Do I have a shot? :)

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

<p>Hello once again! I'm from Buchanan County, Virginia, and I'm interested in W&M (Interested as in I'm going to apply tommorow :D.)</p>

<h2>A quick glance at my stats:</h2>

<p>ACT w/ Writing: 31</p>

<p>SAT II: U.S. History: 650 World History: 770</p>

<p>Unweighted GPA: 4.0 (School does not calculate a weighted GPA; if they did, it would be higher.)</p>

<p>Class Rank: 1 of 195</p>

<p>AP's: US H: 3 Euro H:3 World H: 5 (I never took any AP history classes; my school only offered AP English and AP Environmental Science. I studied on my own when I had time.)</p>

<p>Senior Course Load: Toughest possible at school (Dual-Credit English and Pre-Cal, Calculus, Geography, Physics, AP Environmental Science, Advanced Topics in Math, Biology II.) Took EVERY hard course offered.</p>

<h2>Awards: Quest Bridge National College Match Finalist, WYMT Mountain Student Achiever, Graduation Marshall, Voted Smartest in Class 4 years straight, Who's Who in Band and Honor Roll.</h2>

<p>Extracuriculars: I worked for the majority of this year at the local supermarket to help pay the bills; when I started it was to buy a car, but the economy said "nope!" Before that I was in band as a section leader and now I'm on the academic team. I don't have anything stellar like 1st chair state jazz flute, but I'm always busy with EC's.</p>

<p>Volunteer work: A few small side projects such as tutoring and some church work, but nothing major.</p>

<p>Summer Activities: Local College Camp Program</p>

<p>Essays: I tried! I think they're good. I Talked about my grandpa and how he influenced me growing up in Appalachia.</p>

<p>Recommendations: Not bragging, but they should be superb (best kid they've ever seen.)</p>

<p>Interview: None</p>

<p>State: I live in rural Virginia, go to school in Eastern Kentucky.
School: Public without many AP's :(
Race: White</p>

<h2>Other: 1st generation to an actual campus. My mother is enrolled in college online part time.</h2>

<p>I visited William and Mary when I was a sophomore and LOVED it! I have applied to a few other universities, but I have saved W & M for the very end! What do you think my chances are? I'm worried that either A) my lack of AP classes (even though I tried to make up for that on my own) and B) my lack of a full four years of a foreign language will hinder me. I know you are probably very busy so thank you for your time and God bless! :)</p>

2

<p>P.S., I know I have posted for chances on another college forum before, but I’m looking straight for W & M chances here.</p>

3

<p>Sounds like you have some impressive credientials especially in your class rank and ACT (assuming your composite without the writing is 31 – we focus our review on the ACT Composite or the SAT Critical Reading + Math – we use your essay to evaluate your writing). Don’t worry about your lack of APs. When schools offer very few we do not hold students to the same expectations as we do with students who attend schools where scores of APs are offered). Feel free to use the additional information section of the Common Application to explain your course choices and your lack of four years of a foreign language. You also are in pre-calc and not calc. If calc is not offered by your school you’ll want to make note of that as well.</p>

<p>Also, please let us know why you originally began working and how that may have limited your ability to be involved in other extracurricular activities. We understand that sometimes students need to work to help their families or that their lack of a transportation inhibits their ability to be involved with school and we understand that. We consider a job a different form of extracurricular activity and one that we respect and admire.</p>

<p>As for your essay, be wary of focusing too much on someone else as the subject of your essay. One of the jokes we like to share in information sessions is that you may be able to write a wonderfully eloquent essay about your grandfather, and after reading it, we may want to admit your grandfather, but you are the applicant so be sure you are the subject of your essay and not your grandfather. Feel free to discuss simply how growing up in Appalachia has influenced you and how your family’s history has influenced who you are but always bring it back to you.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

4

<p>Alright, thanks! I’ll tweak that essay a little bit.</p>

5

<p>Happy to help. Again, you’re certainly welcome to address other people in your essay. Just be sure that you are the primary subject of your essay. That’s what it’s referred to as a personal statement…to emphasize that it’s about you, the applicant.</p>

6

<p>Could I send a letter explaining in greater detail my lack of the language recommendation and the lack of many AP classes at my school and ask that it be included in my application?</p>

7

<p>It’s best just to upload a document with that information to the additional information section of the Common Application. Since you haven’t submitted your app yet, that’s the best thing to do.</p>

8

<p>After I rewrote my essay, I went ahead and submitted my application in case anything went wrong near the deadline. I did include what I could on the additional information section, but I was constrained by space; the system kept cutting off my response.</p>

<p>Would it be frowned upon to mail a short letter? And again, I do thank you for taking the time to take my questions.</p>

9

<p>Can you copy and paste into this thread what you submitted in the additional information section? If that’s sufficient, no need to do anythinig further. If not, you’d be welcome to mail additional materials.</p>

10

<p>“I grew up in the poor coal fields of Appalachia. My father, a coal miner, died when I was three. My mother raised me for the majority of my life. I shifted from home to home until a few years ago I moved in with my current stepfather, *****. Recently, I scored two 3’s and a 5 on three advanced placement exams without taking the formal classes. My high school only offered two years of one foreign language. I realize that most universities require three or more years of the same foreign language. Therefore, I taught myself German well enough to at least equal my public education in Spanish.”</p>

<p>I wanted to be able to add about the lack of nearly any AP classes at all at my school and add about studying German and history while working to help pay the bills. I felt that some of that could be implied from what I wrote, but I was unsure since I already know what is going on. What do you think?</p>

11

<p>If you’d like to add more, you can simply send an email to <a href=“mailto:admission@wm.edu”>admission@wm.edu</a>. Have whatever additional information you want added to be in the body of the email (we don’t open attachments by policy). Please include your W&M ID Number (the nine-digit number included in the email you received confirming receipt of your application) in the email and we’ll add the email to the rest of your materials.</p>

<p>If you didn’t explain the “moving from home to home” further in the rest of your application, you may want to expound upon that as well just so we’re not left confused as to what exactly that means.</p>

12

<p>Alright, will do. Thank you!</p>

13

<p>No problem. Just make sure your explanation is succinct. If your school does submit a high school profile, we will likely be able to discern from your school exactly what is and isn’t offered.</p>

14

<p>I’m uncertain if my school submits a school profile. It’s weird to say, but I’m probably one of the only ones at my high school to even use the common application. I am not sure if there is a way to check and see if my school has submitted a profile–which is why I needed a little more space on the additional information section. :)</p>

<p>At any rate, my application is submitted and the fee is paid! I suppose all that’s left now is to wait until April and hope! Thanks again for all of your help!</p>

15

<p>There are certainly schools that do not produce or always send profiles. You can certainly ask your counselor however if one was sent with your transcript. If not and your school has one, you can ask your counselor to fax it to 757-221-1242 and just ask that it be added to your file (she/he can put your W&M ID on the fax cover sheet).</p>

<p>And in either case, you can certainly email the information yourself to <a href=“mailto:admission@wm.edu”>admission@wm.edu</a> as suggested earlier in the thread.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

16

<p>Thanks! I will ask when school resumes and have that sent out.</p>

17

<p>Great. Sounds good.</p>