Help a junior figure out where to apply?

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Please give your realistic opinion. :slight_smile:

Objective:

SAT I: October 2015: 2090; January 2016: 2260
ACT: Did not take
SAT II: Spanish: 800; Literature: 770
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.76 (upward trend… my freshman year grades are the ones that bring the GPA down, if that helps)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Neither rank nor percentile is available
AP (place score in parentheses): European History (5); Spanish Literature (5); Spanish Language (5); English Language (5)
IB (place score in parentheses): n/a
Senior Year Course Load:
AP English Literature
AP Biology
AP Calculus AB
AP French Language
AP United States History
AP Art History
Advanced Journalism

Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): International Academic Competition Divisional Recognition for Essay Writing; National Hispanic Recognition Program Finalist

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses):
Diversity Club (communications manager and board member)
School Newspaper (staff reporter)
Yearbook (People section editor)
Student Government (class representative during 9th and 10th grades)
Book Club (helped to start; vice-president)
Member of National Honor Society
11th grade spent abroad in Spain with School Year Abroad
Self-taught French… but I’m not sure if that is considered an EC or not haha

Job/Work Experience:
Tutored kids in English while in Spain
This autumn I will begin writing for a local newspaper

Volunteer/Community Service:
Volunteered for a local politician’s campaign
Community service program in Costa Rica

Summer Activities:
Brown Pre-College Program in Writing (I know these pre-college programs are useless admissions-wise, but it was still an interesting course)
Iowa Young Writer’s Studio
Concordia French Language Academy with High School Credit

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: No
Intended Majors: Humanities, Creative Writing, History, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology… (undecided)
State (if domestic applicant): CA
Country (if international applicant): n/a
School Type: Private
Ethnicity: White Hispanic
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: unknown
Colleges I am interested in: The colleges that interest me most are obviously all my reach schools, but they are: UChicago (LOVE); Brown (also love); Columbia (highly unlikely, but will apply anyway); Middlebury; Reed; Swarthmore; Colgate

Other notes: I love writing (if that was not already apparent from my stats) as well as languages. My weaknesses, I believe, lie in my GPA and also, perhaps, in my lack of involvement in the sciences.

Any and all input is greatly appreciated!!

2

You have really strong stats, and you have some really cool extracurriculars, like studying abroad! I’d say you have a really good shot at all of the schools you listed, except the Ivies. One thing to strengthen your chances is to retake the SATs if possible, since your GPA is a little on the lower end. FYI, not participating in the sciences is fine! It’s obviously not your thing, but writing is and schools will appreciate that. Have you thought about Northwestern, University of Washington and Georgetown? They’re all very strong for writing majors and you have great stats to get in. Best of luck!

3

You would get into three of your seven current choices and have a chance at the remaining four.

Some of the colleges in these online articles may also be suitable for your interest in creative writing and the humanities in general:

“The 10 Best American Colleges for Writers,” USA Today

“The 10 Best Colleges for Creative Writers,” The Freelancer

“The 12 Best Creative Writing Colleges and Programs,” PrepScholar

“The 25 Most Literary Colleges in America,” Flavowire

4

I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone make a list of the schools they loved that included Brown, Columbia, Middlebury, Reed, AND Colgate. That first group I get. Each of those schools, while a mix of Urban and Rural environments, is a pretty liberal/non-greek group. I would not use those words to describe Colgate.

5

@urbanslaughter
I know; I meant Colby, not Colgate. Thank you for pointing that out – that was a mishap on my end.
For some odd reason, I tend to confuse the two names quite frequently, even though I really like Colby and particularly dislike Colgate (too much of a party school, have heard unflattering comments about the student body, &c.)