So, I am currently a junior and I have been doing TONS of research into UW acceptance rates etc. I decided just to ask here since I need advice. The question I want to ask is, what chance do I have at getting accepted?
Current UW GPA:(To me, this is pathetic and I wished I gave a shit Freshman/first half of Sophomore year) 3.2. There is a huge upward trend btw for me, going from like a 2.7 freshman year to a 3.0-3.3ish Sophomore year and currently my first semester of junior year I got a 3.6 and I am probably going to get a 3.5(Lowest a 3.3) second semester. Im not sure if UW will pay attention to the upward trend.
PSAT: (without studying) I got an 1120, getting a 600 in the reading section and a 520 in the math(did not finish it). I want to get atleast a 1300 in the june SAT, but I am not sure if that is enough.
SAT: N/A atm(Looking to receive a 1300+)
ACT: N/A (Im thinking I want at least a 28)
EC’s: (not many items, but I have had good success with the ones I am in)
one year of Debate/Forensics(Multiple medals in league)
one year of Football(I hated itxD)
Two years of robotics(My robotics team were the first ones to win league in the history of our school, we also went to State and are planning to do the same thing next year)
Four years of Track & Field(Best thrower at our school, went to area Last year and this year. I have the 3rd best shotput mark in my league and earned a medal in area this year, planning to go to state next year)
15+hrs of Community Service(Hosting track meets and helping run events)
-(this is not school related) I used to bowl competitively(Was not that great, my average was like a 206ish)
-(this is not school related) I have been an PC enthusiast my whole life(Built and tinkered with PC's), I love and watch Esports such as Overwatch, CS:GO, HOTS, and a little bit of WoW Arena. I competed in online ladders and tournaments. I saw UW has an avid Esports Following, and I plan on competing in Esport's.
*During the summer I am going to join USATF for summer track and field
*I also plan to do some community service senior year, and I want to try to find one more club to join
I have heard that your Essay’s have a good amount of weight in getting accepted. Is it true?
I am an OOS student from California. I will take ALL the advice I can get, this is my first choice of school mainly for Computer Science or Business+Track+Esports+(potentially) Robotics.
Oh, I am sorry for my language in the first part of my post. I am just really frustrated at myself for my poor performance in my early high school years.
I was an in-state student. I’m not sure if it had any impact on admission.
I had 2.6 or 2.8 in my freshman year. I also did pretty bad in my early years.
In sophomore year, I got my grade up to 3.3 but still did not care much about school.
In junior year, I was going through some stuffs and ironically that helped me focus in school. I received 3.9 in my junior year.
Then senioritis hit me hard, I got 3.2-3.3 in my senior year. Took 2 AP classes and UW BIOL 100 in my senior year.
I got 24 in ACT, 1600ish in old SAT. Compared to others, I had very weak EC’s because I was a soccer maniac back then, so I didn’t do anything other than soccer. Joined the Key Club for community service, but I was far from the leadership positions.
I think I had a decent essay, I tried to be as truthful as possible. I also mentioned the improvement in my academic performance throughout 4 years. The thing is UW doesn’t want itself full of brilliant geniuses. It also wants to give opportunities to ordinary, hard-working students who learn from their mistakes and try to get better. Every single adviser, alumnus/alumna, and student agreed that admission office pays very close attention to individual’s positive growth and life experiences. I think you have the same chance as people with great transcripts and EC’s. Only thing that concerns me is community service.
Don’t take act and sat, just study like crazy for one to do really well.
I had a low GPA with an upward trend like you and got an 1890 on the SAT and got accepted.
I lived abroad for a year, and UW does love anything that adds diversity, but you do have lots of ec’s
write a good essay and show passion about something
My main advice I would say is that the UW admissions office definitely likes to play up the selectivity of the school, at the end of the day they do accept 45% of applicants.
As far as your question about the upward trend, when I visited the school they did stress that they look at the transcript for more than just the GPA (i.e. they care about if you’re challenging yourself with IB/AP classes and such, I think they said like 4-5 preferred). Aaaanyways, my point is that I’m pretty sure they will be looking at trends as well and that this will help you.
Also!! With all your EC’s, I would remember that on the Coalition App you can only list a maximum of 8 so maybe don’t bother joining new ones if you’re not super interested in them and work on furthering your work in the ones you already do and your grades?
Good luck on the SAT!! I’m assuming you get your scores back in a couple of days… I would say honestly don’t take both and just focus on studying for one of them.
It’s really hard to say but I think that all in all you have a good chance! I would say focus on your essay for sure and letters of rec to maybe “make up for” your GPA, which really isn’t that bad. If you really really wanted you could aim for like a 30/1400 but I don’t know if that’s for sure necessary…
If it’s really your first choice other options I would suggest looking into include other campuses (with higher acceptance rates) and community college in Seattle (I have some family that did this, and after a couple of years they were admitted as transfers with in-state tuition!).
I wish you the best of luck and I honestly think you don’t really have too much to worry about!! Hope this helps & doesn’t sound too harsh <3
Although you have a nice upward trend, I not sure it’s enough to completely make up for your GPA (comparing it to UW’s middle 50% of 3.75-3.95). Your SAT is also below the 1300 average. However, your extracurriculars are very impressive, and considering UW heavily considers those, you might have a pretty good shot. I hope you wrote some killer essays!
Right now I sit officially at a 3.26 and a 1220 SAT Score. Applied for Biology actually