Chance a poli sci major applying to selective LAC's [MN resident, 3.88 GPA]

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Demographics: I’m a white European female from Minnesota, US domestic citizen. I’m attending a Lutheran private school.

Intended Major(s): Definitely Political Science/Government, with Environmental Studies, Gender Studies, Sociology.

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores: So, my school only does weighted GPA. I have a 3.98 W-freshman year was rough. I’m in the top 30% of my class, 18/66. I’m applying as a test optional applicant.

Coursework: Dual enrollment with a local college. Last year I took four classes through this program and got A’s in all of them. Two American History courses, psychology, and literature. This year I’m taking seven classes through this program: health science, writing, improv, public speaking, government, interpersonal communication, and developmental psychology.
I’ve gone up to Algebra II in math, and ASL III for foreign language. Unusual academic electives could include Mixed Media Arts and aiding for a teacher.

Awards: Multiple state level theater awards from sophomore and junior year, first place in a local writing competition sophomore and junior year as well, NHS, A Honor Roll every semester.

Extracurriculars:

  • Theater. I was stage manager and prop master 10-12 grade. Worked a lot with props, organization, and management.

  • Environmental, representative on a local trail committee.

  • School Spirit (my next two entries were in this category): Activities Board president and Student Representative.

  • Community service (volunteer): Library volunteer at a local school 10-12 grade.

  • Work (paid): Childcare worker at community facility, 11-12 grade.

Essays: Common App personal statement is about physics and props. I think it’s pretty strong, but if not, at least it’s unique.

LORs: One of them was by a teacher who has a reputation for putting effort into these, we also had a positive half an hour conversation when I asked him. He likes me a lot I think. Other LOR was from an alum of the college I ED’d to.

Cost constraints: None, I’m full pay.

Schools: ED I to Carleton College. EA to Beloit and Lewis and Clark. RD to Mount Holyoke, Smith, Denison, Colby, Oberlin, Bowdoin. ED II options could be Grinnell or Macalester (hopefully I don’t have to use these).

Safeties are Beloit, Lewis and Clark, and Hamline (I already got accepted).
Likely/reach would be Mount Holyoke, Oberlin.
Reaches are Bowdoin, Colby, Denison, Smith. I don’t know about Carleton.

Any responses or advice would be appreciated! Thank you all so much.

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Based on your intended major, the LACs that appear in this site also may be worth considering:

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Hard to tell bcuz I don’t know the weighting system.

Figure your UW GOA by giving a 4 for A, 3 for B, 2 for C.

Congrats on your admission thus far.

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Unweighted GPA is a 3.88

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L&C and Beloit are safeties.
I would apply to StOlaf, Lawrence, or Kalamazoo as additional targets.
Not sure how Carleton and other highly selective colleges will look at ASL as a world/foreign language and only through level 3 for a Humanities/Social Science major, plus no statistics whether AP or DE.
That being said, with a 3.88 uwGPA and straight As in college courses (+solid ECs), you’re a strong candidate so I’d say Mount Holyoke and Denison are targets. All others are reaches though Macalester or Grinnell become more of a low reach/high match thanks to ED.

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I don’t want to be annoying, but Denison’s acceptance rate last year was 17%, so as much as this student sounds like a great fit for Denison, I would hesitate to call Denison a target.

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My school only offers up to level 3 in ASL

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But wait why are you concerned about ASL as a foreign language? If anything I think that would give me an edge because it’s not the most common language taken in schools. It also has a grammar and syntax that are completely separate from English.

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Some colleges may not consider ASL to be a foreign language. My other concern would be the lack of math. How did you take 4 years of math and end up in Alg 2 as a senior? Where are the science courses? We gave heavy thought to doing Carleton for ED1, but since they are such a heavy STEM school I felt they really would want higher test scores than my S24 has (but he is also in Calc BC and AP Stats this year)- I didn’t thnk TO would go over well with them.

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I didn’t take four years of math, I took three. I’ve taken Physical Science, Biology, Chemistry, and will be taking Health Science next semester.

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For me, target means the student’s academic profile matches typically admitted students’ and odds are 50-50. The fact this student has straight As in college courses and Denison wanting strong poli sci students for its Lugar program + small geographical boost (MN) factor into this assessment.
My main concern is lack of a world language and no AP Stats, DE Elementary Stats, or even basic stats, which are both essential background for poli sci. But I’m guessing this will matter more for Carleton where 4 years or through AP in each core subject is a basic expectation.

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My school doesn’t offer stats. Otherwise I would have taken it.

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Your course choices reflect your interest in Social science well.
Having all 3 of bio, chem, physics is good. However Health science isn’t considered a rigorous science course so unless you included all basic descriptions/ syllabi for your DE courses, colleges won’t know what to make of it.
Same thing for math: you need 1 more course and for Poli Sci Statistics would be a minimum (though precalculus AND AP stats might be closer to what Carleton expects for a student on the regular math track applying for social science&humanities).

If admitted to Carleton, you will need to take 2 quantitative courses (for most poli sci majors, that’s in Statistics, but 1 stats& 1 from Philosophy or CS would work too.) Your GC must state that your HS doesn’t offer stats; the college where you take DE classes certainly does and that’s your way to fix this problem easily.

ASL does indeed have an entirely different syntax from English but it doesn’t open a window upon other world cultures. It’s a domestic non English language. If admitted to Carleton, you’ll be taking 4 courses linked to a world language, learning about their culture, their history, their media, etc, in the various countries where it’s spoken. You cannot use ASL for that requirement; you can inquire whether ASL and related “deaf community” courses count for the IDS requirement (ie., deaf and hard of hearing people in America represent a significant American minority, not a foreign culture.)

My strong advice is to register for DE Environmental Science and DE Elementary Statistics for Spring and have your GC send the correction immediately to Carleton – unless s/he hadn’t sent materials yet in which case it’ll be seamless (GCs get about 10 days after the student’s deadline). It shouldn’t alter your Spring semester much since you’d switch a science course for another and just add a Stats class (check that it’s Elementary Stats or Stats for non majors or Algebra-based Stats-- there are different types of stats courses and one is calculus-based :grimacing:)

Carleton expects 4 years in each core subject (English, Math, Social Science/history, Science, World Language).
This is their description of a strong applicant (from their website).

  • Four years of English
  • Three or more years of mathematics
  • Two or more years of science
  • Three or more years of social science
    (…)

Most Carleton students go well beyond this minimum. The admissions committee is usually attracted to candidates who do honors or advanced placement work, when available.
We also expect students to take two or more years of a foreign or classical language, unless it is not offered at their school.
Students who take more courses in the subjects listed above are generally stronger candidates."

They will consider applications from kids from rural/underresourced schools that don’t offer enough courses but since you’re attending a private school with access to DE it’ll be assumed you could take the missing courses but chose not to, unless tour GC writes it explicitely in their letter of recommendation or their school profile.

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Does your school have a history of students being admitted to Carleton and, if so, is your academic record comparable to theirs?

I note that approximately 80% of students admitted to Carleton are in the top 10% of their class, for example. You are not, but students from your school may be evaluated differently because of the school’s size and perhaps academic reputation if it is seen as rigorous. It is hard to predict your chances as a result.

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Can you calculate an unweighted GPA with A=4, B=3, etc?

3.98 weighted could come from 2.98 or 3.88 or something else unweighted, depending on the weighting system.

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It’s a very good point. I thought this might be a feeder school but most feeder schools would offer math for regular track math kids.
For example, SSM is a feeder school for Carleton&StOlaf, but despite having only ~400 students total 8-12, they offer Elementary Stats, AP Stats, and Financial Math for juniors&seniors on the regular math track. So :thinking:

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OP calculated and said 3.88, which is what I based my “chance” on.

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I just looked and the college where I do my DE doesn’t offer Environmental Science (it’s a small Christian college), but I can look at doing statistics there.

Thank you for your response. I appreciate it so much. What do you think about my chances, besides what I have for classes?

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We sent a student last year who was a QB applicant. We also sent someone a few years ago. Not many students apply though.

You are right that my high school is competitive. Not in an out loud way, but the competition is definitely stiff.

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For the students in your high school, what are the most rigorous classes these students take and what are most rigorous offered? Asking in two parts since it appears students take DE classes as well as at the school.