Chance an impatient junior who just wants to apply already :) [MD resident, 3.98 UW, Poli Sci, Int'l Relations]

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Demographics: Female, US Citizen, from Maryland, first gen, LGBTQ+

Stats: 3.98 UW, 4.8/5 W, non-competitive public high school, 1270 PSAT, guessing about a 1300 SAT (I’m taking it in a few weeks, but will probably go test optional at most schools)

Coursework (predicted senior year classes marked with asterisk):

English: Honors English 9, Honors English 10, AP Lang, AP Lit*

Social Studies: AP US Gov, Honors World History, APUSH, AP Psych, DE Sociology*, DE Public Speaking*

Math: Algebra I and Geometry (8th grade but on transcript), Honors Algebra II, Honors Trigonometry, Honors Precalc, AP Precalc*, AP Stat*

Science: Honors Bio, Honors Chem, AP Environmental

Foreign Language: Spanish I (8th grade but on transcript and part of gpa), Spanish II, Honors Spanish III, Honors Spanish IV (school is no longer offering AP)

Tech: Computer Science Essentials, AP Comp Sci Principles

Arts: Orchestra

Intended majors: Political Science and International Studies

Awards:

  • Highest scoring Student Member of the Board of Education finalist (had to withdraw due to a lack of transportation)
  • AP Scholar
  • Distinguished honor roll every quarter
  • NHS

Extracurriculars:

  • Interned at a regional construction management company.
  • Volunteering (will have 200+ hours by graduation, and will have the National Community Service Ambassador Award)
  • Student Government (I’ve held a leadership role each year: 2x Secretary and 1x Treasurer)
  • Prom Committee Secretary
  • I’ve played the viola since 4th grade, have been selected for a regional orchestra twice and a chamber orchestra three times.
  • Caretaker for an older family member. I help her with tasks that require a lot of mobility, managing appointments, and take her to appointments.
  • Unsure if I’m going to include this on common app but reading. I read well over a hundred books every year, and I’m currently on pace for 240 books this year.

Essays and LORs:

  • Common app essay is done, I based it on lessons that I’ve learned throughout my education and the realization that school isnt about remembering each individual fact, it’s about learning important lessons that can be applied in everyday life.
  • I’ve already asked my AP Psych and APUSH teacher to write one for me. I’m guessing it’ll be pretty good considering I have her for two classes and she’s my advisor for both student gov and prom committee.
  • I plan on asking my AP environmental teacher for one. Most of my volunteering is related to athletics, and I work directly under him for that.
  • I may also ask my 10th grade English teacher because I also had her in 7th grade and for a study hall this year, so she knows me well. I also may ask my AP US Gov teacher because he’s my favorite teacher I’ve ever had and that was my favorite class I’ve taken. I don’t know if I should though because I only had him freshman year, and he was who wrote my Student Member of the Board of Education lor.

Chance me for: Bryn Mawr, Macalester, Reed, Moravian, University of Vermont, Loyola Maryland, Mount Holyoke, and Wake Forest

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Only 3 years of science? Our school only has honors calculus, so most take AP calculus next. I’m not familiar with taking 2 different pre calculus classes. ETA what major?

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I would take calc ahead of stats. Yes, stats is important to the major but calc to the schools you are listing.

Do you have any cost concerns? If so, you might need to change your list.

I think Moravian, UVM and Loyola will happen - but will they meet cost?

The others are riskier. But not impossible. You’d have a chance but I think calc AB would look better.

This is exactly my daughter’s combo…so I love to see it and am rooting for you.

But before making a list at all, you need a budget first and foremost - and if you have limitations, have your parent(s) run the Net Price Calculators for BM, Mac, Reed, MH, and Wake.

Good luck.

2 Likes
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I have to say, I love this!

I am not an admissions professional. Below are my guesses as to what your chances for admission might be. Please note that low probability does not mean impossibility…it just means that the odds are less than 20%.

Extremely Likely (80-99+%)

  • Loyola Maryland

Likely (60-79%)

  • Moravian

  • U. of Vermont

Toss-Up (40-59%)

Lower Probability (20-39%)

  • Mount Holyoke

Low Probability (less than 20%)

  • Bryn Mawr

  • Macalester

  • Reed

  • Wake Forest

How did you make up your list? Wake Forest doesn’t seem to fit with the rest of your list.

Has your family run the Net Price Calculator at these schools to see if they will be affordable? If they show you qualify for need-based aid, can you let us know how substantial the aid is? (For schools that say they meet 100% of need but do not say they are need-blind, it means that they are need-aware. So a student who needs $20k or $40k in financial aid may be more likely to receive an offer of admission than a student who needs $80k in financial aid. That does not mean that a student needing very substantial aid won’t be able to get in, but it does present an extra layer of challenge.)

Are you open to other suggestions of schools that might be likelier admits?

Also, in terms of LORs, you only really need two, so you don’t need to ask four teachers for them.

2 Likes
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Okay, I didn’t wait to see if you were interested (I’m impatient today, too!). But this is a Chance Me/Match Me, so I’m going to suggest some additional options anyway.

Extremely Likely (80-99+%)

  • Meredith (NC): About 1300 undergrads at this women’s college in Raleigh that’s 3.2 miles away from the NC State Capitol.

  • Salisbury (MD): About 6300 undergrads with in-state public pricing.

  • St. Catherine (MN): About 2400 undergrads at this women’s college (St. Kate’s). 5.4 miles from the MN State Capitol.

  • St. Mary’s College of Maryland: About 1600 undergrads at this public (nonreligious) liberal arts college with in-state public pricing.

Likely (60-79%)

  • Agnes Scott (GA): About 900 undergrads at this women’s college in one of the most walkable areas of Atlanta. Part of the ARCHE consortium whereby students can take classes at Morehouse, Emory, Georgia Tech, etc. 6 miles from the GA State Capitol.

  • Goucher (MD): About 1k undergrads and part of the Baltimore Collegetown consortium where students can take classes at Loyola Maryland, Johns Hopkins, and others.

  • Oglethorpe (GA): About 1500 undergrads at this college where you should qualify for the Flagship 50 program (i.e. they will match in-state tuition at College Park). It’s also part of the ARCHE consortium whereby students can take classes at Morehouse, Emory, Georgia Tech, etc. 12 miles from the GA State Capitol.

  • U. at Albany (NY): About 12k undergrads at this school that is 4.2 miles away from the NY State Capitol. Although Maryland is not one of the tuition match states, I’d be surprised if they didn’t match College Park’s tuition for you.

  • Washington College (MD): About 900 undergrads

Toss-Up (40-59%)

  • Spelman (GA): About 3600 undergrads at this HBCU women’s college in Atlanta. Part of the ARCHE consortium whereby students can take classes at Morehouse, Emory, Georgia Tech, etc. 1.7 miles from the GA State Capitol.

Lower Probability (20-39%)

Low Probability (less than 20%)

1 Like
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For science, my school doesn’t really have any science classes left for me to take…we’re extremely limited for science and have less every year. My initial plan was to take honors calculus, but they also got rid of that. We do have AP, but it likely wouldn’t work in my schedule and the teacher doesn’t actually know the material. She’s just the only AP certified math teacher we have. Hence, AP Precalc. I plan on doing poli sci so not something I’d need a ton of math for.

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There are definitely cost concerns, and those three would definitely be a push, but still possible. Plus I do have safeties that are cheaper. We’ve run the net price calculator everywhere, and most places on my list are alright (mainly because I’ve taken off the ones that aren’t)

1 Like
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Parent and sister of Poli Sci majors.

Depending on what you want to study, or where you study, some poli sci majors need a LOT of math.

Analyzing census data (why do some affluent precincts vote Republican, why do similar affluent precincts vote Democrat, why do some similar precincts have unpredictable patterns); looking at income, tax data and how it has shifted over time; understanding the disparate impact of different policy changes on different states (who gets Agricultural subsidies and how does it impact local and state-wide attitudes towards the federal government, is it different in dairy dependent states vs. tobacco dependent states, and how do prices of those commodities change over time depending on the policy?) etc.

You may be surprised by how important math is!!!

1 Like
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OK - I don’t know your budget but UVM will likely not meet need. But maybe your budget is ok there if it’s on the high side.

You might consider other programs types such as W&L (Johnson Scholar) and my daughter is doing a dual with your exact majors at College of Charleston. Not cheap but she’s a Charleston Fellow and International Scholar - which are subgroups of Honors. It’s a Hail Mary interview type thing - but her tuition is covered (still pay living).

As long as you have budget under control, you’ve got some acceptances - just make sure you have 1 or preferably two that 100% will make cost, not due to need aid.

Too often kids think a school is affordable based on the NPC - but they got it wrong - and they are left with nothing. Errors filling in the NPC are very common - and that’s found out when you submit documents (IDOC).

So ensure you have schools that even with no aid will make budget - assuming your budget is at least $25K.

Best of luck on your SAT. Study/prep and maybe you’ll outperform your expectations.

2 Likes
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Wake Forest is definitely out there! More than anything, I just don’t want to completely box myself in to a certain school. I’d rather have it as a backup than not even though it’s not really what I’m looking for.

The aid is pretty substantial at all of the schools mentioned. I plan on applying Early Decision to Bryn Mawr because their aid was fairly substantial, and I’ve absolutely fallen in love with the school. That said, I’m definitely open to other ideas, and will check out a lot of the other schools you mentioned. I’ve already looked into Salisbury, Goucher, and Washington. Washington is actually one of my safeties, and should give me a lot of merit aid.

2 Likes
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Thank you so much! That’s really helpful!

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Yes, you need that in state affordable. If you can afford Salisbury - $25K for tuition, room and board - with possible merit - but can you afford $25K. If you get the $1K-6K merit, that’d be a bonus. Don’t forget, there are costs beyond tuition and room/board.

BM may come in where you want - but - you can’t be assured (it will depend on the accuracy of the NPC and the accuracy of what you enter - and that’s my point. Hence you need others.

Also, nearly 85% submit a test - so hopefully you can get it where it needs to be - at least mid 1300s I’d guesstimate.

But overall you look good - although I think Calc AB would look better than Stats, even for your majors, especially given the higher end schools on your list. Stats is lightweight relative to Calc, which you’ll need to take in college.

Good luck.

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Oh wow, interesting. Thank you so much!

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Yes, cost is definitely going to be a big factor! Thank you for the advice!

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Is this usual at your school? At ours it is either /or (they had honors till this year and will replace it with AP next year, both with AP Calc AB as next in sequence). I have not seen two precalc courses being done elsewhere and I would be concerned that it will look to admissions committee as if you are essentially repeating a course. Have you spoken to your counselor about this?

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We don’t really have a “usual” so to say. Before, most students would take honors calc after honors precalc. That said, they got rid of honors calc, so now most people are going into stat. We have a very low AP calc participation rate because it doesn’t work in most schedules, and the teacher isn’t qualified to teach it so most students end up getting a 1 or a 2 on the exam. I’m mainly taking AP precalc to make up for the lack of a fourth science credit since my school’s science courses are even fewer.

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Does your school offer any other CS courses or data science?

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I should have mentioned, this year is the first year we will have AP precalc. It’s also weird because in my district, algebra II AND trigonometry are prereqs for honors precalc (we don’t have regular precalc), but the only prereq for AP will be algebra II. My district is really weird. In fact, I don’t know for certain if this is true or which colleges are included, but several teachers have said that some colleges will flat out reject anyone from my district because of how weird the policies are.

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Unfortunately not. We don’t have data science, and I’ve taken our only two computer science classes.

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Students also aren’t allowed to take AP Calc and AP Stat during the same year at my school.