Chance this very humanities pointed applicant for small LACS

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Female, white, from the South, competitive private school

ACT: 32 (36 English, 36 Reading, 32 Science, 24 Math)
GPA: 3.5UW 3.8W… Like my test scores, my transcript is very strong in the humanities and weak in STEM. I come from a very Catholic family, and during sophomore year I came out and dealt with some stuff. By the end I had 2 C+s in Chemistry and Algebra II. These circumstances are explained but I don’t know how much that will help. Additionally, I’m taking precalc this year, not calc.
SAT II: 760 in English Lit
I have taken AP Human Geo, AP USH, AP Lang, and AP Art History. 5’s on all. This year I’m taking AP Lit, AP Comp Gov, AP Macro, and AP Psychology.

Intended Major: English/Creative Writing
Extracurriculars: Editor-in-chief of school lit mag which has won many awards, editor-in-chief of school newspaper (which hasn’t haha), veep of Eco Club, heavily volunteer with a Theatre for Social Change program that teaches kids about social issues, have served as stage manager for 2 school musicals and did lights for 1. Member of various other clubs. Over the summer I did an internship at a local paper (sophomore year) and went to a Playwriting summer camp at NYU.
Awards: Won a Gold Medal and the American Voices Award from the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Some other honorable mentions but that’s the big-y.
Essays: Good. I really enjoy writing and I’ve been told I’m good at it. Additionally, I have very close relationships with basically every teacher in the English department and many of them offered to read essays and offered very good critiques.
Recs: Haven’t read but my counselor said they’re excellent.

Schools:
Heard back from: Wesleyan (ED I, dream school, rejected) Emerson (EA, accepted), Bard (EA, accepted)
Waiting: Vassar (EDII), Carleton, Colgate, Grinnell, Oberlin, Hamilton, Smith, Kenyon, NYU, Pitzer

Thank you! It means a lot… Wes was my dream, and the no was pretty crushing. I’ll definitely chance back, I know a lot about different schools because my friends are applying to pretty disparate places.

2

might add Holy Cross in Massachusetts. HC has very good English department and has a Jan15th application due date. Holy Cross has very nice campus and is only 1 hour from Boston.

3

Vassar: Reach but doable
Carelton:Reach
Colgate: Low reach
Grinnel: Dont know
Oberlin: High match/ Low reach
Hamilton: Low Reach
Smith: High Match
Kenyon: Low reach maybe high match
NYU: High Match
Pitzer: Reach just based on acceptance rate but you do have the scores
I think youll get into at least one of these but i don’t know that much about liberal arts colleges. Best of luck!
Chance back if you have the time?
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1846622-chances-for-usc-ucb-ucla-ucsd-will-chance-back.html#latest

4

These schools (at least those that I am familiar with) are all high match to reaches. However, I’d be pretty surprised if you didn’t get into at least one or two. Best of luck!

5

I don’t know all of these schools well but I’d say Vassar and Oberlin and Kenyon, if your writing is as strong as you suggest.

6

Bump?

7

Your ACT math score, though totally fine for most schools, literally creates an experiment in admissions for you at some of your more selective choices. Hamilton, for example, most recently accepted only 6% of students with an SAT math score equivalent (500-600) in your range. You are getting in somewhere, but your profile makes it particularly difficult to predict where. Kenyon, Pitzer, NYU, Smith and Oberlin may be your most likely admissions. However, you may be just as likely to get into a couple of your other choices and miss one or two from this group. Good luck.

8

Because of your strength in English (test scores and ecs), I’d say you have a very good shot at Vassar, Kenyon and Hamilton.

9

You have a shot at Kenyon and Hamilton, perhaps Carleton since they’ve been known for taking chances on well-lopsided applicants.
If those are your only colleges (and not just the most competitive ones), I’d add Denison, Knox, Eckerd (Winter writers’ conference spear-headed by Dennis Lehane), and especially Ohio Wesleyan (creative writing with different tracks).
Do you need financial aid?

10

These are my only colleges, but I’d be happy attending Emerson or Bard, both of which I’ve been accepted to EA. Thank you for the suggestions, though. I’m lucky enough not to need financial aid.

11

OK - I was worried abour Emerson and Bard because their financial aid isn’t good at all, but since you’re lucky enough not to need it, no worry. :slight_smile:

12

If colleges are looking at your application holistically, they will see that you want to do creative writing/english and appreciate you got a perfect score on English and Reading. I hope that this the case, because your extracurriculars are spot on and are GPA is good (especially the rough patch you went through). I think you stand a great chance at Smith and Oberlin (Smith in particular). Colgate, Kenyon and NYU not as much, but you definitely have a good shot. I know very little about Pitzer, Hamilton, and Grinell, so I can’t give an accurate assessment. Vassar and Carleton are very selective schools, but I think the fact you are applying to Vassar ED will help a lot. Carleton is a toss up-- it will be a reach. Hope this helps, and good luck!

13

Vassar: High Match (From what I’ve seen, Vassar isn’t too number oriented, I’ve had friends who had SAT scores in the 1900s get in because they had great ECs. applying ED should give you an edge too, so I think you have a fair shot. )
Carleton: Low Reach
Colgate: High Match
Grinnell: Match
Oberlin: Match
NYU: Low Reach? ( i don’t think they’re very holistic)
Pitzer: Match

I don’t know why you didn’t get into Wes; i guess college acceptances are really a crapshoot. Don’t worry too much about your math score, i hear angular is the new well-rounded anyways :wink:

14

I don’t really feel qualified to chance you, but I’m a current junior and Carleton is one of my top choices… Could you post your admission decision from there when you get it so I have an idea? I’m fairly similar to you. :slight_smile:

15

Now that this is over, this is how it panned out:

Oberlin: Accepted w/ merit money
Grinnell: Accepted
Pitzer: Accepted
NYU: Accepted
Hamilton: Waitlisted
Colgate: Waitlisted
Carleton: Waitlisted
Scripps: Waitlisted (last minute add-on)
Kenyon: Waitlisted
Smith: Waitlisted
Vassar: Rejected in EDII round

Again, I was rejected from Wes in EDI and accepted to Bard and Emerson EA. Right now, I’m deciding mostly between Oberlin and Pitzer, though I’m going to the Grinnell admitted students day, so that may change my mind. Moral of the story: borderline students get waitlisted. If anyone has any questions, feel free to message me.

16

@eyrar99 so she sees this.

17

Thanks for tagging me!
Congratulations on your acceptances… you got in to some amazing schools! :slight_smile: Good luck with the waitlists!