CCers, chance me or offer help!!

Chance Me / Match Me
1

I’m a HS junior in SW Iowa and reading all of your decisions has gotten me not only excited but also incredibly anxious and I feel I am grasping for schools too out of my reach
I’m hoping to apply to
Reed College
Pomona College
University of Chicago
Northwestern
Tufts University
UC Berkeley
Macalester
Dartmouth
Bowdoin

Stats:
3.67 UW (I think??)/ 3.91 W GPA
15??/277
27 ACT & 8 writing (taking in June to improve, hoping for 30+), also taking SAT in fall???
AP’s
AP Biology: 3
AP Lang and Comp: 4
taking AP Chem and self studying AP Gov Pol, not super sure how I’ll score
I’ve also dual enrolled in many classes through my local community college, such as, Government, American Literature, et cetera

EC’s:
National Honor Society, 3 years
All-State Choir 2014-2015, Soprano 1
IHSSA Speech, 4 years (with a major focus in improv)
Concert Band, 4 years
Saxophone, 7 years
French Horn, 3 years
Varsity Jazz Band, Trumpet, 2 years
Marching Band, 4 years
School Drama Department, 4 years
Improvised Acting Troupe, 4 years
Organic Gardening Club, 2 years
Varsity Tennis, 4 years
Symphonic Orchestra, 2 years
Concert Choir, 4 years
Varsity Show Choir, 2 years
I’ve also volunteered at my local county park and county democrat office.

Senior Courses
Jazz Band
Band, Choir
AP Lit and Comp
AP Physics
(dual enrollment) Calc II
(dual enrollment) elementary spanish, (like spanish 3)
AP Micro Econ (through University of Iowa online)

As for majors, I have little to no clue, maybe a focus in international policy?? or physics?? math?? It’s a mystery!!
I do not have a sob story to tell nor am I an exceptional student, at least to these colleges. I’ve applied for Questbridge despite not being super low income and I’m expecting an acceptance.
I recently visited UChicago and Northwestern and love them both (especially UC) but came home with the realization my acceptance to either of them is little to none.
I’m not sure where to go now, I’m working to get my quantitative stats up (GPA and ACT) but I feel as though my goals may still be out of reach. I’m a fairly good essay writer and feel I can shine in that and my reccomdations, I will probably talk about the philosophical implications of improv or something??

THANK YOU SO MUCH for reading this spew of anxiety and maybe chancing me or giving me some advice, or maybe some more reachable schools???
-Paige :bz

2

*not accepting an acceptance from Questbridge, oops lol

3

Your GPA and test scores are a tad bit low for those schools. If you can get your ACT to 30 or above your chances would significantly increase, as long as you got your GPA up as well. Do those and you should have as good a shot as any. Don’t forget to apply to other schools as well! (Matches/safeties)

4

In my opinion, a 27 ACT composite score will likely make admission to many of the institutions you’ve listed quite difficult. I suggest you prepare diligently and retake the standardized test.

5

I’m not going to be quite as tactful as the previous commenters. You do not seem competitive for any of the colleges on your list. Even a respectable boost in scores, to a 29-30, would still put most of the colleges on your list out of range. Bowdoin is test-optional, but they are also highly selective, and so I think that your GPA and ECs aren’t quite strong enough to get you in there. Start off looking at test-optional schools, but by all means re-take the ACT and try the SAT. I think you need to focus more on the second and third tier of liberal arts colleges. Since you are considering schools all over the country, look into: Wheaton (MA, not IL), Goucher, Skidmore, Willamette, Guilford, New College of Florida, Eckerd, Pitzer, Occidental (especially if your scores rise modestly), Whitman, Puget Sound, Dickinson, Denison, Colorado College, Bennington, Colby, Connecticut College, Drew, Ohio Wesleyan, Davidson, Lake Forest, et al.

6

Thank you for the honesty! I have looked at Colorado College, and forgot to put it, my mom is an alum, as well as, a little bit at Pitzer and Colby. I can acknowledge the competitiveness of my dream institutions but I am a pretentious little baby who would rather be denied or waitlisted at an amazing college than be accepted into a place I do not want to attend. I believe in my ability to improve my quantitative qualities and qualitative ones are not particularly awful. I will apply to some more reasonable colleges but I will probably also apply to those previously mentioned. :~))
Thanks for honestly and the college ideas!!

7

@intrepidiowa‌ (re your post #5): I understand your strategy, however, it makes selection of a (few) safety school(s) even more important; you’d err, in my opinion, if all your intellectual energies were focused exclusive on “dream schools.” Specifically, I suggest a safety must have three critical characteristics:

  1. You’d like to attend (perhaps not as much as “dream schools,” but nevertheless considerably);
  2. It will meet all your future requirements (graduate/professional school, career, etc.);
  3. It’s financially viable.
8

@toptier I totally agree and I’m trying to find fall back schools that I would like to attend. I’d say that Colorado State is my safety because most of my family are alums from there and I could probably be okay with going there.
My matches or slight reaches would be macalster and reed, (not to diminish the integrity!!) because they have around 35% acceptance and I totally love both of them and with a little work I think attending either is a reasonable goal.

9

My son had a similar GPA (slightly lower unweighted,slightly higher weighted), with a 31 ACT/2060, and outstanding “leadership” ECs. He was waitlisted at Reed, and rejected from Berkeley. He did not even consider applying to most of the other colleges on your list, knowing they were out of reach for him.

10

@intrepidiowa - I agree with others that all the schools you listed in your initial post are reaches or high reaches, including Macalaster and Reed given your test scores and gpa. Of some of the schools listed by other posters, I would say Colorado College and Davidson would be reaches as well.

I would suggest looking at few things to better gauge your chances of acceptance at a given institution.

  1. Look at the College Confidential page for each school you are considering. Look at the stats listed in the results threads at kids who are getting accepted, waitlisted and denied from this years admissions cycle.
  2. Google the Common Data Set for each school. Section C of the CDS focuses on admissions and will give SAT/ACT ranges for matriculated students.
  3. Does your school give you Naviance access? If so, take a look at that to see whether the majority of your cohorts with similar stats had success at a given school.

It’s fine to have a group of reach schools on your final application list, so decide on which of the above schools are your favorite and why. Then look for matches and safeties.

Let us know what you are looking for - academic areas of interest, school location preferences, EC interests, types of student body, etc. and we can suggest some matches and safeties for you to consider.