Guidance is Appreciated

College Search & Lists
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i don’t know which school i want to apply as an early decision round one applicant.
i’m choosing between carleton, colby, kenyon, oberlin, swarthmore, or vassar.

here is what i’m struggling with: i adore them all (honestly, they are all so amazing [which is why i will apply regular decision to the ones for which i don’t choose early decision rounds]), but my first choices are swarthmore because of its psychobiology program and carleton because of its cognitive science department. however, i could not find information on whether or not they both superscore the ACT. my highest composite ACT score is a twenty-nine, which renders me (basically) too low for either of them. continuing on, swarthmore’s early decision acceptance rate is ~35% and (apparently) carleton’s is ~56%. (the latter statistic honestly does not seem right, but it may be.)

continuing, vassar and colby are my next choices, vassar for its psychological science and cognitive science departments; colby for its psychology department that allows a(n) path/emphasis in neuroscience. these schools offer superscore policies, and my superscored ACT is a thirty. that puts me in the bottom 25% of vassar’s accepted students, but it puts me in colby’s middle 50%. vassar’s early decision acceptance rate is ~43% and colby’s is ~50%.

lastly (but absolutely not the least of the bunch), kenyon and oberlin are my next choices, both for their psychology and neuroscience departments. both offer superscoring policies. i’m in kenyon’s middle ~50% and am in oberlin’s bottom 25%. kenyon’s early decision acceptance rate is ~64% and oberlin’s is ~63%.

i understand these early acceptance rates include legacy applicants, recruited athletes, etc., but my chances (admittedly slim) seem to be better at some than others. i would be perfectly happy at any of these schools which is why it’s incredibly difficult for me to pick. what do you all suggest i do?

i’m a white male from east tennessee who’s a first-generation college student if that is important information.

(p.s., we have run the net price calculators on all, and all are affordable with the projected aid.)
(p.p.s., apologies for all of the numbers and information and if i’m a nuisance!)

2

The higher admit rates for ED don’t necessarily mean that it’s easier to get in early than in RD. Generally, those higher rates simply mean that the pool of applicants in ED is especially strong. The schools have enough experience with ED at this point to know where someone applying ED will fall within the spectrum of all students who end up applying that year. If you’re starting out in the bottom 25% (or even bottom 50%) for a given school, chances are you won’t stand out in the early rounds and will likely be deferred to RD. It’s also hard to know how you stack up without knowing your GPA, rank, ECs, etc. First-gen rural white is likely to be underrepped at these LACs, which will help your case, but even that won’t be enough if your academic profile doesn’t somewhat align with the school’s traditional criteria.

Colby allows you to sub two subject tests for the ACT. Have you taken any?

3

@sheepskin00 hmmm… i registered for the literature subject test, but i take it in december. i originally took three subject tests, but i took them all on the same day, so i completely overwhelmed myself and did not do well at all. completely my fault for doing so and for being so naive.

my GPA was (i’m a gap year student) 4.0 UW (my school didn’t weight our GPAs), my rank is #1 (but, again, since my school didn’t weight our GPAs, anyone who ended up with a 4.0 was “technically” valedictorian, but there wasn’t much grade inflation. whenever i say that, i feel like people associate it with the idea that i “slid” by in high school without having to try, when in reality i just went to a school with a weird system and some intelligent peers, haha [and i’m totally not saying you think that! i just wanted to say that as a little disclaimer :), haha]), and i didn’t do a ton of extracurriculars, but the ones i did do i was (and still am) really passionate about.

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The logical choice for you is Vassar. The overall admit rate at Vassar for RD and ED combined is about 20%. But for males it is 55% (females 15%) because they get few male applicants. They don’t break out the acceptance rate at ED by gender, but the male ED rate is likely higher than 55%. In addition, you are from outside the region, another factor in your favor.
There is a boost to be had from applying ED, but your chances at Swarthmore are very low, either at RD or ED, so best not to waste your ED app there.

5

I agree with @wisteria100 about Vassar. Being a first-gen rural male will help your app there. Swarthmore and Carleton are probably out of reach statistically. Colby, Oberlin, and Kenyon are still possibilities but you seem to have the best “hook” at Vassar. Admission to any of these would be a win for you – they’re all excellent schools.

That said, you ought to add a few less selective colleges to your final list, since all these schools are crap shoots for all but the most accomplished applicants. What does your overall list look like? Have you considered Macalester? Skidmore? Union? Connecticut Coll? Knox? Rhodes? Centre?

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@wisteria100 that’s exactly what i was thinking. thank you very much for the advice. :slight_smile:

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@sheepskin00 i have! i’ve looked at rhodes, macalester, skidmore, conn coll, and trinity :slight_smile: