Hamilton RD Class of 2020

rjjxv26
Fri, 01 Apr 2016 03:04:40 +0000

@frutsun, I was at Hamilton with my S last summer on a beautiful day. It was certainly one of my own favorite campuses.

One factor that I think helped some was application updates. My S was able to report on two pretty decent accomplishments after the RD application was submitted, in the Jan to Feb period: his team won the state championship in a constitutional law competition and he began an internship with an international aid organization. The Hamilton acceptance letter made reference to the program he’s in that facilitated these accomplishments. He also submitted a portfolio of piano videos as part of his application. He’s been playing since he was young and is an OK pianist but it’s not something he’ll likely pursue in college in any substantial way (shocker: he never liked practicing). Still, he got a follow up letter after his acceptance from a music faculty saying how impressive his playing was. That may have been Hamilton trying to grease the skids but I think the music portfolio definitely helped.

Also, he showed quite a lot of interest. He did a visit last spring; did a soccer ID clinic in the summer and went back sometime after that for an interview. I forget why he didn’t interview when he visited the first time but he showed he was willing to visit three times (we live about 2 hours away). He was not recruited as an athlete, but was able to say that he was a 4 year varsity soccer player (and captain senior year) and played premier club soccer.

His SATs were comfortably within Hamilton’s range (780/680/760, 780/760 SAT2). His grades weren’t stellar: about a 93-94 average, though he always did very well in history and english, faltering more in math & science. He declared as a history/classics major.

I think his interview went well. It was one of the last ones he did so he was pretty seasoned by then.

Hamilton admissions were very responsive and positive with every update he sent. Some schools could barely muster a grunt of acknowledgement and for others there was no response at all. Both during application and after acceptance they were a school that seemed to be the most in contact with us. So I had a very good feeling toward Hamilton and feel a bit like @momof2eagles because he’s probably going to Middlebury. The list of peer schools he got into goes: Bowdoin, Middlebury, Bates, Colby and Vassar. BTW, we sought financial aid at all schools. The awards are very similar.

Good luck to you and your D. Good that you’re starting early.