<p>A few thoughts:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>I would strongly suggest mentioning to Grinnell that they are your clear first choice and that you’d attend if taken off the waitlist. Particularly given Grinnell’s isolated location, they want to make sure that people who attend really want to be there. And I think it’s particularly important given that you didn’t visit.
I know that some other parents felt that you may compromise your ability to get the maximum financial aid package if you tell Grinnell you’ll definitely come. And while recognizing that none of us can get into the heads of the Financial Aid office, my judgement would be that this would not be the case at Grinnell, for the following reasons:
(1) Grinnell’s website says that they are need-blind (for domestic students) and meets 100% of demonstrated need. They also say that need-based loans will be capped starting this year at $2000 per year (the rest presumably being grants and campus employment). I’m sure you’ve seen this already, but here’s the link in any case:
[url=<a href=“http://www.grinnell.edu/admissionnew/apply/tuition/]Tuition”>http://www.grinnell.edu/admissionnew/apply/tuition/]Tuition</a> and Financial Aid - Grinnell College<a href=“2”>/url</a> Our (limited) experience is that Grinnell has been extraordinarily straightforward and transparent in their dealings with us. My S applied ED1 this year and we asked if that would affect the chances of getting a merit scholarship (versus applying RD). They said no (what else would they say?), but the verbal response was detailed enough to seem credible. And indeed he did end up getting a merit scholarship. If they had wanted to play games and minimize the money spent, there would be no reason for them to give him the scholarship since he was bound to come anyway. But they clearly felt that it would be fair for him to get the same merit money that other students with his stats got in the RD round.
(3) As noted earlier, their huge endowment allows them to be generous - and fair - with their FA.
So I’d be very upfront with them and trust that they would be fair with you. After all, your strong desire to go there is one of your strongest selling points now (apart from your stellar credentials) - so I would make sure they know it.</p></li>
<li><p>I think it’s a good idea to get a teacher rec that would also touch on the impact your father’s death had on your junior grades. It’s possible that in their quick reading of your application, Grinnell may not have connected the dots and given you adequate latitude. In their admissions process, Grinnell says that your classes taken and GPA count for 50% of their decision weight (they have a 36-point scale on which all applicants are ranked). So it’s possible that in the number-crunching, they lost the qualitative aspect of what got your junior grades lower, and I think it would be a good idea to bring this up again.</p></li>
<li><p>In terms of ED stats: yes, last year’s was very high. Not sure about this year’s, but I suspect next year’s may be lower since they would take into account the stellar quality of this year’s RD pool when deciding on their ED%. Also keep in mind that ED acceptance stats are inflated by athletes that are recruited using ED (coaches want to make sure their slots are filled). I still think at Grinnell ED is a better shot than RD - I’m just pointing out that it may not be quite the cinch that the 80+% number from last year implies.</p></li>
<li><p>Finally, I agree with the other posters that the name of the undergrad institution matters far less to graduate programs than your grades, GRE scores and teacher recs. So I hope that Grinnell comes through for you - but if it doesn’t, I really think you’re the kind of student that will succeed at any school.</p></li>
</ul>