Chances for Wisconsin-Madison and U of M-Twin Cities&Duluth

<p>Hi! I was wondering if anyone wanted to figure out my chances for either of these schools (seeing as they're the three I'm most interested in). </p>

<p>-3.32 UW GPA (Upward trend) (I know it's bad)
-27 ACT (Taking it again October)
-5 IB courses
-AP Human Geography(4) and testing in AP Spanish (I'm a native speaker), AP Statistics (wasn't able to last year), AP Psych, and AP Studio Art
-IB Chemistry SL(3), IB Math Studies(4) and testing in HL English, HL History and Ab Initio French
-Co-capitain of FIRST FRC team (2 years), member of FIRST FTC team(1 year), youth mentor of another FTC team(1 year)
-GSA 3 years (was vice-president, had to step down and am now secretary), Student Council 2 years, French Club 1 year (seeking a leadership position), Math Team 4 years (if anyone knows Math Team, I was on scoring team at least 2/5ths of the time each year).
-depression sophomore and junior year kind of ruined my GPA (And that dang IB Chem course)
-family member that was U of M faculty (11 years I believe)
-family members attending U of M
-planning to get an letter of reccomendation from FRC advisor (went to Madison), Math Team coach (who is also French club advisor), FTC mentor, and possibly math teacher/Student Council advisor.
-pretty good essay
-first generation college student, latin@ student, MN residence
-Planning to study liberal arts</p>

<p>I've heard Duluth is a big trash bucket so I was wondering if anyone has has experience with that.
A question I have is if special consideration really is taken into account if family worked at the U. Also, I was wondering what the LGBT (especially the T) climate is at these schools, since that's a pretty big factor for me. Thank you!</p>

<p>(bump)</p>

<p>UWI: Reach
UMinn-Twin Cities: High match
UMinn-Duluth: Low match</p>

<p>Thank you!</p>

<p>Thank you!</p>

<p>UWI = high match if you apply by the end of the month ( rolling admissions) / reach if you apply later
UMN-TC = match
UMN-D = safety</p>

<p>Considering your coursework rigor, your weighted GPA must be quite a bit higher; the coursework and weighted GPA would likely qualify you for Honors Program at some universities, such as LaCrosse.</p>

<p>Since you’re first-gen and Latina, some schools where LGBT rights are important but that’d be big reaches might be into play, such as Vassar, Smith, Oberlin. All three are elite Liberal Arts Colleges, meet 100% need and have deep pockets (meaning they offer very good financial aid packages to students from lower-income and middle-class families). All three are very hard to get into so you should apply there “just to see”.</p>

<p>Thank you! Is it alright to apply even with my current lower GPA or should I wait until the end of this trimester (I’m easily getting all A’s) so its a bit higher?</p>

<p>For schools with RD dates, such as Smith or Mount Holyoke, especially since they’re reaches, wait until you have at least midterm or trimester grades.
For rolling admission schools, the longer you wait, the harder it is to get in. So you have to weight the new good grades vs. the risk you’ve waited too long to be really competitiven When will you have your official first trimester/term grades?
I believe that if you apply by the end of October you should be fine, November gets hairier, and after Dec1 for rolling admissions schools it gets tough for all candidates as there are fewer and fewer spots left open.</p>

<p>I think tri 1 ends before winter break here, but mid-tris are most likely pushed out before Halloween. I’ll take your advice though, thank you so much!</p>