<p>Or at least give me some insight:</p>
<p>I am a male who goes to a competitive private school in NJ</p>
<p>9th:
English I Honors: A
Latin I Honors: A+
Latin II Honors (took in the summer): A+
Word History I Honors: B+
Theology Honors: A+
Algebra I Honors: A+
Physical Science: A+
Phys Ed.: B+</p>
<p>10th:
English II Honors: A+
Latin III Honors: A+
Word History II Honors: A
Theology Honors: A+
Geometry Honors: A
Bio Honors: A+
Phys Ed.: A</p>
<p>11th:
English III AP: A+
Latin IV AP: A+
US History Honors: A+
Theology Honors: A+
Algebra II Honors: A+
Pre Calc Honors: A+
Chem Honors: A+
Bio AP: A+</p>
<p>Rank: 5/222
Cum. GPA (W): 4.78</p>
<p>Standardized Tests:
ACT: Composite: 29, Eng: 34, Reading: 31, Math: 29, Science 23 (ran outta time...)
SAT II: Bio - 730 (I guess that backs up my poor Science results on the ACT...)</p>
<p>ECs:
Mock Trial (Captain)
Future Lawyers Club (President)
National Honors Society (Academic Integrity Committee + Officer)
Math Honors Society (Tutor)
School Ambassador
Paid Work: Sales/Service at a Sports Shop
Campus Ministry (Volunteer Work, etc...)</p>
<p>What classes are you taking in your senior year?</p>
<p>Humanities Honors
Physics Honors
Envi Sci AP
Theology honors
Calc AB AP
English iV AP
Organic Chem honors</p>
<p>Please note: I am a random dude from the internet. I can not, nor will I attempt to make a prediction of your admission results, given the fact that there are a whole range of variables to which I am not privy. I’ll be more than happy to give you general advice, and point out strengths/weaknesses that I see. I’d also advise you to keep in mind that you’re applying from out of state, which is getting more and more competitive every year. To add even more fuel to that fire, you’re applying from New Jersey, which is a huge source of applicants for W&M–which makes it even more competitive.</p>
<p>All that said, I do think you’ve got some solid footing. Your academic record is really solid–especially since you’ve focused so much time and energy on math and science. (Taking Organic Chemistry in high school? That’s pretty awesome. Orgo crushed the dreams of many a pre-med student on my freshman hall at W&M.) Overall, your grades and course schedule reflect that you’re committed to academics. The only real low point–which, honestly, isn’t all that low–is the ACT score. It’s in the mid-50% range, but you could get that higher. Have you thought about sitting for the SAT? It’s all math & verbal–you wouldn’t need to worry about getting distracted by science, which you indicate threw your score off a bit. Either way, you’ve got time to re-take. As an OOS applicant, you ideally want to <em>beat</em> the mid-50% range, not fall in it.</p>
<p>Your extracurriculars are fine. They’re not stellar, but you’re involved and have leadership. As long as you’ve been involved all four years, I think you should be in good shape in that area.</p>
<p>In terms of strengthening your application, I’d take another standardized test and see how you do. Worst case scenario: W&M considers your best score. You really don’t have much, if anything, to lose except for the $$$ the College Board charges. Standardized tests aren’t <em>everything</em> but they’re one of the few objective measures against which the admission office has to compare you to other applicants; this is especially important if you’re applying from OOS. Other than that, meet with your guidance counselor if you have never seen her before and make sure that she at least knows your face and has a vague idea of who you are before she writes your recommendation. Be active in making sure that your teachers write you letters of recommendation that you feel reflect your abilities. You also have a lot of control over the essay you submit. Start writing it yesterday, and revise it often. Put it in a desk drawer for a week without looking at it, and then take another look at it for revision. Get input from your teachers and fellow students who are gifted. Rinse, repeat until it’s as close to perfect as you can get it.</p>
<p>Best of luck. Let me know if I can clarify anything.</p>
<p>Just to clarify wmwunderkind’s thoughful response, we do not have quotas or anything for various states so it’s not more competitive to apply from one non-Virginia state than any other non-Virginia state. Some states are more represented than others in our pool but we do not take fewer students from those states as a result of their larger representation.</p>
<p>I don’t know anything about the existence or non-existence of quotas. The point that I was trying to make, though, was that it’s incredibly competitive for out of state students. W&M, and other public universities in Virginia, are required to stick to a 65/35 split for in-state/out-of-state applicants. If I am not mis-remembering what I heard in the last information session I attended, a pretty clear majority of W&M applicants actually come from out of state, and it’s easy to see that the situation is simply much friendlier to in-state applicants than out-of-state applicants. I’m not saying that this is a bad thing–Virginians are the ones paying taxes to support their public institutions, so they should be the ones seeing the majority of the benefit of these institutions. That’s a philosophical debate, though, and stealthyscholar’s “Chance Me!” thread probably isn’t the best venue for that.</p>
<p>You are absolutely right. We’d never refute that admission is more competitive for out-of-state students because W&M is public and only 35% of our students come from out-of-state. All we were saying is that it’s no different to apply from NJ than say NY or FL or TX. You had mentioned in your post that applying from NJ adds fuel to the competitive out-of-state fire. All we were saying is that coming from NJ does not disadvantage you more than a student from any other non-Virginia state.</p>
<p>thanks for the insight!</p>