Barnard, William and Mary, Wellesley, etc.

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Hey, I’m a junior at a public high school in Florida, and I’d appreciate it if you’d let me know if I’m heading in the right direction regarding my future college admissions.

My full list of colleges that I’m looking at as of right now is as follows, in alphabetical order (with the exception of my top choice, which is listed first):

  • Barnard College (top choice, applying early decision)
  • College of William and Mary
  • Columbia University (reach, I know I’m likely not getting in)
  • Emerson College
  • New York University (iffy on whether or not I want to apply, largely due to what I’ve heard about their financial aid)
  • Wellesley College
  • Wesleyan College

The prospective majors I’m feeling out are political science, history, American studies, and women’s studies, and I’m planning on moving onto law school after I get my bachelor’s degree.

Demographics:

  • Gender: Female
  • Ethnicity: White
  • State: Florida
  • Income: $20,000
  • Hooks (URM, first generation, etc.): LGBT

GPA:

  • 3.50 unweighted
  • 3.88 weighted

ACT:

  • 30 composite
  • 35 English
  • 22 Mathematics
  • 35 Reading
  • 29 Science
  • 25 Writing

PSAT:

  • 1350 composite
  • 730 Evidence-Based Reading and Writing
  • 620 Mathematics

I’m taking the SAT for the first time in March, but I predict pretty decent scores. My 22 in the math section of the ACT worries me, but I digress. I know my GPA is… shoddy, but it’s largely due to my freshman grades (mostly D’s), which were a result of a documented mental illness that caused me to lose all motivation to even exist; ever since then, I’ve had straight A’s. I’m also taking two SAT Subject Tests in May in U.S. History and Literature (my two strongest subjects).

AP Classes:

  • U.S. History
  • U.S. Government, Macroeconomics, English Language and Composition, English Literature and Composition

I haven’t taken any AP exams yet, and the second bullet lists the AP classes I’m taking next year for sure. Science and math aren’t my strong suits, so I’m sticking to honors in those subjects. AP Psychology is a possibility next year, but I only have seven credits I can use next year, and I have to take Spanish 3 next year, too.

Extracurriculars and Activities:

  • Gay-Straight Alliance (founded and was elected president in my freshman year)
  • [Redacted to protect my location] Feminists (participated in local volunteerism, including tampon and pad drives, to promote awareness of feminist ideals in our school and community)
  • Future Problem Solving Program International (competitive critical thinking and writing program; have participated ever since sixth grade)
  • International Thespian Society (competed at District Competition and helped organize troupewide volunteer opportunities; worked backstage to ensure theatre productions ran smoothly)
  • built a website to streamline and consolidate the events of local community theatres’ and educational drama programs’ events in order to publicize them so that the arts could be greater appreciated in my county
  • acted in community theatre productions
  • taught myself computer applications and programs, including Adobe applications, CSS, HTML, and jQuery
  • significant familial responsibilities (looked after, tutored, and mentored my younger sister while my single mother worked multiple jobs and attended college classes full-time)

I feel like I could also improve in this category, especially in terms of leadership positions, but I’ve been applying for jobs lately, so that could always add something!

This might be an arbitrary thing to add, but I also know that I can get pretty positive recommendation letters from multiple teachers and guidance counselors of mine. My AP U.S. History and Gifted Studies teachers, both of whom have worked at the collegiate level, are both willing to, as is my Algebra II teacher and one of my guidance counselors (who, coincidentally, was my eighth grade social studies teacher).

I’m pretty lacking in the volunteerism department, but I plan on rectifying that over the summer.

Please be honest, and if you have any recommendations of schools you think may be better suited for me, please let me know.

2

Bump.

3

Bump.

4

Having a documented mental illness does not help your situation any. I’d avoid mentioning it on the applications because college know that students with past histories are at higher risk for future problems. Some schools don’t include Freshman year grades in their calculations of GPA. Don’t worry about volunteering. Whoever spread the idea that you have to check off every possible category of EC is incorrect. Seems like you could be a good candidate for Barnard. I can’t remember if they superscore but if so, and you reverse your scores (22 English, 35 Math) you’d have a near perfect superscore.

5

Emerson is your best fit (or add Boston U?) Barnard and Wellesley are reaches. Smith, Hampshire, and U Mass in the 5 College Consortium offer a better fit IMHO. Looks like you need a full ride which is going to be difficult with your profile at this tier in the northeast. It looks like you really want to get out of Florida. Have you considered the Pacific Northwest? Seattle U and The Evergreen State College?

6

@lostaccount If given the options of coming off as a risk and coming off as a slacker, I’m inclined to choose the former, but I’ll take that into consideration, thank you; I still don’t really know what I’m going to do regarding my freshman grades and what they’ve done to my transcript. I’m pretty certain that Barnard does superscore, though, and although I’m a little doubtful that I could pull my Math score all the way up to a 35, I’m willing to give it another shot to pull it up at least a little bit. Thank you!

@Oregon2016 You’re right that I want to get out of Florida, but no, I haven’t considered the Pacific Northwest, mostly because the only major I’m currently set on is history, and my area of biggest interest is the colonial history of America. Because of that, I assumed I should stick to the northeast. I’ll look into Seattle U and The Evergreen State College, though. I have looked at Smith in the past, I just didn’t like how “small town” Northampton is. My current town has a population of just under a hundred thousand, and it feels too small for me. Thank you!

7

With interest in early American history look at all the DC area schools that will provide access to internships at sites, libraries, scholarly events, and so on.