<p>Still cannot wait to hear my decision! And a big CONGRATS to all of you who have been accepted already. Don’t take it for granted, although most of you experienced a fair amount of waiting as well 
Anyone have ideas to make me not be such a FREEAK about checking my status!?</p>
<p>My counselor was Bobby Jean. And oops! Sorry that was a typo, my gpa was 3.89 unweighted.</p>
<p>NickDanger,</p>
<p>UW is on record that the “strength of the high school coursework is the primary consideration for admission.” A 3.5 unweighted GPA places your daughter in the bottom quarter of admitted freshmen. I’d consider this a negative.</p>
<p>Madtown2012, what high school do you go to? Because I saw you took classes at SNC and UWGB. I go to Bay Port.</p>
<p>This is the first year I have ever seen an admissions counselor’s name mentioned. I wonder if the delays in hearing about acceptances started a trend in trying to figure out reasons for delays that included examining every possible reason, including who reviewed the application. Searching for answers on applicants’ part…</p>
<p>novaparent wrote: “UW is on record that the “strength of the high school coursework is the primary consideration for admission.” A 3.5 unweighted GPA places your daughter in the bottom quarter of admitted freshmen. I’d consider this a negative.”</p>
<p>Would you equate a 3.5 unweighted GPA from Thomas Jefferson High School and, say, Culpeper, VA High? No? I didn’t think so. I heard the previous Director of Admissions for UW say he couldn’t trust GPA out of California due to grade inflation. Unweighted GPA is worthless without context.</p>
<p>NickDanger:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>But if this was an in-state school it is almost certain the admissions office had context.</p>
<p>In the spirit of helpful frankness, I am inclined to agree with novaparent: a 3.5 GPA is less-than-average for admitted UW students and shouldn’t be considered a strength. Since we cannot see the details of your D’s transcript we can only speculate as to the reasons for the decision she received. However a 3.5 GPA indicates as many B’s as A’s on the transcript and if, in particular, more of those B’s happened more recently in higher level math, science, and AP courses this would also not be viewed favorably. Moreover, if her coursework was not sufficiently diverse to match that of “typical” admits (see [Freshman</a> Applicants: Requirements and Expectations](<a href=“http://www.admissions.wisc.edu/freshman/requirements.php]Freshman”>http://www.admissions.wisc.edu/freshman/requirements.php)), that, too, could have been seen as a weakness. This might happen even if she has reached AP-level in some subjects. Finally, of course, we cannot know how well her essay questions were received nor the contents of any recommendation, if any, that was sent.</p>
<p>Her test scores, while strong, will be given more weight at some schools than at others and apparently they were not enough to sway the UW admissions office. Her standing as NMF, while admirable, at bottom is still due mostly to a high PSAT score. While some schools see NMF’s as desirable-in-themselves and even grant them automatic scholarships, this has never been a strong emphasis at UW. I am sure her credentials will yield for her many fine alternative opportunities.</p>
<p>I don’t think Wisconsin has any public high school with a reputation that even approaches TJ, so your comparison doesn’t make sense. In any event, the lowest GPA at TJ last year was just under a 3.2, and a student with a 3.5 GPA at either TJ or Culpeper would likely not get accepted at either U-Va or William and Mary (Virginia’s most selective public universities). Besides, as Descartez points out, your student is from Wisconsin, not Virginia, and presumably went to a school that UW knows well. A student with a 2240 on the SAT and a 3.5 GPA at most Wisconsin public high schools might be considered somewhat of an underachiever. UW gets a lot of applicants and doesn’t have room to accept a lot of underachievers.</p>
<p>thought i would post a follow up here for frustrated students and parents. My son was deferred a few weeks ago, from a very competitive OOS high school. He had a 3.6 UW gpa, 5 APS and mainly honors classes, 2020 SATs, very strong ECs and leadership positions and excellent essays. His sister had the same thing happen to her at UW 2 years ago. She is now a very happy and successful student at the U of Michigan. My son was just accepted there on Friday as well and will be attending there in the fall. Don’t give up hope! Keep your chins up, things will work out! Good luck to all of you!</p>
<p>Descartesz, thanks for your post. I agree with your thoughts, although it should be noted I never considered her 3.5 a strength - clearly that is the Achilles heal of the application. You should also be aware that my daughter applied several years ago and is happily attending an excellent school. My posts began at a point in this thread where some posters were complaining about the admissions office. I wanted to add my 2 cents.</p>
<p>novaparent, just trying highlight the issue of GPA context. You were trying to make a point about her GPA in the universe of accepted students. It is misleading to compare a 3.5 at her school to one from most other high schools in the state.</p>
<p>My frustration is not a case of sour grapes or rose-colored glasses. I happen to have access to scattergrams from a couple of major UW feeder schools. In the time frame of my daughter’s application they show hundreds of applicants with a 3.5 GPA or better and three rejections - my daughter and two others. Both the others had SATs below 1850. There were only three rejections with SAT scores above 1850, the other two had GPAs below 3.0. If you were to look at the quadrant bounded by 3.0 and 1850 there is ONE rejection - my daughter. I assure you there was nothing in her application or school records to raise a red flag or give an admissions officer pause.</p>
<p>I know dozens of UW students and scores of UW graduates and my daughter was highly qualified to be accepted. As far as I am concerned, her rejection was either an administrative error or the result of some petty personal issue on the part of the reader, either of which is inexcusable.</p>
<p>curious . . how could a petty personal issue arise?</p>
<p>Personal reaction to either of the essays? Just a guess…</p>
<p>…or a parent phone call to admissions?</p>
<p>College admission is a very unpredictable process. Some guy is not good enough for UNC and was accepted by Harvard…Warren Buffett was rejected by Harvard…All these are interesting examples of randomness of the process. The process is not perfect. It makes mistakes along the way. I am sure UW process is just as good as others from that perspective.</p>
<p>I just want to say that it is extremely unlikely that a “denied admission” would be an administrative error or b/c the counselor had personal issues going on for these reasons…</p>
<p>I spoke with a counselor, as well as read the blogs on the admissions website, and learned that there is ALWAYS a reason for postponement or denial. It’s never “just because.” Sure, it may be a simple reason such as a lower than average GPA, or a low test score. But, contrary to what most people actually think, it can also be something more specific: I read a blog by Kristen about how she goes about reviewing an application. She said one of the biggest red flags and reasons for almost immediate postponement is a decrease in junior year grades. But hey, why would you blame them? Junior year is a difficult year, and if you couldn’t handle it then, how could you in college? However, if you prove it to them that you can do it, they’ll change their mind.</p>
<p>I also learned that, in addition to crappy essays, silly mistakes in the essays can really sway the admissions counselors in their decision-making. (Ex: Wrong college name, spelling errors, or even not sending essays at all!)</p>
<p>So NickDanger, these reasons may help you analyze the possible negatives in your daughter’s application. It’s NOT a silly reason such as you’re in-state, or the office made an “error.” My guess is mostly because of declining grades. You said you’re daughter got a C+ I think…? As silly as it may seem, that gives them a reason to postpone. (In other words, they don’t only look at overall GPA, they have the power to pick apart each individual grade and analyze the difficulty of the class, etc.)</p>
<p>No matter what, with the credentials NickDanger’s daughter had, UW was not so pretigeous to decline her. In my opinion, objective test scores should always be the top factors to consider for admission, rather than class ranking, GPA, let alone essays.</p>
<p>Decision:Accepted, “General Course (whatever that means) College of L&S”</p>
<p>Stats:</p>
<ul>
<li>SAT: 1840 (1250)</li>
<li>SAT IIs: 630 Math I</li>
<li>GPA: 3.48 unweighted, 4.2 weighted</li>
<li>Rank: 15/246</li>
<li>Other stats: AP scholar, 7 AP’s taken through senior year, all honors or GT classes (core classes), 2-sport captain, campaign manager for state senator.</li>
</ul>
<p>Subjective:</p>
<ul>
<li>Essays: I wrote about how I had an internship with my state senator and how that influenced me to study political science and how my work with GLSEN and being a Media Ambassador has influenced me to learn social policy to enact legislation to decrease and eradicate bullying.</li>
<li>Teacher Recs: Good; 1 from AP Govt teacher and 1 from State Senator</li>
<li>Counselor Rec: Didn’t see it, but my counselor knows me fairly well</li>
<li>Hook (if any): jewish maybe?</li>
</ul>
<p>Location/Person:</p>
<ul>
<li>State or Country: Baltimore, Maryland</li>
<li>School Type: Public</li>
<li>Ethnicity: White</li>
<li>Gender: Male</li>
</ul>
<p>Quote: “A student with a 2240 on the SAT and a 3.5 GPA at most Wisconsin public high schools might be considered somewhat of an underachiever. UW gets a lot of applicants and doesn’t have room to accept a lot of underachievers.” </p>
<p>Isn’t this another joke? What is the base when you saying “that most Wisconsin public high schools consider a 2240 SAT student an underachiever”. Some people here find all kinds of excuses to defend the university redtape and admission randomness.</p>
<p>Not another one. Go back to last year and you can read all you want about these so-called issues. Obviously you have some axe to grind. If you can prove UW has more redtape and randomness in admissions bring it on. Otherwise don’t waste time rehashing old accusations that can’t really be either proven or refuted.</p>
<p>brandon2me23,
“General Course (whatever that means) College of L&S” means that when you applied you choose “Undecided” as your major.</p>