Do I have a decent chance of being accepted into the University of Washington?

Applying to College
1

<p>Hi, I'm currently a high school junior (senior next year), and I'm really stressing out about my chances of getting accepted into the University of Washington. Everywhere I read, people are saying the junior year is the most important out of all the high school years, and I'm not even quite sure if UW even cares about the first semester of the senior year! Can you please look over my credentials and give me feedback on whether or not I can actually get in:</p>

<p>--General Information--</p>

<p>Washington State resident
Asian-American, and fluent in Vietnamese
Middle-class
1980 SAT score (plan to retake in October)
-680 Critical Reading
-670 Math
-630 Writing
3.923 GPA (expected to increase by the end of this year)
Top 10% of high school class (but I know UW doesn't care about this)
7 total AP classes available at my school</p>

<p>Academic:</p>

<p>--Freshman Year--
PE/Health (graduation requirement)
Computer Applications (grad. req.)
Honors English
Geometry
Japanese 1st Year
Physical Science</p>

<p>--Sophomore Year--
PE (grad. req.)
Accelerated Biology
AP World History
Japanese 2nd Year
Algebra II
Honors English</p>

<p>--Junior Year--
REGULAR U.S. History
Pre-calculus
AP English Language and Composition
Advanced Entrepreneurship
History of Rock and Roll/Beginning Acting (art/grad. requirements)
Chemistry</p>

<p>--(Planned Senior Year)--
AP U.S. Government and Politics
AP Biology
AP English Literature
AP Calculus AB
Anatomy (not guaranteed yet)
Technical Drawing (not guaranteed yet)</p>

<p>Extracurricular/Volunteer Work:</p>

<p>Played tennis my sophomore year
Played and took acoustic guitar lessons since 2009
Over 100 hours of community service, mainly tutoring, since 2009
Hopefully being admitted into National Honor Society next fall
Most likely getting a job this summer</p>

<p>The reason why I'm stressing out is because I didn't take APUSH this year. At the end of my sophomore year, I was stupid and decided to take regular USH instead. When I changed my mind over the summer and asked my counselor to transfer me into AP, she said the classes were full (40 kids in each class). My school offers a total of seven AP classes, and this will be the only AP class that I have not taken. But since this was my junior year, I fear that it will make a huge dent in my application to UW. My extracurriculars are a joke, and my volunteer work is nothing special. Do I at least have a decent chance of getting accepted into UW?</p>

2

<p>It’s just one AP. I don’t think it will affect you that much. You probably have a decent chance at least.</p>

3

<p>Yeah, but it’s my junior year, so I’m worried that I landed on the weak end of UW applicants because of it (curriculum-wise).</p>

4

<p>Yeah, you probably have a point there. On the other hand, I think that UW DOES pay attention to your senior year courses, so at least your senior year schedule is rather impressive.</p>

5

<p>UW does indeed look at my senior schedule, but they don’t look at my first-semester senior grades. So I have less of an opportunity to prove my actual potential to them.</p>

<p>On the bright side, I pulled through with a 4.0 this semester. Unfortunately, it was probably because of my “light” schedule. Grade trend-wise, this is the first time I’ve received solid A’s in English and science since freshman year.</p>

6

<p>Don’t stress out about the APUSH.You seem like a fantastic student, who has a high chance of getting in to the U-Dub. Make sure you get a summer job or internship, because it will really help your chances.</p>

7

<p>My friend knows someone who was accepted into Cornell, but was rejected from UW this year. He’s in-state.</p>

8

<p>The [UW</a> Common Data Set for 2009-2010](<a href=“http://www.washington.edu/admin/factbook/cds.html]UW”>http://www.washington.edu/admin/factbook/cds.html) indicates that for that year’s freshmen, the 75th percentile SAT is 650 CR, 680 M, 640 W, and that 55% had high school GPAs of 3.75 or higher.</p>

<p>Note that some parts of UW have a [foreign</a> language requirement](<a href=“http://www.washington.edu/uaa/advising/degreeplanning/gebsrforlan.php#prof]foreign”>http://www.washington.edu/uaa/advising/degreeplanning/gebsrforlan.php#prof) greater than two years of high school foreign language. Being fluent in Vietnamese can theoretically count, but you either have to be a [native</a> speaker educated in Vietnamese through seventh grade](<a href=“http://www.washington.edu/uaa/advising/degreeplanning/gebsrforlan.php#native]native”>http://www.washington.edu/uaa/advising/degreeplanning/gebsrforlan.php#native), or pass a [placement</a> test](<a href=“http://www.washington.edu/uaa/advising/registration/placementtests.php]placement”>http://www.washington.edu/uaa/advising/registration/placementtests.php). The problem is that there does not appear to be a placement test for the Vietnamese language in the [list</a> of foreign language placement tests](<a href=“http://www.washington.edu/oea/services/testing_center/exams/foreign_language.html]list”>http://www.washington.edu/oea/services/testing_center/exams/foreign_language.html).</p>

<p>So contact UW about how you can prove your proficiency in Vietnamese. If that is not possible, try to take Japanese 3 in high school.</p>

9

<p>I’m looking towards medicinal majors, so…</p>

10

<p>I’m pretty sure you’re in, everyone from my school gets accepted into UW OOS with 3.6 or higher…and your SAT is decent, so don’t worry about it.</p>

11

<p>Yeah, you definitely have a decent shot at U of W. It’s just one AP and you gpa is pretty solid enough - Maybe work on extracurriculars/volunteer stuff over the summer and you should be good! Good luck!</p>

12

<p>

</p>

<p>OOS students have a much easier time getting into UW than in-state students now. Washington made huge budget cuts towards UW, so now the school is desperate for money. Refer to my story about the in-state student who got accepted into Cornell but rejected from UW.</p>

13

<p>What’s a “medicinal major”?</p>

<p>If you mean that you intend to do pre-med, then you can do the pre-med courses with any major. Most pre-meds do some sort of biology major, but that may not necessarily be optimal, since biology is a science and science tends to have less grade inflation than other subjects (GPA is important for medical school admissions), and biology has poor job and career prospects if you do not go to medical school.</p>

14

<p>I was thinking of clinical health science.</p>

15

<p>I’m sure you’ll do fine. Only thing I’d improve on is sat, an even that is on par with the rest of the applicants.</p>

16

<p>Do you think my lack of clubs will hurt me? I mean, I prefer to do my own thing, which is mostly volunteering.</p>

<p>Although I’d say my chances of being admitted into NHS next fall are quite high.</p>

17

<p>bump 10 char</p>

18

<p>oijesjiosfsefesfese</p>

19

<p>bump 10 char</p>

20

<p>You’ll probably be fine. I know people at my school (in-state) who got into UDub without any AP classes, and about the same extra curriculars as you. Then again there were people with AP classes who didn’t, but their GPA and test scores were lower.</p>