Overheard in Committee — Remove the Shroud of Secrecy
Admit It! If given the opportunity to be a fly on the wall of admission committee deliberations you would do so. You’re not alone; many people would likely do the same. There’s this aura of mystery surrounding committee deliberations but the shroud of secrecy is no longer. These “Overheard in Committee” blogs are here to demystify the process and to give you, our prospective students and families, some insight into the depth of our discussion and the lengths we go to to make what are difficult yet rewarding decisions.
Overheard in Committee today: “How many AP courses does the school offer?”
Context is important. It’s a key part of how we make decisions. You don’t exist in a vacuum and neither should your application. Your high school environment helps to inform how we evaluate your transcript. Often the most crucial element of transcript review is determining rigor; how difficult a schedule did you amass during your four years. Did you take the most challenging courses available to you? Are you prepared to thrive in collegiate classrooms?
So today we were looking at a student who had taken only two AP courses … sounds a tad low right? Well we came to discover the school only offered three, so taking two is pretty what we call “bangin’” (our slang for a kick-butt program). Now two AP courses when a school offers 20 plus is a different story (what’s the opposite of bangin’ – we haven’t come up with a word for that yet).
There is no prescribed number of AP/IB/Dual Enrollment Courses that a student should take. There are times, when for a multitude of reasons, we will take the student who has taken two AP courses where 20 are offered and when we won’t take the student who has taken almost if not all of the APs offered. That’s because the rigor of your program is only one component of many. The point is that context is important to our review. Context for your transcript, context for your extracurricular activities, context for your life. Context is central, crucial, critical.
Okay enough with the alliteration. Back to Committee (yes using Committee along with the other “C” words was intentional). Sorry, after more than a week of Committee deliberations there’s only so much smart humor you can expect.
Wendy Livingston ’03, M.Ed. ‘09
Senior Assistant Dean of Admission
Comments are closed on posts older than one year, but we still want to hear from you. If you have a comment or question for us, please email admission@wm.edu.
If a school offer 20 APs, but a student takes only 7, is that fairly typical? Our school offers 9th and 10th graders just one AP course each. And courses like drama and music are not offered at the AP level.
It’s hard to say if there’s a typical number of AP classes but by no means do we expect a student to be taking 9, 10, 11+ no matter how many are offered. When there are numerous AP options, dabbling in APs in the sophomore or junior year and then taking a healthy load as a senior is fairly typical.
Is there a limit to the number of students that you admit from one particular school? My student attends a magnet academic program where many graduates might be a good candidate for W&M. If we know of several who have been accepted during the Early Admission process, should we be worried that the “quota” is already filled from her school?
We have no quotas for particular schools/cities/states, etc. The only “quota” we have is 65% in-state residents, 35% out-of-state residents. So if everyone who applies from a particular school is fantastic, we’ll take them all. If all applicants from a school are less competitive we may not take any but there is no quota.
What if a student does not take any AP courses but is well-rounded in all other attributes that W&M looks for in a student;such as, volunteerism, sport participation, and leadership, are they still seriously considered? How about if their sibling already goes to W&M?
L, it depends on what’s offered at your school. If there are plenty of advanced courses and a student takes none that student is often less competitive than others since other students are also very well rounded but also pursued challenging curriculum. No student is automatically in or out based on any one factor but we definitely encourage students to take advanced courses so as to best prepare themselves for college.
We do note if a sibling attends W&M but a student is only considered a legacy if a parent attended W&M.
I am wondering if you could clarify how W&M considers an applicant whose sibling attends W & M. I know they are not considered “legacy,” but does it help your application at all? Is the admission staff even aware of the family connection?
Thanks!
There’s no distinct policy about how we review students whose siblings attend W&M. We certainly note it if you provide that information in the siblings porition of the Common Application and we take note of it. We certainly appreciate that there’s a family connection but it’s not a specific plus factor like having a parent who attended W&M.
You’ve mentioned when the Murray and Monroe Scholars would be notified. Have all of the William & Mary Scholars been notified as well?
Hello there, Admit It! Regarding the opposite of bangin’, in our house that would be slackin’!
My school only offers two ap classes per year in regular classrooms, and all the rest are online -_- Last year as a freshman I took AP environmental in a classroom, but this year I’m taking APUSH online, and it’s kicking my behind, haha! It’s hard, but as long as I stay organized and on top of it it isn’t impossible. It’s just different not having an actual teacher sitting there and riding you about turning in essays or quizzes.
Haha, and if we’re talking about siblings here, I’m the oldest in the family, and my younger brother wants to do something compleetteellyy different. He wants to study in new york, because he wants to be an actor. We all support him 😀 But I wouldn’t be a legacy or anything. No one in my family had even heard of W&M until I started bringing it up!
Alexis,
While we certainly commend those who go outside what their school offers and take advantage of additional opportunities (like online AP courses) we understand that online classes can be tricky and don’t fault students for not pursuing them.
As for not being a legacy, not to worry. Most of our applicants aren’t. Those who are just have an extra plus factor working in their favor.
jojo and JK, sorry we didn’t respond earlier. Your comments got trapped in our spam filter.
Jojo, yes, all W&M Scholars have been notified at this point.
JK, thanks for the terminology!