Curious what you think my son’s admission chances are at Wisconsin/Madison?
Wisconsin is a reach school for him and he wasn’t even going to apply there as he thought he had no chance of admission. However he loves the school and has a wild card as he is a double legacy (parents and grandparents) and they did ask that in the application.
His stats:
Out of state (IL), high rank public high school
ACT - 31
GPA (weighted) - 3.7 - too low for admission?
Coursework - all AP/honors, incl. AP Calc, Bio/Chem/Physics/Environmental, 4 years AP Social Studies, AP Engl., 4 years foreign language
Lots of extracurriculars, clubs, 3 sports (captain), volunteering, student leadership, started a business, jobs, etc.
Son is convinced Wisconsin is an impossibility.
What do you think? How much will the legacy status help (if at all)?
Also he applied in early October with a group of friends and all his friends already got rejection letters, but he still has not heard anything back. Is this possibly a good sign?
I am hoping your son’s admission is NOT an impossibility as his stats are very close to my son’s (who is also a legacy and OOS -VA). I assume your son’s stats were better than his friends that were rejected?
I think he thinks his friends stats are comparable or maybe they have better GPAs then he does. They got their rejection letters fairly quickly though. Also, our school is a big “feeder school” to UW, so that is another reason he thinks his chances are slim. I’m just wondering how much weight is put on the double legacy status.
I’m curious what a 3.7 weighted means. Is he a B or B+ student? Does your high school use naviance? Also, I wasn’t aware the Wisconsin has started to send rejection letters for this year.
I know two OOS students from my community with legacy that were accepted. One had a 29 and the other a 30 for the ACT and there was legacy from 2 generations too.
Thank you for the feedback. I’ll ask him for his unweighted GPA. I believe only weighted GPA is reported on his official transcript, but I’m sure Wisconsin recalculates it. He is a B or B+ student in mostly AP courses. I think his GPA is borderline on Naviance (I think ACT is in the range). He said his friends received rejection letters, but I’m not sure what date they applied.
Also, there may be more competitive requirements for our school since so many apply to Wisconsin. Our HS students seem to do really well there, so that’s a plus.
Scubaski1 and wheatonmom:
Are the students you referring to who were accepted or rejected current seniors in high school? I thought that EA decisions for current seniors (incoming freshman) weren’t coming out until January? Please confirm when time permits. Thanks.
Need unweighted gpa to know.
@georgette I quoted stats of 2 students enrolled right now at the university. I’m waiting for EA decision results.
Thanks, wheatonmom, for clarifying. One more question…the friends you are referring to who already received rejection letters…are those current seniors in high school?
@georgette It sounded like they were seniors, but that wasn’t my post. I haven’t heard of anyone being accepted or rejected yet at our school or on college board.
Yes, my son said his senior friends received WI rejections. However, it is entirely possible he got the schools confused, or that his friends are messing with him - especially if WI states no decision until January. I will try to clarify this with him.
I just found his unweighted GPA is 3.2 (3.7 weighted), so am agreeing with S that acceptance is highly unlikely unless the double legacy is a major boost. It was nice that we could contribute the application fee to our alma mater though! He has gotten into Indiana U and Michigan State (and awaiting other Big 10) and is happy with his choices.
Good luck to all applicants - Wisconsin is an awesome school!
I know UW says notifications go out in January, but maybe they are sending them out in waves? University of South Carolina said their notification date was the week of Dec 12 for EA but my son was accepted 11/7. Deadline for EA was 10/15 and he applied 10/11. Lots of his friends applied much earlier and they have heard nothing. Also, the Penn State deadline was 11/30 with notification by the end of January. Despite the posted date, they are already notifying students.
@Scubaski1 Admissons have not been released yet. Your son’s friends must be pulling his chain. Decisions will be released in January. Double legacy will definitely help his chances. I know several legacies that got in when otherwise they may not – he has a very good chance but it depends on how well he wrote his Essay and showed demonstrated interest --the essays and his interest are very important. Also the strength of his letter of recommendation can not be underestimated in the holistic admissons review. If all are strong then he has a great likelihood because his ACT score is solid at the top of the mid 50 percentile and he took advantage of a strong curriculum with all honors and AP and he has good ECs. And he comes from a feeder high school that Wisconsin likes because the kids from the high school obviously perform well at Wisconsin and Wisconsin wants that extra high OOS tuition revenue too!
Thank you trackmbe3. I think his essays and letter of recommendations were strong. Will keep our fingers crossed!
Just saw an article regarding UW admissions in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
According to the article,
“The university hopes to deliver decisions to those who applied by Nov. 1 “much earlier” and “perhaps several weeks” before the published “end of January” notification date.”
https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/education/2017/12/07/if-your-studen-applied-uw-madison-and-academically-prepared-admission-chances-excellent-official-say/929020001/#
@Pellicanss - great for those in state. Not for those out of state… 
We have two UW girls and some legacy, and we are in state. Our youngest is in the anxious waiting mode now at a high school senior. She has a 28 ACT and 3.7+ GPA (UW). We are in state. We think she will be accepted. Your son’s scores are impressive. If he is a deferred decision or wait listed, I advise that he do everything the school admissions dept. asks or allows and not to give up. Tell him to make his case again. MSU and Indiana are great schools, too, and he would have a great experience at any Big Ten and many other colleges. Good luck!
