Chance me at LACs

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

HS Junior looking for 2015 ED chances

Colleges:
Trinity
Kenyon
Bates
Oberlin
Hamilton
Colby
Bard

Major: Economics

SAT I (breakdown): 2220, 760 CR, 660 M, 800 W
SAT II: US History - 780 , Lit - 740
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): UW 3.3-3.4
AP (place score in parenthesis): APUSH, haven’t taken yet
Junior Course Load: Mostly rigorous
Senior Year Course Load: AP Gov, AP Stats, AP English, AP Micro Econ, AP Macro Econ, Honors Pre Calc, Honors Spanish 4, Religion
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Regional debate awards

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
(Founder and President) Non-Profit Organization that has raised thousands of dollars. Involved in international affairs and is very successful.
Debate Team, Lincoln Douglas Debate (Captain of LD Team 12th grade)
Investment Banking Club (Co-Founder and Co-President)
Student Board of regional bank (selective process)
Community Service
-Volunteer on Saturdays at dog kennel
-Volunteer on Thursdays to tutor African refugee children

Job/Work Experience: Acting as CEO of self-started non-profit organization. No income

Summer Activities: Will be traveling to Alaska to help manage my organization.

Hooks: URM with high SATs, not from area where schools are, no one from my school has applied (at least not in the last 5 years) to any of these schools

State (if domestic applicant): North Carolina
School Type: Private
Ethnicity: Hispanic
Gender: Male
Income: ~$150k

Weaknesses: GPA obviously. I’ve had a lot of social issues with moving between states and such. I know colleges don’t accept that as a valid excuse, but that’s the truth.

Essays: Have already began working on essays, hope to be amazing to make up for poor GPA

Reflection: Obviously my GPA is very low for these schools, but I feel that I can partially balance it out with my other strong attributes (SATs, ECs, essays, URM) since these schools so heavily promote ‘holistic’ admissions. I will also be applying to one of these schools ED1. Undecided yet, but take that into account as well. Also these are not all the schools I will be applying to. As stated, I probably will only apply to one of these schools ED and apply to my targets/safeties EA/RD.

Thanks

2

I forgot to add, Trinity is the one I’m leaning towards the most right now.

3

Don’t know much about most of these but for Oberlin you have a very good chance ED (probably well over 50%). Oberlin is a high match for RD, but for ED it’s probably a low match (ED rates are over 60% as opposed to ~30% RD). Oberlin also seems to put less emphasis on GPA than many schools, with average GPAs actually around the 3.5 range but high SAT scores averaging over 2000. Along with your apparent social action/ activist focus you should be a very strong candidate for ED. Good luck!

4

Trinity seems so different than schools like Bard and Oberlin. Curious as to what interests you in them? I’m not used to seeing them on the same list.

Your profile looks good and I think you have a solid shot at all, realizing of course that admissions at LACs is somewhat holisitic and unpredictable.

5

Trinity has fallen on some hard times and, while it remains an amazing school, is easier to get into than in the past. Everyone from our school with your credentials who applied ED was accepted. In RD they didn’t fare quite as well with about 40% accepted, 40% wait listed and 20% denied. Of course, your mileage may vary. I fully agree with @doschicos that this level of LAC is highly unpredictable.

My gut, knowing some of these schools pretty well, is that Trinity and Bard are match schools that you have a fair chance to get into, especially if your fall grades in those AP courses are strong.

All the rest are, at minimum, low reach. Kenyon is a hot school these last few years and is more and more competitive. Kenyon and Oberlin are more likely that the others but still low reaches. The fact that you are Hispanic could be a boost that makes these schools more likely than I estimate. Being male is also a help.

I think you are HIGHLY likely to get into at least one of these schools, especially if you apply ED to Trinity. If you don’t get in your ED choice I think you should add a safety as well. Every school on this list is highly competitive and thus uncertain. Besides, your “safety” school might make you a scholarship offer you can’t refuse…

6

@tjnr342 Which do you plan to visit?

I would suggest you consider Bucknell and Lafayette in addition.

I went through an analysis of the ED process with over a dozen LACs with my son and basically the benefit is not nearly as great as the acceptance rates suggest unless hooked. He applied ED to Bates and will be attending.

Your gender and demographic are good for Bates and Colby. Hamilton not sure about gender but being Hispanic is a benefit at these three. I suppose you are hooked applicant? Chancing you at these three is very hard because of your GPA. The classes are small and the unhooked acceptance rates are well below 20%.

I think if you visited Bucknell and Lafayette you might like them better than Trinity. Bucknell especially.

If you visit Hamilton you should visit Colgate as well.

Another that should be a match is Gettysburg. Great school, great campus.

7

you need to visit these schools - on paper they look similar but the vibe is very different
and maybe add Dickinson while you are travelling around