Chance me for Brown, CMC, Swarthmore + other schools please :)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I know chance threads are not a perfect science, obviously, but I would really appreciate some feedback from the CC community. Any help at all is greatly appreciated (criticism too :slight_smile: )

GPA: UW 3.9 W 4.2
SAT I: 2210 superscore (770 R/760 W/680 M)
SAT II: 780 USH
Class Rank: school does not rank
AP: USH (5), Human Geo (5), English Lang & Comp (5)
Awards: Inducted into Cum Laude Society in junior year (school specific honor), won silver medal on National Spanish Exam 3 times in a row (level 2, 3, and 4), Young Woman Leader Award from local organization

ECs
Theater/Arts
High School Theater Dept- 9,10,11, 12
Middle School Theater- Asst. Stage Manager (10), Stage Manager (12)

Clubs
Founder and leader of Mental Health Awareness Club. Raised $2000 in fundraising event that I organized completely on my own - 11, 12
Amnesty Int’l Student Group- Member (9, 10, 11), Leader (12)
Newspaper- Editor (11), Editor in Chief (12)
Model UN- 10, 11, 12
Tutor- 11, 12

Volunteer/Community service: Music Therapy & working at an animal shelter (won’t be listing these on the activities resume because my time commitment isn’t that great even though I love the work)

Intended major(s): International Relations

Ethnicity: White

Gender: F

Special skills: English is first language, but fluent in Spanish and proficient in German.

Income Bracket: High (will not be applying for financial aid)

Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none

Now for the schools:
Brown University
Pomona College
Claremont McKenna College
Swarthmore
Barnard College
Middlebury
Georgetown University
Vassar College
College of William & Mary
Scripps
Lafayette College
Occidental College
Dickinson
Elon University
Lewis & Clark

Thank you very much to anyone who responds! If you like I will chance you back (of course I don’t know much as a rising senior, but I can give my advice :slight_smile:

2

I’m a rising senior too, so take my opinion for what it’s worth. Good GPA and SAT scores (I wouldn’t worry about them). ECs could be a little bit more involved. If you put in a lot of hours to theater, emphasize that in your apps. Good clubs. The thing is that nothing really stands out for me. But, luckily, I’m not an adcom. If you write interesting essays, I think those may be able to help with your ECs. Also, imo, LACs heavily weight the essay.

Brown University: reach/high reach
(Applying ED would help)
Pomona College: reach
Claremont McKenna College: reach
Swarthmore: low reach
Barnard College: high match
Middlebury: low reach/high match
Georgetown University: low reach
Vassar College: match
College of William & Mary: match
Scripps: match
Lafayette College: match
Occidental College: ?
Dickinson: low match/safety? (Not sure)
Elon University: ?
Lewis & Clark: safety

Chance me?

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1903498-separate-my-college-list-into-low-medium-high-reach-match-or-safety-i-will-chance-back.html

3

@ap012199 I guess I didn’t really detail my ECs enough- theatre is heavily involved, i spend 20-25 hours a week in the department, more when we’re in tech week. I’ve done an int’l collaboration through the theatre department, so have travel experience etc. I’m not sure how to be more involved in my ECs :confused: I lead 3 clubs, one of which I founded, dedicate most of my time to theater, etc.
Thank you for the feedback!

4

Ah ok, since that’s the case, I think you’re pretty good on ECs.

5

After having gone through this process myself. There’s really no point trying to chance you for reaches (Gtown and Brown) Specifically. It eventually just boils down to extremely subjective attributes that individual admissions officers like about you (bc they are people too). Things like your high school, town, and even your quirks that you dont think about will play a huge role. For example. I was Rejected at Upenn, Columbia, and Dartmouth, wlisted at Uchicago, but then Got A likely letter from Duke(priority acceptance) and accepted to Princeton. Its really just a toss of a dice so don’t worry too much, med school is more objective so it’s easier to predict. But Just dont get your hopes down or up through CC.

6

I would say, get off CC (trust me I would give this adive to my senior self) and focus on writing essays that will wow admissions officers and showcase yourself in a new way. What I di was I wrote about a specific talent that I had–writing-- and how writing a novel saved me from a bad place in my life. Stuff that is so personal yet so profoundly inspiring is what will actually give you a leg up. Your numbers mean nothing at this point bc around 12k will have the same or better scores and grades and ECs.

7

bumpppp

8

@ap012199 I’m confused by how you categorize the schools to which you’re applying. CMC is a reach, but Swarthmore is a low reach? Middlebury is a low reach/high match, but G’town is a low reach? I’d say all the these schools are equivalent, with perhaps Swarthmore being the most reachy then Middlebury and CMC being only slightly less reachy. Finally, unless you’re applying to SFS, I’d consider G’town the least reachy of the group (although they’re all reachy). Good luck!

9

@urbanslaughter CMC is actually more difficult to get into than Middlebury, Swarthmore and Georgetown. CMC’s acceptance rate is 9.4%, Swarthmore’s is 12%, and Georgetown and Middlebury have about a 16% acceptance rate. Georgetown may be a little bit less reaching than I thought (I was thinking SFS). So that’s why I categorized them that way.

10

@urbanslaughter @ap012199 I am applying to Georgetown SFS, btw, so it does make sense to categorize it as a reach for me.

11

@ap012199 but acceptance rate doesn’t tell the whole story. Just because a school has a higher acceptance rate doesn’t mean it’s easier to get into. Williams has a higher acceptance rate than a bunch of schools that are easier to get into. A higher acceptance rate only means that a school gets more applications. Think about it, if a huge percentage of applicants are totally unqualified from the start they don’t do anything to make it harder to get accepted. This is why Harvard’s 5% acceptance rate is a little misleading. How many people who never stood a chance threw an application at Harvard? Those applicants don’t make it any harder for the qualified applicants. LACs tends to get a lot of self selecting applicants, but California schools (due to weather and demographics) get a lot more applications and the California LACs are a lot smaller too. Not to say it’s easy to get into Harvard or CMC, but the acceptance rate doesn’t tell the whole story.

12

@urbanslaughter I understand your point, but I was just providing the OP with hard numbers. If you want to include oscillating factors such as the amount of qualified v. unqualified people who apply, then yes, acceptance rates won’t tell the whole story. However, one can’t just say that Harvard’s 5% acceptance rate is misleading because there are many applicants that apply that couldn’t get in at all. There are levels of self selection for every school - and they are unquantifiable. So, because of this, I qualified the OP’s list based off of acceptance rate.

13

@urbanslaughter , I am not saying what you claim is not true, but I would love to see some data supporting it. How did you come to those conclusions?

14

Middlebury may love the fact that you’ve taken an interest in languages, make sure you convey that in your interview.

15

@ap012199 I am very confused as to how you’ve sorted your rankings. Why are Brown, CMC, and Pomona much harder to get into than Vassar, Swarthmore, and Middlebury?

16

@SeinfeldFan1 Thanks for that tip! I’m really into learning language so I’ll definitely make sure to highlight that.

17

Brown University: reach
Pomona College: reach
Claremont McKenna College: reach
Swarthmore: target reach
Barnard College: target reach
Middlebury: target
Georgetown University: target reach
Vassar College: match
College of William & Mary: match
Scripps: target reach
Lafayette College: target
Occidental College: target
Dickinson: target safety
Elon University: safety
Lewis & Clark: safety

If I were you I would try to take a SAT subject test in a language or at least one other subject test. That should help a lot if you’re trying to showcase languages in your application :slight_smile:

18

@onlynongenius Thank you! I’ve taken the SAT Math I and II, and spanish, in June- waiting on my scores

19

@yonceonhismouth that should be good! it will for sure solidify your application

20

College of the Ozarks -acceptance rate of 9% - is harder to get into than all these other schools then.