Big thanks to anyone who responds to this thread. The application process is so damn stressful and isolating. Any contributions and outside-opinions are welcome to chance me for any of the listed schools with the follow stats!
Early Decision I: Colgate University, NY.
Regular Decision (if it comes down to it)
Middlebury College, VT
Carelton College, MN
St. Olaf College, MN ( likely my ED II )
Gustavus-Adolphus College, MN
Wittenberg University, OH
Demographics: US Citizen, Female applicant from a public school in the Portland Oregon metro area. Will require financial aid and not submitting test scores for ACT/SAT.
Intended Major(s): Russian-Eurasian Studies (REST) and International Affairs/Relations
GPA: 3.9 (unweighted) 4.15 (weighted)
Class Rank (Weighted): 55/455 (Top 12%)
Coursework: 11 International Baccalaureate (IB) Classes taken in Junior/Senior years (IB Psych, IB Analysis/Approaches I, IB English 11, IB History I, IB Environmental Systems and Societies, IB English 12, IB History II, IB Spanish 4, ) and 15 honors-level classes (includes IB classes).
Awards:
Fourth place in an International Open Novella Contest of all genres/countries with 1,300+ entries.
Second Place/“Excellent” winner of state-wide journalism award for student news article.
Extraciriculars:
Model UN Nations at State level (4 years, 1 as Club VP, 1 as President)
Newspaper at school/local level (3 years, 1 as editor of the Website, 1 as editor of the Center Fold)
Wind Ensemble/Band (4 years, Bass Clarinet and section leader in an ensemble that has won multiple marching awards and state-wide festivals)
Fiction Writing (8+ years, placed in Top 5 of an International Novella Contest with 1,300+ entries from all genres/countries)
National Honor Society Member (1 year, School/State chapter)
Local Coffee Shop Barista (10 hours a week, 30 in the summer)
Essay: Completed and edited. Follows Prompt No. 1 on the Common App. and shares how my interest in Soviet/Eurasian History forms the creative base of my fiction.
You are competitive for your three reaches (Colgate, Middlebury, Carleton).
St Olaf is a target (or a low target), Gustavus-Adolphus would be a likely, and Wittenberg is a safety.
However, you need to run the NPCs are for all of these colleges. Wittenberg and Gustovus Adophus will likely give you merit scholarships, and St Olaf may also do so. However, you b=need to see whether these will be enough.
However, Colgate does not, so if you are applying ED1 to Colgate, you should run the financial aid calculator. They are a full-need-met colleges (as are Middlebury and Carleton), but their idea of “need” may not match your family’s.
A college which is an academic safety, but your family cannot afford is not a safety.
Your overall list seems fairly narrow at this stage. Based on your literary interests, you may want to look through these sites for ideas for additional choices:
