<p>Hi! William and Mary has been my first choice since I was eight-years-old. I'm going to apply ED in November. Thoughts on admission?</p>
<p>Freshman Schedule: Accelerated Math, Honors English, Honors Biology (as many honors and accelerated as I was able to take)
Sophomore Schedule: Accelerated Math, AP European History, Honors English, Honors Chem (as many honors and APs as I could)
Junior Schedule: (Full IB Diploma Program) IB HOTA, IB Art, IB Spanish, IB Math, TOK, IB Physics, IB English
Senior Schedule: (It will pretty much be the same as my Junior year)</p>
<p>SATs:
CR: 700
Math: 690
Writing: 800</p>
<p>ACTs:
Composite: 33</p>
<p>GPA UW: 3.7
AP European History: 5</p>
<p>ECs:
500+ hours of volunteering at a hospital (8-12)
Junior Council member at the hospital that I volunteer at
Community Service club at school- very involved and have been to Nicaragua
National Honor Society
Schools for Schools (11-12)
Peer-tutor sophomore and junior year
Regularly organize food drives
Youth league soccer (9-12)
Track freshman and sophomore year
Interact Club (9-12)</p>
<p>Also, I'm a National Merit Scholar Semi-Finalist.
Thanks!</p>
<p>Are in you in-state? Because that has a huge impact on how difficult it is to be admitted. Regardless of whether you’re in or out-of-state, though, I think you’ve got a very good chance of being admitted. Your SAT and ACT scores are very solid and place you right around W&M’s 75th percentile for standardized test scores. Even though your SAT score is really good, you may want to consider only sending your ACT score since it’s a little better than your SAT, especially when you consider that W&M mainly looks at the critical reading and math sections of the SAT. It also seems like you’ve got a pretty rigorous course load, which will help you a lot. Plus you’ve got a lot of extra curricular activities that you seem really involved in. Your GPA isn’t extremely high, but it’s definitely not low enough to seriously impact your application, especially when you consider your difficult course load. You can check out W&M’s common data set to see how you compare to admitted students from past years [William</a> & Mary -*Common Data Set](<a href=“http://www.wm.edu/offices/iae/institutional_research_reporting/cds/index.php]William”>http://www.wm.edu/offices/iae/institutional_research_reporting/cds/index.php)</p>
<p>Even though it appears you’ve got the stats to get in, the college admissions process is holistic and there are NO guarantees. Start working on your essays early; it wouldn’t be a bad idea to brainstorm some essay topics this summer, maybe even begin working on some rough drafts. Think about who’ll you’ll get recommendations from. Highlight your most important extra curricular activities and explain the full extent of your involvement; you don’t want to just pass over something you’ve spent a significant part of your high school life doing by only including it in a bland list of activities! You want to stand out, so take the time to do so. </p>
<p>Basically, don’t be a bum by putting off your essays.</p>
<p>Good for you for pursuing the IB Diploma and for including IB Math and IB Physics in your schedule. Your strength of schedule is outstanding. Hard to guage your GPA because you didn’t provide your school name or area. If your school weights GPA we recommend you use that GPA since it gives you credit you deserve for your challenging courses.</p>
<p>Your SAT and ACT are both strong. ExceptMe is right, your ACT is stronger by about 70 points. W&M does look only at your best score but you are welcome to only report your ACT if you wish although reporting your SAT won’t hurt you.</p>
<p>You didn’t provide years for all of your activities but for those you did there are only a few that you’ve been involved with 9-12. If there are only a few you may want to explain why. Additionally, because most of your extracurricular activities revolve around service, please help us to understand exact what service endeavors you participate in and the extent to which you’re involved because that can sometimes be hard to guage.</p>
<p>As ExceptMe mentioned, there are no guarantees. We admit only about one-third of those who apply so no one should count on getting in to W&M. Applying ED however is always a great option because it’s easier for a student to stand out in the smaller applicant pool and we appreciate students designating W&M as their top choice. You can also consider coming to campus this summer for an interview ([William</a> & Mary - Summer Interviews](<a href=“http://www.wm.edu/admission/interview]William”>http://www.wm.edu/admission/interview)).</p>
<p>For more on our process and any student’s chances, 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>
<p>Thanks so much! I’m from a high school on Long Island and that GPA is unweighted. I’ve volunteered at a hospital, been a part of a community service club and Interact Club, NHS/NJHS, youth league soccer and food drives for all four years of high school. I understand about making clear what I’m most involved with; I’ll make sure to do that on my ED application. Thanks!
Also, I really want to interview but I live in NY and I’m trying really hard to convince my parents that it’s important. Do alumni interviews hold as much weight? Also, will it hurt me/ place me at a disadvantage if I’m unable to interview?</p>
<p>If an unweighted GPA is all that’s available that’s fine. We really evaluate the grades behind the GPA because GPAs themselves are calculated in so many different ways.</p>
<p>As for interviewing, unfortunately we do not offer alumni or off-campus interviews. All we offer is the on-campus summer interview opportunity. One thing you might consider if you really want to interivew is taking the train from Penn Station to Williamsburg (there’s an Amtrak station within walking distance of campus). It may be a more cost efficient way to come to Williamsburg for the day.</p>
<p>However, know that interviews are entirely optional. Those who are unable to pursue one are not disadvantaged.</p>