<p>I applied for Early Decision to William and Mary and I am 100% positive that this is the college I want to go to. I am from Wyoming and am ranked number 2 in my class, I have a 4.0 GPA. I am VP of FBLA, Youth Representative on my church council, involved in Interact Club and National Honor Society. I have volunteered over 250 hours at the hospital. I work at my high school's guidance office and at a coffee shop. I interviewed at William and Mary and am confident that I did a good job. The only problem is that I have a 24 on my ACT.... Will that drastically drop my chances of getting accepted?</p>
<p>I am in a similar situation. I have the same GPA, rank and similar activities (church youth group, national honor society, etc.), and I have a 1390 (Math + Reading) SAT score. I feel like that is low for OOS. Like you, it is my dream school, so hopefully my essays and other factors are compelling enough to outweigh my average SAT score. I hope the same goes for you too! Did you take the test more than once?</p>
<p>Yes I did and I could not get higher than a 24 unfortunately! I am taking it again in December but that will be too late for ED 
But I am hoping that since 25% of accepted applicants have scores below the average that will help us. I am getting very impatient! haha.</p>
<p>How many times did you take the SAT?</p>
<p>I took it twice and on the second time I improved my writing, but my reading stayed exactly the same (620). My math is really good, 770 (first attempt). My guidance counselor told me that I wouldn’t improve if I took it again, so I listened to her, but I’m starting to think I should have taken it again. </p>
<p>How did you do on AP tests? I did well on those (5s on Calc AB and US History and a 4 on English and 3 on World History) so hopefully those might be looked at. </p>
<p>At least you are from a “unique” state. I am from Maryland, so there are a lot of applicants. Just crossing my fingers that my essays and letters of rec set me apart.</p>
<p>I am just so anxious to hear! I hate not knowing what day they will release the results.</p>
<p>William’s okay with it. but Mary really wants you to retake the SAT!</p>
<p>I got mainly 3’s on my AP tests! But yeah me too! Essays I hear are the most important so hopefully they will benefit us! Haha but they didn’t have any freshman from Wyoming last year… That’s either a good thing or a bad thing! But your SATs sound real good so I think you stand a really good chance! And I just wanna know already because every day I freak myself out more and more. Did you apply for early decision as well?</p>
<p>Yes I applied Early Decision too! Each day, I read something about the admissions that makes me more anxious! I would think that being from Wyoming would certainly not hurt you. I was just at a W&M college visit information thing, and they said that for them diversity is more about experience. So being from Wyoming is pretty cool! Did you write the optional supplement essay?</p>
<p>I live in Virginia and I think it’s unbelievable that W&M – which gets millions in state aid – would give preference to an out of state applicant vs. a Virginia high school student just to get more money. Virginia kids should get preference.</p>
<p>No I did not?! Just the one on the Common App and the William and Mary application… What did you write your essays about?</p>
<p>Proudfather - Instate students get a large preference in admission over OOS students. You can find the admit data on their website.</p>
<p>
Far more slots are reserved for Virginia residents than out-of-state students at W&M. By law, its student body consists of 65 percent Virginia residents and 35 percent from OOS. While it’s true that Virginia provides millions of dollars to W&M each year, it’s also true that state funding covers less than 13 percent of the school’s annual costs - a percentage that has been decreasing steadily each year (down from 42 percent in 1980: [William</a> & Mary -*An Overview of William & Mary’s Financials](<a href=“http://www.wm.edu/about/administration/senioradmin/financeoffice/budgetinfo/financialsataglance/index.php]William”>http://www.wm.edu/about/administration/senioradmin/financeoffice/budgetinfo/financialsataglance/index.php) )</p>
<p>If fewer OOS students attended, in-state students would have to pay more to cover the difference, or Virginia taxpayers would have to provide more funding to cover the difference, or both. Or the school would have to cut programs, faculty, resources, and quality to cover the difference, which would make it a far less attractive option to instate students and decrease the value of an important Virginia asset.</p>
<p>Frazzled your MSG box is full. :)</p>
<p>Frazzled…your PM box is full. Any chance you could empty it?</p>
<p>Done. Sorry!</p>
<p>Some quick back of the envelope calculations** suggest that, bottom line, if W&M were to be 100% in-state, then tuition+ fees would have to be raised by just over $8000 a year for all undergraduates - and since many of them are on assistance, the shortfall would be even higher, and so then, the actual increase would be larger. (Such assistance isn’t generally available to OOS students.) </p>
<p>Put another way, OOS students combined, while representing 35% of the school population, pay more in total tuition than the combined 65% of in-state students. </p>
<p>It’s a common populist complaint, that W&M as a state school, should admit any/all in-state students that apply before allowing out-of-state students. But when asked to provide additional state support, or raise fees to meet the funding gap, suddenly people want no part of <em>that</em> discussion. </p>
<p>And if the next tack is to complain about the outrageous costs of this, well, I can only say it’s a free market, so people should “shop around” for a better deal. </p>
<p>Philosophically, I <em>wish</em> W&M and other state schools were tuition-free, at least for in-state students - even while I recognize that’s not possible. But I still wouldn’t want them to only accept in-state students - not only are there benefits to the school and its students by having people of many different viewpoints and geographies in their classes, the state ultimately benefits as well. </p>
<p>Consider how the school brings many of the best and brightest from around the country, and from around the world. Now, consider how many of these students, after graduation, decide to stay in Virginia, and put their educations to work here. We all benefit from this.</p>
<p>** estimated, based on class size and fee schedules - I’m sure there’s some variance, but close enough to make a discussion point.</p>
<p>Maddie1995: I wrote the common app essay about the place where you are most content, and I chose my home. My family is very close and so our house is always a comforting place. It talks about the sounds, smells and spirit of home. My W&M supplement was about how i seem very ordinary but the combination of those things makes me extraordinary. I took statistics like how many families have three kids and calculated “what are the odds of being me?” It also talked about my quirks, particularly being born on leap year. I really liked both of them and they were extremely honest. They just said who I am and I had some funny moments too. What were your’s about?</p>
<p>Frazzled – according to today’s Washington Post, the state colleges in Virginia are supposed to accept 75 percent from instate, not 65 percent. Read here: [Loudoun</a> Supervisors push to limit out-of-state students in Virginia universities - The Washington Post](<a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/loudoun-supervisors-push-to-limit-out-of-state-students-in-virginia-universities/2013/11/22/76748438-51f9-11e3-9fe0-fd2ca728e67c_story.html]Loudoun”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/loudoun-supervisors-push-to-limit-out-of-state-students-in-virginia-universities/2013/11/22/76748438-51f9-11e3-9fe0-fd2ca728e67c_story.html)</p>
<p>To squiddy – $8000 on top of 30,000 at present versus 60,000 at an out of state school. Sounds like a bargain! I hope the General assembly take some action.</p>
<p>Proudfather and others - why don’t you take your in state, out of state discussion elsewhere and let these prospective students continue their conversation on topic?</p>