What can I do to make myself more competitive?

Colleges and Universities A-Z College of William and Mary
1

<p>I visited W&M recently and absolutly loved it, but it is looking like it may be a reach school for me. Right now, I'm trying to understand my chances and determine, like the title of the thread said, how I can better myself. </p>

<p>I'm currently finishing up my junior year.
Virginia Resident
Overall GPA-About 3.9
I've had a slightly upward GPA trend-3.69 in 9th, 3.75 in 10th, 4.2 in 11th so far.
I'm 47 out of 448, which means I'm just <em>barely</em> out of the top 10%.</p>

<p>By the time I graduate, I'll have:
-10-11 AP classes (Human Geography, World History, APUSH, European History, Lang, Lit, U.S. Gov, Stats, Art History, Physics B, possibly Psychology.) That means I took 9/14 offered at my school, along with 2 online.
-3 "gifted" classes. It was a level at my school that was inbetween honors and AP, but by the time I was in 9th grade, it was already being phased out, so I don't have too many: English 9, Earth Science, and Biology.
-4 Honors Classes (English 10, Algebra II/Trig, Geometry, Chemistry)</p>

<p>SAT: Only taken them once, 700 on CR and 650 on Math. Not great, but in WM's middle rang.
I will be taking the ACT soon and, if practice tests are accurate, am capable of scoring out of the middle range.</p>

<p>ECs:
-School paper. Started out as a staff writer, made Opinion Page Editor this year, looking like I'll be Editor-In-Chief next year.
-Future Educators Association/Teacher Cadet. I am doing a three month internship assisting in a second grade classroom through TC.
-I'm on the (perpetually losing) Academic Team.
-Did chorus freshman and sophomore year, dropped due to conflict with newspaper.
-I don't know if this counts, but have participated in dance performances at various community events through my dance academy every year since middle school.
-I tutor freshmen in Spanish.</p>

<p>I have applied to go to a VA Governor's School this summer.</p>

<p>Am I on the right track, so far? Is there anything I can improve upon at this point? Is the fact that I never took calculus going to be what breaks me? Would taking community college classes be an asset for me? Thanks.</p>

2

<p>Glad to hear you’re interested in W&M. The truth of the matter is that any highly selective school, like W&M, is a reach school for almost any applicant. When a school admits only 1/3 of its applicants it means it’s sadly turning away far more students than it’s admitting. That being said, because W&M uses holistic review and has no point system/equation/minimum qualifications it means every student has a chance of being admitted.</p>

<p>We would encourage you if at all possible to take calculus and the fourth year of a foreign language. Not taking these classes won’t “break” your application but not having those classes may make you less competitive in terms of your transcript review than many other students in our applicant pool. If you believe you can do well in these classes and they are available to you we’d encourage you to take one or both. Otherwise your schedule looks quite strong with all of those AP classes and an upward grade trend is certainly better than the alternative. Do continue to work hard and improve your grades. As you take more weighted classes and do well you are likely to move into the top 10%.</p>

<p>We encourage any student to take a standardized test more than once unless they hit it out of the park the first time around. Since we look at your best score it cannot hurt you. If you better on the ACT than the SAT great. If not, you might want to consider taking the SAT again.</p>

<p>Your extracurricular activities look pretty strong especially if you do achieve leadership roles like editor-in-chief of the paper. </p>

<p>Since you live in VA you might consider coming to campus this summer for an interview ([William</a> & Mary - Summer Interviews](<a href=“http://www.wm.edu/admission/interview]William”>http://www.wm.edu/admission/interview)) which is an optional part of the application.</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>

3

<p>And consider applying ED as the applicant pool is much smaller</p>

4

<p>Good point Berliner. Greatperhaps93, if W&M is your first choice and your family is okay giving up the opportunity to compare financial aid/scholarship packages from multiple schools, you should certainly consider applying ED. The applicant pool is much smaller (~1100 compared to ~13,000). Logically, it’s easier to stand out in the smaller pool.</p>

5

<p>^Thanks for the info! And yes, I do intend to apply early. It is my first choice by a mile!</p>

6

<p>awesome! We are always appreciative of those students who designate W&M as their top choice and apply ED. It’s a good thing for a school to have a portion of its incoming class that bleeds that institution and we certainly consider your enthusiasm when reviewing ED applications.</p>

7

<p>I was wondering if the admissions office could put an arithmetic average, to the 4.0 scale average. I have tried to figure out what my average would be on that scale,or if the office doesn’t even convert the arithmetic 100 point average to the 4.0 scale whatsoever</p>

8

<p>We do not have an average GPA for this exact reason. Some schools use 4.0 scales, some 5.0 scales, some 100 scales and some use totally individual scales like 8.0 scales. We don’t really see a purpose in trying to funnel all of those GPAs into a standard scale especially when some are weighted, some aren’t, some use a scale where 90-100 is an A where others say a 93-100 is an A. We recognize that GPA is very school specific and even when schools use the same scale it doesn’t mean the GPAs mean the same thing. GPA is based on tons of factors (weighting, what numbers are what grade equivalents, the competitiveness of the high school, etc.) so don’t worry about what your GPA is on another scale. We look at your GPA (or more correctly we look at your grades) as is and in the context of your specific high school.</p>

9

<p>Update:
I am officially taking Calculus AB and Physics next year, and I’m going for an interview this summer. I can’t wait!</p>

10

<p>Sounds like a great plan. We look forward to your visit this summer.</p>