Yeah I missed the EA deadlines due to some personal issues, the school counselor says UMN is not a problem(last year 11 people applied and all of them got accepted to their first choice colleges), I have an F visa
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Well now I know how far course rigor will get me haha
OK, so being able to pay is extremely helpful, but I do have some concerns about how those colleges might see your grades. And possibly being classified as an International will make it tougher.
Just to illustrate, per their 2023-24 Common Data Set, Wisconsinâs acceptance rates were 5880/9692 in-state (60.7%), 17705/41490 domestic OOS (42.7%), and 3942/12355 International (31.9%). We donât really know what that means precisely because these are different applicant pools. But we also know that 83.8% of their enrolled class had at GPA of 3.75 to 4.0. So, I think it is potentially problematic to apply to Wisconsin as an International without a GPA in that range.
I do suspect you have better chances at Minnesota, including because their reported International acceptance rate is much higher (982/1256 (78.2%)). But I think given your grade situation, there might still be some risk there. Like, they report the middle 50th for grades in the College of Science and Engineering is 3.67-4.00. Thatâs considerably higher than, say, Liberal Arts (3.38-3.89):
Of course your counselor may be right. Still, I do think you could consider adding some colleges. Iowa State, for example, might be a great idea. I would suggest they are something like a top 40ish college for Electrical Engineering. And they have formulaic admissions using something they call the RAI:
You should double check, but I believe your RAI will be comfortably high enough.
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Thank you for the GPA information. Some general information about the UCâs and alternate majors.
For UC Berkeley, alternate majors are only considered during the waitlist or appeal process.
For UC San Diego, they recommend that if you apply to a Selective major as your primary major (EE) then your alternate major should be a non-selective major. In the past couple of years, they have emailed students that have listed 2 selective majors about switching the alternate so just a heads up. You are not required to change your alternate major if you are not willing to consider other majors.
Since the UCâs are test blind, your SAT score will only be used for course placement and not for admissions or scholarship consideration.
Below is some statistical data for the 3 UCâs you have applied.
UC Berkeley: EECS admit rate- 7.6%. 25th-75th percentile of admitted Freshman UC Capped weighted Engineering 4.20-4.30, Campus Unweighted 3.89-4.00 and Campus Weighted uncapped 4.31-4.65. Overall International admit rate was 3.3%.
UCLA: EE admit rate- 9.9%. 25th-75th percentile of admitted Freshman UC Capped weighted GPA Engineering 4.25-4.32, Campus Unweighted 3.95-4.00, EE UC weighted uncapped 4.53-4.78. Overall International admit rate 6.3%
UCSD: Engineering admit rate 18%. 25th-75th percentile of admitted Freshman UC Capped weighted Engineering 4.15-4.30, Campus Unweighted 3.84-4.00. Weighted uncapped not listed. International admit rate 23%.
Good luck.
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Thank you very much for the information
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I hope that my major essay will make up for my bad GPA for University of Wisconsin
That is certainly possible. We know Wisconsin enrolled some students in that GPA range, and indeed below. Some of those were likely recruited athletes and such, but I think it is a good bet they also made exceptions to their normal grade standards for other reasons as well. Observably it cannot be many, but likely some.
What we really donât know is how many, if any, of those exceptions were Internationals applying to their College of Engineering.
In circumstances like this, I think it is OK to apply to some colleges like this (and apparently you already have, which again is fine). But I do think for planning purposes, it is good to be realistic about what might happen with such applications, and have a robust set of alternatives you would be happy to attend if these applications donât work out as hoped.
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Thatâs not how evaluations happen though. Essays do not make up for a lower GPA at least at selective schools. High rigor can give context to a lower gpa, but essays wonât overcome a low GPA. And being in the RD round at Wisconsin makes it less likely for an admit too. How does your high school counselor see your chances there?
Madisonâs acceptance rate for international students was 33% for Class of 2028, see page 3 here: Box
I agree that itâs ok to apply to some reaches, but encourage you to apply to safer choices if you want more options than UMN.
Ah OK, my high school counselor says that UW Madison is pretty realistic, and from some statistics of people in my school who applied in the past(many of whom are international students), my weighted GPAâs somwhere around the average and SATâs about 70 points higher
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On another note is my rigor considered âhighâ by any standard?
How does it compare to your classmates? Itâs not just the a measure of the number of AP classes, but the grades, and the scores on the AP tests. You are advanced in math, but AP test scores arenât high. (I wouldnât report scores of 3 to most of your schools because it wonât help your app, and could hurt your app)
I expect colleges will believe that you are ready for college, but that doesnât mean you will be admitted.
Are you considering applying to any of the other schools that posters have mentioned here?
The problem with that type of analysis is that it doesnât factor in who was rejected from Madison. For highly selective schools, the ârejectedâ pile of applications often looks very similar to the acceptances, so simply being able to point to prior applicants who were similar to you who were accepted is only looking at half of the picture. You may also look very similar to students who were not admitted. I do know of multiple out of state applicants to Wisconsin in recent years for engineering with higher GPAs than yours (and similar test scores) who were not accepted. Not trying to be unduly negative, as you have a shot to get in, but there is also at least a reasonable chance that the outcome will not be an acceptance. You may want to look upthread at other schools that were recommended just to ensure that you will have some options.
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Well only one other person have taken AP Calculus AB in my year, a lot of other people are taking it right now, and Iâm the only one that has ever took the aforementioned post AP math class. Average amount of APs taken per person by senior year at this school is around 5, and Iâm the only one that has taken an AP language exam.
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Iowa State is on the list should things go south
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From my perspective your rigor is high. Unfortunately some of the schools on your list are going to expect that level of rigor and a higher GPA.
At this point, you canât change that. The only thing you can do now is applying to some less selective schools.
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