Chances at UVA and William&Mary?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hello! I am currently finishing up my junior year and am launching myself into the college application process. While my transcript is almost entirely comprised of A’s and a few B’s, I will have a C+ for the year in precalc. I am afraid this completely disqualifies me from my top choices, William&Mary and UVA, despite my strengths. I am also applying to VA Tech, Christopher Newport, James Madison, Cornell (just for the heck of it) and probably Mary Washington.

However, William&Mary and UVA are strong favorites, and I really really want to end up at either school (especially William&Mary).

While I am almost entirely sure that my precalc grade will ruin my chances (as the rest of my trancript does have a few B’s) I still have some sliver of hope that the admissions people will be forgiving because of the rest of my application.

SAT:

have yet to take it a second time (August). I took it cold the first time (no prep/study whatsoever) and got a 1280. After several months of studying I expect to break 1400. I did get a 21/24 on the essay portion which is fairly decent, I think, but I’m doing the essay again anyway.

I’m not taking subject tests until October, as there was no earlier date available for the tests I wanted to take. I expect to do pretty well though.

Transcript:

Freshman:

honors world history: A
Honors english: A
Biology: A
Geometry: A
Spanish 2: A
Gym/health (required 9th and 10th grade): A
Intro to marketing: A

Sophomore:
honors English: A
AP world history: A (5 on exam)
Chemistry: B+
Fashion Marketing: A
Spanish 3: A
Algebra 2: B+
Gym/health: A

Junior:
AP Lang: A (scores haven’t been released, 4 or 5 expected)
Precalc: C+ (ughh)
Physics: B- or B (depends on final. I have the teacher that is infamous for being awful)
Apush: A (probably 4 or 5)
Advanced Marketing: A
AP human geography: A (probably a 5)
Spanish 4: B+

Senior- predicted semester grades:

AP comparative government: A-
AP Statistics: A-
AP Spanish: B+
Genetics and Biotechnology: A
Marketing Management: A
Choir: A
AP Literature: A

I know colleges look more at grades than GPA (especially with boosters like gym and choir) but my weighted GPA should be around a 4.2

Extra Curriculars/ Community Involvement

-member of DECA since freshman year: I placed at a competition at the district level sophomore year, and was a state finalist junior year and competed internationally.

-National English Honor Society: Historian

-Rho Kappa Social Studies Honor Society: founding member and likely, an officer (I am not sure of my position yet as the sponsors have not announced it)

  • National Honor Society (member since sophomore year as freshmen cannot join)
  • Red Cross Club
  • Crush Cancer Club (founding member)

-starting my own club! I will be the founder and president, and the club is sort of a sector of an organization started by an individual in my community. My goal is to inspire my peers to become more deeply involved in the community, and as a club we will explore certain issues in our area, originate innovative solutions for them, and engage in voluntary service to support the demographic affected by said issue.

  • I also volunteer frequently with the organization for which I am starting the club. While the organization is sort of an umbrella for several sectors (including my club) that focus on different issues, the founder's activities most directly support immigrants and refugees.
  • the DECA project I mentioned focused on supporting foster children. My friend (partner in the project) and I were so inspired by our experience that we decided to take it further. We're establishing a choir program for foster kids, and we're in the process of becoming a non-profit organization.

-I am volunteering with an organization that supports foster children, and possible partnering with them.

-I also volunteer frequently with the Moose organization.

-I will be volunteering at the local animal shelter at least once a week this summer.

Letters of Recommendation:

One letter is coming from my English teacher this year. I am expecting it to be excellent. My teacher knows me well, refers to me as a “leader of the classroom”, and cares deeply about her students. I have a deep and personal connection with this teacher, and she really seems to understand me and my value. She will probably make me sound much more wonderful than I actually am, but I suppose that’s not a bad thing.

The letter from my counselor should be decent. Not as personal, of course.

I will also be getting a letter of recommendation from the founder of the non-profit organization I mentioned. I am expecting it to be great as he has witnessed firsthand my true passion for humanitarian activities, and he genuinely respects and even admires me. He is a doctor and attended UVA, but I am not sure if that has any relevance, especially since I am not applying for the medical school.

Essays:

To be honest, I am so excited to write my essays! Can you tell I’m an English nerd? I am confident in my writing skills, especially when writing a narrative in which I can be both deeply reflective and quirky at the same time
(I think that about sums up my personality, actually). Anyway, I have already planned most of essays and I like my ideas. I am going to dedicate a lot of time to the essays, and I think they could stand out.

Other Info:
-I am from Fairfax County, NoVa (so I’m in state)
-I am a Caucasian female
-I have decided to double major in International Relations and English

  • I will have been on two educational traveling experiences by the time I apply for college. Freshman year I went to Spain and France, and I am soon going to Switzerland, Italy, France and Spain. Thought the multi-cultural experiences might speak to my major?
    -my Mother went to George Mason, and then went to school online at UChicago and earned her masters degree. My father did not attend college and is from Vietnam (though he is also Caucasian) (I’m not sure if it is relevant, but all the AP exams seem to ask about parents’ education)

Anyway, I think I would thrive at William&Mary and UVA, but I am afraid that my application just won’t cut it because of the C+ in Precalculus. They are quite selective, and I’m not sure if the rest of my application is strong enough to make up for that grade.

So, please give me some feedback on what you think- do I have a chance at either
school? If not, what about the other schools
I listed (excluding Cornell of course. Ha.)

Thank you!

2

You say you’re from Fairfax, but do you happen to attend TJ. If so, you still have a shot at William & Mary, or even UVA (Hundreds of students from TJ gets accepted to William and Mary or/and UVA). Regardless of which, if you somehow manage to pull off a 1450+ SAT in August, I think that alone outweighs your C+ (If that’s significant at all). Besides, your current stats are probably enough to get into William & Mary, so I wouldn’t sweat it, although I can’t say any of your ECs “stand out”. With that being said:

UVA - Match/High Match (Raise your SAT)

William and Mary - Same as above

VA Tech - Match/Low Match (This was a safety school for everyone in my family)

Christopher Newport - Safety/Low Match

James Madison - Safety

Cornell - Reach (This is a reach/high match for everyone, even top students, anybody who tells you otherwise is full of ****)

Mary Washington - Safety

DISCLAIMER: I’m a 13 year old kid, please do not take my response seriously!

3

Thanks so much! Yeah, I definitely need to get my SAT score up. I really didn’t know what I was doing (especially on the math section) the first time, but I think I’ll do way better next time. That should make a huge difference in my application.

And no, I don’t attend TJ. Though, most TJ kids are generally more heavily focused the stem field, while I focus on humanities. So, maybe I’d balance out the TJ kids? (haha, I don’t know if that’s exactly how it works.) But, a lot of kids from my school were accepted to UVA this year. I think those were also accepted to W&M, but they chose to go to UVA.

I agree- my extracurriculars aren’t the most special. That’s something I’ve kinda struggled with in high school (what to join?), but I think starting a club might be good to have. Also the leadership positions can’t hurt. I volunteer for more time than I spend in extracurriculars- but I guess those activities are even overlapping with the club I’m starting.

I feel a little better knowing it’s not totally hopeless (even if you are 13, you seem pretty knowledgeable). So thank you!

4

No problem, glad I could help!

5

@AnxiousStudent99
You will need to hit a 1440 for RD for both schools as they have an avg of 1419 and 1420 respectively. I would apply Early at both.

6

@VANDEMORY1342
Ah thanks! Hopefully I can manage, I know I’m capable if I continue studying… and yeah pretty sure I’m doing early decision for w&m.
Is early decision better for students like me? I’ve heard that it’s out of a more impressive pool of
applicants, even if the acceptance rate is higher. So I was worried about that but figured that if they weren’t sure about me I’d probably be deferred (and if I was rejected it means they wouldn’t have taken me regular anyway haha)

7

@AnxiousStudent99 Its usually EA that’s the more impressive pool, so UVA will be harder to get into early while W&M will be easier since its ED and not EA.