Are Vassar, Barnard, and Mount Holyoke impossible for me?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Vassar, Mount Holyoke, or Barnard? </p>

<hr>

<p>Hi, I'm a junior form Utah in highschool this year and will be college touring this summer to look at schools mainly on the east coast and especially the New England area. I plan to double major in either Film and History or Film and Literature and I've felt comfortable with all three of these school's film programs for undergrad.</p>

<p>My school record is good, but I'm not sure if it's enough to get accepted to Vassar, (which is definately one of my top choices) </p>

<p>GPA: 4.15
-Student Ambassidor 3 years
-STUCO (student council) freshmen representative (freshmen year)
-Member of student congress (sophmore year)
-Prefect (sophmore year) and hopfelly senior year
-Prom committee (raised $2,500 for senior prom) (Junior year)
-Member of NHS (Junior year) and will senior year as well
-Wrote a three act play for a Play Production project during the spring of my Junior year and will be preforming it next week.
-Editor of Lit Mag (Junior year) hopefully senior as well.
-Spent the summer of my freshmen year volenteering in Utica NY with my sister and was put incharge of about 20 kids ranging from the ages of 16-20 (very scary, but I did fine)
-I also plan to make a 6-10 minute film over the corse of this summer to send in to colleges as well as do more volenteer work in New York (I like it there). I'm passionate about film and my major dream is to become a film director. My school's film program has been rather 'iffy' these past three years and I desided to work indepenently on projects over my last three years in highschool. </p>

<p>The thing is, I didn't really think about how competative colleges were until THIS YEAR. I fear that my class schedule wont appear as rigorous as it's supposed to. I took AP US history my junior year and it took up three class periods. I took three honors classes my sophmore year and have three more this year. I have also taken Japanese since my freshmen year, but my school, bless them, has desided to drop the program my senior year because it's expensive and those of us who are currently taking the class have our two year credit requirement. I plan to have either four or five AP classes next year. </p>

<p>To top this off, I am also poor. I was lucky enough to get a considerable scholarship to a private boarding school, but college is another matter all together. I guess honestly, I'm worried that not only are my qualifications less than adverage, but that my chances are going to be further hurt by my significant need of financial aid. </p>

<p>Any thoughts? I would appreicate it.</p>

2

<p>you don’t mention your test scores, but with that GPA and coming from Utah, I would think you’d have a chance at those schools.</p>

3

<p>I’ve only taken the SAT once and spent about three weeks preparing for it, which isn’t surprising, given my scores. I got a 620 on critical reading, a 490 on math, and a 570 on writing. My total is about 1680, which I’m guessing is about 300 points off of the adverage student. No doubt, I need to bring these scores up. Math is going to be the area that I’ll have the most trouble with by far.</p>

4

<p>You will need to break 700 on all three sections to be competitive for these schools.</p>

5

<p>

</p>

<p>Not so. Of the three, Mount Holyoke is the one you might have a shot at, but you’ll need to get your test scores up. They have an acceptance rate right around 50%. Middle 50% SAT scores are:</p>

<p>CR 620-720
M 590-700
W 625-710</p>

<p>Given those test score ranges and the relatively high acceptance rate, I’d say an applicant with SAT scores in the mid-600 range on each section and otherwise strong stats, ECs, teacher and GC recs, and good essays should be very competitive. Getting your scores up into that range is a good goal. Keep in mind, though, that Mount Holyoke is “test optional” so you can apply without submitting test scores. I have no idea how this would affect your chances of admission, however.</p>

6

<p>Your activities and grades look fine, but it is essential to work on those SATs. Get a tutor, try the ACT, take the SAT every chance you get so you can have a fighting chance. Yes, it’s stupid that they count so much, but they do.</p>

7

<p>Thanks for all the advice. I’ll take the hint and start working considerably harder on the SAT, rather than the ACT, since I do a lot better when there is a higher extent of reading and writing over math and science. Thank you all for commenting!</p>

8

<p>Mount Holyoke is testing optional, and your GPA, activities and geographic diversity should make you a viable candidate for MHC.</p>

<p>Science on ACT is data interpretation and analysis. Have you looked at a full ACT? If not, you should before deciding that the SAT is a better option for you.</p>