Match Me (36 ACT, International Student, Recruited to swim at LACs)

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Demographics

  • International student
  • State/Location of residency: India
  • Type of high school (or current college for transfers): Private school
  • Other special factors: Recruited to swim at Grinnell and Oberlin as well as a few other LACs. However, I am only considering these two due to financial constraints (others do not meet need or have limited merit scholarships).

Cost Constraints / Budget:
$15k USD/year all-in (including food, housing, etc.)

Intended Major(s)
Linguistics, Romance Languages and Literatures

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
My school has a very unusual grading policy, and they’re inconsistent with their grading standards. My 10th-grade predicted scores were several points lower than what I actually received because of my high school’s very inconsistent grading scheme. There are rumors that colleges are aware of the problems with our school’s grading system, as we send a lot of students abroad and our grades are known to be inconsistent.

My test scores are quite strong, however: 1570 SAT, 36 ACT.

  • Unweighted HS GPA: Around 3.7 (school does not calculate GPA)
  • Weighted HS GPA: Estimated at 4.25
  • Class Rank: Not calculated
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 36 ACT, 1570 SAT
  • IB Predicted Score: 37/45 (+2 for IB Core, i.e., ToK and EE)
  • IB MYP: 53/56 (+7/7 in two additional subjects)

List your HS coursework

IB Diploma: Mathematics: Analysis and Approaches HL, Physics HL, English A: Language and Literature HL, Spanish B SL, Economics SL, Chemistry SL, ToK, CAS, Extended Essay

IB MYP: Extended Mathematics, English, Spanish, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geography, Personal Project, Digital Design, Interdisciplinary Learning

Extracurriculars and Awards

Gold medalist at Junior Nationals in swimming; represented the state at Lifesaving Nationals; 14-time state medalist; recipient of a state government sports scholarship and honored by the state swimming association.

Ranked in the Top 20 in the Indian Linguistics Olympiad; selected for the training camp for the International Linguistics Olympiad; represented India at the Asia Pacific Linguistics Olympiad.

JV/Varsity conference champion in swimming; earned 11 medals at conference championships; set 13 school records; ranked in the Top 10 in the 50m Freestyle at the National School Games; selected for the World School Games. Served as High School Sports Captain.

Certified in foreign languages: C1 in Spanish, B2 in French, B2 in German, and B1 in Italian.

Interned with a prominent NGO to promote digital literacy, child education, and anti-child labor; helped raise $21,500; awarded “Outstanding Intern” three times.

Volunteered at multiple education events; managed logistics, set up booths, coordinated with participants, and hosted quizzes.

Translated and subtitled 22 TED Talks into four foreign languages; contributed to improving translation quality for other contributors.

Founded a blog to assist French learners with proficiency exams; reached an audience of 20,000 across 30+ countries.

Awarded a full scholarship for a fellowship focused on campaigns promoting diversity, mental health, anti-bullying, and equality, in partnership with Instagram.

Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition: Received Gold and Bronze awards over two years.

Shortlisted by the country’s largest modeling agency from a pool of 2,000 candidates at a city-wide scouting event (only ~25 people, including both men and women, were selected).

4x honor roll at school.

Essays/LORs/Other
Essays: 8-9/10
LoRs: 8/10 probably

Schools
I’m looking to apply to both LACs and research universities, but since this is a Match Me post, it wouldn’t be appropriate to list where I’d like to apply since it would be better if the community here decides. I am already considering the ones I’ve been recruited to: Grinnell and Oberlin (and a few others, though I am not considering them due to financial constraints).

2

Is this for graduation 2025 or 2026? Your record looks solid for nearly any division III program. If you’re being recruited, presumably you have done pre-reads and have or are close to submitting applications.

3

@dfbdfb thoughts on matches for this student?

4

Well, based on what I know, I would choose Grinnell over Oberlin. He stated those are the only two he is considering.
I would recommend he investigates Middlebury (linguistics), and a fine swim team.

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5

What does this mean? Are you a 2025? Have you had an academic pre-team and received an offer of full support from any coaches? Typically that’s how recruiting works…you pass a pre-read, receive an offer of full support, verbally accept/commit, and put in an ED app. It sounds like Oberlin and Grinnell are affordable?

Are you looking for other schools for your list where you would not swim?

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6

Try to get recruited to swim at Harvard. Very strong linguistics, meets full need intl.

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7

Oberlin and Grinnell both meet 100% of need for international students.

So if they are not affordable, you might find Harvard is not either.

You are confusing need blind/aware with meets need - all three do.

8

I think OP is saying Grinell and Oberlin are affordable and that the other LAC recruiting them are not. Hopefully, they will clarify.

We also need clarification on the grad year. 2025?

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9

So just taking a step back for a moment.

A high-need International applying in the US without a hook of some sort is facing extremely daunting odds. Admissions rates for Internationals are going to be much lower to begin with, and then if they have high need, at the vast majority of US colleges with any such offers available, the rates will likely be much lower still. There are a few colleges which are what is called need blind for Internationals, but that is of limited help because their overall admissions rates are so low.

Just to give an example, Oberlin in its last CDS reported a 44.3% admit rate for US domestic applicants, 10.0% for Internationals. It did have a decent budget for International aid as these things go–$12.4M–but it appears they spread it around such that the average award was $44,332. Given your budget, you would need more like $75K. Oberlin can’t be giving out many such awards given its average, but we know lots of high-need Internationals apply to these colleges, so the acceptance rate for Internationals with that much need at Oberlin is undoubtedly much lower than 10%.

OK, so if a college like Oberlin (or Grinnell) is actually recruiting you, and would meet your needs, that is incredibly valuable.

And then would they ask you to apply ED in order to get the recruitment benefit? If so then if admitted that would be the end of the process for you, which is fine.

As others are asking, it is a little unclear where you are in the process. If you are just asking for us to give you some names of colleges to consider in the event it doesn’t work out with Grinnell or Oberlin, we can do that. In fact here is a start on a list of colleges that at least have average awards close to what you would need–it isn’t a long list:

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/colleges-that-offer-the-most-financial-aid-to-international-students

But again if Grinnell or Oberlin is willing to make you an affordable offer, even binding, I would strongly advise you consider taking it rather than try to get a comparable offer as an unhooked applicant.

Of course if you can get some other colleges that you would be able to afford to recruit you, great. But we can’t really tell you which colleges will be willing to recruit you, that is up to those coaches.

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Agreed! The timing of this post is confusing though as the ED deadline is tomorrow for Grinnell and Nov 15 for Oberlin. Perhaps OP hasn’t been offered full support with admissions in exchange for an ED application?

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Is this sarcasm? Not helpful.

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12

I think they are considering those out of the recruiting schools but are interested in expanding the list beyond that.

13

To help focus the conversation, it’s 2025

Given that the REA deadline is tomorrow, that’s not a realistic suggestion.

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Truthfully, I’m not sure we can get much further without OP’s clarification.

“both LACs and research universities”

It really depends if they are pursuing recruiting possibilities, and if so it is quite late in the game to start reaching out to coaches at D1 programs, though not impossible. We would really need more information. Also, I’m not quite sure how skieurope knows for sure it’s 2025.

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OK, so then as per the discussion above, if Grinnell and Oberlin are asking you to apply ED in order to get the benefit of recruitment, personally, I would do one of those.

As to which to choose–they are both excellent LACs. Oberlin is pretty close to Cleveland which some people might find a little more convenient, but Grinnell has a very nice campus (I note Grinnell is a very wealthy college generally–not the only important thing, but I think it can show up in all sorts of ways if a college has ample resources).

In terms of your interests, both have French and Spanish as majors. Oberlin has Linguistics as a minor, and Grinnell has it as what they call a concentration:

My two cents is what Grinnell calls concentrations are pretty cool. Here are some more details on what it looks like:

For comparison here is equivalent information for Oberlin’s Linguistics minor:

I would think Grinnell’s version might be more attractive to someone with a core Linguistics interest. Indeed, the only really dedicated course Oberlin has in Linguistics is Syntax (the others are open as to content):

Grinnell at least has way more in its catalog (although it is not always clear what will actually be offered when):

So I guess my answer is unless the location is a dealbreaker, Grinnell looks really attractive. And for what it is worth, most people I know end up loving Grinnell.

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Hey! Thank you all for your response. Just to clarify (since I don’t think my original post made this very clear), I’ve already been confirmed to receive coach support from both Grinnell and Oberlin. I need to choose between submitting an Early Decision (ED) application to either one of these schools as my ED 1 choice, and selecting the other as my ED 2 school, which I’d appreciate some help with. Both schools offer linguistics only as a concentration, not a major, so I would likely pursue Math with a minor in Linguistics at either one. However, both schools have stated that there is still a small chance I might be rejected (though they say this to everyone, not just me) since recruiting at a Division III school is never guaranteed.
The main intention of this post, however, is to ask about where to apply Regular Decision/Early Action since, as an international student, I require substantial aid. While Grinnell and Oberlin are mostly guaranteed options, I want to keep my options open in case I am somehow rejected or if the aid offered isn’t favorable. I’ve been offered a preliminary estimate of $74,000 per year in financial aid from Oberlin, which would be confirmed upon admission. However, even with $74,000 per year at Oberlin, I would still need to pay $18,000 per year, plus a $4,500 per year loan, and $2,500 per year from student employment, which is quite a bit outside my budget.

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I contacted Middlebury, but their coach didn’t respond to my email, and I decided not to send a follow-up.

18

Furthermore, Oberlin stated that I can benefit from recruiting in all three rounds: ED 1, ED 2, and RD, whereas Grinnell said I am only competitive for ED 1 and ED 2 through recruitment. I suppose this is because Grinnell is much more competitive for international students.

19

Grinnell’s deadline is also November 15, so I need to decide between the two schools before then. However, Oberlin has already quoted $74,000 per year (along with other constraints) since the coach put me in touch with the Financial Aid office, and they sent a letter with the estimate. I wonder if Grinnell would be cheaper since they have a no-loan policy.

20

I’ve received overwhelmingly positive pre-reads from both schools, as well as from a few others, but I am not considering the rest (those other than Grinnell and Oberlin) since they don’t meet full need, don’t offer high enough merit scholarships, or both.