Chance me for Williams, Washington and Lee, Mount Holyoke [international, 4.0 GPA, <$3k]

Chance Me / Match Me
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1

Hi!

Demographics

  • International student
  • State/Location of residency: Nigeria
  • Type of high school: Private, competitive
    No special factors.

Cost Constraints / Budget
EFC is about 3k, exchange rate is a real dog.

Intended Major(s)
Financial Economics, CS, Accounting. Depending on the school

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0
  • Weighted HS GPA: * n/a
  • Class Rank: 1/15
  • ACT/SAT Scores: Not important, test optional

List your HS coursework

All honors- Maths, English, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Economics, CS, Catering Craft Practice, Civic Ed and an additional Further Maths (everyone else takes nine but I take 10 subjects, just me trying to take the most “challenging coursework available” no APs, no IBs- not part of the Nigerian curriculum. And no college courses cuz its not allowed.

Awards
Not much state recognized except that i was chosen out of 140 schools (and therefore the students in these schools) to give a speech on a bill that was going to be passed on regarding women’s health and a different speech on HPV. my school was chosen then they chose me to rep them. Rest are in school stuff.

Extracurriculars

  • President of Gender Equality Initiatives in my school

  • Lead Coordinator of Sexual Education & Awareness Program

  • Finance & Operations Management Intern at SME Retail Food Business

  • Founder & CEO of Noodles n Peanuts Enterprise (it sounds like a lot but its rlly not, i just make and supply some pastries to small business in my area cuz I need money)

  • Assistant Coordinator of Educational Outreach (so i work with this NGO to find schools whose teachers have secondary school certificates as their highest level of education and then give them training. Thats not the criteria, just the gist of it)

  • Independent Tech Projects. The most important one is an app that i created that is an aid tool for SME owners. A lot of small business owners in Nigeria generally are not…educated formally. There are those that are but most aren’t. So its just a user friendly financial aid tool designed to accommodate these very specific needs and improve efficiency (and hopefully profit making) of its users.

These are not all my ecs, just the most impactful. I know my ecs aren’t outright impressive but most of them were tailored to combating problems in my immediate society that may or may not have affected me directly. Like number 1.

Essays/LORs/Other
I think they’re pretty good. I don’t sound like an encyclopedia and the grammar used isn’t necessarily over technical or complex, but it tells the story I want it to tell and I like it. As for the LORs, I got a peek at the intro of one and it was really good and I’m rlly close to the two teachers I asked so I know they’re good.

Schools
I already have most of my list, I’m just stuck on two things: 1. should I ED2 to Washington and Lee or Mount Holyoke?

  1. Should I even apply to Williams?

For the Washington and lee mount holyoke situation, I’m asking because I email MHC a lot and in one of my emails (CSS fee waiver request), I stated I was going to apply ed2 so I don’t want to go back on that “promise” cuz then if I apply RD and I alr said I was going to apply ed2, I don’t know if that’ll make me have a bad rep with the school and possibly get me rejected.

What’s stopping me from going through with the ed2 thing to moho is my high Financial need. I don’t know if MH is used to covering students whose EFC is as low as mine so I don’t want to wasted my ed2 on there because of a promise only for me to get rejected because of my need.

As for W&L, its need blind so I can’t get rejected because of my high need. Thing is i don’t know if I’m even going to get accepted because of my ecs. Like i’m not sure if I’m a good enough applicant to actually get accepted ed2 and I don’t want to waste my ed2 on here only to not get in when I could have possibly done so with moho and gotten accepted. I don’t know what to do.

As for Williams, I don’t know if I should even apply because my ecs aren’t necessarily what their normal batch of applicants are, but I really like the school and its been on my mind for a while. Same for umiami, I’ve heard students a variety of students get in (like students with like a lower gpa but idk how true that is and ik my case will be different since I’m international and they’re not)

Thank you!

2

You may think that a standardized test score would not be important, but coming from a tiny private school in Nigeria, with a class size of 15, it absolutely is a missing piece of the puzzle, even if the school allows you to apply without a test score. You have no hard data points which the ad comm can use - no standardized test score, no AP exams, nothing. And it is really too late for you to take an SAT/ACT, since it’s already mid December, and the application deadlines are coming up.

You need a full ride.

Honestly, in your position, I would either make options to attend university in Nigeria, if it were a possibility, or I would plan for a gap year, and prep insanely well for the SAT or ACT, and take that before you are graduated in June, and apply next November with a stellar test score, if you can get it. The reason I say this is that you’ve got a high GPA and a coherent narrative of helping with socially significant issues in Nigeria that are applicable across the third world and even in the US. If you were to apply with an insanely high score, it would go a long way towards validating your ability to achieve, academically, in a highly selective US college. And if you were to spend your gap year doing more-focused work associated with one of your ECs, in Nigeria, a college might look at you and think, “This person is going to wind up in a leadership role in government in Nigeria, or at the UN, or for an NGO. We would be proud to list her as our graduate.” That might be enough to get you that full ride.

Right now, I am afraid that without a high test score, being first out of a class of 15 from a tiny private school is not enough to let a school know that you are prepared to excel there. Of course, if you had a recent grad from your high school who has gone to a college in the US and done well there, that might help you to get into that school, since the ad comm might then know your school, and know that being first at your tiny school indicates a very high level of academic preparedness.

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I took the SAT :sweat_smile: just got a bad score. I studied really hard myself and then got a 1280 and all the schools I’m applying to have a way higher SAT range, that’s why I said it’s not important, its just bad :pensive:

I wish I could retake, and maybe if I could personally afford it without involving my parents (like fund it by myself) I would. But it was 260k NGN when i took it in October, now its probably going to be like 400 450k if not already 500k and I can’t afford that, neither will my mom agree for me to retake it because she’s a single mom (not really but something like that).

Currently, I don’t know of any of my seniors went to a US college but i’ll check. Thanks!

4

Did you apply anywhere ED1?

I lean towards advising you to apply to W&L because they are need blind (at least I think they immediately adopted that policy upon receiving the huge donation for financial aid), and probably a more likely admit than Williams.

You can still apply to Williams and Mount Holyoke in RD. You also might want to put an RD app in to Oberlin, like Mount Holyoke they are need aware, but some of your activities might be interesting to them.

All the US options are reaches. What other college options do you have, either in Nigeria or elsewhere?

Edited to add OP’s previous thread: Chance me for UConn, Ole Miss, Clark, Duke! [international, 87/100 GPA (75+ = A), rank 1/17, 1280 SAT, business or computer science, need full ride] - #100 by greensnwells

OP, have you heard from Wellesley yet?

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Yh :pensive: I ed’d to Wellesley…hmm

Thank you! I’m on holiday rn so I have excess time. I’ll add Oberlin to my list becuase I intend to apply to 20+ schools (common + coalition app)

Safeties in my country are not hard, we write three different external exams (some schools 4, the ones that really hate their students 5) within the span of 5 months so as long as you get a good scores in two out of 3 (none of the exams are similar to each other), you’ll get admission.

As for outside my home country and the US, i have one school and its really competitive but I’m looking. A couple of my seniors went to Turkey and Germany so that’s where I’ll start. Thing is admission cycle for most starts next year so US colleges are my primary focus right now. If you have a few EU schools, please recommend. It’s like starting all over but worse :pensive:

I got rejected :face_with_peeking_eye: :crazy_face: :unamused: :expressionless: It wasn’t neccesarily shocking considering my aid, I just wish they’d state if it was my aid that got me rejected but its fine. I’m working on safeties (if you have any, don’t hesistate to share. And i know “safeties” for a student like me (low SAT score, international, low EFC) doesn’t refer to actual safeties but like…I hope you get what I mean :sweat_smile: Thank you!:blue_heart:

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Be aware that the named colleges do require financial information from both parents for financial aid purposes.

7

For this combination of interests, also consider a major in data science with economics as your chosen “applied domain.”

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Oh she’s not completely a single mom, my dad’s just an unemployed deadbeat :sweat_smile: but they are married tho so the css and other FA docs are like "together: (idk if that’s how they word it) Thank you!

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I will! Thanks!

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Also, I don’t know why I forgot to add that I’m an outreach volunteer for an LGBT support forum in Nigeria. Its also one of the ecs I enjoy doing but I’m not sure it has any support in my app tho. I thing it does a little bit because same sex stuff are illegal here :crazy_face: but I’m…bi and its the least I could do for the little lgbt “community” we have in Nigeria.

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Hi! So just wondering…if I somehow managed to take dual enrollment classes at a US college and get college credit, would that somehow make up for the lack of SAT score? By that I mean make up for the what a high sat score means on my app and make up for it? You helped me point out a hole in my app and I’m just looking for how to patch it up :pensive:

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Unlikely. It would be online, and the level of rigor in college classes varies widely. Best option would be to bring up the test score, if possible, but it would mean a gap year.

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Damn :pensive: Lowkey disappointing but if I get rejected by all my schools I’ll apply next year again with higher test scores :smiley:

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I agree you should add Washington and Lee. They are indeed need blind and meet full need for all international students. This is new this year. @DramaMama2021 might be able to add something.

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Thank you! I was genuinely stuck and because of that I haven’t yet sent in my CSS profile to any of them because I was stuck on admission term. Thanks :purple_heart: Also, @DramaMama2021 could you please chance me for Washington and Lee. I know you D attends there so is it possible to kind of like…compare my ec with hers to just let me know if I have a realistic chance of getting in…or something like that, I really don’t really know I’m just nervous :sob:

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Umm last question, if I RD to Mount Holyoke, would it look bad since I already said in an email that I would ED2? :upside_down_face:

Thank you!

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In my opinion, the only thing that matters is what you actually put on your application. Lots of kids change their minds about ED anything…and go with RD.

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Thank you :melting_face: I understood until I didn’t, like I got confused, but I’m guessing you meant ed2 to WnL and RD to Holyoke. SO that’s what I’m going to do because I’ve been on this independent decision making thing for a while and its tiring and no one wants to force me to do anything :smiling_face_with_tear: :sneezing_face: :pray:t3: :purple_heart:

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As a suggestion, look into Macalester, which places well in this analysis: Economics rankings: US Economics Departments at Liberal Arts Colleges | IDEAS/RePEc.

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Actually, I would suggest you apply RD to both since you need significant aid to attend.

@DramaMama2021 or someone else will have to note if there is/was an early deadline for the WL large scholarships. I don’t know.