Well, I’m now done receiving decisions and FA, so I’ll post an update with new info I sent to my RD schools, all my decisions, and where I’m attending!
Accepted:
Washington and Lee University (RD, attending!!)
Villanova University (EA)
Trinity University (Texas) with 25k scholarship (EA)
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology with 11k scholarship (EA)
University of Tulsa with 24k scholarship (EA)
Concordia College-Moorhead with 30k scholarship and honors program (rolling)
University of Alabama with 27.5k scholarship and honors program (rolling)
University of North Dakota with 4k scholarship and honors program (rolling, my “in-state” public safety as it’s cheaper than the UMN system with reciprocity and much easier to get into honors)
Waitlisted: Case Western Reserve University (deferred EA, will not remain on waitlist)
Denied: University of Notre Dame (RD) 
School: Rural public, competitive but sends most students to in-state publics or regional privates, ~300 per class
Gender: Female
State: Minnesota
Race: White
GPA: 3.89 (both when I applied EA and RD, didn’t budge after 1st semester)
WGPA: 4.03 (when I applied EA)/4.11 (when I applied RD)
Rank: 26/307 (when I applied EA)/21/305 (when I applied RD, a couple dropped out to get married)
Hooks: First generation on a technicality
No SAT or SAT subject tests
ACT Composite: 33/34 superscore
English: 35
Reading: 36
Science: 35
Math: 28
ECs (as on my Common App):
Varsity swim from 7th grade (our team was awful, has improved much but still not great, did not get captain bc of aforementioned district politics)
Club swim from 4th grade
Youth In Government from 9th grade (only Model Assembly, lots of leadership positions and quantifiable impact on delegation)
Band from 5th grade (flute, auditioned into my school’s “honors” band as a sophomore which is tough on a popular instrument like flute, did lots of optional Christmas, Memorial Day, pep band stuff)
Tutoring middle schoolers 11th and 12th grade
Trap shooting from 9th grade (state class champions in 2016, made varsity my junior year)
German Honor Society/Delta Epsilon Phi from 12th grade (first year offered)
Lifeguarding from summer before 11th grade (up for promotion to head lifeguard, can’t get that job before age 18 unfortunately)
Solo ensemble competitions from 10th grade
TA’d middle school band
Awards:
National German Exam Gold award
World Language Student of the Month
Superior rated flute solo senior year, excellent ratings junior and sophomore
A bunch of letters
Some sort of state high school league academic award, pretty minor but it went on there since I’m so light in this section
7th place in the 5k open water state swimming championships (actually included this under my club swimming slot in the EC section but I wanted it on my app because it’s memorable)
Major: I applied chemical engineering where available, otherwise general engineering or business with a probable German minor. Ultimately I think I will do a business major and may consider a German second major rather than a minor depending on how my DE credits transfer to W&L.
Essays: Wrote the main Common App about some school district level politics involving swimming, how it affected me, and how I handled it. I didn’t think it was that spectacular but I guess it made an impression on at least one adcom because I got a note about it in my Trinity admissions package. Probably a fairly unique topic.
Supplemental essay for Villanova was about a favorite novel of mine, The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages (HIGHLY recommend btw!!). I thought it was solid.
I think my supplements for W&L were pretty good. Pro tip for writing your “Why X College” essay(s): check out their “About” page, it will illuminate what qualities they really want to see in prospective students. I also wrote about their Mock Convention and how it would be a fascinating learning experience for me because it’ll be for the Democrats and I was raised in a very Republican area/family. I expanded on what exactly my leadership positions entailed for Youth In Government and I think that plus my Common App essay really showed the depth of my involvement and leadership in two of my main extracurriculars.
Honestly, my Notre Dame supplements were solid except for one. I have a bit of history with the University since I was in their middle school pre-college program and did mention that, plus the great enthusiasm for the ND Family that their alumni have.
Interviews: I really clicked with my alumni interviewer for W&L (a lot of overlapping interests with STEM, law, and business) . She told me she loves to recommend Minnesotan students who she thinks would be good fits, especially girls (she was among the first female students to attend), and she thought I would be perfect for the school. Honestly, I think we both sold each other on how great W&L would be for me and that interview made it a very close second choice to Notre Dame. My CWRU interview was fine, but not as strong. Frankly, I mostly applied because on paper it was a great academic fit and they sent me a fee waiver, but I wasn’t super excited about the location in Cleveland. Also, I interviewed late because I didn’t realize that interviews were recommended.
Letters of Recommendation
GC: Doesn’t know much about me besides that I’m a top student and pretty active, probably a pretty generic but positive letter.
Social Studies Teacher: Got to read this one, had a lot of grammar errors but was absolutely glowing. She’s also my YIG advisor and I’ve known her through church for a long time.
German Teacher: Didn’t get to read but she probably adapted the one she wrote for a German scholarship competition which was pretty good, I’ve had her for all but one semester so I know her well too.
Course Load (things get wonky here bc limited honors and AP):
8th:
Geometry- Pass (credit offered on pass/fail basis only)
Writing 9- A-
Classical Lit 9- A
Intro to Chem 9- A
9th:
Honors Algebra II- A-/A
Honors Communication Studies 10- B+
Honors Lit and Comp 10- A
Intro to Physics 9- A-
Civics- A
World History- A
German I- A/A
Varsity Band- A/A
Technology- A
Gym- A
Art I- B+ (I’m an AWFUL artist)
10th:
Precalculus- A/A
Media Studies- A
Honors U.S. Lit- A
Biology- A/A
American History- A/A
German II- A/A
Wind Ensemble- A/A
Sociology- A
Health- A
11th:
AP Calculus AB- A/A (scored a 3 on the exam)
Dual Enrollment Literature- B+
Adv. Research, Writing, and Rhetoric- A-
Physics- B+/A-
Adv. Economics- A
Human Geography- A
German III- A/A
Human Anatomy and Physiology- A-
Wind Ensemble- A/A
12th (first semester only):
AP Statistics (A)
AP Calculus BC (none yet)
Dual Enrollment Chemistry I (A-)
Dual Enrollment Java Programming I (A-)
Dual Enrollment American National Government (none yet)
Dual Enrollment History of Western Civilization (none yet)
Dual Enrollment Intermediate German I and II (A)
Wind Ensemble (A)
Reflection: Ultimately, I think I’ve ended up where I’m meant to be since between the decisions and the financial aid my choices became W&L, Trinity, Concordia, Alabama, and North Dakota. Notre Dame was my first choice, but looking back I think I was blinded by my early experience with them and I think getting denied by them was for the best.
I also just wanted to note a couple things I could’ve changed about my overall application list. I probably could have cut Rose-Hulman because I knew it was likely to be unaffordable and I wasn’t as set on engineering after the first couple months of senior year but I was being recruited for swimming so I felt obligated to apply and figured I could switch to econ if the financial side was doable. I also might’ve tried to do a couple of SAT II tests (definitely German and something else, maybe Bio) and tried for a couple more reaches- Dartmouth came on my radar in November and I regretted not doing any SAT II tests.
