Chance me liberal arts / women's colleges: CA resident, 4.0 UW, test optional, English or Creative Writing & French

[ucbalumnus]

In terms of size, all of the UCs are large, except for UC Merced. But UC Merced does not have much in the way of French, though it does have a literatures in English major. UC Merced looks very likely to admit the OP.

[liberalartssenior]

Thanks for the response! That’s been one of my biggest toss-ups about applying to UCSC, 6 extra writing pieces for just one college. If I don’t go with that as my state choice I will likely go with a Cal State.

[NiceUnparticularMan]

Any time someone mentions an interest in writing and LACs, I feel more or less obligated to suggest you at least take a look at Kenyon and Oberlin. Both have French minors.

And since you are looking at women’s colleges, I would also suggest checking out Barnard (also available French minor).

[liberalartssenior]

Thank you for all this info, as well as for chancing me! I’ll definitely do more research into some of the recommended colleges (Wheaton, Hampshire, and Hollins have been particularly on my radar, so I’ll look into them further).

[groundhog74]

Lewis & Clark is test blind now

[islandmama1]

Definitely the UC PIQ’s are something, but each of the 4 are only 350 words, and as someone interested in creative writing you should do just fine with them. While waiting for @Gumbymom, I would note that your senior year class schedule with ballet, guitar, life planning, and driver’s ed may be a bit of a ding, even for UCSC. (Although it sounds awesome to me!)

Agree Cal Poly may be a good option for you with your major (but still very competitive) also look at CSU Long Beach.

from a former English major/French minor (who attended an LAC and loved it)

[aquapt]

I would also suggest applying to the College of Creative Studies at UCSB: Writing & Literature | UCSB College of Creative Studies That would give you some of the attributes you like about the LAC’s, and creative writing at UCSB is excellent. CCS has its own application in addition to applying to the campus via the UC app.

I think your ED chances at Smith are quite good. There’s an element of unpredictability with these small schools, but if they see fit, you’re well-positioned for an acceptance. And a number of your choices have ED2, so you can have that queued up if you have a second-favorite.

You might also look at some of the former women’s colleges - Vassar, Skidmore, Conn College. Seconding Kenyon also.

Good luck!

[Gumbymom]

Since you have not posted your UC GPA’s, just based on having a 4.0 UW GPA and CC classes your overall chance at admissions for UCSC with a 4.0+ Capped weighted GPA is around 85%. For the Literature major specifically, the admit rate was 64% so I would say UCSC is a Likely school.

As pointed out by @islandmama1 , your Senior schedule appears to have less rigor than your 10-11th grades which might impact your chances but your overall profile looks very competitive.

I do agree that applying to UCSC’s Honors college is an excellent idea and I love @aquapt suggestion of applying to CCS at UCSB especially if you are already filling out the UC application. UCSB’s CCS admit rate was 10% but a great opportunity.

Regarding financial aid, I would run the NPC for UCSC and one of the Cal states to see the cost estimates. As pointed out by @ucbalumnus, the UC’s are usually more affordable unless you plan to commute to a Cal state.

Best of luck and you have been given some great advice.

[lilyesh]

Hey! I’m a new freshman at Hamilton. Here to answer any preliminary questions, I haven’t been here long but so far it’s been great. I was in your shoes just a year ago, so feel free to tag/dm me with questions about Hamilton and college admissions in general.

[liberalartssenior]

While I don’t know if anyone will be reading this, I wanted to post an update on my college admissions process! Over the last two months I’ve done more college research, interviews, and reflection. I’ve pivoted off of what I originally had planned, as I have decided to mostly apply to California schools. I’ll be applying to Scripps, UCSC, UCSB, UC Davis, Cal Poly Slo, and a few other safety schools. Thank you to everyone who helped me with this post, it is greatly appreciated in my process!

[jym626]

What led to the pivot? Cost?

[liberalartssenior]

While it may come as a surprise, it wasn’t cost. In the end I realized proximity to my family is too important for to me to move across the country, so staying closer felt like the right choice.

[circuitrider]

Am I the only one who feels that all this speculation about applicants with high-need being dodge ball targets for colleges that are need aware is a little over the top? IMO, that just stigmatizes being poor. Poor kids are already discouraged from applying to any college ED because they may be missing out on getting the best possible FA package. Now, we’re busily handicapping their chances at the RD level, too.

IMO, this degree of granularity for a Chance-Me thread might be justifiable were it not missing the larger point which is that 90% of all “reach” colleges are need-aware (so, it’s not much of a distinction) and the reason they are difficult admits is because they do offer generous financial aid. Otherwise, only rich people would be applying to them.

[L_Abbott]

Coming from the mom of a kid on a similar track- have you looked at Wellesley? It checks all your boxes. May be a reach but it’s a lovely all girls school. My daughter likely will apply next year.