Chance me? (bates, oberlin, kenyon etc)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I’m a junior and I have an extensive liberal arts list, (wesleyan is currently my top choice) but I’m so nervous about my lack of safeties. Can people let me know2if my list is balanced enough and if a few of my schools are matches or reaches. I’m specifically looking to see what people think about kenyon, oberlin, and bates, but any other school on my list would also be great :slight_smile: thank you so much; you’re all so kind.

white female from NY, top ranked public school
33 ACT (29 M, 32 S, 36 E, 36 R, 10/12 essay)
GPA (school doesn’t do 4.0 scale) 93.5 gpa unweighted
liberal, definitely gravitating towards the “granola” liberal arts schools
intended course of study: anthropology/psychology double major

classes
pre-highschool - algebra 1, earth science, french 1

freshman yr - bio, geometry, world history 1, english 9, french 2, theater arts, chorus

sophomore yr - chemistry, algebra 2, world history 2, english 10, french 3, anthropology, intro to psychology, chorus (Self studied AP Human Geography (4) and AP World History(4))

junior year - ap environmental science, pre-calculus, SUPA (dual credit with syracuse) american history, english 11 honors, french 4 honors, science research, digital photography, chorus (self-studying AP US Gov and AP comp gov)

next year - ap bio, calculus, ap euro, ap psych, ap microeconomics, SUPA (same dual credit class) english, science research, chorus

extracurriculars

  • co-president of model un club, won a speaking award at the boston university invitational conference this year
    -volunteer tutor for 6th grade students in history and english
  • coordinator of tea-shop, a club that runs an almost daily bakesale to support the music department at my school
  • secretary and active member of my school’s (national bound!!!) varsity quiz bowl team (I do plan to play in college if possible)
  • active participant in school theater
  • founded an organization called stop the silence, stop the stigma, which is a mental health organization that conducts interviews with people in creative industries to catalyze conversation about destigmatizing mental health.
  • member of high school’s award winning select madrigals choir
    -conducting psychological research at NYU this summer
    -board member of active minds, a mental health awareness club
    -singer songwriter with a single, “phases” on spotify.
    -selected for a government conference where I get to shadow NYS senators in albany for 4 days

MY LIST
mega reach - brown
other reaches - wesleyan (top choice), vassar, kenyon (?), bates (?), and hamilton
matches - skidmore (which i DID love), oberlin (is this a reach?) connecticut college, nyu silver, bryn mawr, franklin and marshall, macalester
safeties - dickinson (i have a 4 way legacy), clark, UVM

Thanks!!

2

Schools in the ~50 to ~70 range below would seem to be comfortable matches for you:

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-610-smartest-colleges-in-america-2015-9

Re Kenyon, Oberlin and Bates, I’d think you would get into ~2 of the 3.

3

Your list is balanced. I think Kenyon, Oberlin, Bates would be matches.
You would be competitive for Wesleyan, and applying ED would help. The only thing that may hold you back is possibly a perceived lack of rigor in 9th and 10th. Were honors classes not offered?

4

@wisteria100 only in math (and one college level geology class that i couldn’t fit into my schedule!) math is the only subject where i am consistently a b student, so it wasn’t a good go. that’s why i self studied AP human geo and AP world!

5

bump!

6

Kenyon, Bates, Vassar, Hamilton, IME, are low reaches. You have a decent shot at at least one of them I think. Oberlin, Bryn Mawr, Macalester are matches, but not a sure thing. Wesleyan is a proper reach, so maybe. Brown is mega reach as you know. I reckon you will get into F&M, Conn, Skidmore, and no idea about NYU.

My kid had stats very, very similar to yours. She is of course not you, but had a very similar list. She got into Kenyon and F&M, was WL at Oberlin and Bates. Got into both from WL and attends Bates.

Be careful with that personal information, my friend. I think you should not say anything further about your details. Maybe ask the mods nicely if they could remove the name you mentioned.

7

MODERATOR’S NOTE:

Removed name.

8

You’re a good soul, @Lindagaf . You too, @skieurope !

9

@Lindagaf @skieurope @gardenstategal I vehemently agree; thank you so much!

10

I agree with everything @Lindagaf said. It’s a nicely balanced list though I’m wondering if there’s anything EA there. (Maybe UVM?) An EA admission or two can be nice to have in hand before the winter break. Also agree on the privacy thing, and would suggest you take one more careful at your post and make sure there’s nothing there that’s too easy to Google or is so specific that it would be instantly recognizable in your own community. (Assuming you don’t want to be identifiable.) And good luck with everything!

11

@porcupine98 I do plan to apply to UVM, maybe Clark, and Dickinson, (which has a strange EA program that’s not really EA)! Hopefully I’ll get into all three; I know my school has a very close relationship with UVM!

12

To a fair extent, your chances at your LACs would parallel their USNWR “selectivity ranks”:

  1. Hamilton
  2. Vassar
  3. Wesleyan
  4. Bates
  5. Macalaster
  6. Oberlin
  7. Kenyon (tie)
  8. Bryn Mawr
  9. Dickinson
  10. Skidmore
  11. Franklin & Marshall
  12. Connecticut College