Is Hampshire a reach for me?

nerves
Tue, 20 Dec 2011 19:35:03 +0000

Hi, I’m a current senior in an international school and I’m in the process of finishing my application for Hampshire College (regular decision). An overview of my “stats” is as follows:

Cumulative GPA: 3.5 UW (my school doesn’t have weighted GPAs)
Ranking: Top 20% (but we don’t have official high school rankings)
SATs: I’m not sending my scores
TOEFL iBT: 111 (out of 120)

Academics: I’m a full IB Diploma candidate
English A1 HL | Economics HL | Visual Arts HL
Chemistry SL | Mandarin Ab initio | Math Studies SL

Last year, I got a 3.75 gpa, which was a big improvement from my 3.25 sophomore gpa (Between 9th and 10th grade, I transferred from a small suburban school in the Philippines to an international school). This year, I have all As in my HL classes and Bs in my SL classes (about 3.6 gpa)

ECs: writer for school newspaper and magazine (9th, 11th, 12th); literary arts magazine staff (11th, 12th); English teacher at a Vietnamese children’s shelter (10th, 11th); Arts and Craft Teacher (11th); Tennis (11th, 12th); Conducted my own storytelling project for less fortunate kids at my local community in the Philippines (fall break of 11th grade); and other small-scale activities for CAS

Awards: Oustanding feature write; High honor roll; honor roll

Recommendations and essays: I’m pretty confident about my teacher rec and I’m still halfway through my common app essay.
Plans: I want to major in Communications/Media studies but I also want to take classes in literature and maybe economics (I want to design my own track for advertising). I am also applying for financial aid. Is Hampshire a reach?