My DS took only 7 APs when his school offered 28. He took only 8 or 9 Honors of the “tons” that are offered. His hs is ranked in the top three in our state. He was accepted last December to UW (and 8 other schools, some of which had less-than-20% acceptance rates). In no way did he take “all honors and APs”, yet it was clearly deemed rigorous enough. (I will also add that he was dual-enrolled for two courses that exceeded the APs offered in Math; he also had an unwavering upward trend right through senior year; he was not a straight A student, but also did not have a single C; he is not a URM or first-gen; not a legacy).
It seems that decisions have primarily come out on Fridays… going forward, should I stick to primarily checking on those days or is this just how it has been so far?
@uwmadisonhopeful don’t fret there is still hope! You’ll just have to wait and see. Your chances are especially increased if you have kept up your grades senior year as they will take into consideration your semester grades. Best of luck!
@lex2016 Well I believe you receive an email when your decision is ready; thus, if you regularly check your email you shouldn’t have to worry about which day that they post decisions. That being said, the two times this year that they have released decisions this year have both been on a Friday.
Thanks to post # 540. @ Leyland. In terms of honors classes, there was only one math and one science that I didn’t take in context of what my school provided. I began taking AP classes in junior year which was 2 (with one honors class) and in my senior year I am taking 4 AP. After the first semester, I sent in my transcript to show that I maintained A’s and a class rank in n the top 10 %. Hopefully this was enough to win over the admissions office. My ACT was a 27 although it could have been a point or two higher. Just couldn’t take that standardized test and I addressed that in my essay. Anyway, I feel as though it was in par with my class load and EC.
Hey out of staters good news! Not sure if you guys have seen this article but the limit on out of state students has been lifted (previously 27.5% of all enrollment). This most likely means that the admission counselors will be more lenient on the out of state applications. Previously the in state acceptance rate was about 67% and out of state was around 37%. I’m assuming this year they were more strict on the in state applicants and will be less strict on you remaining out of state applicants.
Here is the article: https://www.wisconsin.edu/news/archive/regents-approve-lifting-cap-on-out-of-state-students-at-uw-madison-day-2-news-summary/
@Badgermania Yes, however, they are still required to enroll 3,600 Wisconsin residents, which is on par with previous years. That means there shouldn’t be too much of a hike if any in OOS acceptance, but there still could be.
So if UW is taking this long is it almost guaranteed they’re looking at my senior grades? (That’s a good thing for me at least)
@hockeyplayer11 Probably not actually, unless you requested they do. I personally sent them my quarter grades (even though we are on semesters) because I have been doing well. However, they have their own system for receiving senior grades as if you are postponed or accepted you have to self report them. Many schools are not even done with first semester so I don’t think the length of time is related to whether or not they are checking your senior year grades. Best of luck!
When did you guys submit senior year grades? Also would recommend that we do? Especially for OOS?.
@abergirl10 I submitted my quarter grades right when I got them. I don’t recommend either way. If you are postponed they will definitely look at your senior grades, but until then they probably will not play a role. After you receive a decision you will be able to log in and self report your senior first semester grades.
@smilie1 At my kids’ school students can’t take AP classes until junior year and the limit is 2 per year.
I don’t think it’s a deal breaker to only have a few AP and a few Honor classes.
If you are top 10% and have taken some AP and Honors classes with excellent grades, it seems to me that you have demonstrated success with rigor (especially if combined with sports or other extracurriculars that are demanding).
UW expects students to do well in the most rigorous classes. Every so often a student posts on this site about how rigorous/wonderful their HS is. Guess what- there are many such HS’s in Wisconsin. Your top HS should be doing a good job of teaching so if you do the work you can get the grades. Getting B’s instead of A’s means there was more to learn. Perfection isn’t required but most UW students will have been able to get mostly A’s and have developed good study habits.
Quite Honestly, I’m starting to worry I won’t get into a college at this point lol. I applied to Ivy’s and other respectable schools such as Michigan and Wisco. I was already deferred from UM, and I’m scared I’ll be postponed by Wisco. here are my stats.
3.1 UW
4.4 W
34 ACT
The Leader of 2 Clubs; Debate and Model United Nations
Kicka** Essays
Good Recs
Out of State
150 Hours of Volunteering at a hospital
100 Hours of interning with a Cardiologist.
12 AP classes since my sophomore year.
I know my GPA sucks, but my counselor explained in his rec. it was due to the high stress of all the AP (5 my Junior year). Hoping my ACT and everything else will get me in.
@Madison85 and @wis75 , I appreciate your post numbers 550 and 551. It really helped me to put things in perspective. Thanks!!!
sidthe… A 3.1 is not good - especially when a high ACT score indicates the ability to get A’s. I suspect poor study habits, unless the junior year gpa reflects a huge improvement. There is no “high stress” for AP courses for many students. You need to have some less competitive colleges on your list. Looks like the EC time spent should have been devoted to learning the classroom material. There are so many students with better credentials who can benefit from UW- they will have earned the spots with their work to get better grades. Harsh, but reality. Your guidance counselor is being overly optimistic. Academics count. A question for yourself- if those AP courses were that stressful how do you expect to handle the stress of UW level courses??? Perhaps you could prove yourself elsewhere and transfer later.
straight savage @wis75
@sidthekid7 www.collegedata.com has a tool which I believe is called “chance me” which enables you to input your stats and get some idea of your chances of being admitted. I tried it with my daughter and it told her she was a “good bet” for Purdue, which has already accepted her directly into the engineering college and that she was on the higher side of “maybe” for Michigan, which has deferred her. We are still waiting on UW, which listed her as a “maybe”, but was pretty close to a “good bet”. Your stats appear to put you in the lower half of “maybe” for UW (i.e., I would have backup schools). You can check out schools listed as “Public Ivies” (UW is one of them)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Ivy#Worthy_runners-up
The link includes the old list of 8 public ivies (i.e., Michigan, UVA, Berkeley,…) and 9 runners up (Penn State, UW, etc), as well as the new list of the 31 best public universities compiled by Greene. Your chances at UC-Boulder, for example, would be much greater than at UW. UC-Boulder is on the 2nd list of 31.
@sidthekid7 , post #554 is exactly why I will not post my son’s stats on this site. Your credentials are great and you know (and you stated) that your GPA is on the low side. You don’t need to be told that you have “bad study habits” and that you should have devoted more time to learning classroom material from someone who knows absolutely nothing about you and the person you are. You sound like a great kid who has a lot going for them. I would not argue that you shouldn’t have some “fall back” college choices ready to go, but I’m guessing you probably know that.
My son was postponed and he has taken a realistic approach that there is a decent probability that he will end up eventually being denied admission and has planned for that (has already been admitted at 3 other colleges). So, he doesn’t need people who don’t know him completely tear him apart (he gets enough of that from me :)) ) . I know that @wis75 stated “Harsh, but reality”. I would argue that most of the post is just plain harsh and unnecessary.
Keep your head up. Your future is ahead of you. No matter were you end up going, it is what you make of your situation (during your college years and, more importantly, afterwords) I didn’t go to a major college and I’m doing well and I am very happy with my life. Also, if you don’t get admitted to the school of your dreams now, you can always try to transfer at a later date. Whatever you end up doing, it sound like you will do just fine with your life.
@sidthekid7 I should have mentioned that your stats would still result in a “maybe” for UC-Boulder (or University of Vermont … another school on the list), but it would be on the higher side, maybe 25% away from a “good bet”. If you want a “good bet” school, then you will probably have to look at schools that did not make the Public Ivy list and possibly schools that US News & World reports lists as “selective” rather than “more selective” (e.g., UW) or “most selective” (i.e., Ivy).
@tbc1963 I’m not sure what to make of those college chancing sites. My son entered his stats on parchment and admitster. Here were the percentages that they gave him for Wisconsin and Minnesota:
Wisconsin: Parchment 46% Admitster 76%
Minnesota: Parchment 87% Admitster 33% (he is still waiting on a decision from Minn)
Not sure what to believe or if he should believe either of the sites.
Another example is Iowa State where he got 97% and 79%. Iowa State’s admission policy is purely based on a formula that you can calculate before you even apply to determine if you will be accepted (they reply within 48 hours of submitting an app). So, there should not be nearly this much of a discrepancy in percentages for that school.
We also looked at collegedata.com, but that site does not give you an percentage, it just kind of give you a range of probability if I remember correctly. It also does not ask for a whole lot of data.