Hello everyone, I need advice. I am a high school senior in the midst of applying to colleges and I need someone to chance me so I don’t get my hopes up! Here is my college list (in no particular order)
Western Washington University (safety, I know I will be accepted)
Lewis & Clark College (Portland)
Occidental (Los Angeles)
Scripps
Smith college
Mount Holyoke
Bates
I am a girl from Seattle, Washington
My stats:
GPA: as of junior year it is 3.928 unweighted (idk what it is weighted)
SAT: couldn’t take it, all the colleges don’t need it this year
Classes: Honors math since freshman year, AP human geo, AP Spanish culture, AP Spanish lit, AP stats, I have done part time running start since junior year (I take half my classes at the local community college, mostly science, English and history)
Extracurriculars:
Seattle United club soccer all 3 years except this year (COVID)
Highschool soccer for 2 years
Suicide prevention team at my school since sophomore year
Leadership development institute in summers after freshman and sophomore year (was supposed to be an intern for a month this summer there but it got cancelled)
Counselor/volunteer at summer camp for one summer
I started working with Service Salute since COVID hit, I write letters to hospitals around the country
Spanish tutor since junior year (this year I reached out to my teacher and we are doing zoom drop in tutoring sessions)
My essay is unfinished but is about growing up shy/not believing in myself, a specific experience I had at camp one night and how it gave me a different perspective on myself, I think it is pretty good.
I need financial aid, hopefully that doesn’t turn colleges off
There is nearly no way get through the college application process without some anxiety. And I think that people should get their hopes up- it is one of the fun parts of life. From here it doesn’t look as if your hopes are wildly misplaced (you are not, for example, looking at Hampden-Sydney, which would be a no-hoper for you).
As for financial aid, it is not a matter of “turning them off”. It’s a calculation between how strong a candidate you are, how much money you are likely to need, and how much money is available to give away.
Is WWU a financial as well as admissions safety? Will you be upset if it is your only choice? It seems from here as if you have one all-the-way fall back option and a bunch of colleges that are reachier than they would be if you didn’t need finaid. Getting in and not being able to attend b/c there isn’t enough finaid is even worse than not getting in.
WWU is a financial and admissions safety, I really just don’t like any other state schools in my state, and I know I will be okay if I go there. I have done research on a lot of these schools today and found out a lot are need-blind in the admissions process. I am wondering whether you think I have a good shot at getting to any of these colleges? Are there any you have in mind that are more safe than these but still challenging because I would definitely look into them if you give me some names.
Likely to be admitted to all or almost all of your targeted schools based on your UW GPA and ECs. Of course, teacher recs & your essay will be important considerations as well.
P.S. Also, you offer geographic diversity to the schools in New England. This should help.
If your CC marks are included in your GPA, none of the places you list look like unreasonable options for you.
I suggest you look a little harder at Scripps and Smith: would you be equally happy at both places? the student bodies read differently to me (with MH someplace in the middle).
Have you run the Net Price Calculators for all of your schools? Have you discussed with your parents what they are willing and able to pay?
You are looking pretty good to me. You have a great school that is affordable, and you are a good candidate for the others. Yes, it is possible that you may not get the aid you need to go to some of these schools or perhaps your need could be a tipping point big any are need aware, but you have a good list and if you can afford your state school as a full pay, it seems to me a good possibility that some aid packages will happen. Whether they are enough—whether a school determines need as your family dies may be an issue. That’s a common problem. This, the NPCs to get some idea of what these schools expect from your family.
I have done the My Intuition calculator for all of my schools, and for all of them the best estimate has looked great, my parents agreed too. Of course it is a less in depth estimate and I assume the price will be more than meets the eye, as it always is.
I hope you posted to get your hope UP, not down. And rightly so, you seem so ready for a good college.
A few random thoughts from a dad whose daughter’s list of schools and stats are somewhat similar to yours.
Did you visit any of these places? Lewis & Clark would be an easy drive for you. We went there in late June. It was empty but we fell in love with the beauty of the place. Dreamy, probably the most gorgeous of about 40 schools we’ve seen (we travel quite a lot, and wouldn’t miss an opportunity to see a college nearby). I would think it is academic safety for you, so if finances seem to be working out too, hey, you’ve got quite a place in your neighborhood.
Occidental (Los Angeles) - we saw it before COVID. It looked like a place with quite a bit of deferred maintenance. Money trouble? Check the web, draw your own conclusions. We decided against applying, despite good vibes.
Scripps - My D will apply RD there if her Pomona ED doesn’t work. We are in love with the consortium, and the geography - an hour from a beach, 45 minutes from a ski resort. Sun all year, a great cure for so many early-college ailments. The campus looks like a luxurious vineyard in Napa or Sonoma. On the other hand, we know a young woman who transferred out after 2 years which she absolutely loved there. But then, many classes she needed were not available, the cost was difficult to justify - when moved to U of Michigan, so I guess a small college was not really in her DNA.
Mount Holyoke - we liked the campus (empty in August), we liked the vibes, my D is applying. We have the impression that this is one of these places that stresses a lot the women-only aspect of the experience.
There has been a lot of discussions on College Confidential about the tests - take them or not, submit the results or not. The agreement seems to be that while they are optional, it is certainly an additional data point for the colleges to consider and may tip the scale in your favor - so, if you are an OK or better test taker, why don’t you try? There was a temptation to drop it off completely after 7 cancellations, we decided to drive about 2 hrs to a test place that was opened - and my D did very well on ACT - it actually helped a lot in deciding on the application strategy. Don’t worry if you definitely decided against it - I just wanted to add a perspective based on a positive experience.
I’m just curious - if you are already considering a state school, why a world-class state flagship is not on your list?
Did you look into Bryn Mawr? The selectiveness is similar to some colleges on your list, amazing campus, great culture, a posh suburb of Philadelphia. If not for emotional investment in Pomona, it would be my D’s ED, most likely.
I didn’t even touch on the topic of your interests, expected major, etc., but I’m sure that if you add this piece of info, the advice will be even more focused.
Do you have a clear favorite that also projects good aid via the NPC? If so, are you considering applying Early Decision?
It sounds as if you need enough aid that the unpredictable factor of merit aid is unlikely to affect the bottom line. So, playing the ED card and increasing your odds at that school (and perhaps having an EDII school in mind as a backup) could be a good strategy.
There’s no doubt that you pass the first filter of being a qualified applicant for any of these schools. With test scores out of the mix this year, and other unknowns like deferrals from this year potentially cutting into capacity for next year, it’s a lot harder to predict outcomes… and it’s not that easy to predict even in a “normal” year! It seems like you have a well thought out list, though, so just prepare the strongest application you can, apply EA anywhere that offers it, consider an ED strategy, and maybe add a few more schools for good measure.
Is Whitman a possibility, or does the aid not look favorable enough?
Since you clearly like women’s colleges, how about throwing Bryn Mawr into the mix as well? (Direct flights from Seattle to Philly are a plus.)
If you like Bates, maybe add a few more in the New England co-ed LAC vein? (There are so many that it’s hard to suggest without more specific interests/parameters… Colby would be the most obvious in terms of geographic overlap.)
@ArtsyKidDad in regards to SAT, I live in a sensitive household right now, I cannot risk going to take the test, COVID is a threat to my family, and I also think that the SAT is really stupid.
I have not been able to visit any of the colleges except for WWU, just because it is so close.
I think Scripps looks and sounds like an amazing school, it is on my list and I really like it, I guess I just don’t know if I could get in, I have a lot of self doubt.
In regards to state flagship, I live too close to the University of Washington and I just really dislike it, don’t want to go there or really any other big school, I am definitely a small LAC type of girl.
I just started looking at Sarah Lawrence, Skidmore and Bard, those three seem like they are safer in terms of GPA, so I have a better shot.
I am really interested in Environmental Policy, of course that will possibly change throughout college. I love hiking and kayaking and camping (growing up in WA will do that), so I am interested in colleges close to natural areas, but also close to cities or towns.
