<p>Niightingale,</p>
<p>I won’t comment on your “chances” of being admitted to Wellesley, but just wanted to pass along an opinion on something you mentioned in your post. </p>
<p>You wrote that your “hook” would be your future: i.e. your plans to join the Peace Corps, and then med school, followed by Doctors w/out Borders as an OB/Gyn. </p>
<p>First of all, I’d caution against skewing your application so that your “hook” is overwhelmingly prominent. I really don’t know why people are so obsessed with having a “hook” in the first place. I’m sure that those applicants who have the unique “hook” (I grew up without electricity and running water, I’m the youngest of 15 kids, I sailed across both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, etc. etc) - you know, the ones that get featured in articles because they’re good stories - are few and far between. I’m sure that the vast majority of applicants come from very similar backgrounds: I’m a smart young woman who enjoys learning and here are other, but more common, interests that I have. I don’t think this is necessarily a bad thing. I would think some people’s obsession on trying to stand out in the applicant pool might lead to some disingenuous activities - those done just to look unique. I don’t know. I’m just guessing here on how an AC would read a particular applicant. Wouldn’t that quote from The Incredibles hold true: “If everyone’s special, no one is?” It’s the job of the AC to distinguish you as an individual - certainly when I was a student assistant in the office some years ago, all the counselors did their best to get to know each student’s story.</p>
<p>Also, your “hook” of your future plans, while admirable, would seem dicey to me. I’m not bashing your plans or don’t think that they are noble goals to which to aspire. It’s just that college students are notorious for changing their minds about their majors and futures. I think like something 60-70% of incoming Wellesley students want to be pre-med, but a much much smaller number actually graduate as pre-med. Which is OK. I think one of the best things about attending a liberal arts school is the latitude you have to explore new areas of academic interest and not be penalized if you find that you have a new found passion for anthropology of which you were previously unaware.</p>
<p>In other words, even though you have well defined post-graduate plans right now, don’t be so locked in to pursuing them at all costs despite new interests you might discover at college, whether at Wellesley or anywhere else.</p>