Snowball's Chance in Heck?

Consolation
Sat, 17 Dec 2011 23:28:30 +0000

My S was waitlisted at Williams and got into D. (Williams took a classmate of his who had much weaker stats but a strong and somewhat unique family history with the school…so they were unlikely to take anyone else from the class, I guess. The year before they rejected a really stellar girl from the HS. Admissions at all super-selective schools are freakish, but the smaller schools are even more so.) I think you have a chance at D, and if you like it you should apply.

In addition to submitting an arts supplement, my advice is to get one or possibly even two “extra” recommendations beyond the GC and two teachers, someone who knows you outside of school in an EC or job-related capacity. Don’t pick two people in the same EC. Your ski coach and someone you work with on the blog, especially if it is a professional, for example. But no more than that. Also consider putting together a resume, especially if it is difficult to adequately describe your ECs in the meager space allotted in the Common App.

No one is going to penalize you for not being active in academic clubs. Most of them are fairly meaningless. I don’t know if I would send 3s on AP exams to a super-selective school like D. It shows initiative, but they probably see a lot of self-studied 5s from testing drones, and usually 5s are required for any kind of placement there.