William & Mary and UVA

[schntgai]

Hello! I’m a home-schooled junior.

Academically, I have an unweighted GPA of 4.0, a straight-A student. I’ll have taken five years of language (one of Latin, four of Spanish) by the time I graduate. I’ll also have taken two APs & 13 classes at our junior college by the time I graduate, as well as six years of English & history, five of science, math all the way up to Honors Calculus, and various electives (from Intro to Web Design to Art History.) Also, I’m taking an Intro to Emerging Disease course senior year in which I’ll be writing both a blog & a research paper on the topic.

Outside of school, I’ve been involved in theatre for four years, although I’ve never had a lead role in a show. I did, however, write two scripts that were performed by one of my groups. I’ve also been a huge writer throughout high school, although I’m not sure how to document that on my application (besides, of course, how my essay itself turns out). I’m thinking about joining a creative writing club senior year, as well as speech & debate club, as this semester I’m taking a public speaking course & it’s been going very well. My only concern there is that it’ll look like I’m attempting to pad my application for senior year, but I’ve been passionate about both writing and current issues throughout high school, so maybe not.

I volunteer four hours a week at the local hospital normally; this summer, though, I’ll be stepping up to be the Junior Volunteer Assistant Coordinator – in which I’ll be helping organize and inform all of the volunteers we’ll have coming in over the summer.

I’m also considering creating (and thus captaining) a Quidditch team at my JC next year.

My PSAT score (combined) was 203, which is a predicted 2030 on the SAT. Reading and math were 130, or 1300. My projected ACT composite score is 30. I’ll also be taking the SAT subject tests for English Lit & Math I in June.

What are my chances? Will my extracurriculars look weak on paper? (I intend to apply ED for W&M and EA for UVA, as well as interviewing at W&M over the summer.)

Thank you!

[shawnspencer]

You do you. Don’t worry about what others think about what others think about your extracurricular on paper, they seem very impressive to me and you definitely articulate passion across several of the things you have mentioned. These would be great things to bring up in the interview, giving context to the things that you do. It’s not everyday you get a homeschooled applicant that does so many things as you have mentioned.

Disclaimer: I am a current student at the College of William and Mary but I claim no way to represent the school or its admission policies. That being said, I have been through the process myself and I thought one of the best ways to display who you are is through the essay. I think they definitely take those into close consideration. Another option is to send them an art supplement to showcase your writing skills.

Good luck in your future endeavors!