<p>ACADEMIC:
School Type: Large, specialized public school
GPA: 95.94% (my school doesn't do out of 4)
SAT: 2240 on a practice test in one sitting, 800 M, 720 R, 720 W
(I took the January test, so I get my scores in four days, but I'll update)
APs: Sophomore: Human Geo (5), Music Theory (5); Junior: APUSH, Psychology, Latin; Senior: Mic/Mac, Physics C, Calculus AB (or BC)
Honors: Most classes except for some freshman and sophomore year were honors
Class Rank: My school doesn't rank, but I assume I'm in the top 5%</p>
<p>EXTRACURRICULAR:
Sports: Cross country (made states junior year, probably team captain senior year); Track and Field (within top ten in the city (NYC) for the 1500 meters sophomore and junior year, probably team captain senior year)
I'm hoping to be recruited by Swarthmore because it's DIII and my times are actually faster than most people on the
team already.
Clubs: On a competitive running club outside of school as well
Internship: Interned at an architecture organization for two summers</p>
<p>AWARDS:
Sports: Either MVP or Most Improved for xc and track every year. Won a medal at a national championship for track.</p>
<p>ESSAY:
I haven't written mine yet, but it will probably be about running because it's such a big part of my life.</p>
<p>INTENDED MAJOR:
Undecided (that's why I want to go to a liberal arts school!), but I'm leaning towards either psychology/linguistics/Latin </p>
<p>DEMOGRAPHICS:
Race: white
Gender: female
State: NY</p>
<p>There is no substitute for talking to the coach. You can arrange a meeting when you visit the campus. If you can run a 2:25 in the 800 or a 5:00 in the 1500, the coach should be extremely interested. If the coach supports you and you apply ED1, your chances should be excellent. </p>
<p>I presume that buddy meant to write “yes,” as there is reason to expect an improvement next time, especially given superscoring. Moreover, 2030 is not a death sentence. Talk to the coach and take the SAT again. </p>
<p>Good news (sort of)! I got my March SAT scores, and I got a 2140 (680 R, 750! M, 710 W). I know it’s not great, but it’s an improvement, and I’m very happy with my math score. Now I feel like there’s more of a chance to get into Swarthmore.</p>
<p>I took a tour of Swarthmore two weeks ago and it was amazing! It was almost spring, so all the plants on campus were just starting to grow. The whole campus was beautiful and calm, and I wanted to stay there forever. I also loved the science building, and the fact that they’re a liberal arts school that has a really good science/engineering program.</p>
<p>@strawberry3: That is excellent news. If you have not done so yet, you should contact the coach. As you probably know, the middle distance group had a terrific indoor season, with excellent performances in the 800, mile, 4x800 and DMR. </p>
<p>I am glad to hear that you enjoyed the tour. While the campus does a great job of selling itself, the tour guides put a lot of thought and effort into their tours, so it is always nice to hear glowing reports. </p>
<p>I have contacted the coach, but he didn’t e-mail back. I even made sure to visit the track on my tour, but the team was on spring break, and the coach was at DIII Nationals with one of the girls who was running the mile. Should I continue trying to contact him until I get a reply, or is that too intrusive? I really want to get recruited (plus I ran a 5:04 in the 1500 recently, so that’s an improvement).</p>
<p>@strawberry3: There are two important things to keep in mind. First, recruiting for track and cross country takes place much later than many other sports. A track coach may wait until the end of junior outdoor season to look at prospects’ times. The second thing to remember is that the team goes right from indoor to outdoor so the coach may be rather busy now. </p>
<p>Now that you have visited, when you do contact the coach again he will know that you are genuinely interested (and not involved in a fishing expedition). </p>
<p>Update: I got a 34 on the ACT! With a 36 in the math section! Without studying! I will definitely use that score rather than my SAT score. Also, every person in my school who applied to Swarthmore with a 34 ACT score and above a 95% average (like me) got in.</p>
<p>However, the coach hasn’t emailed me back at all, but I’ll just wait for now.</p>