I’ve read all the posts and I feel like it’s getting a bit off track
Here’s my thoughts for this CHANCE ME post
UIUC: pretty much guaranteed for you
Your reach schools: 50% you get into at least one of them cuz they all have really low acceptance rates
My advice: lots of people are interested in polisci, so there will be huge competition for that general field. Try finding a smaller, less known topic, because u might be the best in that small field.
I have a friend who is pretty great at writing, but not the best. She found her specific topic in writing: edutainment. She was probably the best in that small field… and she went to Harvard.
None of OP’s schools admit by major except for UIUC (although some do have separate admission for certain schools, poli sci is in the liberal arts school which again don’t admit by major)
That might be true but finding a smaller topic and excelling in it would still be very valuable
It made my friend really unique
For example, would u rather admit a student that’s top 50 in poli sci or someone who is no 1 in a smaller poli sci related field (but would have been top 50 in general)
Sorry, marketing yourself as a “voter fraud” expert only works if- in fact- you ARE an expert on voter fraud. And the notion that a HS student could self-proclaim this expertise is a little insane.
Experts in these topics have PhD’s and a host of publications in peer reviewed journals. Or are federal judges who have heard cases on voter fraud and have studied the relevant case law for months.
What kind of “smaller poli sci related field” could a HS student POSSIBLY become an expert in? Especially since most of the colleges on the OP’s list do not admit by major?
They don’t admit by major (again, some do admit by school). We will never know why someone got in or didn’t. For the record, neuroscience is one of the hottest/most sought after college majors…certainly not a niche/uncommon/novel major.
Anyway, the experience of a small set of students you know might not necessarily translate to a larger population. If one has good achievements whether it’s in poli sci or neuroscience or earth science then that will be a plus to their college apps.
I think the tricky bit is these colleges like to see applicants who love school and love exploring academic interests, but at the same time they expect many of their students to find new interests in college and end up in unexpected majors eventually. So being passionate about one or more things is good, but they are not going to admit you for the specific purpose of studying those things, and will not specifically compare people with similar interests against each other.
Yes, and even when a school doesn’t admit by major, they still like to admit a balanced class. So they don’t want to admit all STEM folks, regardless of their accomplishments. Developing a passion and documenting unusual achievement in a specific field is beneficial both because doing so demonstrates intellectual and creative accomplishment and potential, but also because it helps the college balance the incoming class between STEM, humanities, and other areas of interest. That’s not the same as admitting by major, but it does help the college make sure that its students will make use of a wide range of its academic divisions.
I am not sure there how many colleges are trying to ‘balance’ admits by majors, at least how I think of that word…like in the same way many LACs really do try to balance M/F (just to take one example).
The reality is that far more students today want STEM than social sciences, and more students want social science than than humanities, it’s just not possible to make that ‘balance’. Do schools want some majors from humanities? Sure. Balance? I don’t think so. I am sure there are exceptions to all of this to at certain schools.
If a school even asks about major on the app, they are also looking to make sure they don’t admit too many STEM majors…notably schools have to cap CS, because it is so difficult to get CS profs/adjuncts.
Even schools that admit by major don’t have balance in their numbers between STEM/Soc sciences/humanities, because there are often cap situations there too and/or the school makes changing majors difficult.
Hopefully OP will continue to post on this thread, and maybe add a couple of school with higher admit rates that they might like to go to rather than UIUC, pending parental approval.
There is a great podcast outlining that even most Ivy admits really have NO IDEA why they were admitted. IOW, they don’t know what was in their application that piqued the interest of the admission folks.
It’s an NPR podcast, if anyone has it.
I think the notion that your Ivy classmates think they know why they were admitted is off base. Their special something might not have mattered one bit.
I should have specified that I’m talking about more selective schools, which do try to balance classes somewhat (which doesn’t necessarily mean exactly equal proportions across disciplines, but at least some sort of proportionate distribution). Most of these schools do ask about potential majors on their applications, even if they don’t admit by major. You’re right that less selective schools probably don’t worry about this too much.
For most of the T20 colleges, more than half of the class is filled by the time the early round is over. From approximately 1/3 of the application pool. This leaves the rest of the class to be filled by 2/3 of the applicant pool. Your chances are much lower in the RD round.
While many colleges claim that EA/ED provides no additional boost, this has been proven false in the most recent Harvard litigation data. If you want more details, look for the Arcidiacono report. Professor Arcidiacono found that an early app to Harvard increased the odds of acceptance of nearly 4 fold (OR = 3.79). This is while holding other factors like athlete, development, race, legacy constant. So an early application to Harvard regardless of other factors will boost your chances. Or at least it did prior to the recent Supreme Court decision. (Source Arcidiacono, Table B.7.2)
Regarding Duke, I am a former alumni admissions interviewer. And I attended a presentation by Christoph Guttentag where he said the RD admit rate was ~10% vs 23% in the ED round.
Oh, I see! Then in that case, I think I might as well do rea to Harvard, it it really does provide a boost. As an alumni, what did you think about duke? Was it very rigorous, and difficult to keep a 4.0/3.9? I’m aiming for law school, so I’m hoping to keep a good gpa throughout college
I am an alum and a parent and an interviewer. Duke is rigorous. It was MUCH harder than my above-average public HS prepared me for. I rose to the occasion and got a great gpa and got into med school no problem, as did the majority of my premed friends. Some peers struggled and may have been better off at an easier school. It is slightly harder than my D21’s great-but-not-top-100 private school prepared her for. She reports peers thriving as well as some who have struggled at Duke after being a “star” in HS. Duke is no different than other elites: D23 is new to Penn but reports a very similar environment.
The average gpa post covid at Duke is around 3.7 so it is similar to some ivies and slightly higher than others. My Duke student is a junior, humanities major, has a 3.9. She has 200-300 pp of reading/annotating most nights, has 10-20page papers due on a regular basis, and tests to study for, plus does research with a professor, has an internship, has a couple of leadership positions in her activities. Her peers have similar coursework and activities. Her workload is less than Engineers. The average gpa is not how to tell if it is rigorous, so put that aside and choose ED based on fit. Or do RD and hope for the best! People DO get into top-10 schools in RD unhooked, and some get into multiple in RD! So it is not impossible. But it is commonly 3-4% RD admit rate at these elite schools compared to 12-15% ED.
It is more important that you try to figure out if you want to be in the environment of peers that exists at these schools, and whether the campus culture suits you. It can be tricky to figure out. Talk to many students and do virtual sessions, visit, etc.
If Harvard is truly your top choice and you are comfortable with the costs (including any financial aid as shown by the Net Price Calculator on the website), then there’s nothing wrong with applying REA. But I disagree with the commenter who is saying that REA provides an admissions boost over RD at Harvard - the source for that idea is a study based on info that is 10+ years old, whereas Harvard’s current website says that each individual student will receive the same decision REA and RD. If you are looking for a top school where ED confers an advantage, Duke is good choice, as others have stated.
The best way to improve your applications is to reduce the number of schools on your list. I am taking you at your word that UIUC is an acceptable fall back if you do not get into any school in your heavy reach list.
For unhooked students with excellent (but not super extraordinary) achievements, what gets you in the yes pile are your essays and LoR’s. The AO’s are looking for students that they believe will be the right fits, both the school fitting the applicant and the applicant fitting the school. IMO, you have a better chance of telling a compelling story if you focus on the schools that you feel are the best fit for you, probably no more than 4-6, than trying to scattershot, in your case, 11 schools.
Also choose your LoR writers carefully. They should be teachers with whom you have worked closely and can write letters that will tie facts and anecdotes to whatever qualitative opinion they are rendering.
I’d listen to the Yale AO’s podcast on their website on what they look for and how they evaluate candidates. This is going to be broadly applicable to any school that practices holistic admissions.
This is a great point. OP should ask the teachers something like ‘would you be able to write me a strong LoR’, and have a resume/brag sheet ready to give them if they say yes. They should ask teachers in spring of junior year.
I have read many LoRs that were ‘less than’, some were downright unflattering and harmed the students app…for example, it’s not good if the teacher checks below average for teacher respect. Whether teachers should even write an LoR like that is a topic for another thread.
ETA: here is what the common app teacher eval form looks like. Many teachers also attach a letter.
Absolutely. I’d also pay close attention to how they respond.
At a high level, writing recommendations for students is understood as part of the job, but it is also understood you are not supposed to just tell them what you will write, but then it is also understood you can at least try to warn them off if you would not write a great recommendation for them.
It is a bit of a silly dance, and some teachers will just cut to the chase and flat out tell you what they will write anyway. But some see the ethics as requiring a more subtle approach.
OK, so if you ask someone to write a recommendation and they say something like, “I’d love to!,” then great.
If they say something like, “I will if you want, but are you sure I am the best person for this?,” please understand that is very likely their way of trying to warn you they will not write you the recommendation you really want.