Chances? Even worth it?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Wisconsin
1

<p>I’m a junior, and I’m highly considering Wisconsin.
What do you think my chances would be?</p>

<p>Current JUNIOR, probably willing to pay full tuition
White guy from Seattle, Washington
1 Parent attended college, but not here
GPA Unweighted: 2.95-3.02 (Math kills me. I’ve flunked and retaken a couple of honors math classes to help my GPA. I get A’s and B’s in everything else. And A’s in the retakes.)
GPA Weighted: 87.8 (on a % scale for some reason)
ACT: 27 (12 writing)
CLASS RANK: 57th %ile. Top 43%.
GRADE TREND: Freshman: 2.8ish, Soph: 3.5ish, Junior:likely 2.6ish w/ better 2nd semester</p>

<p>Classes were pretty hard…
SOPH CLASSES: Pre-Calculus, AP U.S. History (3), AP Psychology (4), Honors English, Honors Spanish 4, AP Biology (3), AP Euro (2)</p>

<p>JUNIOR CLASSES: AP Statistics, AP Gov, AP Microecon, Positive Leadership, AP English, AP Spanish Lang, AP Chemistry</p>

<p>SENIOR CLASSES: Calculus, Comm. College Economics, Comm. College English, Comm. College Spanish, AP Physics, Comparative Religions, International Relations</p>

<p>Extra-Currcular Activities:</p>

<li><p>Cross Country (5 years)
1a. I’m a captain next year =]
1b. Competing at the Varsity Level
1c. Lettered freshman year</p></li>
<li><p>Boy’s Swimming (2-3 years)
2a. JV Level, this is more just for fun
2b. Managed the team freshman year</p></li>
</ol>

<p>3.Track & Field (6 years)
3a. Varsity Pole Vaulter
3b. #1 Male PV’er on the team (a.k.a. the ONLY male PV’er on the team.)
3c. 400m open/ 4X400, not so good at this</p>

<li><p>Choir (8 years)
4a. Member of Motet, the school’s most prestigous choir
4b. Traveled to Austrailia to Perform in July 2009
4c. Tenor Leader</p></li>
<li><p>Musical (1 year)
5a. Performed in the school musical “Charlie & The Chocolate Factory” sophomore year, and never did it again because I didn’t have time</p></li>
<li><p>Tutor (2 years so far)
6a. 6 Spanish Hours for youth service
6b. 4 Algebra 1 Hours for youh service…
6c. 3 Geometry Hours…
6d. 18 Algebra 2 Hours…
6e. 2 Chemistry Hours…</p></li>
<li><p>Junior Class Squadron
7a. Historian
7b. 2 hours weekly</p></li>
<li><p>Part Time Job since July 08 @ McCafe’</p></li>
</ol>

<p>I think I’ll have 1 rec and it’ll be good.</p>

<p>Bases on my ACT writing, my essays should be epic.</p>

<p>So yeah. Don’t hesitate to be harsh.</p>

2

<p>I'm not the best person to ask cause I am only a junior and will not apply till next year, but check out UW's graph for good info:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.admissions.wisc.edu/images/UW_FreshmanExpectations.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.admissions.wisc.edu/images/UW_FreshmanExpectations.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

3

<p>Well you GPA is definitely your weak point. A sub-3.0 isn't going to cut it unfortunately. Your ACT is pretty good, but I would recommend to try and take it again and work really hard on it to offset your GPA. I would guess around a 32-33 would be a good start, but I don't know if that's possible. Your ECs are really good and should help a bit, but I don't know that UW even uses those too much. Your chances are pretty low with current stats, but I would say: Kick butt this semester and first of senior year, bring up ACT, and write some really good essays. Try and apply early and if you're rejected do really well in grades senior year and try to appeal. Good luck to you.</p>

4

<p>UW Madison doesn't get a ton of apps from the Pac NW (though it seems more every year) so geographic diversity may help you.</p>

5

<p>i think you are right on the boarder...its always worth applying..you know never know and can only be hopeful. worst case scenario...do a semester or two somewhere else and improve your gpa. my hs gpa was a 2.75....and im going to madison now haha...so dont give up.</p>

6

<p>I'm bumping this because I think UW has become my first choice. I'm not sure if that's a good thing..</p>

<p>And I'm not retaking the ACT. My mother will not even allow it.</p>

<p>Does anyone have any more advice?</p>

7

<p>^I hate chance threads, but since you're actually asking for advice... Why won't she allow it? That's so asinine. In terms of numbers, that's probably going to be the best way to improve your "chances". Retaking it can *not *hurt you. So why not? Money?</p>

<p>Honestly, your GPA is horrendous. 2.6 junior year? That's awful. Aim for like, straight A's next semester to try to improve your likelihood of admission. I mean, I had a ~2.7 second semester freshman year, and failed English that semester, but above a 4.0 all others, so my average was around a 3.7-ish. You don't exactly have that upward trend... They will take in to account your grades though, see where exactly the lowness comes from, so you could have that on your side.</p>

<p>Clearly you should not be in honors math classes if your flunking them an retaking them, as well. Why are you taking calculus when your math background is not that good? I don't think calc is that hard, but if I were you, I would drop that senior year... Yes, most people take it, but most of them aren't that bad in math (I'm assuming you are. Please correct me if I'm wrong). There's ways to get around that in college, so don't worry about it. I would talk to someone regarding that, because if it kills your GPA, that's worse almost than not having four years. You only need three years, and if you can't handle it next year, it'll be worse for you to take it. In my opinion. But I'm not an admissions counselor. :)</p>