I have a 33 ACT. I have a 3.8 GPA. I have a tons of extracurriculars. So why didn’t I get into the University of Wisconsin-Madison? My friends got into the school with the same scores or worse scores and less extracurriculars with the same exact major: undecided. I’m pretty torn up about this. UWM isn’t even my top choice; UIUC is. I haven’t gotten a decision back from UIUC, and up until now, I didn’t worry about it. I was flat out rejected from UWM. I’m really, really nervous about what’s gonna happen with UIUC. Anyone have any advice?
Are you sure your recommendations are solid? How about your essays? Is that GPA weighted or unweighted? Are you full pay, or do you need FA?
Application decisions are sometimes a mystery - a school for which your scores are “above average” might say no whereas one for which your scores are “below average” might say yes, for a host of reasons particular to that school. UWM’s reply has no bearing on UIUC’s, so my advice is don’t worry about it (since worrying won’t help anyway). There’s no point in trying to guess the why’s. Wait and see what replies you get from all the colleges you applied to, and make your choice. You have good scores and will likely to accepted somewhere good. Keep the faith!
Maybe because you’re out of state? What is your unweighted GPA? Many universities recalculate weighted GPA according to their own system to standardize for all applicants.
That’s a weighted GPA. GPA, course rigor and class rank are more important than scores. The average GPA on a 4.0 scale is a 3.83.
Have you checked in with your counselor to talk about this yet? Did you submit all portions of the application? You will feel better if you review your UIUC application with your counselor and make sure that your file is complete.
I just looked at the Common Data Set for the University of Wisconsin-Madison and your ACT score of 33 is above their range (25th at 26 to 75th at 31). It is understandable that you are feeling surprised and concerned. You will also want to review your application list with your counselor at this point to see if you might want to add more options.
Here’s a link to the University of Wisconsin-Madison Common Data Set:
Talk to your guidance counselor. Perhaps he/she woudl be willing to contact the school admissions rep to get some insight.
The score may be above the range, but OOS students are often held to a higher standard at public universities.
Did you know that the University of Wisconsin-Madison has an appeal process after a rejection decision? Here is the information from their website:
"Every application denied has already been through an extensive review. For an appeal to have merit, it must bring to light new compelling academic and/or personal information, as well as details pertaining to extenuating circumstances that were not addressed in the initial application. Essentially, the appeal must present information that clearly shows the student to be stronger than had been earlier evidenced.
Appeal letters must be written and submitted by the applicant within 30 days of the deny decision to the Office of Admissions and Recruitment. Email is an acceptable format for submission. Be sure to clearly outline the reasons for appealing and present new and compelling information. Do not simply repeat information that was presented at the time of application. At the time of appealing, the letter should accompany any other appropriate documentation as needed.
Postpone and waitlist decisions cannot be appealed. Any application that is incomplete or late will not be eligible for an appeal. Applicants can only appeal once and decisions resulting from an appeal are final. We will not accept appeals filed on behalf of the student by a parent, counselor, teacher, friend, etc.
It is our usual practice to respond to appeals within four to six weeks of the date we receive them. While all appeals are reviewed on a case-by-case basis, the rate of a decision being reversed based on an appeal has historically been very low. Application fees are nonrefundable regardless of the result of an appeal. Appeals should be sent directly to the Office of Admissions and Recruitment."
since grades, scores, and ECs are on par then there are 2 or 3 other things to think about. One is your essays. Did you ask a teacher or GC to review them? Second is letters of rec. They are optional at UW-M, but if you didn’t submit them and your friends did maybe that was the tipping point. If you did submit them, did you ask the recommenders if they would be willing to write a strong letter for you? If not, and the person does not think highly of you (even though you may have received a good grade in the class), well… Third is something you brought up in a previous post
If you ended up putting this on the UW-M app (if they have a box for it) then it could have backfired. Few HS kids have the perspective to discuss a drop in grades without it coming across as making excuses.
That all said, its probably better to just chalk this up to chance. At this point worrying isn’t going to change anything. If you don’t get into UIUC you can deal with it then. As a quote (variously attributed to Mark Twain and Churchill) goes
Please make sure that ALL pieces of your application were submitted and that you responded to any emails that required a response. I know a young man who was extremely well qualified for many schools and did not get in to any schools at all (he applied to 12) because, as it turned out, he was missing some pieces (he forgot to request his HS transcripts to be sent to some of the schools, for example, among other things) and he never checked his email or ignored emails that requested the missing elements. He was so over-confident that he did not dot every i and cross every t.
I’m not saying that this is what you did, but just in case, please check. Or this US-M thing could just be a quirky one-off thing.
Grades, scores and ECs are NOT on par. Grades > Scores > ECs
Look at the link in post #5.
1° What’s your Unweighted GPA?
2° Ask your GC to inquire for you. If there’s no reply, ask for a meeting and review your application.
UW uses unweighted grades for admission decision, so unpacks the gpa to see the “raw score” unlike, for instance IU which simply uses the weighted gpa if one exists.
If your gpa is a weighted 3.8, that could be 3.3 or less on an unweighted scale, and that would be a low gpa for an OOS student at UW. UW gets tons of applications from Chicago are/Illinois kids, and has to distinguish among them somehow. As others noted above, if an applicant’s essays did not reflect attention to what is distinctive about the experience at UW, in terms of prospective programs etc., or recs were not submitted or did not reflect well on the student, those are the factors which make it easier for Admissions to put a student in the decline rather than accept or postpone pile.
If you check your Student Center and there is no indication of missing materials etc., you could ask your high school guidance counselor to contact UW for you. There is also an appeal process for extraordinary circumstances.
Look ahead, not back. Hopefully, you will be admitted instate to UIUC and will be happily on campus next fall.
UIUC results come out this Friday so I would wait out until then.
If UIUC is your first choice anyway and you get in, then no worries on the UWM rejection. Don’t chase it.
It goes without saying that UIUC and UWM admissions are 2 independent events. If you’re an IL resident, then your chances of getting into UIUC are much higher anyway than UWM OOS.
Based on the ACT and GPA (UW or W) alone, you’re most likely going to get into UIUC if you’re an IL resident.
Now, LORs for UWM are optional so if you sent in anyway and the 2 people you picked didn’t write you up like you walk on water, then that may have been the issue. As others you alluded to, your essays may have been an issue too.
You can ask your GC and/or admissions rep to do a “forensics” on your app, but it’s hard to say what the outcome will be. With FERPA, the school may not be able to share info on your LORs anyway.
That’s why I say to wait until this Friday. The hoops you may have to jump through to find out why they won’t let you be a Badger may not be worth the energy and effort or may not be necessary if UIUC is your first choice and you get in.
“My friends got into the school with the same scores or worse scores and less extracurriculars with the same exact major: undecided.”
Many public schools that admit by major will set the highest admission standards for undecided applicants, since they should be eligible to declare any major they choose later.
What was your major for UIUC? UW uses unweighted GPA while UIUC uses class rank (or estimated class rank from weighted GPA).
My advice is to make an appointment with your guidance counselor to review your application. He/she will have access to your letters too. See if you inadvertently have a red flag or something damaging in your application. I’d do it now so that if so, you GC could intervene with Urbana-give them a heads up before the final judgements are released.
My major was also, unfortunately, undecided.
Sorry about your bad news. UW is notoriously unpredictable for OOS students. Also, UW’s acceptance rate is around 50% whereas UIUC runs closer to 63%. So while you got bad news at UW, I would expect to hear good news on Friday. Good luck.
Over on the Penn State thread there was an instance where the admissions office made a mistake, so while it is rare, it does happen. As others have mentioned, have your guidance counselor contact the school.