Hi there,
I’m currently a VA high school student. I applied to w&m back in December, and I’d like to get an idea of where I stand in the application pool (sure, I could just wait a month and a half for the acceptance/rejection letter, but the suspense is killing me). I plan to major in biology (I’m considering pre-med) and I also might minor in Spanish (still thinking about it, but I’ve always thought that it’d be cool to speak another language).
Anyways, here are my stats:
GPA (weighted): 3.9
SAT: 2070
ACT: 32
Extracurriculars:
Volunteering at Virginia Living Museum: 4 years (1-2 times a week)
Volunteering as 4-H teen counselor: 5 years (5 days per year + training)
Math Honor Society, Spanish Honor Society, Quill and Scroll, and National Honor Society
Key Club, For Earth Club
High School Varsity Swim (4 years… I’ve never considered myself athletic, though. I swim for fun, and I’ve only ever made it as far as regionals).
Piano lessons (8 years. Wanted to join jazz band senior year but had no room in my schedule… I hope to do something similar in college, though!)
Junior Year Class Schedule:
AP Biology: A (5 on the exam)
AP English: A (3 on the exam… I don’t think I’ll ever master timed writings).
AP Spanish: B (teacher didn’t teach and threw a high level midterm at us… we all got F’s and she “curved” them to C’s)
Regular US History: A
Calculus: B
Creative Writing (editor in chief): A
Anatomy: A (weighted)
Senior Year Class Schedule:
AP Chemistry: 1st semester B
AP English: 1st semester A
AP Statistics: 1st semester B (teacher is new to AP… should be an A by exam time now that I read the textbook more).
AP Psychology: 1st semester A
Personal Finance: 1st semester A
Regular Government: 1st semester A
Regular Physics: 1st semester A
I know that many colleges like to see an “upward trend” with grades, so hopefully I can be forgiven for my freshman and sophomore years. They were absolute train wrecks. I got several B’s and C’s… and an F. I was a lazy, angsty teen who refused to do her work, and I’ve spent these past two years trying to prepare myself for a rigorous college class schedule. But is it enough? If I do gain acceptance, would I be able to stand against William and Mary’s academic rigor based upon my junior and senior year grades?
Knowing the kids that went to William and Mary from my High School and my daughters experience I would say you have a 50/50 chance. A lot will depend on what major you picked and how the incoming competition was/is for t hat major. My opinion is that William and Mary puts a lot of weight on your essay. For my daughter she was wait listed but she did not wait - she went somewhere else that was less prestigious but really wanted her.
According to William & Mary’s admissions blog, they do not take intended major into account within the review process writing: “We actually don’t take intended major into account when making an admission decision so yes, all students are compared to each other regardless of which major they indicate. Since all students are admitted simply to W&M and not a particular school or major that’s not a factor in our review.”
This differentiates William & Mary from schools such as New York University or the University of Virginia because you are not admitted into a specific major when you apply, rather all students come in as undeclared and can declare a major when they have enough credits. The only exception to this rule is if you apply to the joint degree program in which does admit according to the major you declared.
I do agree that tend to emphasize the essays and actually go through and read them. When I was admitted, I received a nice handwritten note containing a reference to two of the essays I wrote. Considering I applied to a program that had us write an extra essay or two, I was rather pleasantly surprised by this.
Whether you will be able to handle the academic rigor, that is mostly up to you. If you are admitted, make sure you take advantage of the resources offered such as going to professor’s office hours, the pre-med adviser, the tutor zone, and forming study groups with friends. There’s a great deal of resources to support you, but you gotta put in the effort.
My daughter was only interested in the 3/2 program which I assume is what WM calls a joint degree program. I am 99% certain that WM asked for intended major on the common app, but maybe they do not use it during the review process. And as Mr Spencer indicated he had to write extra essays for whatever program he was applying for - which I assume indicated his major. My recommendation with any college is to look at the college as a whole and as separate entity in regards to your intended major. Will WM get you where you want to be as a biology/pre-med student and is it the best choice based off your major? Many students look at the schools overall reputation but not how good the school is in the field they want to concentrate in. Anyway best of luck where ever you go.