dman741

I'm OOS from Illinois, here is some background.

GPA: 3.6
ACT: 27 (taking again on Saturday in hopes of a 29)
Rank: School doesn't rank
Classes:
Honors Bio, Chem, Physics
Honors Comparative Global Issues, US History
AP Calculus AB, AP Psychology
5 Years of Foreign Language
EC: (not much)
Swimming (9th, 10th)
Water Polo (9th, 11th, 12th)
65+ hours of community service at a physical therapy rehabilitation center
40 hour/8 week job at the same place as community service

LakeSuperior

Hate to say it, but from the way it looks like it's going this year I'd probably say not likely. Definitely apply though, you have a shot and that job might push you over the top, but I'd plan on having a back-up. If you could get a 31+ it would help a lot, but hell, a kid with a 34 recently got postponed.

Pathetique

Do not listen to LakeSuperior. At all. :|

Kids with 30+ get postponed and denied all the time. And just because you're postponed doesn't mean you won't get in. It's not like being waitlisted. It doesn't mean anything other than they want to see who else applies before looking at you again, or they want to see your first semester grades and such. No matter what make sure you don't slack your senior year.

A 27 is in the middle 50% (26-30). Not only that, but it means around 50% of the people who apply get in with less than a 28. Means there's about 6000 (?) people that get in with less than a 28.

These things aren't based off of sheer numbers, something all the applicants on this board seem to have forgotten (and it doesn't look like they know what postpone means either). Good luck with your application and good luck on Sunday.

LakeSuperior

No, I know he definitely has a chance.

I don't know, I'm just really confused right now. Last years I would have said you had a 2/3 chance of getting in, maybe better. Heck, last year there were kids at my school with 26s and almost nonexistant EC's that got in. This year one of my good friends with a 31, top 5% of class, two varsity sports, one captainship, a lot of theatre, a number of APs and he got postponed. I'm really just stunned and don't know what to think.

And no, kids with 30+ ACTs don't get postponed all the time. I don't think I've ever hear of a case until this year where someone over a 29 didn't get in. I mean, I know it probably happened, but probably with kids that had some suspensions or a 3.2 or something. But now: whoa!

Can Madison really have got that much more selective in one year?

Pathetique

You know the stats of 25K applications? Wow. Good for you.

Seriously? You really don't think kids with 30 get postponed all the time? Because they do. They don't go "Wow! A 30+ ACT! IN! " A 30+ an acceptance does not make. Stop spreading that rumor because it's stupid. I'll repeat. People with a 30+ ACT get postponed and denied (to a lesser extent, yes) quite a bit. It happens, and not just to kids who have a 2.0, or even a 3.2.

Yes, I've talked to admissions counselors about this. Just because you know of three people that got, say, a 34, 35, and 33 that got POSTPONED (again POSTPONEMENT isn't a horrible thing. How can I stress this enough? You can even increase your chances of getting in if you have an excellent first semester senior year) doesn't mean they got insanely more selective. You're basing your opinion off of a VERY small pool of applicants. I'm going to say about 0.04% (which is about 100 people).

(And that's also why chance threads that aren't asking for advice on how to improve an application are stupid.)

Since I don't want to totally derail this thread I'm going to say dman, you're on the right track. Retake the ACT and good luck on it, and make sure your grades stay solid (or better). Write solid essays and get recs. One of the worst things I think you can do is do bad essays and not get recs. They are a pretty important part of the application, in my mind (and from what I know, adcoms like to see them too!). They explain yourself in ways an ACT, gpa and class rank can't.

LakeSuperior

No, it's not my personal opinion that 30+'s rarely get rejected. The infamous chart itself says 95% with 30+ and 3.8 GPA get in. I do not consider 1 in 20 all the time.

But yes, I agree we should get back on topic. According to The Chart, the OP has offcially a 60% chance. Get the ACT to a 28 or 29 and it officially moves to 80%. And yes, recs will help although I got accepted with a 32 and no recs about a week ago.

Pathetique

Yeah, it is your opinion. The chart tells you nothing about the people that get denied (and about as much as those that get accepted), and you can't even infer anything from it, which you did. That doesn't meant 5% of all applicants with a 30+ ACT and 3.8 get denied. Not only that, but you're assuming that all 30+ ACT applicants have about a 3.8. Think again, so your "1 in 20" statistic is off. I could do what you did for the 3.5 range and the chance would jump to 3 in 10. We're also mostly talking about postponement which is WAY FREAKING different from denial and even more so from waitlisted.

The chart is totally worthless for plenty of reasons, most of all because of what people infer from it. It's not an official estimate of someone's likelihood of admission, and I really doubt the adcoms even look at it. It doesn't even make sense. You think the adcoms really care that much about 1 ACT point to "increase someone's chance by 20%"?

dman741

Thanks for the responses you two, :P. I enjoyed reading them. At this points I just hope of raising my ACT score and getting 2 recs. As of now I don't have any because knowing my luck, 2 of my teachers retired last year so I am having a hard time thinking of other teachers. I am going to try to get their contact information today and maybe email them about writing me one.

Pathetique

dman, why not try one of your supervisors where you volunteered/worked? I'm certain they probably have positive things to say about you. :]

dman741

That would be awesome except that he's foreign so I'm not sure how good of a letter he would write . Hopefully my counselor can write me one... I'm running out of time and need to come up with something quick.

wis75

Your retired teachers may also be willing to write you a recommendation if you were one of their stellar or otherwise good enough to remember students. Check with your guidance office about the feasibility of this. Your guidance counselor automatically fills in a form about you.

dman741

I have gone in and talking to the instructional supervisor of the department to get his personal email and she told me she can not release it without his consent. With this being the last week before the deadline I do not know what to do at this point. My counselor already told me she will write me one, I just need to think of a second recommendation, fast.

Balthezar

Dman, just ask one your junior year teachers to write a rec for you. They can't have all retired, lol. Your senior year teachers would be your next best bet, if you don' think your sophomore and/or freshman teachers either won't remember you, or have also retired .

Since you've already got 53 posts on CC, hell, I feel I know you well enough to recommend you.

wis75

The UW application deadline is Feb 1st, 2010- earlier deadlines for getting a decision sooner. Your counselor recommendation is in addition to any others.

dman741

@ Balthezar. You may be correct that all my teachers may not have retired from last year, but that only leaves me with my Spanish teacher (who moved here from Columbia and can barely form a coherent sentence) and my English teacher who would not really benefit me since I am applying for business. And ha, what's your address I'll mail you pre-stamped envelopes for you :P

@wis75: You made me realize I am trying to meet this Nov 1. deadline for no reason really. I contacted one of my teachers who retired and he said he can "pen" me a recommendation after mid-November so that should be a green light then!