Chance Me - Dartmouth/Williams ED, Northwestern, Georgetown, LACs & more

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Chance me please! I know a lot (if not all) of these schools would definitely be considered reaches.

Dartmouth or Williams ED, Middlebury, Georgetown, Northwestern, BC, UVA, Duke, William & Mary, JHU, Bowdoin, Tufts

My junior year is coming to a close, so naturally college has been on my mind a lot lately. I’m currently in the heat of testing season after having just finished APs and SAT IIs, with the June ACT on the horizon–which I have high hopes for. Although second semester grades haven’t been finalized and I’m still waiting to receive some scores, I’d love to know where y’all think I stand as of right now.

Please give me honest feedback, as well as any recommendations for ways I can improve my application…or for other schools you think might be a good fit. :slight_smile:

School Type: Private (one of the top schools in the state)
Location: Ohio
Race/Gender: White female
Prospective Major: Linguistics, English/History
UW GPA: 3.96 (may drop to 3.95 or 3.94 depending on how exams go)
Weighted GPA: School doesn’t weight
Cumulative Average: 93%
Rank: School doesn’t rank
ACT: 33 (will test again, aiming for a 34+ and confident in my ability to score) breakdown: English-36, Math-31, Reading-33, Science-30
SAT II: US History - 710, Lit - TBD, Spanish - TBD
AP: APUSH-5, Spanish-TBD, Lit-TBD, Gov-TBD, Comp. Gov-TBD

Transcript (School reports both semester grades):

Freshman year:
World Literature - A/A
Honors Geometry - A/A
Honors World History - A/A
Honors Biology - A/A
German I - A/A
Spanish III - A/A
Media (single semester course) - A+
Health (single semester course) - A

Sophomore year:
American Lit - A/A
Honors Algebra II - A-/A-
Honors US History - A/A
Honors Chemistry - A/A-
German II - A/A
Spanish IV - A/A
Painting (single semester course) - A
Independent Study: French - Pass (pass/fail class)
Public Speaking (single semester course) - A
Water Safety (single semester course) - A
(Also took a class in which my Spanish teacher and I read and analyzed biblical passages in Spanish, unlisted on transcript but will likely be discussed in one of my rec letters)

Junior year: (BTW, second semester grades haven’t officially come out yet, so these are estimates)
AP English Lit & Comp - B+/A
Precalculus/Calculus A - B/B (in the off-chance that my second semester grade ends up as a B-, how much would this affect me?)
AP US Gov’t/AP Comp Gov’t - A/A
Honors Physics - A-/A
German III - A/A
AP Spanish Language - A-/A-
Health II (single semester course) - A+
Photography I (single semester course) - B+ (lol…)

Senior year classes:
AP Lang
AP Calculus BC
AP European History
AP Biology
German IV
Post-AP Spanish Readings
Painting II

ECs:

-Volunteer at immigration/refugee organization - help settle new families to the USA, intern in legal dept.
-Volunteer at local literacy organization (serving primarily the immigrant population) - lead ESL classes, give one-on-one English lessons
-Volunteer Spanish translator at local food pantry
-Served for 2 weeks in rural Guatemala as a Spanish-English translator between patients and volunteer doctors
-Self-taught in Somali language (because Somalians make up the majority of the immigrant population in my city)
-Intern at district prosecutor’s office
-Intern at a prominent local law firm
-Varsity soccer (2 years)
-Varsity cross country (2 years) & cross country team captain
-Varsity track (3 years)
- 2017 League champions
- 2017 District champions
-Avid half-marathoner
-Yale Young Global Scholars - International Affairs and Security Session (2018)
-Mock trial
- District qualifier (2016, 2017, 2018)
- Regional qualifier (2017, 2018)
- State qualifier (2017)
-Peer tutor in my school’s writing center 2017-2019 (chosen as one of two students from my entire class for this position)
-Contributor to my school’s Spanish language newspaper
-Political club president (2017-2019)
-Member of religious youth group

Awards:
-First Academic Honors
-Cross Country Coaches’ Award
-Mock trial - Best Attorney Award (District 2016, District 2017, Regional 2017), Best Witness Award (District 2018, Regional 2018)
-National German Teachers’ Association Exam - Silver Award 2016 (ranked 89th percentile nationally), Gold Award 2017 (ranked 94th percentile nationally)

Hooks: none (note: I am of higher income which may play a role in non-need blind admissions, but nowhere near “donate a library” status haha)

I’m a little concerned about my GPA (and especially my junior year math grades), but can I compensate for this with a high ACT score? Should I supplement by taking an SAT subject test in math? My strengths definitely lie in the humanities, but I still don’t want to appear weak in STEM. I’m open to any and all comments about my application or the admissions process in general. Thanks for taking the time to help a stressed student out. :slight_smile:

2

Firstly, I’m sure you are aware that not all of your choices offer a linguistics major, so consider whether a minor would suffice for this particular interest (and which colleges offer one).

For some schools that would be excellent for literature studies, this article could be helpful to read through: http://flavorwire.com/409437/the-25-most-literary-colleges-in-america.

By considering Hamilton, Colby, Colgate and Kenyon, you could enhance the character and your range of choices.

Regarding, your overall chances, schools that place ~50 or above here will offer you at least fair admission prospects: https://amp.businessinsider.com/the-610-smartest-colleges-in-america-2015-9. Those that place below 50 will be, on average, more difficult, but still within your range based on your record.

3

@merc81 Thanks for the advice–those are great recommendations. As an Ohio resident, I’ve heard especially good things about Kenyon and its English program. In the second article, I noticed that the rankings were based upon each school’s average standardized test scores. Should I focus mainly then on raising my ACT to increase chances of admission? I’ve heard a lot about “holistic review” from admissions officers, but how important are test scores truly?

4

I’m glad you asked about the second article. It wasn’t intended as a message on the importance of test scores. However, test scores, when viewed across averages, tend to correlate with general selectivity, so the analysis may assist you in roughly ordering your tentative choices by selectivity.

Regarding your own current scores, they’re “neat” in a way, in that even your relatively “low” ACT math score appears quite credible for nearly every school in the country. Regarding scores versus “hollistic review,” I’d say that scores in many cases can serve to get you the latter, so it helps if your scores fall above an appropriate threshold, which yours appear to, again, for nearly any school in the country. That noted, ideally you should test as closely as possible to your potential, so if you think you might have significant room for improvement, then a retest could be beneficial.

5

Yes, Kenyon’s distinctive national reputation lies partly in the strength of its excellent English department! (They’d be good for history too though.)

Since the schools mentioned on the thread thus far all fall into a very high selectivity category, you might want to consider the somewhat more accessible Denison as well.

6

You are a competitive applicant. Your stats and ECs are good. Write great essays and you could get accepted to any of these schools

7

@merc81 That makes sense. Now, for schools that superscore the ACT (like many LACs), are single-sitting compsoite scores still considered, or is the superscore the score that is reviewed by the admissions department? Thanks for your help!

8

You’re an excellent applicant, I’d take Math 2 since you’ve taken precalculus, even if your not applying for stem, the selective colleges you’re interested in do want to see broad academic strength, then a language since you might major in linguistics and the third one can be whatever you’ll do best in - ush, comp etc… The ECs are a long list, so tighten them to show focus on on few areas, especially the ones where you can continue in college. Good luck!

9

You have strong academic credentials and EC’s. Are you are recruited athlete? Your list includes only East Coast schools. If you are open to schools on the West Coast, you might consider the Claremont Colleges, Occidental, Reed.

10

@theloniusmonk Thank you! That’s helpful. Is there a competitive advantage to taking Math II versus Math I since it covers more advanced material? In addition to the subject test, how else can I demonstrate breadth of skill?

11

@PeaceOfMind Thanks for taking a look at my profile. I would really only be recruitable at the D3 schools on my list, like Williams and Hopkins, so I might try to contact the coaches there. Though according to my coach I could likely walk on to an Ivy-level program–not sure if that helps my application or not. My neighbor is actually a current student at Pomona, and I’ve heard nothing but good things! Do you know which of the West Coast schools is best known for its English program?

12

@wordnerd2: Schools that superscore will see only your highest section scores at the admission committee level as far as I’m aware. If they were to simultaneously have access your single-day score, that would seem to be inconsistent with the principle of superscoring.

With respect to West Coast schools with strong English departments, that list could certainly include Pomona, CMC, Pitzer, Stanford and UC-Berkeley.

13

English program ranking for California: https://www.collegefactual.com/majors/english-language-literature/general-english-language-literature/rankings/top-ranked/far-western-us/california/

Reed is ranked high on West Coast for English: https://www.collegefactual.com/colleges/reed-college/news/top-college-2018-top-ranked-general-english-language-literature/

14

Definitely take Math 2 if you’ve taken pre-calc which I thin you have, that’s what your fellow applicants will most likely take as well. Math 1 doesn’t really add anything to your Math SAT score. I meant academic breadth and you’re doing well there as you’ve taken or taking honors/AP in math and science and applying to non-stem majors.

15

Your EC’s seems very strong make sure you know which ones you want to focus on and place on the common app.

16

@PeaceOfMind Thank you!

17

You should narrow down your EC list to 5-10 that are most meaningful to you and that help tell a story in your application

18

bump :slight_smile: