Chances at William and Mary?

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

<p>I just visited W&M this week and fell in love with the school. I'm going to say this now, even though the school is probably first choice, I won't be applying ED because I want to keep financial aid opportunities open.</p>

<p>I go to a small independent school in New Hampshire. There are about 60 something kids in my grade. </p>

<p>Courses</p>

<p>Freshman year: French 2, 9th Grade English, Asia: East and West, Geometry, Concert Choir, Biology (no honors courses were available at the time for most freshmen)</p>

<p>Sophomore year: French 3, 10th grade English, Modern European History, Honors Algebra 2, Concert Choir, Honors Chemistry </p>

<p>Junior Year: Latin 1, AP English Language and Comp, AP US History, Honors Physics, Precalculus, Music History, Concert Choir, Intro to Piano (school was phasing out french program at end of the year, so I switched languages in order to get as much of a new language in as possible)</p>

<p>Senior Year: Honors Latin 3, Freaks and Outcasts in Lit, Seniors Honors Humanities Seminar, Creative Writing, AP Stats, AP Calc AB, Concert Choir, Theater Tech, Music Theory, History in Information Age (and some other trimester courses that I may have forgotten)</p>

<p>My school does not offer many AP's, and when I was 9th grade did not offer many honors options. There is also now an honors precalc option, which I would have taken if it had been available. My GPA is a B+ average because I struggled with Physics, but all my other grades were in the A range for year long grades. </p>

<p>SAT Scores: 2040, 660 Reading, 640 Math, 740 Writing. Retaking in October to raise scores.</p>

<p>ACT: Not taking</p>

<p>AP's: 5's on APUSH and AP English Language</p>

<p>EC's:</p>

<p>9th: Staff Writer (school paper), Crew (fall: rower, spring: coxswain), Church Choir</p>

<p>10th: Human Interest Editor (school paper), crew (coxswain), Church Choir, Mayor's Youth Advisory Council, planned two benefit concerts, Varsity Softball</p>

<p>11th: Sports Editor (school paper), crew (coxswain), dance (had stopped for two years due to scheduling), Varsity Softball, Chair of Mayor's Youth Advisory Council. (Dropped Church Choir because it was at the same time as Mayor's Youth Advisory Council)</p>

<p>Summer between 11th and 12th: Stage Manager for Credo Company's production of Spring Awakening, Jr. Counselor and photographer at school's drama camp, took Latin 2</p>

<p>12th: Managing Editor (school paper), dance, Chair of Mayor's Youth Advisory Council, Varsity Softball, school musical, Varsity Softball. (stopped crew because I have no free periods, so I needed time to do college apps and homework)</p>

<p>Community Service: Between 9th and 10th grade was a Sr. CIT at a YMCA Camp (over 200 hours of community service)</p>

2

<p>Glad you enjoyed your recent visit and fell in love with W&M.</p>

<p>We’d definitely advise you to take a science course senoir year. Yes you’ve had bio, chem and physics which is great but we like to see students enroll in the core subjects each year. Also, definitely explain your switch from French to Latin so that we understand why you didn’t complete French 4. You mentioned that your school didn’t offer many APs but if an AP science, AP English or AP social science is available to you this year we’d recommend it so that you have more APs senior year than junior year which shows an increase in course rigor (if there is an AP science you can take that would kill two birds with one stone).</p>

<p>Taking the SAT again is also a good plan. 1300 (your Critical Reading + Math) is within our overall middle 50% range but below the OOS range (about 1380-1450). We do superscore your SAT so taking the test a second time cannot hurt you.</p>

<p>Is there no way for you to keep up with crew senior year? It’s not that you’re light on ECs. You have some great EC commitments and some demonstrated leadership but you also had a leadership position in crew and you stuck with it for three years so to give it up senior year is tough. If you do end up not pursuing it you should explain that as well so we understand.</p>

<p>That’s our advice for you. For more on any applicant’s chances and our process check out our Admit It! Blog ([W&M</a> Blogs Chance Me](<a href=“http://blogs.wm.edu/2010/12/14/chance-me/]W&M”>http://blogs.wm.edu/2010/12/14/chance-me/))</p>

3

<p>Thanks so much! Unfortunately, there is no way for me to add any other courses at this point. I have a full schedule and many of my classes only have one section, so there is no way to switch them. We offer AP Physics and AP Chemistry, but science isn’t my strong suit so I decided to take two AP maths instead. I however could try to see if AP English Lit fits in, but I already have my books for the other English class. How would you suggest explaining dropping crew? If I did continue it creates a scheduling nightmare, so I most likely will not continue because I did not enjoy it enough. Thanks for the advice!</p>

4

<p>Adding a class may not be necessary. Could you for example take a science (AP Chem or AP Physics) in place of another class (say one of your non-academic electives like choir or theatre tech)? W&M likes to see students who are strong across the board and who callenge themselves even in those areas that aren’t their best.</p>

<p>As for crew, you can use the additional info part of the Common App to write a few sentences as to why you were unable to continue</p>