Do I even have a shot at Swarthmore for Regular Decision?

mosdefinitely · 09-27-2009, 04:09 PM

Hi! I'll get right to it!

SAT: Taking in October, estimating around 2150~2250
SAT II: US History:800, World History:750
AP: US History:4, English Language:5, Environ Sci: 5, Microeco:4 (Taking AP Comp Sci, AP English Lit, AP Psych, AP Bio, and AP Stats for Senior year)
GPA: 91.7/100
Rank: Top 50% (of a small class of 81 students)
ECs: Community service-driven, work experience, speech, and some competitive sports with some leadership roles and awards
Recs: I guess they will turn out to be pretty good
Region: Asia
School Type: Private school, sends grads to top schools, extremely competitive (Bottom halves move on to Cornell)
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male

Oh, and by the way, I am a US citizen.. if this matters at all.

Thanks in advance!

mosdefinitely · 09-29-2009, 01:31 PM

a hundred views and no replies? does this mean i have no chance at all! please help me out!

dz1992 · 09-30-2009, 02:35 AM

i think you are an average applicant... score/gpa wise.. if you have really really unique ECs, then i give you a 40%.. if not, 20

achat · 10-01-2009, 04:10 PM

It is hard to do a reply to a chances thread like this given the amount the info you have given..if your school is that well-known and so many go on to elite colleges (100%?), then chances are, you will get into an elite college. Maybe Swarthmore, maybe not. You haven't said much about yourself, your interests, your hobbies, ECs etc. The GPA that you have mentioned could be average if you came from an average HS but if you are say from Andover, then it won't matter. Who knows?

You should package your application showing interest in Swarthmore and that interest should be genuine. The people who will evaluate your apps will know immediately, if you are just applying because you did not get into Harvard or Stanford EA.

interesteddad · 10-01-2009, 04:22 PM

I don't know anyone on this website who feels qualified to offer a "chances" evaluation for an unspecified international school in an unkonwn country. It's just impossible.

From what you describe about your school, your guidance counselor is going to be in a far better position to guess where you have a shot and where you don't. Your GC has the benefit of knowing exactly where students like you from your exact school got accepted. That's the kind of information you really need to guess chances.

mosdefinitely · 10-01-2009, 05:00 PM

@ interesteddad: true that, but my counselor remains relatively quiet on these issues--I guess he doesn't want students too become too optimistic/pessimistic about college applications, and that's why I desparately came to the Swarthmore forum for opinions!

TaiTai · 10-07-2009, 04:02 AM

interesteddad: Like you, I do not think that it is possible to find a person on this website who feels qualified to offer a "chances" evaluation for an unspecified international school in an unknown country. In fact it would not surprise me if there is no such person at all.

He or she would require tons of information in order to do a decent job. To mention a few:
How many applications will there be from Asia this year? What will the increase be in general and what about mosdefinitely's country in particular? This is not just a matter of adding a historic growth%. There often is not a very long history to begin with. It is not that long ago ago that there were relatively few applications coming from mainland China. Will their number increase with the same speed the coming years? Also, students are not only coming from a limited number of international schools and local schools focusing on American or international tests. Numerous (potential) applicants are attending local schools teaching local curriculums and figuring out how their numbers will develop is not an easy job. (Note: These students will have taken a TOEFL test)

mosdefinitely: This may explain why so many people have been looking at your request without giving a response. We have no feel for what the dynamics are in your pool. It does not mean that you have no chance, it only means that predicting your chances is simply one bridge too far for us.

momuv2 · 10-07-2009, 12:37 PM

To move away a bit from the objective score-crunching and toward a more subjective, humanist approach, which is where Swarthmore comes from, I believe, EVERYONE has a shot. It's all how you communicate who you are and what you are looking for. Hopefully, even though you're based in Asia, you'll be able to visit the campus for a few days, stay overnight in the dorms, talk to people, and come away with very personal answers to the "Why Swarthmore?" prompt. What makes you unique and why should Swarthmore give up one of a relatively few admissions slots to you? Trust me, the answer has nothing to do with SAT scores and GPAs. (Whatever your scores, the adcom has hundreds more to match them).

goeast · 10-08-2009, 09:27 AM

apply and find out....

TaiTai · 10-08-2009, 10:14 PM

I agree with goeast! Just go for it. Is English your first language? If not, your SAT results sound pretty good to me. Even if you have always attended English speaking schools, it is hard for a non-native speaker to get the maximum for writing and reading comprehension. Colleges know that. Take care that your application is not too 'mechanical'. Give the colleges a good chance to learn more about you. Unlike what a lot of Asian applicants (still) think, the application process is not just about stats and a nice list of EC's. It is also about your thoughts, your feelings, your opinion. Colleges are looking for this information in your essay('s). Please, please, please, do not hand in overly edited work. Without realizing it yourself, the editing may have 'killed' your unique voice and therefore ruined your chances.

avocados · 10-10-2009, 07:31 PM

Your scores and average fit the ranges nicely so just apply!