Chances for a Wisconsin Boy

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Virginia
1

<p>Hey, if anyone could tell me my chances for Virginia (i'll be applying ED), that'd be awesome.</p>

<p>GPA: 3.78 (unweighted)
Rank: Around 12% at one of the strongest public schools in Wisconsin, a B below a 4.0 drops you to 5th %.
Some classes..
Freshman: TAG English, Accelerated Algebra 1, thats all I could take harder.
Sophomore: AP Psych, AP World History, Advanced/Accelerated Geometry, Chemistry and English
Junior: Micro AP, AP Bio, AP English Comp, Accelerated Algebra 2, Poly Sci.
Senior: It's gonna be AP Macro, AP Euro History, Accelerated Algebra 3, AP English Lit, etc</p>

<p>TEST SCORES
AP: 5 on World History, 5 on Psych. For this years, expecting 4-5s on Micro, English, US History, US politics, comp politics, and a 3-4 on Bio.
ACT: 34
SAT: Probably gonna retake, but 710 Critical Reading (the new Verbal), 670 Math, 680 Writing. I think I can get writing and CR up a lot, math up a little.
SAT IIs: 720 on US History, 710 on Math I.</p>

<p>EXTRACURRICULARS:
Sports: I'll be a 5-time letterwinner in Cross Country and Track, captain of the CC team this fall.
Volunteer: Working with autistic kids, including running with an autistic teamate, help younger classes with their class activities.
Clubs: Captains Club, Student Newspaper (editor in it), Prom Committee, Class Government, Forensics, NHS.
Other: Class Secretary as soph, Class VP junior and senior. Two-time state champion in Radio Speaking in Forensics. Recently elected Student Liaison to Board of Education, so I'll be providing student perspective to the school board, basically as a member, except I only get an advisory vote.</p>

<p>I've got a couple teachers who will write me excellent letters (one teacher who has been obsessed with getting a kid from my school to win the student liaison election for 10 years, and the coach of the forensics team), and my essays will probably be decent.</p>

<p>No legacy or any of that, just an out-of-stater...No affirmative action for Jews either, so none of that.</p>

<p>If anyone could tell me what my chances are for getting into the College, I'd be thriled. Thanks</p>

2

<p>It's tough to say. I'll be honest with you...your rank will hurt you greatly. Even for instate kids, it can be tough getting in from outside the top 10% (or even 5%, sometimes), and for out-of-staters, it's probably even more difficult. You will, however, be applying ED, which may help somewhat to offset your rank. Your ACT score is very strong, and while your SAT score is above UVA's overall average, I'd definitely retake it. Your extracurriculars are fairly strong and diverse, but EC's are far outweighed by academic factors in the admissions process. </p>

<p>Again, with a dose of reality: it can be tough being a BWRK (bright, well-rounded kid), with no particular hook(s), so we always need a spot of luck. You are, in my opinion, solidly in the range of admitted students, and your rank is your only glaring fault.</p>

3

<p>don't like madison?</p>

4

<p>Thanks for the feedback...Madison's alright, but I realized I should probably escape this state when I found myself in a 20 minute conversation over what bratwurst is best, followed by a discussion of cheese. Plus, having my mom ten minutes from my dorm can never be a good thing.</p>

5

<p>I guess if money aint a thang, I don't blame you. you just happen to live in one of the few states that I wouldn't leave my flagship for anything other than a few top privates and ivys.</p>

6

<p>At Uva the same debate might be Abercrombie vs American Eagle. Going away is good and I encourage it---just don't expect too much real difference.</p>

7

<p>welcome to UVa....!!!!!!!!!!!</p>

8

<p>What are your academic interests? UW-Madison is probably better than UVA in just about anything science-related.</p>

9

<p>Plus dude, while leaving the state is often a pretty normal argument... Madison is like a seperate nation from the state of Wisconsin, and sometimes even the United States. You're not going to feel like out on the farm in Fox Valley or something discussing cheese and brats. As for the mother. Hell, I couldn't even run into my roommates on campus.</p>

10

<p>Btw, while Abercrombie has nicer quality on their products, American eagle is nearly a 50% discount.</p>

11

<p>I'm more into political science than any sort of lab science...and you didn't read the part of my post where I said I was Jewish; If I'm within 200 miles, my mother WILL find me, and cook me dinner. I think what I don't like about the idea of staying in Madison is that I've lived here all my life, and as a former governor of Wisconsin said, "Madison is 78 square miles surrounded by reality." I just want to get away and see what life is like in other parts of the country, if it really is all that different. And since my high school sends more students to the UW than any other high school in the country, there would be the same people I've known all my life everywhere. Finally, American Eagle all the way.</p>

12

<p>son, i'd say you have a chance at UVa, and i'd say UVa is better than UW-Madison overall. UVa has a rich history and tradition, and better students...best of luck</p>

13

<p>UW's history is very rich in scientific discovery and social/economic planning that has shaped the US. UW has far greater depth in science and engineering and is no slouch in the liberal arts with more highly ranked depts than UVa. UVa is smaller and more selective at the ug level but there are many many students at UW equal to those at UVa. UW also has a better quality grad student population due to the higher ranking of most of its grad programs.
I recently read that UVa has a campaign to hire 10 NAS level faculty over the next few years. Right now the UW has about 50 more members than UVa and produces a few new ones nearly every year.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/topresearch.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/topresearch.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>That said, as an 18 year old looking to go away to school, UVa fills the bill nicely in most any area.</p>

14

<p>lol, most people will agree with me that UVa is BETTER than UM-Madison OVERALL....including college professors.......</p>

15

<p>Most people don't know squat about college professors. It is a fact that UW has far more NAS members than UVa and far more winners of major awards like Guggenheims, etc. UW also has far more profs getting patents and a far larger research budget. Here's a source for some facts</p>

<p><a href="http://thecenter.ufl.edu/research2004.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://thecenter.ufl.edu/research2004.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

16

<p>It's not that I don't think the UW is a good school, that's not why I'm applying to Virginia. It's just that growing up a Badger my whole life, I don't feel it would be a very different experience, which is sort of the purpose of college. I'd be proud to call myself a Badger if things at UVa and some other schools don't work out. As far as the whole faculty thing goes, the UW also has a bigger enrollment than UVa, so it just makes sense that they'd have more teachers, and with more teachers, you'll have more quality professors. That being said, we have few professors as well known as UVa's Larry Sabato (except for maybe our top poly sci professor, John Sharpless).</p>

17

<p>I would have to disagree with Barrons. UVa is much more well known than UW. Especially on the East Coast, if you want to find a job in law, finance, or in politics, UVa is the next best thing to Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. Furthermore, UVa is close to D.C. - a great opportunity for a political science major.</p>

<p>Look up the Miller Center for Public Affairs and see all the great speakers that come to UVa. </p>

<p>Also, if you want to do law school - as many political science majors do - UVa has a great reputation with top notch law schools including of course Virginia Law. </p>

<p>It doesn't matter how many Guggenheims a school has as unless you are a graduate student, they will never really speak to you. UVa has a small liberal arts college feel to it, but the resources of a much larger school.</p>

<p>Lastly, it does partly matter what other people think of a school - for jobs, etc. UVa combines the name with the quality and is much cheaper than the ivies - Look Up Access UVa where even out of state students will start getting huge financial aid packages. And in 10 years or so, our sciences and engineering fields should be just as good as well.</p>

18

<p>VirginiaAlum, I think you misinterpreted what barrons said. He's simply pointing out that Wisconsin's prowess in the science greatly surpasses that of UVA, as evidenced by their accomplished faculty. </p>

<p>Anyways, the OP can't go wrong with UVA.</p>

19

<p>While I don't feel like getting into an argument over comparing the two schools, pretty much every argument for UVA made by VirginaAlum (which are all true for UVA) hold similiar for Madison outside the size of the school, for which Madison has many programs made to put people in closer knit settings. Specifically for political science, Madison is a state captial where many students get internships year round along with political groups representing everything from the libertarians to the campus socialists. It also has one of the worlds best departments, no different, and especially not any "lower" than UVA.</p>

<p>I think the OP has legit reasons for wanting to leave Madison, but especially for political science the quality of schools are no different.</p>

20

<p>Barron, if you have a lot of free time, you should go to UWMadison's forum in "Alphabetic List of Colleges" category and help those kids out...instead of dissing UVa.......
post a thread "what are the top public schools" in the "college search" forum, see how many people bring up UW-Madison and how many people bring up UVa......
Also, Barron, if you have a lot of free time, earn some $ to increase UW-Madison's endowment........
I respect UW-Madison a lot (almost applied, but applied Michigan in the end), I will continue to respect this school as long as its alumni don't disrespect my school.......
but really, UVa just has a better overall "experience"...dont get p*ssed off over it and stop posting sources which no one cares to read.
bottom line, Let's be friends, not enemies.</p>