Chance me for Swarthmore College ED2 [PA resident, 3.85 GPA, 1530 SAT, economics and statistics]

DadTwoGirls
Sun, 14 Dec 2025 18:12:26 +0000

SaintRice:

i stopped cause i really struggled in calc ab and i was going through some bad mental health issues. i talked to my consular and he strongly advised against bc in order to preserve my gpa.

This concerns me. You were way, way ahead of normal in mathematics, and you struggled. Calculus is very important for most math classes that you would take in the future, including quite a few classes that would be appropriate for someone with a statistics major. I was a math major in university and particularly liked probability and statistics and stochastic processes, but we were using calculus all over the place in these classes (some of which I did not take until graduate school). Calculus is also useful for some economics classes, as is linear algebra (which is a potential future math class for you – something that students typically usually would not take until university). Also, calculus is something that depends a great deal on its prerequisites (high school algebra, trigonometry, pre-calculus), all of which look to be things that you took a very long time ago.

I am wondering whether you should find some sort of summer classes next summer and retake or at least solidify your knowledge of all of the prerequisites for calculus, and then retake calculus starting your freshman year of university.

SaintRice:

midway through college apps i realized i dislike big schools and would prefer a small environment where i can just study, play my instrument, conduct research and do pitches, read, etc. i just wanted a more academic environment and i feel like lacs can do that.

One daughter attended a small university, basically the Canadian equivalent of a Liberal Arts College (they do not use the “LAC” term, but have a few similar schools). She got a great education and I have become a big fan. She did successfully navigate a rather drastic change in her major at the end of her freshman year of university.

It sounds like UVA did the right thing in your case. By deferring you to RD they released you from the ED commitment and at least if you end up getting accepted they have given you the opportunity to rethink whether it is the right school for you.

I think that Swarthmore is a rather high reach ED2. To me it looks like acceptance might be possible, but is probably unlikely.

There are however a huge number of very good LACs. Hopefully you have applied to a few for which admissions is significantly more likely compared to Swarthmore College.