Hello,
I’m an OOS senior applying from one of the most competitive public schools in NJ.
ACT Comp is a 29 (superscore is a 31) (30 E, 32 M, 34 R, 28 S)
4.04 wgpa (top 15-20%)
-school doesn’t submit unweighted
I want to go into their business school
-Tons of extracurriculars and leadership positions
-NHS
-National Language Honors Society
-taken all AP’s and honors (12 AP’s by graduation)
-My essays are strong
Any feedback would be extremely helpful
That ACT is pretty much in range. They do look at unweighted GPA though, not weighted.
@CollegeMan91 what do you think is a good unweighted GPA to be a match for this school? My weighted GPA seems to be about the same as kids accepted.
Do NOT fall into the trap that your HS record should be looked at in the context of how “great”, “competitive” it is students. There are plenty of Wisconsin public HS’s that are just as good, even in smaller cities/towns. A reason to not use weighted grades is to not penalize top students whose HS’s do not offer as many AP’s et al. btw- nonAP classes can be just as tough and as good as AP versions. It all depends on the school.
You can easily compute your unweighted gpa. Use the grade and assign the points to it. Add up all of the points and divide by the number of grades (remember to be consistent with your units, eg semester/year)- that will be the unweighted gpa without the added points for honors/AP et al. You are smart enough to figure this out if my directions are misleading.
You expect to get mostly A’s in your AP classes, just like the regular ones. No superscoring of the ACT either. I suspect you will find your grades and test scores will put you into that vast middle group of applicants. Worth applying but no guarantees of admission.
Since you have taken many AP classes I hope you also have taken and done well on the corresponding AP exams. Well taught AP classes should mean you can get many 5’s and some 4’s.
Yeah, I’ve gotten 5’s on 6 of my AP tests. I have a mix of B+'s, A-'s, and A’s.
I understand there are plenty of competitive Wisconsin high schools. Do you think that an admissions rep will appreciate the competitiveness/curriculum that I’ve taken? Some schools don’t offer AP’s and it obviously should not be held against the student, but it should only help students that have taken advantage of such courses.
Do you think students should be viewed differently depending on the rigor of their high schools?
Competitive is not the same as rigorous. The important concept for students to learn is that their HS may not be as great as they think. btw- AP courses are only comparable to average colleges’ courses, not upper tier ones. No, you do not deserve special treatment for getting what are average HS grades for UW applicants. More than 1/4 will have higher ACT scores than you do, even if their HS did not offer as much.
The short answer. You fall into that vast middle pool of applicants. You are not exceptional and may/may not be accepted. Have other options as well.
Point taken. My HS has been consistently ranked best in the state, so I do believe it is highly competitive, not to say there aren’t other competitive high schools. I understand that AP courses aren’t your extreme classes, but I do think rigor is a factor of admissions, no? And yes, I am aware that my ACT is average for this school.
You are lucky you go to a good HS. But you are expected to take full advantage of it. Your ability to do well at UW is no better than others whose HS may not offer as much. No reason to give you special consideration over them.
Notice a theme here? Students- do not overestimate your chances based on where you go to HS.
- OK, time for some numbers. The following is from the most current CDS (sections C10-C12):
C10. Percent of all degree-seeking, first-time, first-year (freshman) students who had high school class rank within each of the following ranges (report information for those students from whom you collected high school rank information).
Percent in top tenth of high school graduating class 54.0
Percent in top quarter of high school graduating class 90.6
Percent in top half of high school graduating class 99.5
Percent in bottom half of high school graduating class 0.5
Percent in bottom quarter of high school graduating class 0.2
Percent of total first-time, first-year (freshman) students who submitted high school class rank: 41.1
C11. Percentage of all enrolled, degree-seeking, first-time, first-year (freshman) students who had high school grade- point averages within each of the following ranges (using 4.0 scale). Report information only for those students from whom you collected high school GPA.
Percent who had GPA of 3.75 and higher 76.1
Percent who had GPA between 3.50 and 3.74 17.9
Percent who had GPA between 3.25 and 3.49 4.6
Percent who had GPA between 3.00 and 3.24 0.98
Percent who had GPA between 2.50 and 2.99 0.35
Percent who had GPA between 2.0 and 2.49 0
Percent who had GPA between 1.0 and 1.99 0 Percent who had GPA below 1.0 0
100%
C12. Average high school GPA of all degree-seeking, first-time, first-year (freshman) students who submitted GPA:
3.85
Percent of total first-time, first-year (freshman) students who submitted high school GPA: 78%
https://apir.wisc.edu/publisherssurvey/CDS_2015-2016.pdf
Commentary: While rank may well be based on weighted GPA’s (when available), unweighted GPA is the only way to compare applicants’ GPA accurately. Colleges (including UW-Madison) may well assign their own weighting system to account for courses of more difficulty. However, because weighted grades as reported on the transcript can vary markedly among schools, districts and states, there is no way to assess an applicant’s candidacy vis-a-vis other candidates w/o unweighting everything first. Therefore, consider the above to be unweighted GPA’s and expect to be assessed using the distribution given. REGARDLESS of your high school’s competitiveness, rigor, etc.
Also, it’s fair to say that like any selective university, UW-Madison probably has great relationships with certain schools across the US and can count on them to send along some pretty successful kids. Applicants shouldn’t worry about this so much as they should worry about their own stats. They are told to take the most rigorous courses they can and do well in them (see #2 below). Anecdotal evidence I’ve heard from MN is that Wisconsin actually restricts the number of high achieving kids accepted from the best schools here - otherwise they’d get a very skewed admission outcome (MN has reciprocity and there are LOTS of great schools in the Twin Cities metro).
The only strong evidence on school differentiation in the admission process is the counselor-submitted School Report. If you look at the questions on the form it’s pretty clear that the purpose is to explain the student’s performance in the context of their school’s perceived level of opportunity. So yeah, they DO look at your school, but if you are at a great school (based on the socio-economic questions on the form) you better be taking advantage of that. UW-Madison gets PLENTY of kids applying with superlative stats. They are looking actively not so much for those kids - high school counselors and attentive families do a lot of that work for them - as they are looking for the kids who have the potential to achieve but for whatever reason weren’t given the opportunity.
- Here is the information on coursework from the Admissions website:
"Academic Course Requirements
Your high school record should demonstrate both rigor and breadth in the types of course work you pursue. A competitive academic record should show challenging advanced-level work, such as AP, honors, or IB courses, in as many areas as possible, while maintaining a strong GPA. The following chart shows the number of years that most admitted students studied in each subject area.
Subject Area Years
English 4
Math * 4
Social Studies 3-4
Science 3-4
Single Foreign Language ** 3-4
Additional Academic/Fine Arts 2
Total Units 19-22
- Math requirement includes at least one year each of algebra, geometry, and advanced math, or an integrated sequence of courses. Courses that will not fulfill this requirement include: statistics, business math, and computer classes.
** Students who are not native English speakers can satisfy the foreign language requirement if they were educated in their native language through grade eight."
Commentary: Follow this guideline for coursework, take the most rigorous stuff that you can, do your best in those courses. And don’t slack off senior year either because you need to self-report your mid-year grades and that is probably before they issue your admission decision. Very simple rules. Anything else is really a fancy version of reading tea leaves.
Ok, I really appreciate both of your responses. Do you know the instate/out of state percentage of kids?
@jjrrdd it’s about a 2:1 ratio instate vs non. Here are the most current admission and enrollment stats by residency:
https://apir.wisc.edu/admissions/New_Freshmen_Applicants.pdf
Thank you!