<p>When I began my college search in August, Colby was one of my top choices, but I came to the hasty conclusion that I could never get in and looked at places like Beloit instead. However, the free online application has rekindled my interest in the school as well as my confidence. I wonder if I should apply. </p>
<p>State: Tennessee
ACT: 29 composite
SAT: not taking
GPA: 3.3 UW
APs: None; my IEP bars me from taking them
Main ECs: giving speeches at autism conferences, literary magazine, diversity club
Awards: Biology Award (9th grade - schoolwide), Creative Writing Award (11th grade - schoolwide), Creative Communications Poetry Contest - Poem Published (11th grade - national)
Essay: a serious one about what it's like to have an autism spectrum disorder
Hooks: overcame obstacles, southern, "quirk factor"
Unhooks: white, needs financial aid</p>
<p>Don’t ever let anyone tell you it would be stupid to apply to Colby or any other college. No one who isn’t on the admissions committee can really know and admissions can be really, really unpredictable. It seems that your application will have unusual strengths and weaknesses, and who knows how that will play out? The one thing that stands out to me when I read your post is that you never took AP classes because of your IEP. The admissions committee will want to know whether you can keep up and do the work Colby demands, and you should take a hard look at that yourself. If you are admitted, will you be comfortable at Colby? Do you feel you would thrive there? Many students who are admitted have taken 5, 6 or 7 AP classes in high school and are very focused and capable in a competitive academic environment. If you would be miserable in that kind of setting, don’t put yourself through it. On the other hand, you may have special strengths to offer and if you feel confident that Colby could be the right environment for you, why shouldn’t you apply?</p>
<p>Sometimes I have no idea what goals to set for myself. With one foot in the world of ordinary people, the other foot in the world of IEPs and occupational therapy, and my hands in the world of the “intellectually gifted” (can you visualize that?), I am confronted with an array of contradictory expectations. Am I like the other special needs students, whose parents hope can make it in the fast food industry, or am I like the other Dickens-reading, PBS-watching kids who should be aiming for colleges like Colby? Or am I, deep down, an average, 3.3 GPA girl who should pack up her pretensions and go to the University of Tennessee? I don’t know. No seventeen-year-old in my situation would know.</p>
<p>The reasons that I can’t take AP classes are so trivial that it’s sad: I can’t work as hard under flourescent lights, and I struggle with time constraints of less than one hour. So if AP teacher asks me to write a 45-minute paper under flourescent lights, I can’t do it. And AP teachers always ask you to write 45-minute papers under flourescent lights.</p>
<p>Maybe I could do well at Colby; I’ve read 450 books since starting high school, and teachers have told me that I write college-level research papers (with time constraints of greater than one hour). However, those fifty-AP powerhouse kids would be horrid competition. Is Colby’s academic atmosphere more collaborative or competitive? I do imagine that I would need study groups and time alone with professors, but no one would have to chew my food for me.</p>
<p>Sounds like you will have a unique application and the adcom will have to carefully weigh many factors. At least at Colby and other small LACs they give each application individual attention, and that should be a plus for you–in comparison to some larger schools where it’s done by more of a numerical formula.</p>
<p>My impression as a parent is that Colby is very collaborative. Students put a lot of pressure on themselves but are not so focused on competing against each other. Studying in groups is common and there are also a lot of resources, like a writing center, where help is available. But that’s a parent impression…any thoughts from students?</p>
<p>MissPickwickian, if you don’t apply you will never know one way or the another. That is what my son says. Colby is his favorite school and has been throughout his college exploration. Chance are slim for him, but he would rather apply and perhaps take the rejection than never apply and never know if he could have gotten in. He has been accepted at his second favorite school which was an rolling admit school so that even convinced him more to finish up the Colby app. As he says, “if I get into Colby, I’m going. If I don’t get in then I already know where I’m going and I’ll be OK with it all.”</p>
<p>Well, fair shake or not, I just told my guidance counselor to send my information on to Colby. I’m an applicant now—it’s kind of a sealed deal. This thread is no longer needed unless anyone wants to chance me RD.</p>