Chances and a few questions! :)

Colleges and Universities A-Z College of William and Mary
1

<p>Ok my first question is about my chances for getting in</p>

<p>In state! :)</p>

<p>3.55 gpa, unweighted (I go to one of the hardest high schools... and the grading scale is from 94-100 for an A. Ranked the 50th top highschool in the nation. I think my gpa is probably my weak link though, and i dont know if they are going to factor our weird grading scale)</p>

<p>7 ap classes, all my classes have been honors except 1 science class</p>

<p>SAT:2090 730 reading, 670 math (1400 on old scale). Im going to be retaking it though, and i pretty much know i can get higher then 2150</p>

<p>APs: AP lang/comp 5, AP US history 5, AP Calc AB 3, AP Gov, AP Stat, Ap Env Science, AP Lit</p>

<p>EC: this is also a weak point for me, because I really didnt get involved until junior year.Main ones are: Robotics club, Volunteer Coaching, Computer Graphics (designed logos for clubs, and a buisness, as well as t-shirts for a company), Soccer, Basketball, Spring track, Varsity Volleyball, Working as a referee for 5 years, and 300+ other working hours</p>

<p>Recs: will be exellent, one from hist teacher, eng teacher, mabye math or psych teacher?</p>

<p>Essay: Dunno yet, ive written it but i have to talk to my teachers to see if its good or not</p>

<hr>

<p>First of all i visited william and mary and liked it, a good amout. The main thing that is turning me away is the weather, but thats the same for about any other virginia school. </p>

<p>Ive heard alot of negative things about william and mary, and i just wanted people to claify them for me. First i heard that it has the highest suicide rate of any school... is that true?</p>

<p>Is the workload really as tough as they say? I could handle it, but im unsure if i really would enjoy it ;)</p>

<p>How nice are the people there, and how fun is it to go there? because ive heard that there really isnt that much social activity...</p>

<p>How good looking are the girls? (shallow but nessecary!)</p>

2

<p>to answer your questions...</p>

<p>it does not have the highest suicide rate</p>

<p>the work load isn't as tough as they say&lt;/p>

<p>the people are very nice - its as fun as you make it. i wouldn't call w&m a party school</p>

<p>the girls are better than average for a great school - but nothing to write home about</p>

3

<p>As far as academic difficulty is concerned, the reputation is absurdly bloated...</p>

<p>Your grading scale won't matter, 94-100 is normal, that's basically what an A is here</p>

4

<p>Weather is only intolerable for first two weeks of school, right at the end of August. (And this is coming from a northerner used to a perfect air-conditioned 74 degrees)</p>

<p>Suicide rate... not true. Swarthmore has both highest marriage rate and highest suicide rate. You decide if there's a correlation between the two.</p>

<p>Workload is tough. You will have to work your butt off to earn good grades, same as any other academically rigorous school. There is still plenty of time for fun and socializing, and there are TONS of extracurriculars.</p>

<p>The people here are amazing. Enough said.</p>

<p>Concurring with jags, the girls are about average. Don't let this alone keep you away.</p>

<p>=====================</p>

<p>With regard to your chances... W&M considers the intensity of your HS curriculum, so if you're in-state your HS probably has name recognition in the admissions office. 3.55 UW is perhaps a little low (75% apply with 3.75+), but considering you've taken 7 AP's they'll probably take that into consideration. 2090 SAT is good; keep taking it if you think you can score higher. How are your SAT II scores? As far as the essay goes, I won't give you advice because I'm sure plenty of people have already, but I didn't write the optional supplement essay and I got in anyway.</p>

<p>From what you've listed here, you've got a good chance as an in-state student.</p>

5

<p>if you're instate, they probably know about your grading scale and understand it. They'll know the history of the kids who have been accepted from your area. If you're from northern VA, they definitely know the schools / grading.</p>

<p>I dunno which way you don't like the weather, too cold or too hot, but if it's the same for all VA schools then I guess there's not much to say about it =P</p>

<p>You can make WM a very fun place. Or you can live in the library (which is stupid).</p>

6

<p>Sounds like you are from NOVA, so the weather in Billsburg should be pretty similar with the exception of a few hot, humid weeks in the beginning of the year. Otherwise, the weather here is better for in state than, say Virginia Tech where the winter's can be rough. </p>

<p>Regardless of your high school, you GPA is low for William and Mary. What will matter is your class rank and how many students are applying from your high school. The grading scale will be known by the admissions office. The grading scale at my high school was the same here in Virginia Beach and no weight given for any honor's classes. Good Luck. Also consider JMU, Tech and if you are interested in a smaller Virginia School, University of Mary Washington is a good choice.</p>

7

<p>Okay, I think it is entirely unfair to say the girls here are unattractive. Take a good luck at the guys on campus. There not exactly lookers themselves. Just my two cents...</p>

8

<p>Just remember..........beauty fades but dumb is forever!</p>

9

<p>Suicide stats there don’t tell the whole story. Everyone I know from W&M (myself included) has circulated the Washington Post piece and been dubious about the numbers. I can remember hearing a kid jump from a dorm building at 4am while I was there. The fact of the matter is as progressive as W&M’s faculty is the administration is the opposite. Mental illness is frowned upon and I dare say more suicides have happened because of the way they react with students who are struggling-- they would much rather kick them out and be done with the liability then help the student. Kicking students out who are perfectionists is a surefire recipe for their demise. </p>

<p>In terms of your chances of getting in . . . I just hope that when you wrote your essay you did not forget that a lot is two words, not “alot.” Harsh? Maybe. But if you got into W&M, I am sure you’re used to that by now.</p>

10

<p>? ?? This thread is four years old. “Alot” notwithstanding, the OP should graduate from UVA, a similarly selective school, this spring. There was actually a more recent thread about the administration’s response to suicide - I notice that Yourmotives has also posted there. As several posters on that thread observed, requiring a student to leave school and tend to serious mental health issues is not the same thing as “kick[ing] them out and be[ing] done with the liability.” </p>

<p>Every college struggles to deal with the issue of late adolescent suicide. I feel it is more responsible of W & M to require the student to seek treatment than to take responsibility for such a complex problem itself. It’s a college, a state-funded college with serious funding challenges, not a mental health institution.</p>

<p>[William</a> & Mary - Suicide Prevention](<a href=“http://www.wm.edu/offices/counselingcenter/resources/brochures/suicideprevention/index.php]William”>http://www.wm.edu/offices/counselingcenter/resources/brochures/suicideprevention/index.php)</p>

<p>[William</a> & Mary - Counseling Center Brochure](<a href=“http://www.wm.edu/offices/counselingcenter/resources/brochures/counselingcenterbrochure/index.php]William”>http://www.wm.edu/offices/counselingcenter/resources/brochures/counselingcenterbrochure/index.php)</p>

11

<p>Lots of questions to try to address here.</p>

<p>As for your chances, we will consider your school’s grading scale, whether the GPA is weighted/unweighted, rank, rigor of course work in comparison to grades, etc and we are very familiar with VA high schools (and many many OOS high schools) so we know how to provide a contextual review of your application. We only compare your transcript to that of students who attend the same high school. We will not compare your courses/grades to that of a student at a different high school with different courses and different grading scales. However, if you perceive any weaknesses in your application, feel free to explain them (like why didn’t you get involved until junior year for example or is there something that caused you to struggle with your grades at any point like an illness). This will help us to have the whole picture when reviewing your application.</p>

<p>As for the suicide rate, W&M’s suicide rate is less than half that of the national average. Unfortunately, suicides are part of any college campus and they are tragedies regardless of where or why they occur. Because of W&M’s tight-knit community, students are more likely to know that the event occurred and possibly more likely to have known the victim. Thus, students are simply more familiar on our campus sometimes than they might be on larger campuses where the community isn’t as close.</p>

<p>The workload is challenging but very doable. We hope that students applying to W&M want an academic experience that will challenge them to think and grow intellectually rather than wanting to cakewalk through college. However, we would never admit any student who we do not believe is up to that challenge.</p>

<p>The students, faculty, administrators and staff are all incredibly friendly and welcoming. Many of our visitors note just how nice and outgoing our students are and how eager they are to welcome prospective students to campus. And this place is what you make of it. If you get involved in your academics and extracurriculars you will have an incredibly diverse, interesting, engaging, and fun experience.</p>