Chance me again in light of new developments - Will! Chance! Back!

Chance Me / Match Me
1

<p>I have entered the Twilight Zone, where logic has no sway and ACT scores have no meaning. </p>

<p>To put it simply, I’ve been accepted to one of my reach schools (Agnes Scott, which only takes 45% of its applicants) and rejected from my safety (Hendrix, which takes 80%). Cappex predicted that the opposite would happen based on my stats. </p>

<p>Two questions:</p>

<ol>
<li>WHAT’S GOING ON???</li>
</ol>

<p>and,</p>

<ol>
<li>Will whatever pattern is taking shape continue as the decisions roll in? </li>
</ol>

<hr>

<p>State: Tennessee
Race: White
Major: Psychology
Financial Aid: Yes</p>

<p>GPA UW: 3.30
GPA W: 3.45
ACT Composite: 29 (35 reading, 34 English, 33 Science, 18 math)
SAT: Didn’t take
APs: None
Rank: School doesn’t rank</p>

<p>ECs: Giving Speeches at Autism Conferences, Creative Writing Club, Literary Magazine, Diversity Club, Gay-Straight Alliance
Awards: School Biology Award, School Creative Writing Award, Carpe Librum Poetry Contest (regional), Creative Communications Poetry Contest (national)
Common App Essay: A serious one about how having Asperger’s syndrome/autism drove me - excuse the hyperbole - first to the depths of despair, then to the heights of social activism. </p>

<p>Other Factors: I haver not been able to take the most rigorous curriculum offered by my school because of my special needs status. Also, I called the admissions offices at all these schools to ask about disability services and student life (I don’t know whether this counts for or against me). </p>

<p>Agnes Scott College - Accepted
Maryville College (TN) - Accepted
Hendrix College - Rejected</p>

<hr>

<p>Schools I would like to be chanced for:
Beloit College
Clark University
Earlham College EA
Grinnell College
Guilford College
Kalamazoo College
Lawrence University
Smith College
Ursinus College
The College of Wooster</p>

<p>Any help is appreciated, as I’m terribly confused.</p>

2

<p>I can’t believe I have to bump this so soon…</p>

3

<p>that doesnt make sense to me either… i wouldnt worry too much about a pattern tho. maybe you just werent meant to go to hendrix? some of the school you listed arent easy to get into but your stats seem decent and your ECs seem good. <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/861966-chance-me-please-cmu-cornell-wvu-others.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/861966-chance-me-please-cmu-cornell-wvu-others.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

4

<p>Your gpa is low for some of them. May I ask why you did not take any AP’s? I think that would help me chancing you.</p>

<p>thx!</p>

5

<p>Many of the liberal arts colleges tend to be less formula bound (such as GPA and SAT score benchmarks). They are into “class building” and look at the different skills a student could add to the class mix. Hendrix has a rolling admissions and has already accepted many students. It could be that they had already “filled” the spots that they would have for an individual with your particular gifts. For example, perhaps by the time you applied, they had accepted all of the outstanding poets for this particular class and are currently looking for a djembe player or need to fill slots on a team. I would not take it personally or as suggesting a trend. You have already had some great acceptances!</p>

<p>You might be a good candidate for Guilford or Earlham-both love activist students. Grinnell is a huge reach (don’t let the high admit rate fool you-it is self-selecting like Hendrix is). I consider Grinnell a reach primarily because so many of the students are at the very top of their class and have lots of AP’s, early research experience, publications, etc. I have a child at Grinnell. She loves it but academically it is very stressful and demanding-not because of the students (they are great and work together) but because of the work load. Much of what she has done seems very much like graduate school-tons of writing and statistical analysis. D is a psych/bio major and the psych classes has labs where you run experiments, research projects with all kinds of statistical manipulations. Neat stuff but it does require a strong math background.</p>

6

<p>Hornet, That is what I was going to say. Grinnell is a huge reach with no AP’s. Grinnell is a self select school for many.</p>

<p>My son just got in there and will be attending this fall. He has talked to lots of ppl there(students). They all took a lot of AP’s. They are quite a bunch of distinguished/intellectual kids. No slouchers there. The work load is intense. It prepares them very well for Law, medicine, actually any graduate program. They are in the top 1% for PHD’s per capita. I don’t think someone can get in there with no ap’s, unless they could really bring something unique to the mix. People need to consider that when choosing a school. My son took full IB, tons of community service and is musical as well as a year round athlete. I am just praying that with his demanding high school schedule that this will prepare him for what is to come next fall.</p>

7

<p>d’smom - Congratulations to your son! </p>

<p>I know that Grinnell is my huge reach - I wouldn’t have dared apply if their application weren’t free (i.e. I had nothing to lose). Don’t worry; I’m not “stuck” on any particular dream school. </p>

<p>I’m more interested in being chanced for the others because I want to get into enough schools to have options. :)</p>

8

<p>Good luck MissPicjwickian,</p>

<p>You will do great. Just make sure the school you end up picking is the right fit. I have seen a lot of kids pick schools that are not a good fit. Keeping your options open is good.</p>

<p>Keep us posted!</p>

9

<p>Miss P-if you haven’t done already, go spend the day while classes are going on and shadow a student at the schools you were accepted to. Be sure to eat in the cafeteria. Grinnell was low on my daughter’s list. Originally she was set to go to Oberlin. I encouraged to at least visit Grinnell since she had been admitted. She felt it was a better match after spending time on the campus.</p>

<p>You have two very good choices-go visit, attend class, imagine yourself as a student there and eat in the dining hall at both. You can tell a lot about a school and if it is right for you by observing the dining hall action. All of the schools you have listed are excellent choices. As the admissions come in, be picky and don’t let rankings and acceptance rates mislead you. With the rejections, toss them aside and consider each as one less school to complicate your decisioning.</p>

<p>D-mom-congratulations to your son. He sounds like a match.</p>

10

<p>Thanks Hornet! Does your daughter like Grinnell(sorry to hijack the thread, but…)?</p>

<p>If you had asked me five years ago where I thought my son would be going, I would never have said Grinnell. After visiting and talking to lots of people and even running into people that have gone there, I could not be happier. It is one of those places that many people do not know much about and it offers so very much. Great academics, small class sizes, truly one of the best intellectual experiences out there, incredible buildings and grounds, acceptance of all kinds of people, high acceptances for graduate work and PHd’s… It has truly opened my eyes to what else is available out there outside of the Ivy’s and the other large research schools.</p>

<p>MissPijwickian,</p>

<p>Hornet raises a very important thing. Have you visited all these schools. Where was the fit best? I always say you can’t judge a book by its cover. You sometimes can get an idea, but you can’t tell until you go there.</p>

11

<p>The confusion is justified, but I think that schools may have had a different sorting system than you expected. Some schools rate certain things higher than others; taking a specific class, essay, interview, etc.</p>

12

<p>I really have no knowledge on chancing and whatnot but thought I’d share that I enjoyed reading that. :slight_smile: You seem to have a good personality if that counts for anything.</p>