Reverse Chance Me- History

College Search & Lists
1

Hello! I seriously don’t know where to apply to, so I hope y’all can help me!

Academics:

ACT: 32 3.93 unweighted GPA 4.43 (I’ll explain later) SAT II’s, 770 US History, 680 Literature

My school is a private school, but they didn’t offer any AP’s, only honors. It was a really horrible school, and even though I was valedictorian, my class size was only 13. They do their weighted GPA is a really strange way, and I don’t understand it, but I took all the toughest classes, besides like a non honors math sophomore year.

Extracurriculars

Probably my biggest extracurricular is going to Germany on an exchange senior year. I didn’t really know any German, and it was a struggle, so I wrote a really good Common App essay. I’m back again in Germany to learn German in a gap year.

I also spent the summer (20 hours/week) working for a governor political campaign.

I volunteered for a hospital for 300 hours for two years on Saturdays (4 hours per Saturday). Has nothing to do with the occupation I want to go into…basically just directed people to certain parts of the hospital and answered the phone.

I went on three missions trips for one week each with my youth group in the summer. I was really involved in my church youth group for all four years of high school, but didn’t have any leadership positions.

What I’m looking for in a school

I’ve wanted to get into a top 30 school for a while, but I’m afraid my stats aren’t good enough. I’m also conservative politically. That doesn’t mean I want a really conservative christian school though. I do want to be among a certain amount of like-minded peers, and be allowed to speak my mind, so that means schools like Carleton and University of Vermont are out.

I also don’t want a school that revolves around drinking. I have no problems with people having a good time, but that’s honestly not for me. I’m also not interested in being Greek, so a school that revolves around Greek isn’t for me (Washington and Lee, for example).

Location

Location isn’t all that important to me, but ideally not in the middle of nowhere. I live in New Jersey, but there aren’t any good options there in terms of colleges.

Financial Aid

It would be great to go to a school that meets full-aid, but I know that’s not realistic. It would still be nice to go to a school with good aid.

Academics

Looking hopefully for a school that has decent German options, because I do want to continue with that. I’m not sure what my major is going to be, but definitely something in the humanities (probably history, political science, or something like that).

Schools I’ve already applied to:

UNC, Princeton, Brown, Wake Forest, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Olaf (safety), William and Mary (probably won’t give me any aid OOS), Notre Dame (rejected EA).

I’m aiming way to high with these schools, and would like some other safety/match schools! And sorry for the formatting, I have no idea how it works on CC. Haha.

2

Look at schools that are ranked in the USNWR #30-50 range for matches and #50-70 for safeties.

3

@Failtrail527 Apply to at least one public state school as a safety/match both for admissions and cost. Your stats are probably enough for consideration at Rutgers Honors college, which cuts a large school down to a manageable size and would connect you to like-minded peers. I know that people in NJ tend to diss Rutgers, but it is a reputable Research I university and it has a lot of resources and many strong academic departments. You wouldn’t lack for German courses there.

St. Olaf is a wonderful school and I think your demonstrated commitment to study abroad would play well there.

BTW, there is nothing weird or problematic about your weighted GPA. There is incredible variation across schools about how they weight courses. Most colleges and universities will recalculate according to their criteria.

I am also a big fan of Case Western - it’s a serious, mid-sized research university with strengths across the curriculum. Demonstrated interest is important, though. For your stats, probably a match, but the school is wary of applicants who seem like they might be using it as a safety and apply as an afterthought.

4

Boston College and Holy Cross would seem to be good, though highly selective, schools to look into.

A few of the well-funded NESCACs (also generally highly selective) might also be open to you. In terms of breadth, depth and rigor in history, they can be superb. Only one or two would be too overtly liberal for you, I’d think.

GW and American offer good programs in your areas of interest and reasonable admissions prospects, but might (though not necessarily) be less accommodating than the aforementioned schools with respect to financial assistance.

5

possibly a good fit based on other schools and your political views may be SMU I have friends that were between here and Wake forest and my sisters roommate was between smu and wustl. May be an option worth looking into Ive taken german here and have a friend who is double majoring in it and going to teach english in Germany after graduation. Might be worth a look.

6

Unfortunately, I’m too late to apply to Rutgers. The deadline is November 1! And besides Rutgers, there aren’t any decent schools in NJ (maybe TCNJ?).

I’ll definitely look into Case Western. Any ideas for showing demonstrated interest, as I can’t visit campus?

Thanks again for the advice!

7

Awesome! Honestly not interested in NESCAC’s based on things I’ve read online, but I’ll definitely look into the other ones you mentioned! Holy Cross and BC are manageable (definitely high reaches). Thanks so much for taking the time!

8

@Failtrail527, would be interested to hear what you’ve heard about any of the NESCAC schools that would turn you off as they are some of the best schools in the country. If conservative is more important, then the NESCAC’s may not be a fit as they are typically left leaning moderate - some more like Wesleyan, some less like Colby.

9

@Chembiodad First off, I’m sure they are extremely good schools. I just don’t think that they are a good fit for me based on what I’ve read online. A school is first and foremost a place where I want to grow as a person and hear a variety of different views. I want to have political diversity and be able to speak my mind. I just don’t feel like I would comfortable in an environment that is so far left leaning. A lot of the schools are located in very isolated places, and the social life revolves around partying. That’s another reason I don’t want to apply there. And finally, I just don’t feel like my stats are good enough (correct me if I’m wrong, genuinely curious).

10

@mamaedefamilia @merc81

11

@Failtrail527

Regarding Case demonstrated interest:

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/case-western-reserve-university/2014835-how-to-show-interest-in-cwru-2017-2018-edition.html

Have your parents given you any budget limits? Do you have options that are financially feasible on your list?

One other option you might consider is Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA. It is a LAC that is especially strong in foreign languages (offers 13) for a school of its size. It also has a very good internship and job placement program, especially summer opportunities in relatively nearby cities like DC, Baltimore, Philly. It is not uber left leaning. There are frats, but I don’t believe they dominate the social scene. Last year, it offered merit scholarships up to 20K. In my opinion, it would be a solid match for you.

12

Diversity of view isn’t a concern at the NESCAC schools. While its true that most NESCAC students are probably liberal or moderate, I don’t think any of these schools would shun ideological diversity - actually I think it would be the opposite as you would probably have a ton of healthy debates.

Most NESCAC’s are not party schools; yes there may be drinking on weekends, but these schools are filled with students that are very accomplished and are focused on achieving great things. You could definitely have a good shot at many of them.

If you want more conservative, St Olaf, Holy Cross, BC and Villanova would be good choices. Richmond, Lehigh and Bucknell would be as well for non-religious affiliated schools, but they do have significant greek life.