for the October date as well. I took the SAT but my ACT score is much, much better than the SAT (I know that’s a bit sad; I’m a horrible standardized test taker). Still, I emailed my former counselor from NIAHD and she said that, although ACT/ SAT scores are important, W&M Admissions weighs the non-quantitative parts of application much higher than test scores. That’s the reason why I’ve already started working on the application… I’m just not sure whether I want to apply Early Decision or not since W&M is one of my top two choices.</p>
<p>To respond to what your NIAHD counselor told you, standardized testing is one part of our process, no more than that and no less than that. We essentially consider all parts of the application equal though we place more emphasis on the transcript than other parts but standardized testing tends to hold as much weight as most other parts of the application. We do take your best score so if you do better on the Sept. ACT or end up taking the SAT and doing better, we’ll only consider your best score.</p>
<p>I see you’ve taken several AP exams already. Does that mean you took the corresponding courses? We definitely like to see calculus, physics, and the fourth level of a single foreign language. We also recommend enrolling in the core subjects every year is possible.</p>
<p>Make sure you explain your half-day internship in the application so we can understand your schedule and this co-curricular activity.</p>
<p>Excellent GPA and great ec’s with a tremendous amount of leadership! I commend you on your track decision as well - good reason. I recently made a similar choice ;)</p>
<p>Test score can always be improved, but you’re definitely on the right track. This would be a great pleace to apply ED if possible. Keep it up!</p>