<p>Im pretty sure i want to go to a liberal arts school preferrably in the east coast. I was wondering if anyone had any inside tips on admission boosts, anything that they look highly upon or that can up chances or where i need to be academically to get into a tier one lib arts school.</p>
<p>(Resquesting info outside of what is available on websites or common knowledge of admissions)</p>
<p>Take it from me, I can surmise why I was rejected from Amherst & Wesleyan.
It is obvious that because I wrote my essay on my passion for economics and fashion, it raised a red flag thus leading to a rejection despite good grades. The main idea of liberal arts is to explore interest. I’m sure schools like Amherst, Wesleyan, Williams et al, would want a student with various interest and are ready to explore. Writing a one-focus essay would not fit the whole idea of liberal arts.</p>
<p>So my advice is to try writing an essay that doesn’t have to due with an academic passion; a passion for a random thing would be cool. Try writing essays on your characteristics, an event, or a person that inspires you. Write something unqiue and brilliant that applies to you but not an academic passion. Trust me, I highly believe it will raise a red flag.</p>
<p>Also remember, essays are note verything. You still need good grades and good high school rankings to even be within the radars of the top 20 LACs.</p>
<p>For top LACs, you really need to show passion and intellectual curiosity. That’s what LACs are all about. You are going to want 2100+ on your SATs to ensure you fit the 50% at most top schoos (Wesleyan, Vassar, Amherst, Williams, etc. are all around there). It’s always good to be atleast in the top 10% and have a 3.5+ GPA.</p>
<p>House of London, I disagree. My essay senior year was about my passion for clinical psychology and I was accepted at Bard, and my transfer essay this year was about how I now knew I wanted to do the molecular side of neuroscience, and I was accepted at Wesleyan.</p>
<p>I do not agree with th 2100 SATS. I received an 1890 on my SATS and was accepted to Vassar college. I would focus on your course load and extracurriculars. </p>
<p>Cllgecrazy if you have any other questions about em individually and why I was accepted and want some more insight just message me or reply. Il be glad to help.</p>
<p>I think that a lot of these schools want applicants to show interest. Visit if you can. Meet with any reps that come to your school. Make sure that you know about the school and what makes it different from other LACs. Elite LACs want students who demonstrate that they know what they are getting from a particular school and that applicant wants that school’s particular experience.</p>
<p>BigBrett, not everyone who gets an 1890 is going to get in. To have a good chance at any school, you want to be applying to schools with stats above their average.</p>
<p>Also, I just read your prior posts and you were a soccer recruit. That is a whole different story.</p>
<p>Brett, Vassar is so desperate for men that the same stats don’t apply. And while Vassar is a great school, it’s not as hard as AWSWes. A 2100 is low at those schools actually.</p>
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<p>Oh, now I don’t feel so good =)</p>
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<p>Nothing is really obvious… That sounds like a very interesting topic to write about to me. I would say visit as often as possible, since some LACs do track visits (Amherst comes to mind). Demonstrated interest is very important, especially since the yield at many LACs is a tad low.</p>
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Umm, of the Little Three, WA haven’t bothered with competition from Wesleyan for almost 2 decades. Wes isn’t exactly head and shoulder above Vassar. Blame Michael Bay for the demise of Wesleyan.
I second 2100 is a little low for WASP (their average is 2140, if you have nothing to bring to the table, you better get higher than the average)
I didn’t demonstrate any interest and got in.<br>
I also second House of London.</p>
<p>Wesleyan comes off as less competitive because of it’s size, which makes it acceptance rate slightly higher. It’s consistantly top 15, usuall top 10, and had the top science departement among LACs in terms of students who eventually get PhDs, amount of federal funding, and published research. I wouldn’t say that WA don’t bother with competition from Wesleyan, people still choose it over them.</p>
<p>connections, connections, connections. alums reign supreme at those schools. see if you can weasel in a rec/interview from an influential one. look hard. it’s quite possible to do. ask your college counselor for help.</p>
<p>Don’t even count on it^! Legacy status is slowing becoming a thing of the past. At most top colleges that usually look at family relations they are now just looking at you and not using another person as your leeway. Maybe Amherst is still bent on it but expect different from other colleges. Oh and by the way, personality o****s a lot more than you think. Personality isn’t just what breaks the tie between two final applicant. </p>
<p>Cllgecrazy1020, I really recommend taking a look at this video.</p>
<p>[Online</a> NewsHour Video Player](<a href=“http://pbs-newshour.onstreammedia.com/cgi-bin/visearch?user=pbs-newshour&template=play220asf.html&query=*&squery=%2BClipID%3A5+%2BVideoAsset%3Apbsnh062204&inputField=%20&ccstart=2084434&ccend=2716368&videoID=pbsnh062204]Online”>http://pbs-newshour.onstreammedia.com/cgi-bin/visearch?user=pbs-newshour&template=play220asf.html&query=*&squery=%2BClipID%3A5+%2BVideoAsset%3Apbsnh062204&inputField=%20&ccstart=2084434&ccend=2716368&videoID=pbsnh062204)</p>
<p>middsmith wrote:</p>
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<p>Funny, you should say that the day after half a dozen Wesleyan alum win a batch of Tony awards. This, following a commencement address by Barack Obama, and about two decades of leading the pack in terms Academy Award nominees, Emmy nominees, best selling authors (and a few NFL titles), should put to rest who’s been getting the best of the deal these past two decades: certainly not the college with the most spoon-fed, Kaplan coached, suburbanites. As a matter of fact, Yale has decided to expand its student body by 15% largely because it is sick of Wesleyan snapping up missed opportunities from its admissions table. Imagine that. The first Ivy League expansion in forty years because of an upstart LAC in Middletown, Connecticut.</p>
<p>House of London, are you serious??? Legacy continues to reign supreme at top colleges with Princeton being the number 1 offender, the other ivies close behind and the LACs totally in there!!</p>
<p>“House of London, are you serious??? Legacy continues to reign supreme at top colleges with Princeton being the number 1 offender, the other ivies close behind and the LACs totally in there!!”</p>
<p>This may be the case for schools like Princeton but take away the whole idea of an “endowment” and do you really think they’d really care whether mommy or daddy went to their school? I highly doubt it. Trust me, a lot of schools are concious of the fact that inputting legacy status in admission isn’t really carving what should be their freshman class. It’s just giving a huge helping hand and credit to parents. In the coming years things are going to get to a point where mommy and daddy just cannot help anymroe and you would be on your own. Even inheritance can’t help. You still have to be independent.</p>
<p>Back to the OP’s question -
Ok, do your best on all the measurables - gpa, SAT, etc, and be involved in some EC’s that really interest you.</p>
<p>If you can, go see the schools, do the interview, show interest. If they have someone visit your school - be sure and go and meet the rep there. If they have a local presentation, go to it. You never know which interaction might mean that someone remembers you during the assessment process.</p>
<p>Think hard about who will be your references - most LACs see them as important. </p>
<p>Get ready to write some great essays - go get last years essay prompts now, and start thinking about writing for them.</p>
<p>LACs decide based on a number of different factors - how each weighs those factors varies slightly, and may vary from year to year.</p>
<p>Based on my d.'s experience this past year, it is also important to have a good mix of schools where you are likely to get in, as well as those schools that are accepting such a small number of students out of a very large applicant pool. I can’t emphasize the importance of that enough - there were a lot of sad stories coming from her friends, who thought they’d all get into the high prestige LACs, and then didn’t</p>
<p>Some nice, slightly lesser know LACs - Trinity, Conn College, and if you are into a certain inner city vibe - Clark,</p>
<p>It helps if you are a male applying to some LACs. Also science major can help. I think leadership ECs are important too. And, I agree with the importance of demonstrating interest.</p>
<p>that is true it is different for recruited athletes but the average SATS at Vassar are 714 700. That means half are below and half are above so it is quite possible to get in with SATS in the 600’s. I dont believe they are that big of a factor as course load and high school grades.</p>
<p>If the average is over 1400, it would be idiotic to think you are a match applicant with less than a 1400. When you factor out the recruits, legacy, and URM, the average SAT of a normal accepted student is likely closer to 1480+.</p>
<p>if you are taking a more rigorous schedule in school ranked in the very top of your class and are active in the community and school avtivities but dont do as well on the SATS you have a better shot than somebody who got a perfect score on the SATS who is in the top 20% of there class and takes average classes. All im saying if everything else you have is superb the SAT scores are not going to matter that much.</p>