Do I have a chance at Swarthmore?

phanatic
Wed, 18 Feb 2009 20:01:29 +0000

My interest in Swarthmore fluctuates, but I’m on a Swat kick right now. I visited last April during National Poetry Month and fell in love, especially when I saw that Swatties had written poetry all over the sidewalk! Anyway, to cut to the chase–here are my stats.



Ethnicity: White
State: Michigan
Gender: Female
School: Selective, competitive public magnet; highly ranked in the state and recipient of a USNWR bronze medal for the past few years
Potential Majors: History, biology, statistics, computer science

Unweighted GPA: 3.97; school does not weight
Rank: School doesn’t rank, but I’m pretty sure that I’m in the top 10%

Classes: I’ve taken a fairly demanding schedule that will probably be considered “most rigorous.” I took three years of an English class for students in the county who had the top SAT verbal scores in the county (sixteen selected out of hundreds who took the test); it’s being audited right now as AP Lang. This year, I have three APs; next year, I’ll be taking two more and dual-enrolling at a local college that’s well-respected across the country. I’m also planning on taking calculus, and I’ve had two years of honors science classes.

My school doesn’t designate many classes as “honors,” but almost all classes that aren’t APs are generally held to be honors.

Test Scores:
–**SAT/b: CR 750, M 640, W 720, Essay 10 (total: 2110)–will re-take; this was my first try
–**ACT/b: E 36, M 28, R 34, S 29, Essay 10 (composite: 32)–retaking in March due to state laws; this was my first try
–**AP/b: AP Lit 5, AP Lang 5
Planned: APUSH, AP Euro, AP Bio or AP Physics B, AP Gov
–SAT IIs: Haven’t taken yet, but I’m intending to do Biology-M, French, and US History.

Extracurriculars–The Weak Part:
–Choir (9, 10, 11, 12)
–Almost 100 hours (3 summers) volunteering with an opera outreach education program for elementary school children; I’ll have about 140 hours by the time I apply.
–Student Congress (10, 11, 12)–top tens at several competitions, presiding officer award, one of the co-captains of our team
–Quiz Bowl (10, 11 [varsity], 12* [varsity])–going to state this year! My JV team was second-place in the JV league of the city last year.
–NHS and NJHS
–Work each summer for my father’s business, but it’s not major–like ~5 hours/week
–Interning at local cancer center (11 or 12)*

*planned

Awards:
–Several writing awards–second-place in fiction contest of regional youth writing festival; third-place overall in same writing festival in freshman year; first place in state literature competition—piece represented Michigan at PTSA national competiton sophomore year. I had a poem professionally published in a selected international children’s writing magazine in freshman year, as well.

–School-wide awards for excellence in algebra II, geometry, French, English, creative writing

–I was a winner on Jeopardy’s Kids Week in middle school…

Feel free to be brutally honest; I know I’m not the strongest Swarthmore candidate, but I’d love to know what kind of chances I might have.

Thank you for your time and input!

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