How does a friend of my daughter get accepted with a lower act (25), a lower GPA and equal EC activities? Is it because she has a sibling already at Madison? And she really doesnt know if she wants to go there. She gets accepted and my daughter with a 27 act, 4.0 GPA, tons of EC and dying to be a badger gets postponed… Can someone explain this??? Way to go Madison. Really crushed my daughter’s confidence and excitment about UW Madison
Don’t forget that UW uses a holistic admissions process. Perhaps your daughter’s friend was accepted because she wrote better essays, or had something on her application to just give her that slight edge (legacy isn’t a big a deal as some would expect - ex: a 3.0 (or below) GPA can’t be saved with legacy). What is course rigor like? Your daughter’s friend could have a lower GPA but could also be in more APs/IBs… The list goes on and on, but just remember that an applicant’s statistics are no indication of who they are as a person. I’m sure both your daughter and her friend and wonderful, hard-working students, but in the eyes of admissions officers who have been going through this process for quite some time, they may look completely different. There’s a lot more to this than GPA and standardized test scores.
It seems really unfair but if this is truly your daughter’s dream please encourage her to keep up the hard work. Clearly she has a solid GPA, and if she can keep that through her senior year (avoiding senior slide) UW will look very highly upon that when they take a second look at her application next time around in the spring.
I was postponed last year with a 28 ACT and 3.6/3.7 GPA (pretty middle-of-the-pack stats). The biggest thing I would suggest to you is to have your daughter write a short (one page max.) letter of continued interest to the admissions office (have it reviewed by a trusted peer, just like an essay) and also try and get a few more recommendation letters in if possible. UW has been my dream school since I was in elementary school, so a silly postponed letter sure as hell wasn’t going to stop me from attaining that dream. In fact, I encourage your daughter to use this ‘envy’ of her friend who already has an acceptance letter to drive her to get a high senior year GPA and prove to UW that she’s truly committed (without trying to sound desperate, as I did in my rough letter before a teacher helped me edit it to sound more professional). Also, has she considered retaking the ACT? 27 is good, but anything higher would really be a nice addition to her application.
It sounds very cheesy, but the best advice I can offer to your daughter is to not give up. Remember, postponed is not denied, and she still has a very good shot at being accepted in Spring. If you have any further questions regarding postponement and where to go from here, don’t hesitate to send me a message. The months of waiting to hear my final decision were full of anxiety, stress, and a lot of self-doubt, but looking back on it as I type this comment from my dorm room here at UW I wouldn’t change a thing. It’s a very trying time, but it’s a time to grow and become a better person, both in and out of the classroom.
Best of luck to your daughter. Also, don’t hate UW for your current situation. After I received my postponed letter I wanted to give up. I hated UW and my classmates that got acceptance letters on the first go. But when I got up the next morning and saw my ‘shrine’ of badger stuff on the wall next to more door (which I was using as a motivation tool) I remembered why I loved this school and why it has always been my dream.
On, Wisconsin!
P.S.
I’d like to add that though I can tell you are very excited for your daughter and involved in this process, this is her future and ultimately her decision. If you see her passion for UW just isn’t there anymore and she can see herself happy at some other school (which she realistically should be thinking about, as you shouldn’t be putting all your eggs in one basket) then that will be okay. Not saying you seem to be a helicopter parent or anything close, but I’ve just seen too many parents pressure their children to attend schools that they hate and it never ends well for anyone.
As the BaseballBucky stated, tell your daughter not to give up. My daughter faced the same situation as yours two years ago. After a stressful few months, she was admitted in late March. The classmate that was admitted before Christmas was unable to take the rigor of Madison and transferred to another school after first semester. My daughter loves UW and she would tell you the extra work after being postponed is well worth being admitted!
@BaseballBucky I am in the same boat here, postponed as of three days ago, I have a 3.67 unweighted GPA but a 25 act score I have taken Ap us history, Ap government and politics, three years of honors English, UW biology, UW chemistry, UW speech, UW Spanish and next semester UW English… I am in involved with two of my schools national honors societies, I have three jobs, I play soccer, I am a manager for the boys soccer team, I submitted three letters of rec with my original application and I am a contestant in this years Ms Wisconsin scholarship qualifier pageant for my city… WHAT ARE MY CHANCES OF GETTING IN!? Madison is my dream school as I hope to major in biology and go in to get a medical degree and become a midwife nurse as I expressed in my essays… Other than what you stated above, what should I do and what is your opinion of my chances of being accepted in February or March this spring??? Thanks!
Can you retake the ACT in February to try to prove your score?
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I am in involved with two of my schools national honors societies, I have three jobs, I play soccer, I am a manager for the boys soccer team<<
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Maybe they didn’t believe you?
@Madison85 No, I looked into it but by the time get my scores back it will be mid or late March… too late.
@College2B I listed the full names of the honor societies, all jobs with contacts for them, the soccer club and team at school I play for and one of my letters of rec was from the coach of the team I was a manager for (for four years) and he is my club coach as well…