<p>All right, let’s just get this out of the way: I’m a random dude from the internet. Although some people treat random dudes from the internet who are able to craft complete, relatively grammatically correct sentences as authorities on a wide range of issues, you should not consider me to be such an authority. The only qualification that I have to make this post is that the admission counselors at William & Mary accepted me, and I eventually somehow graduated with one of the more useless degrees that this fine institution of higher learning grants. Suffice to say, you should take everything I say with a huge, ginormous grain of salt, whatever the ever-loving hell that means.</p>
<p>Anyway, I agree with the main point travelfun’s post, which is that no matter how strong your credentials are, things are difficult for out of state students applying to William & Mary. Here are the facts: the state government of Virginia mandates that William & Mary take 65% of its students from in-state, leaving 35% of the class to out-of-state students like yourself. These numbers don’t seem all <em>that</em> daunting . . . until you add in the fact that a pretty large majority of applications actually come from out of state. So, your application is very likely to receive heightened scrutiny–particularly if you are among the fairer sex.</p>
<p>With regard to your testing, I think you should try to take another stab at it. The 29 is solid in that it is in the mid-50% range, but as an out-of-state applicant, you really don’t want to fall <em>in</em> the mid-50% range–you want to beat it. So, go grab an ACT prep book, and do some review over your holiday breaks. You have <em>plenty</em> of time to bring that score up before decisions go out. You can also update your score even after you send in your application, so you really can still make a pretty big impact on that. And you should definitely do what you can to get it up. </p>
<p>In terms of academic program, your GPA and class rank look promising, but I can’t really say too much about it since I don’t know all of the classes you’ve taken. You said that you didn’t take AP calculus, but did you take honors level–or, at the very least, just regular old calculus? The admission page mentions calculus specifically, and I’ve heard it mentioned in information sessions, too, so calculus sounds like it’s pretty important. I really like that you’re in AP Physics, and that you’ve focused on science classes; I know you didn’t take AP chemistry, but did you at least get an honors level chemistry class in? Either way, from the limited information I have, you look like you’ve been on the right track and doing well.</p>
<p>In terms of your extracurricular activities, I’d say that they’re not amazing but are still pretty solid overall. I mean, you haven’t set any state records in cross country, and you haven’t saved any baby seals from club-carrying poachers, but you’re clearly involved outside of the classroom and have some volunteer experience. I don’t really have much to say beyond that. It’s not crazy awesome, but you haven’t been wasting your time away in your parents basement creating epic lego sculptures, either.</p>
<p>I think travelfun’s advice moving forward is really good. Make sure to meet with your guidance counselor again before she writes your letter of recommendation, and do the same with your teachers. Make sure that they know <em>why</em> you want to go to William & Mary specifically, and make sure that they write you excellent letters of recommendation. Part of their job is writing letters of recommendation, so you have every right to make sure that they take the time this task deserves. With that said, it’s also on you to make sure that you pick people who are going to go out of your way to talk about how incredibly awesome you are. If your guidance counselor or teacher writes a crappy letter, it’s going to be on you, not them. Use your best judgement. You should also focus as much time an energy on your essay as you can stomach. It is one of the few things at this point over which you have complete and total control. Start writing it yesterday, and keep improving it until the day you send it in. Get your English teacher, your history teacher, and any other teacher who makes you write read over it; have your friends who can write well do the same. Read it out loud to your little sister and see if she has any suggestions. Do whatever you can to make that piece of writing as perfect as possible.</p>
<p>Anyway, I hope this helps. Let me know if there’s anything I can help clear up for you. Best of luck!</p>