Chances?

Colleges and Universities A-Z College of William and Mary
1

<p>Hi I’m a freshman at GMU’s Honors College. I hope to apply this March, and to transfer into William and Mary for the fall of 2011.</p>

<p>At the end of my senior year in high school, I had a 3.8 GPA (I am from Fairfax County, and the average accepted GPA last year to William and Mary was 4.2). I received a 1920 on my SATs and a 30 on my ACTs. I was captain of the crew team, president of three clubs, an Eagle Scout, and a member of three honor societies, one of them the National Honors Society. I also took 7 AP classes, and received the following grades.
AP World History: 4
AP US History: 5
AP English Language: 4
AP US Government: 5
AP Comparative Government: 4
AP English Literature: 5
AP Macroeconomics: 4</p>

<p>For my first semester in college, I received a 4.0. I took the following classes and received the following grades:
Research Methods (General Education requirement): A
Reading the Arts (General Education requirement): A
Liberal Arts Approach to Calculus (General Education requirement, but I will take a stronger calculus class in the spring): A
Democratic Theory and Practice (Elective): A
Microeconomic Principles: A+</p>

<p>Total: 16 credits
Next semester, I will take Intermediate Microeconomics, Introduction to Philosophy, Cross-Cultural Perspectives (General Education requirement), Calculus I, and Introductory Physics.
Total: 17 credits</p>

<p>During the first semester, I was a founding officer of two clubs, the Campus Rand Association and the Students for Liberty club. I also worked part time as a swimming instructor and a legal assistant. I plan to run a marathon and bike a century next semester.
Tell me if you need more information. Please be brutally honest!</p>

2

<p>Sounds like you are a very competitive applicant for transfer.</p>

<p>While you weren’t as competitive as other Fairfax County students out of high school you took good classes and likely had a mix of As and Bs given your GPA and you had mid-50%-range ACT scores. You’ve used your first semester at college to fill in some of the holes in your high school program (math and science) and you’ve achieved great grades your first semester.</p>

<p>You were very active in high school and it looks like you continue to be active in college which we appreciate.</p>

<p>If you applied to W&M out of high school, you need only complete the Re-open Application ([William</a> & Mary - Reopen Applicants](<a href=“http://www.wm.edu/admission/undergraduateadmission/applicationprocess/reopenapplicants/index.php]William”>http://www.wm.edu/admission/undergraduateadmission/applicationprocess/reopenapplicants/index.php)). If not, remember to use the W&M Supplemental essay to address why you wish to transfer to W&M and remember to send your mid-semester grades so we can see if you’re continuing to maintain the great grades you received first semester.</p>

3

<p>Thank you, I also speak fluent Russian as well as English, which I did mention in my high school application. Is there anything I can improve?</p>

4

<p>The only thing I can think of is either a) Consider taking a literature or composition course instead of the Cross-Cultural course or b) consider a Western history course instead of the Cross-cultural course. Cross-cultural courses are very hard to transfer plus if you take two Western history courses and one non-Western history course you don’t have to take a cross-cultural perspective course.</p>

<p>The other thing would be to continue foreign language unless you complete the fourth level of a single foreign language in high school.</p>

<p>You could certainly explore taking some of these courses over the summer at NVCC if you wish or GMU and you could note in your app that you plan to take these courses in your app</p>

<p>You may want to consider attending one of our Prospective Transfer Days (being held on Fridays this January and February) to learn more about the process but overall, you sound like a pretty competitive applicant.</p>