zlin

Hi!

I am applying to Dickinson and I was wondering if you think I have a shot at receiving any of the merit scholarships offered. Here are the relevant stats:

Testing:
SAT: 2230 composite, CR: 800, M: 680, W: 750
SAT II: US History: 780, Math I: 720, took French w/listening in Nov. so I don't know yet.
ACT: 33 composite, 36 E, 36 R, 32 M, 28 S, retook in October so will hear back tomorrow.
AP: US Gov & Pol: 5, US History: 5 (self-studied)

Grades:
Nearly perfect transcript in the hardest courses. I'm taking 6 APs this year, took one last year. Other than that, pretty much all honors. My weighted GPA is a 4.27.

ECs:
-Leadership -- President of French Club 11-12, Founder & President of Darfur Action Club 10-12, News editor of school newspaper 11-12, Peer Counselor (freshman mentor, apply to be one) 11-12
-Sports -- Cross country 9-12, Winter track 9-10, Spring track 9-11
-Clubs -- French Club since 9, Darfur since 10, newspaper since 10, ALPS (a special application only leadership thing) since 9, Ambassadors (work @ back to school night, tour new kids, etc) 10-12, volunteered for a political campaign this summer (we lost, :_(), Model UN 10-12, [MAY NOT INCLUDE THESE: Model Congress 10, Physics team 11]
-Work -- Dunkin' Donuts since summer after 10, Tutor 2 kids in French, steady babysitting job since 6th grade (does that count??)
-Volunteer -- Volunteer at the public library since 6th grade
-Other -- Weekly columnist for my local town newspaper.

Awards:
-National Merit Semifinalist 12
-National Honor Society 12
-French (National?) Honor Society 10-12
-Mu Alpha Theta (Math Honor Society) 12
-Represented my high school for the National Council of Teachers of English Achievement Awards in Writing; my work was recommended for online publication 11
-Nominated to attend the New Jersey Scholars Program 11


Any input would be greatly, greatly appreciated. I couldn't find any quantitative data online, so I just have no idea if it's all people with 2400s, etc...Thank you!!!

casey75

Actually, if you go to the Dickinson website, it does give some quantitative parameters in discussing the main three merit scholarships...I believe both in terms of GPA and SAT for the two biggest awards, and the smaller one ($10.000) is more general, probably so they can use it as a recruiting tool for a wider range of students.

intparent

zlin, I would say you have a good shot. My D had slightly worse SATs that yours (her SATs were actually slightly under the range shown on the Dickinson website for the scholarship she got), and her GPA also wasn't quite as strong as yours. I think her ECs were stonger, though (varsity sport captain, Girl Scout Gold Award, and some other leadership ECs). And I think she had a great interview. She got a Benjamin Rush Scholarship (worth $15K a year). I haven't heard whether Dickinson will need to change anything about it's merit aid plans for next year based on the economy, though. Like many (most) other colleges, their endowment has taken a hit with the stock market drop. But put in your application, and show as much interest as you can (go to campus, attend a class if you can, do an interview, if they come to your town or school go visit with them). Good luck!

zlin

Wow, I haven't checked this in a while. Thank you both very much for your input!

waveswatcher

I think that you should reach for some other schools with those SATs. Dickinson is nice but...

casey75

She is....Middlebury, Bates, others, based on other posts. But it's good to think about what $$ is available at your safety or target schools.

intparent

Casey75, don't discount Dickinson even if it is a safety for your D. My D got into some "higher ranked" schools (but not her 2 reaches), and considered Dickinson one of her two safety schools, but she actually found that she liked Dickinson best AND they gave a good amount of merit aid (and your D has stats that might get her even more money, there is a scholarship that gives more $ than the one she got). She had to kind of tune out that little ego thing about the rankings and think about what was best for HER. And that has really turned out to be Dickinson.

casey75

Actually, I wasn't discounting it...just responding to the previous poster who was concerned that the OP (not my daughter, by the way) might not be looking at other schools that she could get into based on her stats. My wife and I actually think Dickinson would be a fine fit for our son, one of the reasons being that it has an excellent physics department, his intended area of study. When my son and I were there, the head of the dept. spent an hour with him, giving him a complete tour of their facilities, which are exceptional for an LAC. His admissions interviewer spent an hour with him that day and has kept in touch with him by email and he just got a hand-written note from his regional admissions counselor yesterday. We have found their level of attention and follow-up to be exceptional. He is also, however, a recruited athlete and that is being taken into consideration as well, as the coaches at two top LAC's have been very interested, and he really likes those schools...one of which he has applied to ED and should find out about today or tomorrow. But we believe he would get a fine education at Dickinson. And possible scholarship $$ would be nice as well...none of his reaches give merit money at all, only need based financial aid.