Chance/match a gap-year kid's unique but uneven profile [GA resident, 3.897/35, History]

Chance Me / Match Me!
, , , , ,
1

Demographics
US citizen

  • State*: GA
  • Type of high school *: Went to two highschools, both public: School 1 (affluent, suburban, competitive) for 9th and 10th, School 2 (diverse, urban/inner-city, still sends a decent amount to highly selective schools) for 11th and 12th
  • Gender/Race/Ethnicity (optional): White female
  • Other special factors (first generation to college, legacy, athlete, etc.): None really, but will provide some overall context for the profile–

I’m currently taking a gap year, but skipped a grade in elementary school so I will be 18 during freshman year like most others. Had a frankly bizarre high school experience. Moved four times. Obviously covid happened. Sophomore year grades aren’t great (spring semester dip). Had issues getting into rigorous courses at School 2, and had to adapt to a different set of graduation reqs, but made sure to get straight high As both 11th and 12th. most rigorous course load was 4 APs during 12th. I definitely show an upward trend but am still concerned about course load/rigor. Wanting to go into public history (as opposed to academia), very into American history

Intended Major(s): History, public history/historic preservation where offered. Would pursue Revolutionary Era Studies at Siena and Civil War Era Studies at Gettysburg (it’s a minor not a major but relevant nonetheless)

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.897
  • Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): Hard to figure out accurately. School 2’s grading scale is completely different from School 1, and they won’t adjust School 1’s grades to their system, so my official weighted GPA is in the 3.9s but if I had to take a guess should be closer to 4.3ish. Need to do some calculations.
  • Class Rank: Again, N/A since I transferred schools and School 2 does not accurately consider my grades from School 1
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 35 ACT

Coursework

8 APs in total but none STEM (tried to get AP Bio but wasn’t able to). AP exam scores were bad sophomore year but otherwise four 5s and one 4. Lots of honors. 4 years Spanish, ended with AP and 5 on the exam. Highest level of math was on-level calc, but was in honors 9th-11th-- no option for 12th honors calc and felt iffy about taking AB.

Awards
-AP Scholar with Distinction

Extracurriculars
-4 years in orchestra, section leader all years except 10th as that was the year i moved up to nationally recognized top level in School 1 (was section leader in the second-highest level during 9th). School 2’s program more of a typical school orchestra
-Jazz band 9th +10th (unable to pursue at School 2)
-Orchestra leadership team 9th + 10th (no equivalent at School 2)
-Testified at EPA hearing 11th
-Internship at state-level climate action group summer between 11th and 12th
-NHS tutoring committee 12th
-Took classes in a foreign language (not spanish) outside of school before high school, continued into 9th grade, stopped with covid, picked it back up 12th and still doing so in the gap year
-Youth ambassador for local history center (gap year)
-Preservation volunteer at local cemetery (gap year)

Essays/LORs/Other

I’m a pretty good writer so essay will be well-written and I think the topic I’ve chosen is decent but not totally set on it. Teacher LORs will be strong, but not sure about counselor LOR as she only knew me for a couple years

Cost Constraints / Budget
Had a great-uncle who specifically left enough for me to go to college, so full-pay. I am immensely grateful

Schools
Reaches
UPenn (ED choice atm)
Swarthmore
Tufts
Bowdoin

Targets
UGA
American
Gettysburg
William and Mary

Likely/safeties
UDelaware
University of Mary Washington
Siena College

Finally, for fun, here’s a few schools that were on the list but dropped off:
5 College Consortium in Western Mass: Did not like Northampton. Oddly enough, liked South Hadley
Bard: Too artsy/quirky
Oberlin: same as Bard, also not hugely into the LAC feel(but not ruling them out!)
Carleton/St Olaf/Macalester: Didn’t like Minnesota

Oh, and I’ll mention that I want to get out of the south! Been here my whole life and want to experience something different. Currently only considering east coast due to Revolutionary/Civil War interest but could be persuaded to apply other places if programs were strong

1 Like
2

Wonderful profile. The avoidance of STEM might hurt you at the Reach level - but it’s ok.

Your reaches are reaches but Penn let’s in half it’s class ED, so if you stick with ED, that will help you. Tufts is need aware and you are full pay - so that will help you.

UGA - agree target. American is a likely - if and only if you demonstrate interest - so if you haven’t visited, join an online session and they put them out on different topics, open emails. Play videos, even if you walk away.

Gettysburg a likely - really a safety but we’ll go likely. W&M is a reach but far more attainable than the other reaches.

Your likelies are all safe - why U Del, just curious vs. others?

There’s lots of great schools - of various size in the NE.

Wonderful student and if you like your list, it’s great - but if you wanted to add more, maybe a UVA. Or a W&L for another civil war inclusive LAC - lots of controversy but you’d experience it. Both would be attainable reaches.

Gettysburg actually fits your interests really well - so that seems like a nice fit and you’re very likely.

Great candidate.

Best of luck.

1 Like
3

I heard that U Del had strong colonial history, so that’s mainly why it’s on the list. Also wanted to throw a large school out there as an option since the rest skew small/medium except UGA.

Will be visiting American plus signed up for email list and did virtual tour so that will tick the demonstrated interest box.

Thank you for the chances. The way I see it, most likely scenario is I end up at Gettysburg and I’m pretty sure I’d be happy with that. I’m visiting Penn, Swat, Gettysburg on the same trip as American and hopefully I like all of them!

3 Likes
4

I like your list. One other school you might want to consider is Fordham, in New York. It has about 10k undergrads, and two campuses. The Rose Hill campus is more of the “traditional” college campus feel, while it also has a Lincoln Center one that is in the heart of Manhattan. As a fan of colonial American history, New York plays an important role and there are a lot of opportunities for internships and other experiences that might be really enjoyable as a history major in the city.

3 Likes
5

If you are really not into the feel of LACS, then you may want to reconsider Bowdoin and Swarthmore. Both colleges epitomize the LAC experience, in my opinion. But perhaps this is also a great opportunity to explore one or the other campus and test whether you really do or don’t appreciate a LAC environment. It is not for everyone.

1 Like
6

Great point and has Gettysburg too which has a Civil War Institute so let’s hope the LAC works!!

The good news - is OP will be able to compare LAC and mid size school on their upcoming trip.

“I’m visiting Penn, Swat, Gettysburg on the same trip as American and hopefully I like all of them!”

7

@AustenNut , thanks for the recommendation. I’ll be sure to check out Fordham. Previously passed it up because it’s a business school in my head for some reason? Not sure where that came from so will give it a real look.

@Cascadiaparent , you have a point on Bowdoin and Swat. I’m willing to give LACs another shot since they fit me well on paper- if the vibes are off on the Swat visit then I’ll know. I really want to like LACs!! Just not into what I call the “summer camp feel” if that makes sense. Also i seem to prefer a bigger campus so Gettysburg fits that despite being a LAC

1 Like
8

I’m not sure if either of these colleges would offer the particular type of history major you are interested in, but both offer a unique schedule of “one course at a time”. You take one course every 3 1/2 weeks which allows you to totally immerse yourself in the material and travel or engage in research without having to work around any other classes.

Cornell College (in Iowa) would be a safety.

Colorado College would be a reach.

Neither is on the east coast, but both have many travel opportunities for field work as you only have to worry about 1 class and don’t have to schedule around anything else going on.

2 Likes
9

Ooh-- these are interesting. I’ve heard great things about Colorado College here on CC but never considered it since the name never comes up down here! And will look into Cornell College as a safety

1 Like
10

I like your list too. Good luck!!

2 Likes
11

I am very well familiar with all your targets. You should make it to all of them. Great list. Good luck.

12

In terms of physical dimensions, Gettysburg resides on 225 acres. While this is more than sufficient, the campuses of truly spatially luxuriant LACs — e.g., Hamilton (1350 acres), Kenyon (1000), Colgate (553), Williams (450) — tend to be at least twice this size. For further comparison, UPenn, which is a large school by enrollment, resides on 299 acres.

1 Like
13

That’s fair, but in comparison to say, Carleton, which felt really compact on a tour last summer, Gettysburg–at least through the virtual tour–seems to have more of a “sprawling” factor that I find appealing

1 Like
14

Interesting, the first LAC we visited was Denison and - I was amazed at how big it was.

I just looked it up. 930 acres including a 360 biological preserve.

I guess LACs do come in all shapes and sizes.

Hopefully you like Gettysburg - but if it’s not big enough, there are other options. I’m sure they’d be fine to study what you want.

2 Likes
15

Fordham does have a very good business school, but really shines in humanities too. The history department is terrific and, as AustenNut mentioned, NY has some fantastic history museums and lots of internship possibilities.

4 Likes
16

I’m surprised that @tsbna44 commented without plugging College of Charleston (where one of his kids attends)! Its Historic Preservation major is very well-regarded, and of course the city of Charleston is incredibly rich in Civil War era history. The history department has a public history track in their grad program; I don’t see a specific undergrad program, but it’s clearly something the department is invested in. CofC would be a safety, but they have some great honors programs that you’d be a strong candidate for, and you’d likely get significant merit too.

That’s the only thing that jumps out at me as being missing from your list, which otherwise looks well-focused and balanced. Good luck!

1 Like
17

In any case, you may want to look into a few of the physically larger LACs to see whether they might appeal to you.

1 Like
18

Note that the OP would like to attend college outside of the South:

1 Like
19

Mmm, yeah… I saw W&M and thought that if Williamsburg worked, Charleston might too. And there aren’t a lot of really strong Historic Preservation schools, so I thought it was worth mentioning.

1 Like
20

I was a history major at Syracuse. I was going to throw that out :slight_smile: I actually think Gettysburg (assuming OP likes the campus) sounds like a winner.

But since you mention it - yes, OP would potentially win a Charleston Fellows scholarship and the enrichment that comes with it. I’ve seen the major but haven’t looked into it. It looks art-ish. But Fellows is what took us from the $12K - to basically all of tuition covered. I put the fall course schedule below - perhaps it’s a good thing to look at all schools - to see if they offer classes that would be a fit.

It does make sense as a school. Thanks for mentioning. Well the OP thanks you because you can never have enough to look at. It’s definitely more urban than the others - sans Penn. As for being in the South - there’s a ton of out of state kids from the Northeast, Midwest, and West.

I look forward to hearing OPs feedback after their upcoming trip.

Charleston Fellows Program - College of Charleston (cofc.edu)

Fall 2023 Courses - College of Charleston (cofc.edu)

2 Likes