<p>Has anyone gotten in to one of the Public Ivys with low stats? If so, please share. Also if you were just on the lower end of things and good in.</p>
<p>You’re going to have to explain what you mean by terms like “Public Ivy” and “low stats” to get a useful answer. Some people think their 2250 on the SAT is low.</p>
<p>For example Miami University advertises all over the columbus airport with huge banners that say “public ivy” I believe that an ACT score of 27 will get you some merit aid at that school. A 30 would get admitted and maybe “honors program” </p>
<p>When I say low stats, I mean below their mid 50. So in the lowest 25 percentile. I get what you’re saying @catisforfite haha. By public ivy I mean the public schools that are hard to get into! For example, ucla, michigan, Texas, uva, or unc! </p>
<p>To get in with the lowest quartile stats, you’ll probably have to be in-state and/or have something they really want e.g. the ability to hit a high percentage of 3-point shots or throw a football through a tire at 50 yards. At virtually any school, the bottom quartile is rarely used for normal kids, it’s athletes, URMs, legacies, developmentals, etc. There are exceptions, sure, but I wouldn’t count on it, especially at a public Ivy and you’re OOS.</p>
<p>Obviously, 25% of admitted students with ACT score below mid 50. However, those students usually have some hooks or other strength. Being URM, in state students, or with legacy may help.</p>
<p>I heard that with instate legacy, it doesn’t really do too much because they have to look at instate students equally because everyone pays tax to the schools. Also, OOS legacy is only viewed as an instater.</p>
<p>I mean I feel like the lowest 25% is quite a few people!</p>
<p>I’m instate for UVA and William and Mary @MrMom62</p>
<p>The legacy factor varies from school to school. In state legacy may still add value to the student in many cases. Some schools would give extra points to children of faculties or employee too, those are obviously from in state.</p>
<p>@billscho I agree it may add some value but I don’t think it’s the deciding factor. A lot of qualified applicants who have legacy have not gotten in</p>
<p>UCs don’t even want to know if your parents went there. (Pity, since we both did.) Only the Alumni associations do for occasional alumni kid scholarships.</p>
<p>In-state may help in some contexts. For example, UT Austin is an admission safety (not necessarily for the division, though) for those in the top 7% of their Texas high school class, but a reach for all others.</p>
<p>Most of these large public schools are divided into divisions (e.g. arts and sciences, engineering, business, etc.). These divisions may differ significantly in selectivity, so if your intended major is in a less selective division, you may be admitted despite bottom 25% stats. However, if you below the 25th percentile stats by a lot, your chances are poor even then.</p>
<p>Yes, some of the bottom 25% stats admits are recruited athletes and the like, but many of these public schools are big, so the sports teams are a smaller percentage of the school than at smaller schools.</p>
<p>OP, if you’re instate for UVA and W&M, your guidance counselor should be able to show you how students from your school with similar stats have fared.</p>
<p>I don’l know quite what you mean by “low stats.” The common data set for the 2013-2014 W&M freshman class shows that about 14 percent of admitted students had combined SATs (3 tests) of less than 1800. It also shows that about 4 percent of admitted students had GPAs under 3.5. <a href=“http://iae.wm.edu/ir/CDS/cds_1314_part_c.pdf”>http://iae.wm.edu/ir/CDS/cds_1314_part_c.pdf</a></p>
<p>Another thing to think about is how well you’ll be able to perform in college if most of your fellow students had significantly higher stats. This isn’t to say that you’ll have a difficult time - a lot of students really come into their own in college. But, depending on the reason for the lower stats, you could find yourself struggling more than your peers.</p>
<p>@frazzled1 My guidance counselor isn’t able to show us that. For my scores, I’m right at the 25%. My gpa is around a 3.8 (unweighted). I’m not sure because my school doesn’t report. I’m around top 6%. The reason my gpa is lower is because I got two b’s in middle school and two b’s my freshman year. I have only gotten one b since then and have a big upward trend with straight A’s last year and this year with 9 Ap’s and advanced. I improved a lot. The people I know who have gotten into UVA this year are around me or higher than me but my guidance counselor says that the best apply early to those schools because they are fully prepared. I’m probably one of the most qualified for the people apply regular to UVA and W&M! There may be a couple higher just because they were too lazy to apply early. </p>
<p>W&M student here, in my experience the college uses a very holistic process. My SAT was 640 reading 530 math 610 writing. If you’re doing math you’ll discover that i’m one of the infamous “below 1800 SAT score” people. I was in the middle for reading and writing and in the 25% for math. When I applied my gpa was a 4.23 weighted. With William & Mary, your transcripts are the utmost important thing; If you take the hardest classes you can take and do well in them, they will overshadow a low SAT score. I was most involved at my high school and was in leadership and sports so I guess what I’m getting at is, if you have one low area (in my case and your case too apparently it’s the sat), that low area will not harm you as long as you’re stellar in everything else. </p>
<p>Colleges know the sat is flawed…severely flawed. one test you take a 7am on a saturday morning shouldn’t and does not ruin your chance as long as you are strong in other areas. The sat is the “best” judgement on how well you’ll do your freshman year in college whereas ap classes are the best judgment of how you will do in colleges as a whole. </p>
<p>@betweenthetrees how did your gpa work???</p>
<p>Yes, WM does use a very holistic admissions approach. <a href=“http://iae.wm.edu/ir/CDS/cds_1314_part_c.pdf”>http://iae.wm.edu/ir/CDS/cds_1314_part_c.pdf</a> I’m not sure the transcript will totally overshadow a low score though when it is also rated very important.</p>
<p>@BB8764 I never really understood the gpa system. An A was a 4.0, if you took and honors class that was weighted 4.025, 1 semester AP classes were 4.05 and full year AP classes were 4.1. So at the end of my junior year, I had a 4.23. </p>
<p>However, @Erin’sdad is right, if your SAT is severely low, your transcripts alone may not be able to save you</p>