Chance me for Bryn Mawr ED2. Looking for more safeties! [PA resident, 3.5 GPA, top 12% rank, need FA with -1500 FAFSA SAI]

[constanza_luceat]

Demographics

US Citizen
Pennsylvania
Public High School
African-American Female
Low-Income, First-Generation, URM, LGBTQ+, Was born and spent an significant amount of my life in one of the worst crime heighten cities in my state

Intended Major(s)
History, Classical Studies, or German Language

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
3.5uw/4.24w
Class Rank: 29/249
Couldnt take SAT due to death in the family
Drawbacks in my application:

• I have 2 C’s for math in my application and it did not help the unexpected family death I had this year caused me to miss an significant amount of school, causing me to get an D in math this year and eventually, my guidance counselor and parents switched me out this year on the basis of my health.
• Due to an scheduling issues (AP classes happening same period as Spanish), I was not able to take all 4 years of foreign language at my school which caused me to have to self study them instead.

Coursework
8 APs, none allowed freshman year:

1. APUSH (4) 10th
2. AP US GOV (3) 11th
3. AP European History (4) 11th
4. AP English Literature & Composition 12th
5. AP Environmental Science 12th
6. AP Psychology 12th
7. AP Computer Science Principles 12th
8. AP German Language 12th

• 2 Honors ( Honors English 11 and Honors World History 9)
• 3 Accelerated (Accelerated Biology 10, Accelerated English 9 & 10)

Awards

AP Scholar (nothin special)
Junior Student of the Month (Regional)

Extracurriculars

1. Mental Health Club (President and Founder): Founded it 2 years ago to address the mental health crisis in our school, hosted various social events afterschool to allow students to engage with peers and get afterschool help. In May, I’m planning to host an regional 5k run for Mental Health Awareness.
2. Drone Team (Manager): I created a logbook with logistics of our drone practices which reports back to judges everything we’ve been doing all year; currently ranked #2 in the world.
3. Mini-THON (Committee Leader): I manage attendance, make flyers and banners, and manage social events. Mini-THON partners with Penn State and various other schools in order to raise money for childhood cancer. I’ve raised a good amount.
4. Rho Kappa, Honor Society for Social Studies (Vice President): I assume all duties of the President if absent. So far, I’ve re-established the history club back into my school, helped organize events for honoring veterans, and have connected with other schools to host various events concerning history.
5. FBLA (Secretary): I manage social media accounts and set up agendas. I’ve attended a female-only workshop which honored female FBLA members in the region and taught us more about business, attended an event to a investment company giant, and raised about 200 towards funding out trips this year.
6. Tutoring (for European History, American History, and World History): I spend about 3 hours a week tutoring my friends and students online concerning my primary humanity strongholds. I do this without charge unless someone is asking me to complete an entire assignment (which is very rare).
7. Cashier (Paid): I work 12-16 hours a week at our local flower shop.
8. Equity Forum: Basically STUCO but for schools in my county. We create a playbook at the end of the year for admin and staff members at our schools that address problems and concerns in our district and solutions for them.
9. Competitor for regional competition team, I compete for Art History and World History.

Essays/LORs/Other

1. History teacher I’m very close with, wrote my common app essay about my unique experience with him and how he helped me become the scholar I am, LOR was short (was overwhelmed with other essays) but shows very good qualities (8/10)
2. English teacher for 10th grade, LOR was very sweet and looked more over my character and quirkiness than my academics, very good LOR for holistic schools (10/10)
3. Bryn Mawr Alumi who works at my school, helped me during a moment of crisis and offered to write an letter for me, also shined on my passions and quirkiness (9/10)

Cost Constraints / Budget

• My mother made about 50.3k alone while my father personally makes no income due to being on SS benefits from a recent accident. As a result, my parents can’t contribute much which has made me at at disadvantage with need-sensitive and need-blind schools. My estimated SAI is -1500 (calculator) and I qualify for the maximum Pell Grant.

Essays:

1. Common App Essay: About me overcoming my anxiety and becoming a new person in the name of beating APUSH, showed how it made me become a new person and led to my involvement in my ECs.
2. Bryn Mawr Supplement (Why Bryn Mawr?): Talked about how I felt alone and different compared to my peers due to my interests and sexuality as a African-American girl, how BMC’s clubs and history promotes inclusivity, how I would incorporate Mental Health Club into that.
3. Bryn Mawr Supplement (Socioeconomic question): Talked about my mom’s struggles trying to become a nurse while my dad stayed as a stay at home dad because we could not afford proper childcare and lived on government benefits, talked about my “vacations” with little me getting hyped up and dressed was my mother taking me on the train to the “magical, colorful gallery” as she took me to her community college as my dad tried to find work, highlight was me getting a coconut doughnut and her teacher babysitting me (lol).

Schools

• Safety (certain admission and affordability)

• Drexel University (RD)
• Temple University (RD)
• West Chester University (RD)
• Widener University (RD)
• University of Delaware (RD)
• Saint Joseph’s University (RD)

*Likely (would be possible, but very unlikely or surprising, for it not to admit or be affordable)

• Penn State, Main Campus (RD)
• Howard University (RD)

Match

• Bryn Mawr (ED2); Interviewed, toured, and attended 3 virtual events. My interviewer told me she was very impressed by me personally. I know this is most likely a reach but a few alumi told me they think I’m a good candidate!
• Franklin & Marshall College (RD)
• Alvernia University (RD)
• Gettysburg College (RD)
• Mount Holyoke College (RD)

Reach

• Bucknell University (RD)
• Haverford College (RD)
• Lehigh University (RD)
• Smith College (RD)

[tsbna44]

I’d lean no to Bryn Mawr.

My concern with your list is cost.

Let’s say you get into Drexel - you will. How will you pay - and you can take that throughout your list.

I don’t think Penn State is likely.

Nor do I think Bryn Mawr and F&M are matches.

Some of these schools aren’t meet needs so I’m not sure how you’ll pay but you’ll have some acceptances…but an acceptance you can’t afford is a rejection.

Good luck.

[ucbalumnus]

For all colleges, have you run the net price calculator on that college’s web site to estimate affordability?

A college can be a safety only if both admission and affordability are assured.

[aquapt]

I helped a young relative-of-a-friend a few years ago, who had a very similar situation to yours, but less rigor. She got a summer-admit offer to Penn State, but it was way over budget. I think you can do much better financially than PSU. She got offers that met her full need from quite a few schools that don’t guarantee full-need-met aid, but that fill the gap with merit. The PA schools on that list included Juniata and Allegheny. (She didn’t get into Dickinson, which does meet need, but you might. They have majors in Classical Studies, History, and German. Have you considered Dickinson already?)

Bryn Mawr is a reach, but ED may help put you over the top. Fingers crossed!

Have you considered Bard? They don’t guarantee full-need-met aid (except in ED1) but they could come through with enough. Not only do they have all of your desired majors, but they have a campus in Berlin, so their German Studies program is particularly robust and can include study at Bard Berlin, including the option of the “Begin In Berlin” first-year program. Bard is also very LGBTQ+ friendly.

If you’d be willing to go a little farther from home, Kalamazoo College in Michigan has majors in German Studies, Classics (four different Classics majors in fact), & History. It’s in a nice small city and gets a 4/5 Campus Pride Index Score; and you’d be likely to get in with a generous aid package. I think K-College could be considered a true safety (or at least low-match) for you - I’d be surprised if you didn’t get in with enough aid to make it affordable. Lawrence U in Wisconsin is another that has all the areas of study you want, and is generous with aid (and gets 4/5 from Campus Pride as well).

As others have said, a true safety has to be an admissions safety and guaranteed affordable. I’m not sure you have a true safety currently unless you can commute from home to a school that will be affordable as a commuter. So I think you’re right that you need more safeties. I know it isn’t your preference to go farther from home, but it could be worth adding Kalamazoo and/or Lawrence just to make sure you’ll have an affordable option that won’t mean commuting. (And maybe one or both will grow on you if you look closer - both great schools!)

Women’s college wise, Agnes Scott in Atlanta also has German Studies, Classics, & History. It’s very diverse and LGBTQ+ friendly and gives some pretty generous scholarships. I think it’s a safety admissions-wise - not a sure thing as far as affordability, but worth a try if you’d consider going that far - easy direct flights at least!

Good luck!