Hi all, my son is a Texas high school junior who just received his latest SAT test scores (Jan SAT). He previously took the exam the first time in November and received a 1970 and this is likely the last time he’ll take the SAT exam. He is going to apply for out of state admission to UW as a history major. Can you guys honestly tell me what you think of his chances for admission are based on his current profile?
GPA: 3.7 (w)
Rank: Probably top 30%
SAT: 2070 as follows 790 Critical Reading; 590 Math; and 690 Writing (He plans on taking ACT for the first time in April)
SAT II World History Subject Test: 680 (He will take the US History Subject Test in June 2015)
AP World History: 5/5 (he plans on taking the US History & English AP Exam)
Hook: African-American Male
EC: Track freshmen year; Basketball manager sophomore year; and Cross Country junior year.
Part-Time Employment: Since June 2014, he has worked a part-time job working 10-12 hours a week at a fast-food establishment.
Thanks in advance for any advice or input that I receive.
What is his unweighted GPA?
Hi, @Madison85 I’m guessing its going to end up being around 3.5 at the end of this semester.
I’d guess postponed with that unweighted GPA (does a 3.7 weighted really equal a 3.5 unweighted?) given recent admissions cycles, but it is hard to predict these type of “chance” scenarios. The best thing for your son would to be to take the most challenging courses available to him, and to do well in them. That will give him a better shot at most of his desired schools. Also note: he has a good SAT score. Schools with more stringent admissions – this does not only pertain to UW – may wonder why his grades don’t seem to quite match his board scores.
One thing I’d caution: I wouldn’t look to UW-Madison as an easier, OOS alternative to UT-Austin in your situation. They are peer institutions in many respects, and UW’s graduate department strengths overall actually tend to slightly outrank those of UT’s (and for the record, I admire both institutions). It may be the case that UW’s undergraduate admissions patterns don’t replicate UT’s, but this is more due to state demographics and the needs / legislation of the respective institutions (e.g., UW doesn’t do an automatic admission for top ten percent of in-state like UT has done, nor does UW’s honors admissions resemble Plan II, etc.; that said, there are more students in the state of Texas than Wisconsin, among other structural differences).
Still, if he likes UW, he should definitely apply – certainly a chance. And he might also consider the University of Minnesota, also excellent in many respects, for a better shot with those stats.
http://provost.wisc.edu/prospective-csp-applicants.htm
He should also apply for the Chancellor’s Scholarship next cycle. The 2070 SAT, GPA and ethnicity qualifies him to apply for this generous program. Note that it is not necessary to be socio-economically disadvantaged.
Good advice from Madison85.
@anhydrite yes, you are correct my son and I see UT-Austin and UW as having very similar academic profiles and in fact as you note below we recognize that UW actually tends to outrank UT in some of the more popular college rankings list. The thing we’ve noted is that in comparison to UT, UW practices a more holistic admission process which actually works to my son benefit as UT top 10% admission law means that 75% of the admission slots for each year are automatically reserved for those students regardless of their SAT, extracurricular activities and strength of essay scores. As a a result of this, only 25% of the remaining seats are available for kids who are not automatically admitted. There is a keen competition for those remaining seats and UT admission stats reflect that the students who are admitted under the review process for the remaining 25% of seats actually have superior SAT/ACT scores and more extracurricular activities than those automatically admitted. For next year the cutoff is going to be top 7% and at my son’s competitive high school he’s not going to be in the top 7% as a result of his GPA. Consequently, there is a distinct possibility that he might be a more competitive out of state applicant to say Minnesota and Ohio State than an in-state applicant to our own state flagship school. (UW is a whole other animal and we understand that.) As you noted above, this all because there simply are not enough admission slots for the enormous amount of qualified applicants in the state of Texas for UT-Austin. My wife and I are alums and we would love for him to go there as well, but like many parents in this state we have to consider out of state alternatives just in case things don’t work out.
@Madison85 wow, thank you so much. I thought I had done an exhaustive search for any such scholarships on UW’s website and I had not come by this. I really appreciate this. My primary concern is my son’s GPA which is on the low end. His SAT scores and the fact that he is seeking to study History may help him. I believe that he can get even a better score on the ACT than the SAT based on his performance on the diagnostic test. A 32 is a real possibility and we will work on getting there on the April exam, or after doing intensive math study on the September exam. He’s also confident he can get 5 on the AP US History exam as he received a 5 on his AP World History exam. His GPA should go up a little more as the school does not update it until the end of the academic year (his freshmen year is what’s pulling things down for him).
Thanks a million on the info, we have time to improve some of the things in his admission profile to try to make him more competitive for admission and for consideration of the Chancellor Scholarship.
Great!
Best of luck to your son!
He really, really likes UW. Everything he has read about UW makes him think that it is similar to UT, including the similarities between Madison and Austin. The info you’ve provided to us about the Chancellor Scholarship will really motivate him to finish his junior year strong and improve his test scores.
I got a good laugh out of that, I’ll be sure to share it with him. :))
Glad to be of some assistance. I might just add that with his current, competitive SAT score, at least for the more selective Big Ten schools, I’d have your son focus more of his time on getting the best grades possible in his classes. Yes, UW is a holistic process, and if there is a significant upward trend, they will notice that. I can’t say if it will push him over the top, but that seems to be the major hurdle for him right now.
I’d also suggest an app to Minnesota if you can swing it, and you might check there too for respective scholarship possibilities. I personally favor Minnesota (atmosphere, academic offerings, setting) over Ohio State, though the latter does have some strong academic departments as well.
I can attest to Wisconsin’s outstanding history department. As it is very large and renowned, I don’t see how that would give him an edge in his application – unless, perhaps, he already knew clearly what sub-field of history, and perhaps even which professors, he might like to pursue his work with. But that would need be an honest-to-goodness, truthful passion of his, and expressed with some clear evidence. In that case, maybe it could give him a bit of an application edge.
btw- students are admitted to UW as a whole regardless of the intended major. Having a stellar semester will show improving grades- a plus. An unweighted gpa is calculated without adding any extra points for honors/AP et al, easy to do. Focusing on studying hard this semester not only should yield better grades but will prepare him for the rigors of college.
It is harder to get into the flagship state institution when the state population is greater. Adding that top 10% rule also makes it more difficult. I can understand why Texas has that policy, however.
@fatherof2boys It is not required to include class rank when applying to UW-Madison. If it is on his transcript, find out if the school can remove it if you are concerned about how UW-Madison admissions might view it.
@anhydrite @fatherof2boys I very much respect U of Wisconsin-Madison, and I am recommending that my child apply to the school. I have a colleague who graduated from the full time MBA program there as well.
I think all of the Big 10 has sound academics, and I am researching all of the schools in the conference.
However, I do want to defend my alma mater, UT-Austin, where I received my MBA (full time program).
While the two schools are peers, UT-Austin has higher graduate school rankings in Business, Law, and Engineering. This forum is really about undergraduate programs, but UT-Austin is also a TOP 5 business school for undergrad.
From USNews.com
MBA - UT-Austin #15, Wisconsin #27
Law - UT-Austin #15, Wisconsin #31
Eng - UT-Austin #10, Wisconsin #17
Business Rankings
http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-business-schools/mba-rankings?int=993c08
Law Rankings
http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/law-rankings?int=992008
Engineering Rankings
http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-engineering-schools/eng-rankings?int=9a1f08
^But not relevant to @fatherof2boys ’ interest in history undergrad.
@Madison85 That’s true. For @fatherof2boys’ interest in the History rankings, UT-Austin and U of Wisconsin-Madison are true peers.
History Grad School Rankings
U of Wisconsin #14, UT-Austin #17
http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-humanities-schools/history-rankings
Both respective schools are great. My wife and I received our undergrad degrees from UT-Austin and I graduated from the #15 nationally ranked law school. I’m as big a fan of my University as there is. UT graduate and professional programs are especially string. Having said that, Wisconsin’s undergraduate programs, which appear to be the basis of the “overall” rankings, have consistently been rated higher. I suspect that at the undergraduate level Wisconsin may have a better undergraduate graduation rate, slightly higher standardized test scores, lower student to professor class ratio, and a higher rate of alumni giving back to their school. All of these factors are included in US News Rankings.
If my son could get into either school we will consider ourselves to be incredibly fortunate.