Chance me for Barnard, Claremont McKenna, Carleton

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Basic Info:
-Female
-White (Middle Eastern), first generation American Born, low-income
-Texas
-Top 20 Magnet School, very competitive
-Major: Political Science

Stats:
-GPA: 4.1 Weighted (school doesn’t do unweighted but based off my own calculations I have a 3.5), this is what I’m worried the most about: I have 3 C’s in Geometry, Physics, and Chemistry but none of these relate to my major. Given the context of my school will this severely reduce my chances?)
-SAT: 1460
-SAT Subject: : World History: 770, Literature: 720
school does not rank

AP/Honors Classes:
World History (5), Seminar (4), Research (5), APUSH (4), Psychology (5), Language (5), Literature, Calculus,

Honors:
-Published poetry and research paper on international scale
-AP Scholar w/Distinction
-Best American Poetry national award

  • 2 MUN local awards
  • 3 citywide Debate awards

ECs:
-leadership: Co-founder and President of Model UN, Political Research Team Leader at Sunrise Movement (political non profit), Poetry Editor in Chief Blueshift Journal, DreamTeam Director SoReal Dance Studio, Historian Interact Club
-200+ volunteering hours
-counselling to homeless LGBT youth
-Mayor’s Youth Council Councilemember

Work:
-3 years for a media company and came up with an idea for a YouTube series that’s gained 23 million+ views
-Intern/Field Representative for a political campaigning group
-Panda Express worker for like 6 months

Schools I am applying to
-Reaches: Barnard, Claremont McKenna, Carleton, UNC, UVA, UMich, Northeastern, Brown (lol), Rice (lol)
-Safeties: A&M, University of Houston, Scripps

I have strong EC’s, recs, and essays but my gpa is just really worrying me and my SAT isn’t stellar either

2

bump?

3

Scripps had a 24% acceptance rate this year. It’s not so much a safety.

4

I’d suggest looking at collegedata.com. On the admissions page, scroll down to see % of admits with your GPA and scores. For safeties, you want to be in the top 25% at a school with 50%+ admission (at least this is what someone told me). I do think your list is reach heavy. The three Cs will likely hurt. My kid had one C and we heard through admissions rep that this was a problem at several schools. He applied to schools similar to your reach list and had a 35 ACT. While he did end up at a reach, we were honestly surprised. If you can write a very compelling essay, that will help your application.

5

Yes, Scripps is a match or at best a low match, not a safety.

And Claremont McKenna is an “lol” in the regular decision cycle. They accept 77% of their class ED (32% ED admit rate), leaving only enough spots to allow about a 6% admit rate in the RD cycle. With your stats, CMC would be a low reach ED, but a high reach RD.

I think your chances of getting into at least one reach school are pretty good. But why no match schools (other than Scripps)?

6

I thought Scripps was more of a match too but then I looked at my naviance and everyone with my stats and lower got accepted. It was weird

I’m mostly applying to reach schools because I’d be really fine with ending up at A&M or Scripps but these reach schools are really the ones that pique my absolute interest and can help me financially.

I am explaining that my low grades were b/c I was basically working part-time all 4 years and taking care of my ill mom when I got home (got home at 8PM, started studying at like 9) but since this circumstance affected me throughout all of high school and I’ve gotten a C in one class every year I feel like adcoms will get the impression that I haven’t grown or improved and so many people have part-times without C’s. My GPA has pretty much stayed the same all throughout high school. Am I worrying too much haha?

7

Is your guidance counselor aware of your heavy work and caregiving responsibilities? It can be better to have him/her explain your circumstances in your counselor recommendation, in the context of endorsing you as a strong student with some extenuating circumstances, than to explain it yourself. (You can allude to it but let the counselor provide the detail and back you up.)

Possible full-need-met match schools that have attributes in common with your reach schools (if there are ideas you haven’t already ruled out among these), are: Macalester, St. Olaf, Holy Cross, Dickinson, URochester, and Mount Holyoke. But it makes sense that if you have a safety or two that you like, then there’s no point adding matches that you don’t like even better. Sounds like you’re thinking it through and doing your research - good luck with the process!