Carleton ED: Am I in?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Carleton College
1

<p>I have been seriously considering applying to Carleton ED. Do you think I would have a good shot? Here are my stats:</p>

<p>Gender: Female
Ethnicity: Caucasian
High School: Very competitive public school in Northern California. (Bay Area). My course load is a couple classes off of being the most challenging available. (Example: I didn't take Chem. AP sophomore year.)</p>

<p>Weighted GPA: 4.33
Unweighted: 3.87</p>

<p>Freshman Year:
Chemistry: A, A
Geometry: A, A
PE: A, A-
SPanish II H: A, A
Survey Comp/Lit: A, A-
World Studies: A, A</p>

<p>Sophomore Year:
Algebra II: A-, B-
Biology H: B+, B
Journalism: A, A
European History AP: A, B+
Spanish III H: A, A
Language and Comp. AP: A, A</p>

<p>Junior Year:
U.S. History AP: A, A
American Literature H: A, A
Spanish 4 AP: A, A-
Journalism: A, A
Trigonometry H: B+, A
Painting: A, A</p>

<p>Senior Year Schedule:
Literature and Composition AP
Physics
Economics/Civics
Journalism
Calculus AB AP</p>

<p>SAT Scores:
Critical Reading: 730
Writing: 700
Math: 680</p>

<p>AP Scores:
Language and Comp.: 4
European History: 4
Spanish: 3
U.S. History: 5</p>

<p>EC's:
- Entertainment Editor on School Newspaper, possibly Co-editor in Chief the coming year.
- 10 Years of Division 1 Soccer
- 10+ Years of competitive horseback riding. My main passion and I have competed successfully at state level.
- Founded and actively run an independant non-profit charity to raise college money for low-income children.
- 200+ Hours of volunteer work giving horseback riding lessons to mentally and physically disabled children.</p>

<p>My essay and recommendations should be good. Well...what do you think?</p>

2

<p>I think you have a good shot. You had a bit of a "rough" spot with your grades Sophomore year, but I had more B's than you do and a lower GPA, and I don't think it was a big deal anywhere (even the places that I didn't get in). If your school ranks, you are fine as long as you are within the top 10%. Your extras look quite good. They might not be THE best, but I'd say that very few applicants will have better. Your SAT scores are right there, too...they are probably towards the 25th percentile mark, but they certainly put you in the running. I make no guarantees, of course, and essays and recommendations are extremely important in selective college admissions, but I think that you have a very good chance of being admitted ED, or at the very least deferred. Good luck!</p>

3

<p>but curiosisity, are you <em>funny</em>?</p>

<p><a href="https://apps.carleton.edu/admissions/overview/rqments/%5B/url%5D"&gt;https://apps.carleton.edu/admissions/overview/rqments/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Other Factors
In selecting each class, the admissions committee considers many qualities beyond academic promise. The committee asks questions such as: How active have you been in your school and community? Have you been involved in sports, student government, your church, synagogue or other religious community? Are you someone who will lead? Do you have a sense of humor?</p>

<p>and</p>

<p><a href="http://apps.carleton.edu/admissions/character/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://apps.carleton.edu/admissions/character/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

4

<p>Obviously there is no genuine guarantee, but your stats definitely make you a qualified applicant. Just make sure your essay is well thought out and you should have a decent chance.</p>

5

<p>Curiosisity--Your stats and ECs look in the ballpark for Carleton. My advice is that if you're really interested, show that interest. My older daughter with similar credentials applied to Carleton two years ago and was waitlisted after she failed to visit, never contacted anyone at the school, never did a thing to make anyone take note of her. She was OK with that, because her heart was elsewhere. However, my younger daughter will be a freshman at Carleton this fall. Great stats/ECs and, perhaps more importantly, she showed a very strong and sincere interest in attending Carleton. She visited, toured, overnighted, sat in on two classes, kept in contact with her admissions officer, and so on. If you can possibly swing a visit to Carleton, do so.</p>

6

<p>I don't necessarily think showing interest is as big of a problem when the applicant is applying ED. Travel costs are expensive from Minnesota to California.</p>

7

<p>You're right about travel costs, padfoot. ED is a pretty good indicator of interest.</p>

8

<p>I think you have a good chance.</p>

9

<p>I just wanted to also reiterate that applying Early Decision is a pretty darn good way of showing serious interest in Carleton. Also, while showing interest and knowledge of the school is important (more on the supplement questions than by number of times you visit or call or whatever), my understanding is that it is not an overwhelmingly important part of admissions at Carleton. If there is a question of fit, then maybe it would become a factor, but otherwise I would think they assume you've done your research if you want to go to a rigorous and quirky liberal arts college in a small town in MN.</p>