Chance a nervous junior from a tiny Bay Area city for some crazy reaches + tell me how to improve!

Your near-4.0 U/W grade, and a possible mid-1500 SAT, and your diverse extracurriculars, means you are as good as a candidate for the schools as anyone.

Completely unrelated to your stats, with the rejection rate by half of these colleges on your list the likelihood for anyone of not being admitted is always >90%, because they only have spots for single-digit percentages of all their equally-excellent applicants.

I’m guessing that between Tufts, BU, Williams, Middlebury, Georgetown, there is a reasonable chance to see an admission offer.

So my advice is:

a) to identify may be 3 additional colleges that can act as safety, where you might possible fit into an honors program, possibly even offered merit aid because they want someone of your caliber.

b) to see if over the next few months you can identify ONE top choice, that you are certain you absolutely would love to attend IF admitted. (Not everyone will have that certainty!) If so, applying Early Decision to your top choice can sometimes drastically improve your chances. Some colleges, like Barnard, do fill a large percentage of their class during ED (thereby locking in their top applicants) - leaving the much larger pool of regular decision applicants with a miniscule acceptance rate.

PS: I remember my daughter returning from Girls’ State, enthralled about having been surrounded by all these bright young women. Congratulations for being chosen - and I think it’s a perfect fit for the current academic direction you are seeking!

1 Like