Region of residence: midwest
White female
Rising senior
GPA: 3.98 UW, 4.77 W
Top 10%
ACT: 34
High school: around 2000 people, not very competitive, most go to state schools
Candidate for IB Diploma–HL: Chemistry, English, Spanish; SL: History, Visual Art, Math; generally only around 10 people at my school do IB and only the diploma program is offered; took almost all honors classes freshman/sophomore year, plan on taking AP physics this year
ECs: started American Sign Language Club, volunteer at art museum and help teach children art/lessons (2 years, I generally go twice a week), school tutor, some other volunteer work: total hours: around 150
Jobs: I’ve had 2 jobs, worked all this summer, plan on working this year as well
Languages: Accelerated/IB Spanish for 4 years, learning Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, Italian on my own
Major: unsure, but I’ve liked psychology classes and was thinking cogsci or neuroscience possibly, also linguistics and art history, but still very undecided
I also did a few things freshman year but I didn’t think they were worth mentioning since I only did them that year
Currently, my top 3 schools are Pomona College, Grinnell College, and Vassar College due to the size and nature of the schools. My parents are wanting me to go to an Ivy, but my stats aren’t nearly as good as some of the other people I know that get rejected and I don’t want to attend a school just because it’s a big name. The only safety I have listed is my state school and I’m not sure what else to list. Also, I plan on studying abroad and it would be amazing to find a college abroad that has everything I want. Help!!!
You are a competitive applicant. Your stats and ECs are good. Your stats make you qualified to apply for the Ivies if you want. Write amazing essays and you could get accepted to any of these schools
My daughter’s best friend got into Grinnell with lower stats than yours and she got decent merit/FA. Have you visited these schools? I was blown away by the programs and opportunities and vibe when we visited Grinnell, but my daughter was not interested at all. It is pretty remote! But if I was 18 again I would have enrolled on the spot!
And they are rolling in money! They really support their students in internships, travel, etc. So many resources!
I’ve visited Pomona and Grinnell, both this summer. I really liked Grinnell. The only things I didn’t like were the smaller number of majors available, how close it is to home (I don’t live in Iowa but it’s around 4 hours away), and I feel like I could get bored in the smaller town. I visited Pomona as well but it didn’t have the same initial “feel” as Grinnell did, but the more I talked to people the more I liked it. The location, available majors, and consortium is a huge plus, but it didn’t have the same feel as Grinnell.
Make sure you visit Vassar too! It is easy to get to NYC from there, and attracts a very diverse population. Just make sure the student population is what you are looking for (I am an alum). If your hs is 2000 are you sure you want a place about the same size as your hs?
I know I don’t want a big school and I want more personalized classes that create conversations rather than lectures. I plan on visiting Vassar at some point this school year (as well as a few other colleges in that area: Swarthmore, maybe Barnard).
I go to Pomona and it’s awesome, you’re definitely a strong applicant and it’s usually considered on par with the ivies, especially if you look at the acceptance rate. The consortium is a great factor and so is the whether, with liberal arts going in undecided is perfect because you have plenty of time to explore options and it’s a very well rounded school
Congratulations on your achievements! As you know, you are looking at some very competitive colleges (in some cases more competitive than Ivies), and liberal arts colleges tend to even more competitive for women applicants (Pomona 7%, Swat 9%, Barnard 13%, Vassar 19% & Grinnell 20%). As such, all are generally considered reaches for everyone. ED admit rates are about twice as high for all but Grinnell, which is a very generous 61% (keep in mind athletes make up a big chunk of ED admits). I don’t know if this matters to you, but of those 5 colleges, only Grinnell and Swat offer significant merit aid. I’ve been to all of them for one reason or another (although I’ve only made it to Iowa once), and they each have their distinctive vibe - and as you’ve no doubt heard, visiting when classes are not in session is a whole different experience than being there when the campuses are full of students. All have vibrant study-abroad programs, although there are some subtle differences in how they are administered.