My Chances

Thanks so much my answering our questions, this is really helpful. My main concern about getting into William and Mary is my lack of a math my senior year. I was rejected Early Action for UVA, and this bothered me greatly because there were students at my school who were admitted that are generally considered to have lower SAT scores, or don’t participate in class like I do. I called UVA out of curiosity and in hopes that they could provide some insight and prevent me from being rejected from other schools, and they said I was a perfect candidate, but my lack of a math and foreign language this year was my downfall. How important is this to William and Mary? I took AP Calc. last year as a junior, and our school just recently started offering AP Stat. I choose not to take it because of the teacher, and now that former class of 30 is a class of just 6 students since everyone decided to drop due to the incompetence of the teacher. I am typically not a math and science person as much as I am a social studies and english person. My schedule includes 4 AP classes, AP GOV, AP English, AP Bio, and AP Art History online. I have all As in all my classes this year, and I have a 3.95 GPA from last year. I was one of two students at my school who received a 5 on the APUSH test out of 27 some students, and I have a 1370 composite SAT. My classes that could have been filled with Physics or Spanish 4 are dedicated to our high school newspaper, a dying publication. I’ve been responsible for turning it into an online paper, and my staff my 10 people forces me to take 2 classes of Journalism, something I now regret since UVA was so quick to dismiss me. Is William and Mary as focused on me taking a math? UVA didn’t see my grades senior year, and I think that would have helped me be admitted. Thanks, Elliot.

Hey Elliot! Current William & Mary student here. While I cannot claim to speak for the admissions office, I can hopefully provide some guidance into answering your question and relate some of my personal experiences into your current situation.

A great place to start if you haven’t checked it out already is William & Mary’s Admit It! Blog. They go into so many different scenarios and are extremely transparent about their admissions process, and honestly are some of the most responsive admissions groups I have seen. Generally they “highly recommend” taking up to the fourth level of your foreign language, the highest level of math available to you, and the three “core sciences” (chemistry, physics, and biology)

I have known students who have taken AP environmental science instead of physics and had gotten in. I myself was only taking an honors level calculus course and had passed on the fifth level of a foreign language to take other courses of interest (namely the AP environmental science course), so the fact that you have already taken a very high level of math and you are doing exceptionally well in all your classes may help you. However I would be wary about not doing more than one of their “highly recommended” classes because they do want you be engaged in a rigorous schedule. Another question is have you previously taken a lower level of physics? That may also be of a concern because they want students to be familiar with all the different basic sciences.

William & Mary is a college that identifies itself as a liberal arts college that wants students to be intellectually curious and delve into many different things. My focus when doing class selection was more titled towards the humanities, as those reflected my highest level classes and like you towards journalism, but it is also important to show them that you are willing to learn. I know this is probably not a completely satisfying answer, but its probably the best I am able to share given that I am not an admissions officer. I know what it is like being the head of a dying newspaper that is transitioning to online, that was something I did senior year as well. Maybe send them a sample of your work there or mention to them the situation with the classes? In any case you look like you have a bright future ahead of you either way. Your future is certainly not determined by where you get in, but what happens after that.

Best of luck and I do hope you get in!

Shawn

Dear Shawn, Thanks for your help. I’m thinking about writing a letter to be put in my admissions file showing them our online newspaper, and my responsibility for it. I am also thinking about explaining more about why I didn’t take Spanish 4 and/or Physics, would this be stupid? I haven’t taken Physics, but this is mostly due again to the quality of the teacher, and I know that sounds some what ridiculous, but I attend a school in Southwest Virginia where decent teachers can be pretty far and few between. It’s good to hear that since William & Mary is more liberal arts, they won’t be as focused on my maths and sciences, but definitely let me know about that letter. Thanks again, Elliot