Chance Me / Match Me: classics major takes on college! [CT resident, 3.8 GPA, 1550 SAT, <$30k]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Hey, I’m a rising senior and I’m really unsure on where I fall in terms of the college process. Any feedback – whether on my college list, stats, chances, etc – is extremely helpful. Please let me know what you think about my chances!

Demographics → Lives in rural CT, goes to a HADES boarding school, non-legacy/first-gen, US citizen, male, seeking financial aid

Intended major → classics (latin & greek)

Stats→ 3.8 UW (3.9 UW w/o freshmen year), no rank, 1550 SAT (750 reading, 800 math)

Coursework*

Freshman:

English: B

Geometry: A-

Physics: A

First-year Latin: A-

Music Performance: B

Philosophy: A

Sophomore:

English: A

Honors Algebra II & Trigonometry: A

Honors Chemistry: A-

Honors Second-Year Latin: A

Studio Art: A-

U.S. History: A

Junior:

English: A

Honors Precalculus: B+

Honors Biology: A

Honors Third-Year Latin: A

Honors First-Year Attic Greek: A

Honors International Conflict: A

Senior Course Enrollments:

Honors Senior English

Honors Advanced Calculus

Honors Physics: Relativity (fall)

Honors Fourth-Year Latin

Honors Second-Year Attic Greek

Honors Religion (fall)

Honors Quantum Mechanics (spring)

Honors European History (spring)

*–> Honors classes are the highest rigor available (APs not offered); I took all honors when available – with the exclusion of math freshman year.

Awards & Honors: Summa Cum Laude & Gold-Medalist in advanced latin prose (NLE), Fund for Global Understanding recipient (~$2,000 scholarship for academic travel to the Mediterranean), presented classical research at symposium, selected to present at literary conference

Fluent Languages: English, Latin, Greek (Attic, Koine & Modern), Hebrew, Gaelic

Extracurriculars:

CT PUBLIC LIBRARIES, CLASSICAL SPEAKER 2022 - PRESENT, 5 hours/week; 17 weeks/year

  • Organized approximately nine children-focused classical workshops on topics such as Greek mythology, a Caesar-assasination investigation, and scavenger hunts for artifacts
  • Led presentations to groups of adults within the context of Classics & Linguistics. Topics include the dying language of Gaelic, Sapphic Poetry, and the contemporary impact(s) of Catullus.

LOCAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY, EXHIBIT LEADER 2022 - PRESENT, 4 hours/week; 17 weeks/year

  • Oversaw three historical exhibits (one of which being my own), on-boarded & trained ~30 volunteers annually, and raised >$6,000 for the organization annually.

CLASSICS CLUB, SENIOR ADVISOR 2021 - PRESENT, 3 hours/week; 36 weeks/year

  • Advocated on behalf of the group’s impact to the Club’s Committee, served as president of the board, announced activities in all-school meetings, and organized bi-weekly meetings between the board and president(s).

RESEARCH, INDEPENDENT INITIATIVE 2022 - PRESENT, 2 hours/week; 52 weeks/year

  • Published research (under school teacher) → “Plight of the Yonic: The Erasure of Sappho from Western Society”
  • Published books w/ 70+ purchases → “Sappho & Catullus: A Platonic Admirance” & “Catullus Poems 1-113”

LATIN, GREEK & ENGLISH TUTOR, CT SCHOOL SYSTEMS 2023 - PRESENT, 2 hours/week 26 weeks/year

  • Appointed as a head tutor for current school by the faculty of each respective department → advise approximately 15 students annually
  • Volunteer tutor for students in local libraries and schools, tutor approximately 20 students annually

FINANCIAL AID AFFINITY, PRESIDENT 2021 - PRESENT, 5 hours/week; 36 weeks/year

  • Held multiple elected leadership positions in affinity group with 100+ members. President 12th & 11th, Board Member in 10th, Member in 9th grade.
  • Organized and conducted a variety of student-focused projects, such as a community clothing closet, lectures with college financial aid deans, group outings to local businesses.

STUDENTS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION, BOARD MEMBER 2021 - PRESENT, 2 hours/week; 36 weeks/year

  • Served an elected position, raised over $3,000 annually by putting on an eco-day thrifting event– proceeds were given to EDF, organized school-wide day of environmental action in our local community.

MEMBER, HISPANIC AFFINITY GROUP 2021 - PRESENT, 2 hours/week; 30 weeks/year

TEAM MEMBER, VARSITY TRACK & FIELD 2018- PRESENT, 10 hours/week; 15 weeks/year

VOLUNTEER, WILLOW TREE STABLES 2018 - PRESENT, 5 hours/week; 17 weeks/year

Current college list:

Reach:

Stanford (REA)

Harvard

Yale

Princeton

Columbia

Brown

Cornell

Rice (ED2)

Hard Target:

CMC

Pitzer

USC (EA)

Target:

Colorado College (EA)

Occidental College

University of Miami (EA)

Safety:

St. Andrew’s (Scotland) (EA)

Reed College (EA)

UConn (EA + RD)

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You are in boarding school- most of which are known for exceptional college counseling.

You should be vetting this list with your counselor, who knows where kids like you end up.

Then, you need an evening with your parent/parents to figure out what your actual budget is for college. Not “we can swing it if you get into college X”, but an actual “we can pay Y each year for four years”. Then you need to run the Net Price Calculator on each school on your list. Some are likely to be affordable (you may or may not get in- but if you do, they will probably fall in your budget) and some may not be affordable, in which case they go off your list right now.

You probably don’t need so many schools if your counselor is comfortable with your safety/sure bet schools AND they are within budget. Senior year is stressful- cutting the list will help a lot!

I’d take a look at Holy Cross if you need another sure bet school, and I’d replace Stanford with U Chicago if you really want “the best of the best” in antiquity- not just Greek and Latin, but taking advantage of fluency in Hebrew (I assume you mean Modern Hebrew but if you are fluent it won’t take you long to get up to speed in Biblical Hebrew) plus a wide overview of the entire ancient world- Sumerian, Akkadian, etc. Chicago is one of the top institutions globally in this arena. Tons of interdisciplinary work- archaeology, art and architecture, etc.

Good luck!

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Agree wholeheartedly that you should talk to your guidance counselor. Two other notes: if you apply REA to Stanford, you can’t apply EA to any private colleges - I understand that this list is a work in progress, but make sure you check the limitations on any early applications. Second, I don’t think Reed is a safety; I do think it’s a target, and if the other two are safeties (I don’t know them well enough to have an opinion), you’re fine, but I don’t think it’s quite enough of a sure thing to be a safety.

Edited to add: USNWR says St Andrew’s acceptance rate is 12% - if that’s correct (or even close), that’s not a safety either.

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Yep - talk to your counselor.

That said you likely have acceptances on your list - not sure that Reed is. But you have Uconn and I imagine Oxy and hopefully more. Dickinson and Trinity U (Tx) might be two more worth looking for classics - that might be a bit safer admission wise.

But talk to your counselor. They’ll know.

Best of luck.

PS - do you have a budget?

You say seeking aid - have your parents filled out any net price calculator to assume you can afford these schools that have no merit?

Is your residence Connecticut (hence UCONN) or you just go to school there. Where does your family live? In what state?

Good luck.

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Thanks for this! Some of the schools that seem odd in the categories I put them in are based on school data. For example, St. Andrew’s is a really selective school but has had a 100% acceptance rate for my school for the past four years (the same for Reed). However, I definitely agree that I don’t believe that these are ‘100%’ schools, but rather I’m operating off of what my college advisor told me. Do you think that even with these high acceptance rates for my school specifically, I should be paying more attention to the nationally representative sample listed online?

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That’s why going to a boarding school, your counselor’s guidance is most pertinent.

They understand the school and its outcomes.

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This isn’t necessarily the case. Stanford’s REA policy allows you to apply EA to private schools if that school requires an EA application for merit scholarship consideration. USC is such an exception. OP should check on the other EA schools.

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Absolutely. I’ve been in regular contact with my advisor and he seems to agree with my safety and target choices, as they’re backed up numerically with school averages. I guess my main concern would either be that A: my reach schools are so unrealistic that I’m wasting my time applying, or B: my list is too lopsided for my stats. I’ve talked to my advisor about this but the department has a ‘shoot your shot’ philosophy towards reaches, if that makes sense, so I haven’t had ant great pushes in either direction.

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Thanks for clarifying - I read Stanford’s restrictions, but not all of the exceptions. We agree that the OP needs to double check the various schools’ requirements.

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Reed is very much a fit school- have you visited? If you have, and you loved it, then some of the other colleges on the list can go (If you are in-state for U Conn and it’s affordable, and you loved the Reed vibe, you can cross of U Miami IMHO).

Budget?

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You have 20 common app spots - not that you need to use them. Whether you get into one school, two, 10 or 20, you’re only going to one.

So I agree with your advisor.

But you need aid - what is your budget ? And has your family filled out the NPC to see if the school is affordable. Your family needs to fill this out for each school. Here is Reed’s.

You haven’t given a budget but say it’s $30k and Reed says you would pay $86k for tuition, room and board. Guess what - they have only need aid - so it’d be stupid for you to apply. You aren’t going. Same with much of your list.

So you need to get your budget intact first.

The other thing - it’s nice to get in and attend reaches. But that doesn’t mean they are a good fit.

Hopefully you have gotten to some and will get to all. Just because Stanford or Rice or Reed are great, it doesn’t mean they are great for you. Many kids choose safeties - both mine, in fact, over reaches they got into.

I’m not suggesting that is you. But what I am suggesting is they found the ‘right’ schools for them, not just big names. And you should focus on that (fit) too.

Good luck.

https://npc.collegeboard.org/app/reed

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I haven’t visited Reed but I’ve connected with a professor and researched it and the college seems to be a great fit, at least in my opinion. I’m curious-- why would you cross off UMiami? The location is obviously a huge plus but the classics department/academics in general is really solid too. I haven’t researched it in the same depth as Reed so it’d be great to hear your thoughts.

I completely forgot to address this in my main post but my budget is pretty flexible. My parents prefer to pay under 25K a year, which seems to be the case for most of the schools using the net price calculator (the exception being Pitzer), but that’s not a ‘make or break’ factor, if that makes sense.

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I don’t understand your budget-- I don’t know what a “prefer” means when it comes to money. You either have it or you don’t, but perhaps you’ll get more clarity going forward. And make sure you are inputting numbers correctly into the NPC’s- garbage in, garbage out as they say- if you are careful and all of your colleges are coming back with a number that you your parents are comfortable with- fantastic!!!

Reed is not a rah rah, traditional type of college. It attracts a combination of boho/artsy/hippie type of student, with a sprinkling of Social Justice Warriors. I am not disparaging either group. The academics are top notch and intense, but you either arrive and feel “I’ve finally found my people” or you arrive and say “Get me out of here”. Miami is a much more “traditional” (to use a somewhat overused phrase) type of place with athletes and frat bros and artsy kids and kids who are there for an intellectual experience and kids who are there to get their ticket punched while they party. If you are looking for a boho environment, you will eventually find like minded kids- but it is not the dominant culture by any means.

Does this help? They are very, very different places culturally.

If it’s affordable- I’d take a look at Michigan (top Classics offerings, big university with everything under the sun) which is not so much a “fit” school. I don’t know anyone who didn’t love their time at Michigan, and that covers a lot of very diverse people with very different interests and experiences.

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If schools are coming under $25k, then you have significant need.

I wouldn’t think they are flexible in that sense. People don’t get to decide what a college costs. Only the college can tell you. Some have need - but the colleges don’t agree and then those students can’t afford to go.

Best of luck in your pursuit.

Ps if you want to research further here’s a 3rd party list of meets needs schools. Dickinson and Sewanee are easier admits on the list.

But sounds like you’re in great hands with school’s guidance.

Good luck

Ps the link is right. Not sure why it reads in the pic like that. There’s also prep scholar I’ll attach but its missing a few of the latest meets need schools.

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Yeah, ‘preferring’ is a pretty weird way to phrase it. I meant that, should a school be 30K annually (as opposed to 25K), it’s not going to mean that I can’t attend. However, should I have to pay full tuition (or 35K+), that would be an immediate no-go. Does that make sense? However, my parents put their info in the net price thing awhile back and there wasn’t any concerns, so it’s not a huge worry for these schools.

Your notes on both Reed and Miami are really helpful. I know that the schools are very different, but I think that’s a good thing for my list, considering that I could mesh well at both. I feel like I can appreciate different aspects about them. For example, the ‘quirky’ intellectual vibe at Reed is amazing and something I can see myself fitting great into, but I also think I’d love the ‘work hard play hard’ culture at Miami.

I’ve already looked at Michigan and it’s unfortunately too expensive since I’d be paying out of state tuition-- same thing with UCLA :(. A great option otherwise, though!

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I would not describe Miami as “work hard play hard”. There are students there who work hard (very hard) and students there who play/party hard (very hard). But most schools that could be described as “work hard play hard” have large overlaps of those two groups. Miami has more of a bi-modal distribution- the work hard bloc; the party hard bloc (and of course kids involved in theater, the arts, sports, etc.).

Have you visited?

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Michigan is huge as is UCLA. So forgetting the budget issues.

Ucla is $76k and Michigan over $80k the final two years. $35k isn’t close to some of your schools which are over $90k - just so you understand the dynamics.

But odd you would look at those - given the size vs your overall list which short of UConn leads small to medium.

For large schools Pitt is strong in classics but not in budget. . If you were interested in a large school both Alabama and Ms State have Classics and would make budget based on automerit. Florida State isn’t assured but given your SAT likely would make budget. It too, has classics.

I’m not suggesting these but if for some reason you wanted a large school, they would be reputable and within your budget. There are others, of course, that may get close. And then you have two public schools that assure to meet need - UNC and UVA.

No matter where you apply, you should look not just at the curriculum but the course schedule. How many courses are being offered each semester ? Are the courses I want to take ever offered ?

As schools slim down, Classics is the kind of department that could see cuts in offerings due to its lack of overall popularity.

Back to fit - being at the right school (one that offers your interests each semester) for you is more important than being at the highest ranked.

Good luck.

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I would agree that the college advising at your school can probably “chance” you more accurately than we can.

I’m moved to ask, though… why CMC and Pitzer, but not Pomona, which has the best need-based aid of the three and which, along with Scripps, offers most of the ancient-language coursework?

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Yeah, I actually was going to apply to Pomona, but I don’t think it’s a very realistic choice and I don’t want too many reaches. Pitzer & CMC both share their classics major with all the other claremonts (basically I’d get the same course offerings but only one diploma), and, in addition to being more ‘in reach’, they have a better social scene.

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If you prefer being in the thick of the party scene at CMC, that makes sense… although you could say exactly the same thing about the social scene that you just said about the academics - students from any of the 5C’s can and do participate in social events at any other.

The thing to be aware of, admissions-wise, with CMC, is that they fill almost 70% of their incoming class in the ED cycle, with about a 30% ED acceptance rate… so the RD acceptance rate isn’t that much higher than Pomona’s. It’s true, though, that you might as well apply where you feel the best fit, so long as the projected aid is workable financially. Do make sure to consider how much debt is built into each financial aid package, though, in addition to comparing the out-of-pocket cost at the time. With a major like classics, you’re likely looking at grad school; it would be much better not to be carrying undergrad debt if that can be avoided.

What confuses me is that I wouldn’t expect a student who prefers the social vibe of CMC over Pomona to like Reed. To me, Pomona is pretty middle-of-the-road socially, and CMC and Reed differ from it in completely opposite directions.

Have you visited Rice? If not, hopefully you will before considering an ED2 application. It’s a great school (one of my kids went there) but IMO a surprising choice for your desired major and social vibe. Are you particularly drawn to the school, or is it just the highest-ranked school on your list that has ED2? Their classics department is pretty tiny - the number of classics majors can generally be counted on one hand, and there wouldn’t be too much variety in terms of faculty.

Have you considered WashU? Tufts? For that matter, CMC could make a great ED2, if it’s your favorite of the 5C’s and affordable.

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