<p>@keepingitlight - You’re probably right, but for all the talk of the all the colleges looking at high level academics, it comes as somewhat of a shock among all the parents I’m talking to, to see all the non-academic factors come into play in the ED1 round, and from some pretty weak kids, relative to what the published stats are. Even Ivies. I can imagine once you have all your jocks and legacies in place, and your faculty kids have traded places with other faculty kids, it starts becoming more meritocratic, unless I’m just being naive again.</p>
<p>Something will turn up in the RD round. Might even be Bowdoin. It just means 3 more months of waiting.</p>
<p>Mr Mom – Legacies and athlete are encouraged/directed to apply ED at Bowdoin and throughout the NESCAC. With athletes, coaches are subject to very strict numerical limits as to how many athletes they can “tip” or give an admissions boost so need to be close to 100% sure that the applicant will enroll. Legacies are a slightly different case but generally admissions depts don’t like to waste a spot on a slightly under qualified legacy and have the legacy go elsewhere so they too are told to apply ED if they really want to go to their parent’s school.</p>
<p>This from a parent of a child who was not an athlete, URM, nor a legacy. A public high school graduate who felt, after a visit, there was something special going on at this little school on the coast of Maine and that his best chance of attending was through the ED process. I stayed at a distance from his choices. Also, we knew nothing of CC at the time and, if I did, I might have tried to dissuade him from using his ED opportunity on a school which seemed like a reach but he looked at me and simply said with conviction it was important to him to try. Okay, go for it. He worked hard, he cared, and he became a part of the Bowdoin community. I’ve no doubt he will continue to work hard and care…But this is not complete without sharing another anecdote of a friend who also thought this a great school and a great fit. This student was not accepted but found a different school and absolutely thrived and could not be happier for the connections/friendships made and opportunities presented. There are so many great schools out there…Things work out.</p>
<p>ACCEPTED!
Stats: Did not submit test scores
4.2 GPA UW
I go to a really small school. We don’t rank, and we didn’t have AP’s till my Junior year (Since their introduction I’ve taken 4). I had a bunch of EC’s mostly in art and volunteering. I was told my essay and supplement were strong, and showed my passion and personality. I’m assuming my teachers wrote great recs, and my interview went well.
Good luck to ED II applicants!</p>
<p>So I found the "results’ format from another thread and edited it. Sorry if it’s confusing!
Decision: Accepted
SAT, GPA, and Senior course load:
I got about the average admitted SAT scores for Bowdoin (higher for some).
I’m in AP Calc AB and AP Bio now (I’m also doing an Independent Science Study, which is different). Other APs I’ve taken include AP Physics B, AP Chemistry, and AP US History. All 5s. My high school only encourages students to take two AP courses a year, and it doesn’t offer AP English. (AP courses usually apply to only Junior and Seniors as well. Some sophomores can take one AP course.) I have a 3.9 UW GPA.
Awards:
School recognition awards in Bio Honors, AP Chemistry, and English. AP Scholar and NHS.
Extracurriculars:
Varsity II Golf, tons of community service (VP of service for KEY Club), co-president of Let’s R.O.C.K. (stands for “recognize our community’s Kupuna,” a student-run organization that interviews elders and edits/creates DVDs for them and their families), robotics (PR co-captain), and an AP Chemistry TA (only two students per year get chosen). Those are the main ones… I don’t want look through what I actually put on my Common App.
Summer Activities:
I volunteered at the Veteran’s Affairs hospital and did lots of community service.
Essays:
I worked really hard on both of them and had them looked over multiple times. I took unique approaches to the prompts (both Common App and the supplement), and I think they paid off! I also incorporated humor–but I have no idea whether they liked it or not.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: 9? (My employer/chemistry teacher wrote it. I have no idea what it says, but I know him very well and I’m pretty sure he likes me. Though I did have one or two bad tests in his classes so I might have not been painted in the most positive light.)
Teacher Rec #2: 9/10 (My English teacher wrote it and read parts of it to me, describing me as the best student as well as calling my reading analysis “similar to that of a graduate student’s.” I definitely didn’t deserve all that credit, but he likes me a lot.)
Counselor Rec: No idea, but she is always nice to me so I think it’s pretty good!
Interview: It went about half an hour over the scheduled time and we didn’t even cover a lot of stuff. He emailed me saying that I’d be a terrific fit at Bowdoin, so I think I can say it went really well.
Other stuff…
School Type: Private
Ethnicity: Chinese/Korean - Asian
Gender: Female
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): I’m from Hawaii! So geographical diversity, I guess. I’m only a first generation on my mom’s side, so I don’t think that counts? I don’t think being Asian helped my app though, since we’re an over represented minority and all lol.
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
The fact that I’m from Hawaii, my essays, my recommendations, and some of the extra curricular things. I don’t think my SAT scores were that stellar… and my AP course load is nothing compared to some people’s on here, but my school is different, so I dunno. Again, I felt like they could get a real sense of who I am and what I want as a person through my essays in a refreshing way, so I would say they do have holistic admissions! I was very sad before decisions were released because I was sure that my SATs weren’t “good enough,” since I figured that they (probably) would mostly consider high-scoring candidates. I wish the best to all ED II and RD applicants! I wasn’t going to post anything, but I remember anxiously checking CC for other people’s stats so I thought I would share and give back Good luck!</p>
<p>Can those who got accepted post your stats (or tell us if you send in your SATs/ACT score)? I have a moderately weak SAT score and don’t know if I should send my scores or not</p>
<p>Sent from my iPhone using [URL=<a href=“Tapatalk”>Tapatalk]Tapatalk[/URL</a>]</p>
Good luck!</p>