Perhaps choose one or two from Kenyon, Bowdoin, or Hamilton.
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Bowdoin is not a target school IMO. The college’s overall acceptance rate is under 10% (and there is a sizeable portion of students accepted in the ED round).
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While some might agree with that, information the OP provided suggests that his chance at Yale may reach 50%, which indicates that Bowdoin may represent a match school, in my opinion. Additionally, in terms of academic statistics, the OP’s ACT score (35) appears quite comfortable for Bowdoin (middle range: 31–34) in relation to Yale (33–35) and other colleges.
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Schools with sub-10% acceptance rates (and even lower in RD), are reaches for all unhooked applicants.
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We’ll have to agree to disagree.
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Great resume. Let me tell you what the problem is. There are no targets. And I can’t even tell you what a reasonable target can be. Maybe a non tippy-top LAC may be a target, but you need to show them a lot of love and apply ED into them for them to become a target. There are no obvious RD targets that I can think of.
In some ways, you are applying in non STEM, and you should have an easier time with your reaches. In other ways, if you were STEM, I could think of a more reliable list of targets.
Normally the publics should be targets, but not in this case. UMich and UVA are too tempermental to be targets, and they want to avoid exactly this situation – they don’t want to become your quasi safety. UW Madison could be a target if you care enough about it.
In theory you can strike out on your entire list of reaches. You may also place into some large number of them. It is very hard to say.
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Bowdoin has long been test optional - long before Covid. Which means SAT/ACT scores are not a reliable indicator of what they are looking for in an applicant. They collect SAT/ACT data for admitted students after the fact. The OP is an excellent candidate - but so are thousands with similar grades and academic profiles who are turned away from Bowdoin and schools like it each year because they lacked that “thing” the school needed to balance its class out. What that thing is in any given year is unknown to candidates. Which is why no school with an admit rate of <10% is a target. Students who get admitted to one tippy toc LAC are often excluded from others while admitted to Ivies. The process can seem that random. So the advice to include a mix of schools that truly represent targets, safeties, and reaches is a good one. You just never know…
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However, Bowdoin itself marks standardized scoring as an “important” selection criterion in its Common Data Set.
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I’m sure that the OP wants to hear about colleges other than Bowdoin.
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Congratulations on a great record! Assuming your assessment of your school matriculation and GPA data are correct , and if you have taken the hardest courses available at your school/ have well above-average rigor, I think your list with your mentioned additions of Boston College and a SUNY is fine, as long as you are happy to attend Purdue, Michigan, BC etc. I do think you are likely to get into at least one of your “Reach for everyone” schools, in addition to 2-3 out of the BC/UNC/UVA/Mich /Purdue batch.
Your school sends about double the % to the strict-top T20s as ours does, and BC is a match school for someone with your record in the top20% with highest rigor/great scores, as is Michigan, and UNC OOS is a match for the top10%, as is Bowdoin. You really should ask your GC though. Every school has different trends and track records.
So you will have options even if you do not get into a reach. Best of luck and make sure the rest of the essays are your best work.
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Boston College is definitely a school i’m considering - I really liked it when I visited. My school considers the Early state schools I applied to to be a 50/50 chance after I asked my counselor though.
Thanks for the suggestions. I think I will definitely add UW Madison to my list, I know a few students there who are enjoying their time and my school has a really good track record with acceptances there.
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Thank you!
I’m not picky when it comes to what the school is like, however, with Asian parents and all that… rankings play a big factor. Additionally, my parents when hiring for their jobs told me about how the prestige of a potential employee’s college played a role in their hiring chances (they are in finance)
Definitely will apply to Binghampton or something though.
hahahaha, I actually was considering them → I know a few people there as well and have heard good things. Maine though…
Ah I see. I suppose I’m screwed if I don’t get into a single school. I am definitely considering ED2 to UChicago though.
Why didn’t you post your history publication on the Common App? Mentioning because maybe you want to consider for RD applications…since it’s tied to your expressed academic interests.
Also I recommend having someone look over your RD apps for tone (how you come off in your writing). College apps are kind of a Catch-22 - you have to be willing to self-promote, yet they don’t want you to sound too self-promoting. Would be great to get a second eye on how you sell yourself (both in essays and in EC/honors descriptions), to make sure the balance is correct. Good luck!
Probably true to some extent for Wall Street. But is that your goal?
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It is already in my activities section and my additional information links the publication so I didn’t put it in the Honors/ Awards section. Thanks for the advice on my essays, it was definitely difficult to figure out how to promote myself without sounding like a savior or trying too hard to come off as a “good person”
LACs and large state schools typically have excellent history and religious studies programs, and some of them would be great targets, if not safeties, for you (some have already been suggested above; more can be added if you’re interested).
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