<p>My parents say I can apply to two of these schools. I'm already applying to Occidental & USC in California and Vassar & Wesleyan in the Northeast. I've visited Bates and Bowdoin (loved them both, but I love every college I visit...) and interviewed with Bowdoin and Pitzer. My main concern is financial aid. I think Bowdoin would be the best deal, closely followed by Bates, but Pitzer is unpredictable. I'm also worried that Bowdoin may be too much of a reach and that it'd be better to play it safe with Bates and Pitzer. Advice?</p>
<p>Here's my profile:</p>
<p>White Male from Illinois, Public HS
Rank: 18/644 (top 3%)
GPA: 3.8 UW
ACT: 33 (35 E, 32 M, 32 S, 34 R, 10 W)
APs: Psych (5) APUSH (5) Spanish (5) English Lang (5) Comp Sci (4)
SAT Subjects: Math II (690) Lit (690) Spanish (690) US History (740)</p>
<p>Dunno if I should bother sending those.</p>
<p>My grades (upward trend):</p>
<p>Freshman Year (3.4 UW)
Honors Bio: C/B </3
Honors Algebra: II B/A
Honors Spanish: II B/B
Honors English: A/A
Global Studies: A/A</p>
<p>Sophomore Year (3.7 UW)
Regular Chem: A/A
Honors Geometry: B/A
Honors Spanish III: B/A
Honors English: A/A
AP Psych: A/A
Science Research: A/C (explained on app)</p>
<p>Junior Year (4.0 UW)
Honors Physics: A/A
Honors Pre-Calc: A/A
AP Spanish: A/A
AP English Lang: A/A
AP US History: A/A
AP Computer Science: A/A</p>
<p>Senior Year:
AP Physics C
AP English Lit
AP Calculus AB
AP European History
Adv. Spanish Topics</p>
<p>Assume I get one B in a class. Probably Physics.</p>
<p>ECs:
Urban Exploration Club (President 9-12)
Student Tutoring (11-12)
Job at Movie Theater (10-12/15 hours a week)
Model UN (President 9-12)
Naturalist (Environmental) Club (Vice President 9-12)
National Honor Society (12)
Theater (9/20 hours a week) <- had to quit because it was affecting my grades.</p>
<p>Bowdoin, Bates and Pitzer are all wonderful and highly selective schools. I can’t counsel you as to which you love more or what your chances are at each. As you know, they all have low admit rates, with Bowdoin’s being the lowest - a RD acceptance rate of 13.8 percent.</p>
<p>As for financial aid, both Bates and Bowdoin pledge to meet full need. Bowdoin is fully need blind while Bates is 80-90 percent need blind, meaning that they don’t look at financial aid until they get to the lowest part of the admissions pool. If you’re in that top 80-90 percent financial aid won’t play a roll in your admission. Pitzer is also not fully need blind. I’m not 100 percent sure but I believe their finaid process is similar to that of Bates.</p>
<p>According to the Maine Project on Student Debt, Bates students came out of their 4 years with the least debt of the Colby-Bates-Bowdoin trio. “Bates posted the lowest average debt of the three at $17,954 for 2009 graduates. Bowdoin finished with $18,382 and Colby $21,697. As for those leaving with some form of debt, 38 percent of Bates grads, 45 percent of Bowdoin and 41 percent of Colby students left with payments looming.” I know Bates caps the amount of debt they expect students to take on each year.</p>
<p>Pitzer’s debt numbers seem to be even lower, although these numbers come from different sources so it’s hard to do a head to head comparison. “Pitzer College has also successfully reduced the average amount of indebtedness of its students. Over the past five years, the average cumulative debt after four years of study decreased 24%, from nearly $22,000 to $16,000.”</p>
<p>Hi, my two cents. If Bowdoin is need-blind it is a wonderful choice, that is, if you get in since it has a lower acceptance rate. Playing safe is kind of tricky because at a need-blind highly competitive school it is an all or nothing gamble, tehre’s nothing safe. If you do get in your FA will be worth the risk.</p>
<p>Not sure why your parents want you to choose 2 of these 3. Ask them. It is not uncommon for kids to apply to 8 or 10 schools (some apply to even more). My vote is to go for all three.</p>
<p>You should have only a couple of reaches and go heavy on the low match/safety side. Especially if FA is a factor. Best of luck!</p>
<p>Interestingly, Bowdoin has a no-loans policy for financial aid, which is obviously quite appealing. I feel like Bates and Pitzer are high matches (even though I know they are very selective, of course), but I don’t know if I have what it takes to get in to Bowdoin and even if I did, I’m not sure I’d pick it over the other two. I sort of feel like I should like Bowdoin more than Bates… It’s more “prestigious” or whatever.</p>
<p>The no-loan policy is nice, but remember that it only applies to the portion of finaid provided by the college, not outside loans, and only covers what the school determines is your need.</p>
<p>In the 2007-08 academic year, before the no-loan policy was enacted, 85 percent of financial aid recipients took out loans through the College. In 2008-09, only 45 percent of aid recipients borrowed.</p>
<p>Bowdoin does have a higher prestige factor, but as it sounds like it’s not a clear favorite, why not apply to all 3? Tell your parents the ability to compare FA offers may more than make up for the cost of an additional application.</p>
<p>If you do decide you’d like to push to be allowed to apply to Bowdoin, Bates and Pitzer the best thing you can do to show your parents you’re serious is to get your essays done early and well.</p>
<p>Thank you for the advice, Sue. I’ve already applied to a lot of schools, and they don’t even really want me doing as many as I am, but I want to cast a really wide net so that we can compare financial aid packages come March. I also really like these three schools a lot, but I only have room on my Common App for two more (I applied to a lot of safeties, which I sort of wish I hadn’t done right now).</p>
<p>See if any will offer an app fee waiver. You ran the NPCs, right? So you have an idea of their projections of financial support? If not, do it asap.</p>
<p>You said undecided major- it would still benefit you to dig into the course catalogs online, to see how subjects that may interest you are handled. We looked at courses in D1’s major, the backgrounds of profs and their research interests- that gave an idea of the semester-to-semester opps. (In our case, at some schools, courses offered were not exactly what she was interested in or were not taught by a subject specialist. Get a feel for how this works for you at the schools.) There are other ways to compare, as well- but it requires a dig into the particulars. Good luck.</p>
<p>If you decide to apply to Bates, you should definitely interview. It’s an important part of the Bates application process. If you can’t get to campus, request an alum interview where you live.</p>