Chance my daughter ED 1 and ED 2 [4.0 GPA, Italian or European studies, need substantial FA/scholarships]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Intended major: Italian studies, European studies

UW: 4.0 W: 4.34

Test optional unless a miracle happens in August!

New England resident

10 AP’s by end of senior year and all honors

4 on Human Geography test

Schedule:

Freshman:

AP Human Geo

Soph:

APUSH

Junior year:

AP psych

AP Euro

AP lang

Senior year:

AP lit

AP art

APES

AP Gov

AP Stats

EC’s:

Creative writing club and president (9,10,11,12)

Diversity club (10,11,12)

Art club (10,11,12)

Italian AP Wellesley class (this summer)

Service (library- Freshman year)

NHS (11,12)

H NHs (11,12)

Art NHS (12)

Job -15 hours a week (10,11,12)

Service: Italian Cultural Arts Center volunteer 6 hours a month (10, 11,12)

Italian internship- in school (12)

Self taught crochet, knitting, sketching, painting (9,10,11,12)

Awards: junior year exceptional student in:

AP EURO

Italian

Top 10% of class, rank TBD senior year

Schools:

Amherst College ED 1 (Reach!)

Wesleyan ED2 (Reach!)

Target/safeties (?)

Trinity College

Mt Holyoke

Providence College

Salve Regina

UMASS Amherst

Endicott

Holy Cross (secondary legacy, sister)

Financial aid needed: income under $80,000

Thoughts on chances?

Thank you!

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Assuming those are her #1 and #2 favorite colleges, you know they would be comfortably affordable, and she is sure she wouldn’t want to consider any merit offers, do post-offer visits, or so on . . . why not give it a shot? If course if that isn’t all true, she doesn’t have to ED anywhere (many kids do not).

In terms of chances, test optional is tricky to evaluate because I think a lot of things like exact transcripts, recommendations, context, and all that becomes even more important in assessing academic competitiveness. I do note she appears not to have any Calc or Physics/Bio/Chem APs planned. I am not sure what that means in her school context, but I wonder if it means other applicants have maybe a bit higher overall rigor.

But personally, I would not let that affect my ED decisions. With a 4.0 UW and a top 10% ranking, I would take my shots and let those colleges defer or reject me if they have a problem with that.

Then do you want suggestions for the rest of her list? Is she only looking at Northeast LACs, or would she consider other regions? My guess is she could get some interesting offers, including possibly merit, from LACs in other regions, but obviously it is up to her where she is willing to look.

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Yes just local LAC’s. Distance plays a role for emotional wellness. Thank you for your feedback!

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What is the weighting system?

Have you run the net price calculators on each school to ensure they will meet your need?

Have you checked all for the major - Italian Studies? I didn’t check deep, but Endicott doesn’t appear to have the major (but does have classes).

Clearly you only want the NE - what can you afford? You should find schools that you can afford full pay (with merit).

The concern for the high reach schools is science (what has she taken) and math. Not sure if this is a correct statement but it appears the student is like a tennis player who runs around the backhand for a forehand - in regards to STEM being the backhand.

So that would like hurt the harder to get into colleges. And the amount of need required would hurt at the lower end colleges.

So please confirm the NPCs show these work, please confirm they offer the major.

Not sure of your state but New England has the contracted colleges, some of which are ineexpensive and then schools in NY and Maine are likely inexpensive.

Need more info - including state of residence - to chance.

Thanks

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Not sure how her HS weights GPA… yes, ran NPC, looks good to me. She lacks science math AP’s but all honors. MA resident.

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I imagine UMASS and Endicott will work. Salve Regina too of course and likely PC from an admission POV (but make sure they have enough breadth in Italian for the student).

Holy Cross if ED - but you shouldn’t ED where not top - but their ED acceptance % is crazy high. But make sure the NPC shows where it needs to be.

If Holy Cross isn’t the top 2 though, then it’s not a good ED - but I think it’s highly likely ED where the others would be much lesser odds - is all i’m pointing out.

For dirt cheap in state, you might want to add MCLA - tuition, room and board (with no scholarship) in the high 20s. They have Italian.

Best of luck.

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Thank you!

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You said TO. How many 4s and 5s are there from those many AP classes? Your strategy is fine - and she’ll get the biggest bang for her ED schools by using them at those reaches --but I’m wondering if she could improve her odds at the ED schools by showing some other “validation” of her academic mettle with AP scores.

It’s hard to say how it will play out, but there’s no harm in trying as a straight A student.

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She has one 4, one 3- so far. Junior year scores are released July 7 I believe- so I agree that it would be great to see her scores on AP’s. We will see soon! Thank you!

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Has she taken four years of English, social studies, math and sciences, and up to level 3 at least of a foreign language…and an arts elective?

You listed her AP courses, but not all of her courses, and that matters at some of these places.

I think you have a good and varied list of colleges. As long as your student is happy with their sure things, it’s all fine.

I personally think Amherst is more of a reach for her than Wesleyan.

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Yes- all the courses you mentioned were completed or will be this coming year. There is no AP Italian so she’s supplementing with Wellesley College course (this summer). Amherst is definitely more of a reach, I agree. To be honest, I’m wondering if a better plan is to ED 1 to Wesleyan instead of waiting on a rejection from Amherst- just want to be realistic with our plan. Plenty of safeties, etc.

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With her interest in languages, I wonder if you’ve looked into Middlebury? There’s a pretty significant ED advantage there, so it’s worth considering.

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Yes! It’s incredible, but too far for her.

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If she wants top flight and wants to be close, consider at Holy Cross and their data is two years back but ED was 67% with the entire school less than a quarter. The lack of STEM rigor likely won’t hurt here. It likely will at Amherst.

If distance is that important, I’d swap it into one of the EDs - if it’s a place she can see herself I hate to say it if it’s not top two but if Midd is too far, then we know distance is an issue. I hope she’s not a weekend come home student. College is about new experiences but if she is a commuter school may be a better thought no matter how accomplished she is.

.

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Middlebury is 4 hours away from us, and although lovely, it’s in the middle of nowhere. Interesting point about STEM rigor at Amherst- appreciate that! We love HC. Oldest is there! Loves it! As far as LAC’s, I’m very impressed. The vibe of the campus is not exactly the right fit for my younger one, but it’s a great match in other ways.

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I’m not saying Amherst is a no - I’m not the adcom. But I do think that HC is a near certain yes ED but a reach RD - which is why I pushed that.

She will need to go abroad in the major. Will that be an issue ?

Wheaton College seems to dig deep merit wise and has an Italian studies program. The student would be a sure thing. Have you looked at it ?

It’s a high reach so not saying to add but was surprised Wellesley wasn’t on your list above.

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Actually we’ve been back and forth with Wellesley. Love it, but trying to balance our plan with less reaches, more targets/safeties… if possible. They have similar (to Amherst) college consortium with MIT, babson and Brandeis! She will be ready to study abroad! Excited and willing. Wheaton! Ok great. I know of it but will look into more. Yes Holy Cross would be a reach RD. 16% acceptance rate last year I think!

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We just came from a Middlebury tour today. They emphasized language study a lot! (Also, they host Summer Language classes on campus during the summer so the entire place was buzzing with people speaking every language imaginable.)

Our guide also talked about language tables (you have a meal with people from your language class, are served by a waiter speaking your language), language houses, study abroad in your chosen language… for someone who wants to study language, I think it would be a dream.

I hear you that it is both in the middle of nowhere and too far, but I couldn’t imagine a more idyllic place to study Italian.

(Also, they made it very clear that they have quite a lot of money and they love their ED kids—they fill over 50 percent of the class in ED. The adcomms presenter point-blank said: we want to admit kids who make it clear they really want to be here.)

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Wow! Thank you! Sounds incredible. What a fantastic experience! Maybe we will think more about it. Best of luck!

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OK, if we’re still talking about Middlebury …

Middle of nowhere, maybe, but Burlington is a fantastic small city with lots to do (maybe an hour away by bus or train, so students go there often). Middlebury is served by both Amtrak and Greyhound, which might make for an easy trip home depending on where you live in Mass.

But if the distance is a deal-breaker, then that’s that.

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