Congrats! Northeastern is known to be quite finicky and unpredictable in their RD application round, so don’t be too discouraged by the unideal offer. There will be plenty of good news to come!
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accepted: university of Rochester w/ prince street scholarship ($25k per year in merit), connecticut college ($34k per year in merit)
(very happy about urochester!!)
rejected: amherst, swarthmore
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Don’t worry too much about those SLACs; they are incredibly unpredictable when it comes to their admissions decisions. You already have three very impressive financial aid offers from three very impressive schools. You are doing fabulously, and I’m sure you will get many more exciting decisions! 
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I don’t know what they were thinking.
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7% acceptance rates! Tough nuts to crack!
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Congratulations! I’ve been following along bc I have a creative writer kid. If you feel comfortable sharing, I’d like to know of the summer writing programs you attended in high school and if you’d recommend.
I’d be happy to share! Can you PM me?
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Good point. And it’s really much less than that when you subtract the spots reserved for athletes, which have a big impact on admissions at a small college.
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Congratulations!!!
round 2 updates:
accepted: brandeis (with justice scholarship - $20.5k/year), hamilton!!
rejected: middlebury
waitlisted: BU
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That is fantastic news! Just from the others posting on here, it seems that it is really a crap shoot with the smaller LACs. One very qualified applicant on here posted a lot of wait lists from lesser schools than Amherst, but got accepted at Amherst. And congrats on the merit money. Brandeis isn’t that generous with merit money, so it says that they really want you there.
BTW, I just re-read your original posting, and really, you are well-qualified to go anywhere. I’m assuming that you applied to, and got into UMass Amherst (you should have gotten into honors college), and that you’re now comparing those options against UMass Amherst in-state, which would be about 30K/yr for you. When it comes to undergrad linguistics, UMass Amherst is tops in the country. Surely they have creative writing and anthro there too. You will have a tough time finding linguistics - it’s only a well-fleshed-out major in relatively few schools. Anthro would be offered at many schools, and creative writing you can find anywhere, as long as it’s not a solely engineering school. So I think that at this point, it really comes down to does the school have what you want (and I don’t think that Hamilton, Conn College have ling majors), and how much are you willing to pay for it. In my opinion, it’s Brandeis (which has significant linguistics, plus you have access to BU and Tufts via consortium), vs UMass Amherst, which is in a consortium with Amherst, Smith, Mt Holyoke). Question is, is Brandeis worth it to you at 60K/yr vs UMass Amherst at 30K/yr in-state? I know that if it were my child with your interests, I’d probably say UMass Amherst.
thank you! Hamilton is now at the top of my list even though I’m still waiting for Vassar + a few ivies
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Why Hamilton? What are they offering you (at >80K/yr) that the others are not?
I’m very fortunate that cost is not a factor in my or my parents’ decision. I like Hamilton because I do want the LAC atmosphere, and Hamilton has a very strong English program and it does have a linguistics minor. Additionally, Hamilton had an open curriculum, which I strongly value, and the ability to create an individualized interdisciplinary major. University of Rochester is still high on my list, however, because they also offer an open curriculum, they gave me aid, and they have strong research opportunities for all subjects.
While I did get into UMass Amherst’s honors college, I do not think I’ll be very happy at such a large school. I’ve visited Connecticut College too, and while I liked it, its academics didn’t strike me as highly.
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Considered financially, Hamilton is notable for producing graduates who earn more in their early careers than those from any of the other nine NESCAC LACs based on information in U.S. News. Also, when Forbes took a look at colleges for this article, they concluded that Hamilton was among those “worth every penny”:
Regarding opportunities for research and creative projects, Hamilton received recognition in this list based on a survey across academia: https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/undergrad-research-programs.
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Two more outstanding offers! You now have another quite well-respected LAC and university under your belt. I am a bit surprised by Middlebury; I expected an acceptance for you there. Then again, they have around a 15% acceptance rate so admission certainly isn’t assured for any applicant!
I understand that Hamilton is at the top of your list, and you provide some compelling reasons to choose it. Just be sure that you are not ending up choosing your school just because it is the highest in college ranking lists (it is an easy trap to fall into)! If diversity is an important factor for you, you might want to look elsewhere (as they only have ~25% domestic students of color, definitely lower than a lot of selective LACs). I am really hoping for a Vassar acceptance for you; I think would be an AMAZING fit (REALLY strong English and overall humanities, open curriculum, SIGNIFICANTLY more student diversity). I recognize that I might be a little biased because it was my second-choice school after Amherst. 
I think you have a really good shot at Vassar. We can only wish you the best for the Ivies and Stanford; they are arguably even more of a crapshoot than Amherst and Swarthmore. Best of luck, you’re doing amazingly! 
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Last year it dropped to 13%, and they had more applications this year + they overenrolled last year as well, so they may even accept fewer students this year. Still, I am also surprised, since the OP seemed exactly the type.
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I was made aware that it was 15-16%. Apply to Middlebury College | Middlebury College
However, I do remember someone telling me the CDS reported a 13%. Regardless of the specific number, Middlebury is a very selective school!
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Yes, I’m definitely not eliminating the other schools on my list! Since the beginning, URochester has been at the top of my list of target schools, which is why I’ve mentally eliminated my other target schools from consideration. But as of now, I still intend to visit URochester and Hamilton so I can really get a feel for them. And hopefully there is a Vassar acceptance around the corner (whenever they decide to announce their release date!)
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If you like film, this can be a fun movie to watch for someone with a Harrisonville/Hamilton acceptance: THE STERILE CUCKOO (1969) Trailer - YouTube.
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