South Asian 17 year old boy
Not the first one to go to a 4 year college
Physics SAT – 790
Chemistry SAT- 800
Math level 2 – 800
SAT : 1370 ( But not submitting to middlebury as 3 SAT subject tests can be sent instead of it )
GPA :
GCSE CIE A levels
4.0/4.0 in both A1 and A2 with A stars and some A ( inclined towards A stars )
predicted will probably hit all A stars
Mid term grades will also probably be all A stars with an A
Don’t have class rank
If there was one, I would easily be in the top 7 %
Been the student of the year twice in my school year
ECAs ( not extraordinary but decent ) :
Baseball team captain . won a few inter school tournaments and played for national clubs
Tennis - played in ITF tournaments and ATF camps. 5 medals in total in under 18 tournaments. Exec of school club
MUN – not many awards but the vice chair of my school MUN this year
School science club president where we conducted a few tournaments and led discussions
Journalism – used to write articles for school magazine and a library. Now writing a few for a student run online magazine and a school.
community service – more than 200 hrs teaching at schools, making presentations, basic programs
pursuing the Duke of Edinburg International Award for young people – Bronze
and a few more ( such as good internship )
Will probably apply for 3-2 engineering program with physics, cs major
middlebury does not have supplements. I think my common app essay is quite good
recos – will probably be great as well
They all seem to be academic matches, albeit maybe high matches, and their acceptance rates make every application a crapshoot really. So long as you have a safety or two (and I’d add a few true matches in the 30-40% range too), I think you’ll get in one of them.
She means that you need to apply to some schools that have acceptance rates of 30% and above so that you have some choices. All of those schools are reaches. Of those, Bates has the highest acceptance rate of 22%, which puts it into the “not a true match for anyone” range. And you are an international, so if you need financial aid, that limits you more.
You have great stats, but no true match schools and certainly no safety schools. Ideally you need at least one or two safeties, which probably means 40% or higher acceptance rate. You have no true match schools, so find a few that are in the 25%-40% range. These aren’t hard and fast rules, because colleges that use hollistic admissions are not bound to hard and fast rules. But don’t limit your options by only applying to reaches.
For match schools you might look at Skidmore (they have the 3+2 engineering program), Dickinson, University of Scranton, Bucknell, and Union just for starters. I can’t speak to their finaid for internationals or whether they have a 3+2 agreement. Also look at their male to female ratio, I know Skidmore looks for more balance as well as Vassar, which would be another reach for you (possible better chances due to being male).
@NEPatsGirl@Lindagaf haha well i will be applying to a few safeties as well. I just listed the top tier colleges because i wanted to know my chances for the competitive colleges. One MIGHT be able to get an idea of his or her chances of getting into safeties thereafter. Is there anything i can work on to be a bit more appealing to the colleges, especially middlebury?
@meta-alakazam, defintely agree with @wisteria100 on submitting the three SAT 2’s at Hamilton as a 1370 SAT only achieved an 8% acceptance rate for the Class of 2021. As a result, Hamilton is a big reach if you submit the SAT as the score profile is identical to Middlebury. Good luck as they are all great choices!
Hamilton CDS: https://www.hamilton.edu/documents/CDS_2016-2017.pdf
SAT Critical Reading 650 740
C9 SAT Math 650 740
SAT Writing 650 740
Reading SAT Math SAT Writing
700-800 52.21% 48.25% 52.21%
600-699 38.05% 42.01% 38.50%
500-599 9.73% 9.73% 8.85%
400-499 0.44%
@meta-alakazam, BTW we have twin DD’s attending Hamilton who profiled similarly on the SAT2’s (higher on SAT/ACT at 35) and they are both really happy with their decision. They also applied to Bates, Bowdoin and Middlebury and were accepted in RD at Bates, waitlisted in RD at Middlebury and one was deferred/denied in ED1 and the other denied in RD at Bowdoin - neither applied ED2 at Middlebury as that does help some; at Bowdoin ED acceptance rate is identical to RD when you take out the hooked applicants.
I think you have a great shot at Midd, especially ED2! Check out the program closely. I am virtually positive that it is still a 2-1-1-1 program. First two years at Midd. Then, while many of your classmates are away studying for junior year abroad, you go to an engineering school like nearby Dartmouth for a year. You then return for senior year at Midd, and I believe you graduate with your BA along with your classmates. Then you do a 5th year back at the engineering school to get your bachelor’s of science in engineering. A pretty exciting prospect! Good luck with admissions!
@Sam-I-Am Thanks for your comment
It is a 2-1-1-1 program with dartmouth but a 3-2 program with columbia ! Is there anything specific I can do to boost my chances at Midd ed 2?
@meta-alakazam, while its optional and they can’t guarantee that they can meet all requests, I think it would be a plus as they do “consider” interviews - if you look at the CDS for each school you are looking at you’ll see a table that notes whether interviews and demonstrated interest are “important”, “considered”, or “not important” - at Middlebury both are “considered”.
@meta-alakazam, definitely request an alumni as suggested byChembiodad. Also, make yourself a recruited athlete if you want to play in college. It sounds like you have talent in baseball and tennis. Not sure if that translates into being a NESCAC level recruit, however. If so contact the coach(es) to see if they have room for you as a recruit or even a walk-on. Being an athletic recruit helps any early applicant to Midd or other NESCAC school. The baseball field is really beautiful and the tennis courts are centrally located on campus next to the cafeteria. Midd’s use of three subject tests in place of ACT or SAT will favor you tremendously as will applying ED2. There will be lots of opportunities to get to know your physics professors on a first name basis at Midd and to do research. Centennial Hall is a wonderful new science building and you will get full use of it. Lots of light with tremendous views, open spaces to study, great laboratories and having all your sciences in one terrific building is convenient.
agree with @Sam-I-Am that it definitely helps as none of the top NESCAC’s are accepting 100% of those that have achieved 34-36 ACT’s or 800 on SAT 2’s, so anything else you can being to the table helps!
Case in point, only 63% that achieved a 34-36 ACT were accepted at Hamilton - yes a high percentage, but not a slam dunk and I’m certain that Middlebury is at least the same given the score profiles are almost identical.
Just one modification to the excellent suggestions above. Look at Middlebury’s admissions section of their website. They are very clear that alumni interviews are set up by the school and tell you not to call or email them about an interview (translation: “Don’t call us; we’ll call you.”).
@merc81, great catch as Hamilton’s test flexible policy is very specific - Three individual exams of your choice, selected from SAT sections (including Essay test from redesigned SAT), SAT subject tests, ACT writing, AP scores or IB final exams*. One must be a verbal or writing/essay test, one must be a quantitative test, and the third is your choice.
@meta-alakazam, given Hamilton’s policy, you would have to submit the CR Section or Essay Test from the SAT or a qualifying verbal SAT 2 Test to meet the three individual exam criteria.
Interestingly, your SAT I total is only a slight 10 points below Middlebury’s reported mid-point. From a statistical perspective, it would, if submitted, serve as an additional substantiating data point, and therefore could be regarded positively. Since I have no particular insight into how Middlebury would actually perceive your score, I can’t confidently recommend you submit it. However, this could be something to think about.