A friend just got rejected ED (not deferred) to William & Mary. Not a VA resident. From highly rated CA public school, about a 3.8 GPA, excellent leadership, excellent athletic participation, Speech, music. About 1310 on the SATs.
Sometimes it seems that the heaviest competition is in the above range of stats – not quite in the Ivy category, but definitely above average. Difficult to find a college that is not too much of a safety to inspire. Matches for such a student also equal safeties for the Ivy “rejects…” which in turn tends to raise the standard for those colleges, making what would be a match for the above student into a reach.
<p>3.9 GPA, 1300 SAT, strong EC’s. I’m hoping desperately that my 730 verbal score will make the 1300 score look more attractive than a 650/650. They’ll look at what I want to study, then my verbal score, and I hope that will help me.</p>
<p>William and Mary has always been pretty quirky in the admissions department. It is not easy to be accepted there, even for in-state students. Good luck to your friend with his other applications. He has a good record and should be accepted at a fine school.</p>
<p>Whoops, I tried to reply but this may be a double-reply, as the first may have already been “sent” accidentally.</p>
<p>Dear AndrewD & Ohio Mom, the “he” is a “she.” :~}
She was pretty upset, but people often do not realize that the rules seems to be: a higher standard for out-of-staters, esp. for applicants to Publics. That is certainly true for UC & U. of Mich. Therefore, I don’t know how she’ll fare with UVA either.</p>
<p>The bummer for her is that her h.s. has an early & final cutoff date for teacher rec. requests. She cannot ask for any new recs from her h.s. teachers, therefore, if any newly sought colleges have an uncommon app. As to her RD strategy, Ohio Mom, I just told her to really work on her 3 top choices remaining: Boston College, Rice, & UVA. Now of course her confidence is a little thrown & she’s concerned she won’t get into those, either. She did apply a few days ago–just in time–for some U.C’s.</p>
<p>I’ve only finished 3 apps myself, & have a lot more to go (about 9!)</p>
<p>Yes, I know that the admissions are much more difficult for out of staters. If I lived in CA I would’ve applied to UCLA and UCB but since I don’t I didn’t even bother.</p>
<p>I have five apps in right now, and 3-4 more to go.</p>
<p>Washington
Washington State
Albertson College of Idaho (accepted, Presidential Scholarship)
Miami
UNC-CH</p>
<p>Andrew: a friend of mine from SoCal got into UofA with much lower stats. Even got a small merit package to help with out of state tuition. They have a rolling admit policy, and the merit money is first come first served. Get your app in asap.</p>
<p>bluebayou & AndrewD, thanks for the great suggestions. I’ll pass them on to her. (I think Reed is a little left-wing for her, but the others would be okay for campus atmosphere. I did mention the Pacific Northwest area to her, & I agree about Washington State & Oregon as definitely good alternatives, also Arizona.) And you’re right about merit scholarships.</p>
I’m hoping desperately that my 730 verbal score will make the 1300 score look more attractive than a 650/650. They’ll look at what I want to study, then my verbal score, and I hope that will help me.</p>