Does anyone have any tips from their interview and should I apply Early Decision?

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

<p>I have an interview scheduled at William and Mary and I was just wondering if anyone has some information about their experience so I will be prepared for mine.</p>

<p>*I'm planning to major in Political Science and I'm instate (male)</p>

<p>That being said, my GPA is woefully low. Right now my GPA is set to be 3.55 unweighted, and that's with me making straight A's the rest of the way. I have changed a lot since 8th Grade, until my Junior year I almost purposefully didn't do as well as I could have because I didn't want to be a "nerd" (I have regretted this decision every day for about a year now). But Junior year I got straight A's</p>

<p>I've always been in all of the hardest classes... I've had the classes that W&M wants, including Calculus. Next year I'm enrolled in 8 classes both semesters in an effort to pull up my GPA, 5 of these classes are for college credit (my school doesn't do AP for some reason, but we have "Advanced" classes).</p>

<p>Rank (as of the end of Junior year): 20 out of 100</p>

<p>SAT: 690 CR
610 Math
690 Writing = 1990 SAT
(hoping to pull these up as well, I'm looking at 2250+ in October)</p>

<p>SAT II: 710 Lit
720 USH (I don't know if I want to send these...)</p>

<p>But my question is: Should I wait and do regular decision or do Early Decision?</p>

<p>Other stuff: Academic Team called "MACC", probably captain Senior year (3 years)
Scholastic Bowl (Junior and Senior)
Cross Country (senior year)
Forensics (senior year)
Church Youth (6 years)
Planning to become Active with local Democratic Party
Going to try to start an environment-centered/charity club at the school
2 week summer school (sort of for "Gifted and Talented") at local Community College (June, 2011)
Planning to start entering in writing contests (because more than one teacher has told me that I'm a extremely good writer for my age and I love writing).</p>

<p>*Also, I have good references, including a part-time teacher on the W&M staff</p>

<p>So, I've changed a little from the inactive, shy kid with no ambition... but my question is: Is this enough for William and Mary?</p>

2

<p>If W & M is your first choice, if you can afford to go, and if you’re confident that you won’t change your mind after hitting the submit button, then ED is a great choice for you. Good luck!</p>

3

<p>I am confident that I won’t change my mind, W&M is a great option for me. With that said, my grades were pretty bad until Junior year (which I got straight As in). Will seeing straight As in the first semester of senior year mean more to the admissions than doing Early Decsion? If I do early decision I’m pretty sure that I can’t send senior year grades at all.</p>

4

<p>Apply ED, by all means; the worst that will happen is they will say no and then you have time left to send in your applications to other choices.</p>

<p>Did you take Physics?</p>

<p>I would not spend too much time in the interview explaining your grades – focus on achievement or interests. The student interviewing you will be more interested in those things.</p>

<p>You can address your grade situation on the Common App or as part of an essay or something. The Admissions folks will be very interested in this stuff.</p>

<p>Can you get your new SAT scores in by November or when the ED deadline is?</p>

5

<p>There is an SAT on October 1st, so I should be able to have all of that stuff ready. And, no, I did not take Physics. For some strange reason it is not offered at my school, but this should not hurt me too much, right?</p>

6

<p>It certainly won’t hurt if your school doesn’t offer it. You’re expected to challenge yourself within the parameters of what your school offers as the curriculum.</p>

<p>Even if your school offered physics, and although W & M is on record as preferring that students take it, it doesn’t necessarily hurt your application for physics to be missing. At least that’s how we interpret the fact that d3 was accepted without physics; she took 2 AP sciences (Bio and Chem) instead.</p>

7

<p>Jwwrox, if W&M is your first choice school and financially feasible, I would not hesitate to apply ED. Your SAT scores, GPA, and grade trend are very similar to mine when I applied. I was accepted early when I do not think I would have been regular decision, especially since I am female. Of course, it is all a gamble- early decision does provide an edge, but there is no telling what the actual outcome will be. Keep exploring other schools and other options, but if the fall rolls around and W&M is still your #1, ED can only help you.</p>

8

<p>We wrote a recent Admit It! Blog on interviewing that you might want to check out before your interview ([W&M</a> Blogs The Inside Scoop on Interviewing](<a href=“http://blogs.wm.edu/2011/06/01/the-inside-scoop-on-interviewing/]W&M”>http://blogs.wm.edu/2011/06/01/the-inside-scoop-on-interviewing/)). However, the most important thing is to be yourself and be conversational. It’s designed simply to get to know you better and to dig deeper than the Common App can.</p>

<p>As for ED, there’s good and bad there. The good in your case, or any applicant’s case, is that the applicant pool is smaller (1100 compared with 13,000 overall) and it’s easier for any applicant to stand out in a smaller pool. The bad is that we won’t have any completed grades for your senior year to confirm the upward grade trend from senior year. So if you apply ED, definitely send your first quarter grades.</p>

<p>We’d definitely recommend taking the SATs again in October (or the ACT in September). While we cannot guarantee that these scores will make it to us before we make decisions for ED applicants, there’s a very good chance they will (even if they don’t make it before the deadline, as long as you indicate these dates on your Common App we’ll check back for updated scores before making a decision). Your current SAT is on the low-end of our middle 50% range for Critical Reading + Math but since we take your best outcome, it can’t hurt you to try a standardized test again.</p>

<p>We will not penalize you for not taking courses not offered at your high school so if physics isn’t offered that won’t hurt you (same goes for APs if they’re not offered). We would encourage both you and your counselor to explain your earlier not-so-hot grades in the application so we can understand your academic growth.</p>

9

<p>Well thanks everyone for the great responses, I probably will do ED.</p>