<p>I got my letter of rejection today. Not the greatest day ever, but not the worst. I'm a little perplexed as to why I got rejected. I have a 3.93 cumulative GPA, a pre-application GPA of a 3.9, a 3.5 WSA score, I've also held an internship for 4 months at a radio station, there was a definite traumatic extraordinary circumstance in my life, I've co-led a team that raised over $10k for cancer research for Seattle Children's Hospital, I've been on the dean's list, etc. All of these things have occurred since I was admitted to the UW or have happened since I was physically attending the UW.
I know it's extremely competitive. The thing that irks me is that the average accepted cumulative GPA was a 3.55, the pre-application average GPA was a 3.62, and the average writing score was a 4.32 -- or something like that. I know I was below the average for the writing, but I was well above the average for the GPA.
I've been told they weight all the classes the same and that GPA counts for a large chunk of your admittance/rejection. I also understand that it might have been my WSA scores, but I mean that's 1 day vs. 20 weeks of your college life. I guess I'm appealing to whomever might have some explanation as to why I got rejected. I understand that admissions are ultimately a crapshoot and this might fall under that category, but I was also wondering if anyone else heard back today with good/bad news?</p>
<p>Hey, I got my rejection letter today, too. However, I was not expecting to get accepted and just applied since I qualified and for the experience (seeing how I did on the WSA and such). I switched from pre-engineering to pre-business after one quarter and that basically is why I think I was rejected. </p>
<p>On my letter thing it says:</p>
<p>Admissions Factor Applicants/Admitted/Your Factors
Combined GPA 3.52/3.55/3.23
Pre-application GPA 3.38/3.62/3.7
WSA Score 3.67/4.32/4</p>
<p>So yeah, basically my low grades on trying to major in engineering. I got a 4 on both the Persuasion and Position Task. My personal statement was basically about how I am a first generation student and my struggles through grade school and early college times.</p>
<p>I think I remembered somewhere that said about 25% (?) get admitted, but I’m not sure if I am remembering it correctly. But I do know that EAG is most competitive, followed by winter UAG and then fall UAG.</p>
<p>I would have expected that you’d get accepted, but I’m pretty sure you’re a shoe-in for UAG. Just curious, what pre-req classes have you taken so far?</p>
<p>I believe roughly 200 spots are made for EAG applicants and 600 spots are made for UAG applicants.</p>
<p>@UW014:
Yeah I think that percentage is about right, I’m just kind of stunned, percentage or not. I am going to talk to a counselor tomorrow regarding their decision process and maybe I’ll get lucky. Who knows?
I took the pre-req courses that were required of every EAG applicant: Math, English, and Microecon: so I took Math 112, English 198, and Econ 201. I 4.0’d 112 and 201 and got a 3.7 in 198. I know that 112 and 198 are not as difficult as say 124 or 131, but I do remember speaking to the advisors at orientation and in drop-in meetings that each Math, English, and Econ class is given equal weight (even though I think Econ is pretty much the same anyway), and 124, 131, etc. are not deemed as harder. I remember a lot of worried kids asking this question during orientation and they always responded that choice of math would not factor into the decision process.
@UDubhopeful:
I think that sounds about right. It’s just the fact that I know people who did much worse than me in those classes and had less work experience and got in. Albeit, they did have a higher WSA score, similar to uw2014, with around a 4. Honestly, though, if that was a key deciding factor, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Take someone who did well one day and didn’t do so hot in 20 weeks of school, versus someone who did alright on the WSA, not superb, but did a great job through 20 weeks of school. It’s just confusing.</p>
<p>Quote for Foster:</p>
<p>"As you have probably heard, admission to Foster is competitive. In fact, we generally only admit about 50% of the total applicants. Even with perfect grades, a low WSA can keep you out. We do not want to scare you away from applying, but we do want you to have another plan ready to go in case you are not admitted. "</p>
<p>Guess they weren’t joking.</p>
<p>Jeez, could you link me up with that?
I guess a 3.5 was too low, huh? Weird. I would think that a business school would look more at long-term trend and not base a decision solely on one day. I know this is nitpicking and stubborn, but it kind of goes against what business actually is. Invest a lot of money in a company based on one positive day of returns, ignoring the chance for high variability and risk? Or invest in something that has shown to be stable over the course of many quarters, years, etc.?</p>
<p>Actually, WSA is very important. I think for UAG they weigh it like this:</p>
<p>40% cumulative GPA
35% WSA
25% pre-req GPA</p>
<p>Hey Saintly, do you know the grading scale for the econ classes? I got 28/30 on quizzes and 99/100 on the midterm with one midterm to go and 30 quiz points to go. How hard is it to 4.0? I got a 3.7 in micro and 3.7 in english as well.</p>
<p>EDIT: Oh yeah, and also AP credit for Math 124… I messed up REALLY badly on Math 125 and Chem 142 and that is how I ended with a 3.23 GPA.</p>
<p>Right I know it’s important, I thought I got a solid score and my other intangibles mitigated that disparity between a 4 and a 3.5.
I had Haideh teach my micro class and she is currently teaching my macro class. The grade scale she uses is the standard one employed by the UW and she has curved the grades at the end. I got a 3.8 unadjusted and ended up with a 4.0 because of that curve. Macro, though, is a little more challenging because of it being all MC (3 points/question!) and I like long essay questions more – as you can take the shotgun approach – and I’m still doing pretty well. I’ll probably end up with a 3.7 unadjusted.</p>
<p>edit: I think there benchmark is around a 3.0 if not a 3.1 or 3.2.</p>
<p>I am taking Macro in a TA lead section. What is “standard [grading scale] employed by the UW”? If the median was a 3.0, what percentage is a 4.0? Is it 99-100% = 4.0, or something?</p>
<p>Saintly, just curious, what were your friends stats?</p>
<p>And you guys shouldn’t be too worried. As long as if you continue to do this well UAG shouldn’t be a problem. Also, the WSA shouldn’t be too tough to improve upon. You still have a year to prepare and your writing probably will get better by then.</p>
<p>Thanks man. I’m sure things will turn out alright.
He had a cumGPA/pre-app GPA of about a 3.7. I think he said he got around a 4 on the WSA.</p>
<p>[Class</a> Details](<a href=“http://www.econ.washington.edu/instruction/courses/classpage.asp?class=3611]Class”>http://www.econ.washington.edu/instruction/courses/classpage.asp?class=3611)
One of the first links is the “Grade Scale Preliminary.” Based off of what I remember her telling me, that’s the standard grade scale for the UW. I think you can also find it from a Google search.</p>
<p>edit: UW scale off of their website: <a href=“http://www.washington.edu/students/gencat/front/Grading_Sys.html[/url]”>http://www.washington.edu/students/gencat/front/Grading_Sys.html</a></p>
<p>@uw2014
im in the same boat as you, i was pre-engineering and now im pre-business.
i really messed up math 124 and chem 142.
did you get into foster as UAG?
cuz im freaking out right now</p>
<p>Ah mannn… What is thiss?? Total BS… lol… Anybody here know how to appeal?</p>
<p>No^ I’m wondering the same thing. I have a 3.7 pre-admit, and a 3.6 pre-admission with a 3.5 writing score. Does anyone know how to appeal and show them a resume or something?</p>
<p>Your personal statement is your appeal (it’s read only if you have bad stats). I didn’t hear advisers mentioning anything about the procedure itself.</p>
<p>Really? I heard from a friend that you can appeal after rejected. Don’t know if it’s true or not. As soon as decision came out the advisors declaring that they are only available for the admitted student.</p>
<p>You definitely can for general admission. Not so sure about Foster though. The website doesn’t have anything about this.
However, I would guess that the main criterion by which Foster admits is STATS (unlike general admission - you can be rejected even if you have awesome stats) . If they are bad, you get a chance to explain them in your personal statement. You can be sure it will be read.</p>