Chance Me For Bates ED + A Few Other Schools :)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Background: Upper middle class white male coming from an extremely prestigious/competitive public school in the Philadelphia suburbs.

Intended Major: Chemistry and/or Film (Why I’m interested in LACs)

ACT: 34 (English: 30 / Math: 35 / Reading: 35 / Science: 34)

SAT Subject tests: Working on them, Most likely will take Chem and Math II

GPA: 4.0 UW / 4.97 W (Freshman: 4.94 / Sophomore: 4.90 / Junior: 5.07) (Max at my school is 5.25)

Course-load: Taken 16 Core Classes total, never taken anything below honors level, 4 AP classes, all final grades above 90%

AP Scores: Gov (5) / Chem (4) / Physics Mech (3)

Senior Year Schedule: AP Physics E&M, AP Stat, AP Calc AB, AP Psych, Honors Writers Craft, Advanced Television/Screenwriting.

Work Experience:
-Have worked at Jersey Mikes (Hoagie/Sub Restaurant) since they opened (slightly over 2 years) and I am currently the longest-tenured employee there.
-About 2 years of landscaping work for local pre-school.

ECs:
-Film: Very active in my school’s film club, will be treasurer of it next year. One of the films I’ve made in particular looks really professionally done, shot by a friend who has a plethora of high end equipment.
-NHS: Will be treasurer of it next year (In charge of setting up all peer tutoring going on through my school)
-Golf: 3 years Junior Varsity, will try out for varsity this fall but odds I’ll make it aren’t great due to how competitive my school is athletically and the fact that varsity only takes 8 kids, many of whom end up playing in college.
-New Voters Club: Tasked with signing up those in our school who are eligible to vote. In the 2018-19 school year, we were able to register 65% of those who are eligible to vote, and we received the Pennsylvania Silver Civic Engagement Award for our efforts. Last year I was the secretary and next year I will likely be vice president and will aim to get the Gold Civic Engagement Award.
-Photography: My pictures had been featured on various websites, including a creative consultancy and on local NPR online articles.
-Paddle Tennis: 3 Years
-Peer Mediation: 3 Years

Essay:
Really well done according to those who have read it. (9/10?). Dives into serious personal struggles I had while creating a very involved short film that took months to make (The “looks professionally done” one referenced above in my ECs category). Poses and answers a unique ethical/moral question and excellently describes who I am as a person.

Chance Me For:
Bates (ED)
Boston College
Bowdoin
Colgate
Gettysburg
Loyola Maryland
Northeastern (EA)
Vassar

Thank you if you took the time to read through this and/or respond to this :slight_smile:

2

Bates - reach
Boston College - lowish reach
Bowdoin - reach/high reach
Colgate - reach
Gettysburg - low match/safety
Loyola Maryland - safety
Northeastern (EA) - reach
Vassar - lowish reach

You might want to add a few more targets/matches.

3

Agree with MWolf. But you also need to understand what those colleges look for. Make sure your essay is the sort that works for adcoms, that it shows, not just tells, the traits they look for. It’s different than a school essay for a teacher.

Rather than just sign up hs peers to vote, how about working with an adult group in your community? Expand. The quality of your community service matters more than the title in the club or an award. How you stretch, leave your comfort zone to do for others.

4

I don’t think Bates is a reach if you apply ED. I think you would have a strong chance of admittance. Your 34 puts you well in the top 25% of Bates students, you seem to have course rigor and good Ecs, and Bates fills over half the class at ED (acceptance rate over 40%) so definitely room for non hooked applicants there. Good luck.

5

Your stats make all of them possible. You can be assured that you will get serious consideration everywhere. It’s just a matter of making sure that your application casts you as a fit. I totally agree that ED will help at Bates.

6

Thanks, just had my campus visit there today and fell in love with it. I’m assuming while a 34 would be above 75% percentile regular decision, it would be top 85% or even 90% for early decision? Now I’m super nervous because of how badly I want to go there haha

7

@reverse2, no, you can’t look at it like that. A huge number of the kids getting in ED at Bates (and every LAC like it) are hooked, often as athletes. If you can find a Facebook page that’s public for recent admits, you’ll note that most kids who are introducing themselves to their new classmates are also telling them what sport they’ll be playing.

You will be in a different pool. What you have going for you ED is that Bates knows that if they admit you, you’ll be there. You won’t pick another school in the RD round, and you won’t take a WL offer from another school in June. So if you are a student they can see in their community (which is really up to you to show in your application), you’re in. And then in the RD round, as they build the class, they will know that they already have what you offer. THAT is an advantage.

Glad your visit gave you a first choice. It’s a great school.

8

But do you know what Bates wants and does OP have that?

9

Have you visited Colgate? You should go there before you make a final decision. The place is amazing. Also, Colgate picks over half of its class ED.

10

You’ve got a very good chance at Bates ED. If you like film, also take a look at Wesleyan (CT).

11

Before committing an ED application to Bates, make sure you have thoroughly researched its Rhetoric, Film and Screen Studies major with respect to your interests. The program seems oriented much more toward analysis than production.

12

@merc81 Very good point. I actually had a pretty lengthy conversation with a student who is majoring in that department and I asked her about the production side of it. The major sounds super intriguing and she said Bates has a lot of equipment free for students to rent and use to create what they want, more on their own time while using things they’ve learned in their courses.

13

Your chances are excellent for all the schools as long as you are not a total idiot about the essays

14

I would consider Dickinson College a match. You might want to consider them.