<p>Hey there. The College of William and Mary is my #1 choice for college, having surveyed many others along the way. I am currently a high school junior and will be a senior next year. White, from New Hampshire, no special circumstances, one sibling in college.
Here's a snapshot of my academic record.
Freshmen: mostly Bs, a few As
Sophomore: As and Bs
Junior: mostly As
Combined credit count: English: 4 Math: 4 Science: 4 (3 labs), Social sciences: 6.5, Language: 4
I've taken almost all CP or Honors courses, my GPA is around 3.4. I took AP US History, still waiting on AP test score, and intend to take three APs next year (all my school offers).
Actively participating in community service, member of National Honor Society, NH Scholars. Boy Scout since I was 6. Altar server since I was 9.
SATS: 1790 total score, Reading: 620, Math:520, Writing: 650 (95 percentile)
Intended Major: International relations
I also am happy to report I am attending this year's National Institute of American History and Democracy summer program at the College of William and Mary. It will be three weeks and count as four credits, as I am sure you know.
W&M is my #1, hands down, no reservations. I visited in April, and was blown away by the whole campus. When up against colleges like GW or American, the feeling I got in William and Mary that was different was that in W&M I felt like I was in a community of scholars.
I would like to have some idea whether or not I'm betting on a pipe dream, but regardless I intend to bet on it. I hope that the College of William and Mary is not just in my future, but is my future. Any information on my current state of being would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p><a href=“http://iae.wm.edu/ir/CDS/cds_1011_part_c.pdf[/url]”>http://iae.wm.edu/ir/CDS/cds_1011_part_c.pdf</a></p>
<p>If you take a look at the common data set in the above link, you’ll see that your SAT scores for CR and Math were in the bottom 25th percentile for entering freshmen last year. About 6 percent of entering freshmen had GPAs in your range or lower. Is the 3.4 weighted or unweighted?</p>
<p>So the challenge is that your stats do not position you favorably in the applicant pool. But admissions at W & M are holistic, and there are several things you can do to improve your chances. Can you apply ED? Finaid for out of state students is not one of W & M’s strong points - will you require financial aid to attend? If so, ED is not a safe choice for you.</p>
<p>Recommendations are considered very important in the W & M admissions process. Is it possible that one of the profs in your summer program would know you well enough to write a favorable rec? You don’t want to submit too many recommendations and it’s still probably a better idea to have a hs teacher write a strong one for you, but if you form a solid relationship with one of the instructors in your summer program, you could ask him/her for a supplemental rec.</p>
<p>Will you be able to interview this summer in W & M’s optional interview program? Have you registered for an interview time yet?</p>
<p>Finally - can you improve your SAT scores or try the ACT instead? October is the first fall date for the SAT, but it’s late for scores to be received for an ED application - I don’t know if they’d be counted. But I think the best thing you can do to improve your chance at admission is to bring up the SAT, especially the math. You have an upward trending GPA and have maximized the AP possibilities at your hs, which is good.</p>
<p>Glad to hear W&M is your top choice.</p>
<p>Any student interested in W&M should understand that we are a highly selective school (admitting only 1/3 of all applicants and only around 28% of OOS applicants) so in order to manage expectations, students should consider any such school a reach school.</p>
<p>You mentioned you are taking all of the APs your school offers which is a great start. We appreciate students who take a challenging schedule. Hopefully your classes include calculus, the fourth level of a single foreign language as well as physics, chem and bio on the science front. These courses are not required but are indicative of a more challenging high school curriculum. Your 3.4 GPA does seem a tad low for someone who seems to have at least as many As or Bs. If it’s unweighted that makes more sense. We will certainly appreciate your upward grade trend but sending grades from senior year will be helpful for you.</p>
<p>frazzeled is correct about your SAT scores. While they are only one part of the process they can make you a more or less competitive applicant. The middle 50% range on SATs (Critical Reading and Math) is 1280-1430 (for OOS only it’s about 1380-1430). We will focus our attention primarily on Critical Reading and Math so it would be in your best interest to take the SAT again in June or October or to try the ACT in September. We do superscore the SAT and look only at the best ACT composite so it cannot hurt you to take another standardized test.</p>
<p>Since you will be on campus this summer you can interview. Interivewing is optional but it’s designed to let the applicant put their personality into the application. Generally, the pre-collegiate program students can interview in the afternoon of the last day of the program so go to [William</a> & Mary - Summer Interviews](<a href=“http://www.wm.edu/admission/interview]William”>http://www.wm.edu/admission/interview) and register for the 3:00 p.m. or 4:00 p.m. time slot on the last day of your program.</p>
<p>Your list of extracurricular activities seems somewhat brief and noted very little involvement with your school community. We’re guessing it’s not complete but if you don’t have many school related activities you may want to explain why. We encourage you to pursue leadership activities (say an officer position in NHS or Eagle Scout rank in Boy Scouts).</p>
<p>Applying ED can be helpful if W&M is your number one choice and you do not need to compare scholarship and financial aid packages from other schools. It’s easier to stand out in a pool of 1100 as opposed to our total regular decision pool of nearly 13,000.</p>
<p>For more on our process and any student’s chances, check out our Admit It! blog ([W&M</a> Blogs Chance Me](<a href=“http://blogs.wm.edu/2010/12/14/chance-me/]W&M”>http://blogs.wm.edu/2010/12/14/chance-me/))</p>