I’m applying to Amherst, Bowdoin, Columbia, Haverford, Macalester, Middlebury, Occidental, Pomona, Swarthmore, Vassar, Williams, and Yale. I was rejected to Brown ED and accepted to my safety, University of Illinois. I’m afraid that other than Macalester and Occidental, I probably won’t be accepted anywhere due to my grades. I suffered with depression for all of freshman year and the first half of my sophomore year maintaining a 3.0 UW average but for second semester of sophomore year, all of junior year, and first semester of senior year, I’ve maintained around a 3.9 UW / 4.5 W GPA. Would this steep uphill trend be able to save me from rejection? My top 2 choices are Pomona and Vassar and I don’t know which to use my ED II for. Would I be able to get into Vassar without an ED II? Here are my stats
GPA: UW 3.51 / W 4.1
SAT: 1470 (770 EBRW, 700 M)
Major: Comparative Literature
AP Scores: Euro (4), Lang (4), Macro (4), Psychology (5), APUSH (5)
Senior Year Load: AP Lit, AP Calc AB, AP Bio, AP World History, AP US Gov/Comp Gov, German 4 Honors
Writing: My personal statement was very strong. My second Common App essay, in which I explained my depression, was also very well written.
I’m expecting my teacher recs to be great because my teachers love me.
Extracurriculars: Studied abroad in Germany over the summer with CIEE, completed a Creative Writing pre-college program at Brown, Founder of Feminist Club, and President of Amnesty Club, Editor-in-Chief of school newspaper are my main ECs
Hooks: I’m Pakistani, Muslim, and gay and much of my personal statement was about that. I’m low-income but not first-gen.
Do I have a solid chance at Vassar? Do I have a chance at the other selective schools?
columbia, yale, pomona, swarthmore, williams, and amherst are luck-of-the-draw schools, so i can only say you’ll be rejected as of right now. i’m not sure about vassar, bowdoin, middlebury or haverford. i know they all practice holistic admissions, so that can maybe work in your favor.
are you a boy? i know the acceptance rate for men at vassar is higher than the acceptance rate for women. have you applied to other schools besides the university of illinois and the ones you listed?
i don’t want to say you’ll be rejected indefinitely from most because your stats are really, really good. it’s just an arbitrary process.
Thanks for the reply! And yes I’m a boy. I haven’t applied to any other schools so I can’t really gage my competitiveness as an applicant. However, I applied to Williams’ fly-in program and although I was rejected, I was handpicked (along with 50 others) out of 1,200+ applicants to have a 30 minute convo with an associate admissions officer. I think that means I’m atleast somewhat competitive, but not sure.
I’d check out Pomona EDII if you are confident they are your two top choices and you wouldn’t regret going to them without hearing back from the others.
Vassar’s male acceptance rate is relatively high- 55%- so it’s a much easier shot than it is at Pomona (male acceptance rate 10% with higher academic standards than Vassar).
Pomona’s RD pool is extremely competitive and with that GPA, you might get outright denied without much consideration. The EDII pool is the smallest, so more attention is paid to each applicant and your story might stand out more then. Have your counselors and teachers make the upward trend in your grades clear (as well as your background). Write out an incredible essay with the required Pomona supplement. Reach out to your regional officer. I think you can stand a chance at Pomona EDII that way.
@nostalgicwisdom Would you think it’s possible for me to get into at least 2 reach schools on my list without an ED? I’m finding difficult to commit to one school over another and my counselor told me if I’m having doubts, it’s a sign that I shouldn’t ED II. My counselor said he cried while writing my rec and that he stressed my uphill trend so I’m hoping it’s enough to make me competitive for my RD schools, though it wasn’t enough for Brown (I asked my regional AO exactly why I was rejected so I could gage my competitiveness, he said everything was good except for my transcript). Also, I’m nervous about applying ED to a school I haven’t visited. And I can’t afford to visit any of them before I find out if I’m even accepted. Should I just not ED II and see which schools I get into?
hi! me again, lol. have you checked out carleton? you sound like someone who, i think, would be happy there. although its minnesota location is a turn off for many, i figured i would mention it since macalester is on your list.
not that it hasn’t already been stated, but the acceptance rate for boys is much higher at vassar for men than women, and, in my personal opinion, if you know you’ll be happy there, i say that’s the school at which you should ED and use that ^ fact to your utmost advantage.
(i can see good things coming out of swarthmore, amherst, and carleton [should you choose to look into it], but i say carleton specifically because they stress the holistic nature of their reviewing process. plus, colleges love seeing an upward trend in grades, so that’s another good thing.)
Hi @kalons Carleton stresses that test scores are amongst the least important part of ones application which worries me a bit, as i expect my test scores to curtail the effects of my GPA. And I’ve spoken to Carleton admissions officers about the study of Comparative Literature, and unfortunately, there isn’t a way I could construct my own major the way I could at Vassar or Pomona, so I had to cross Carleton off my list.
I think it really comes down between Vassar and Pomona. Vassar is beautiful, close to NYC, open curriculum, one of the larger LACs, and closer to my extended family in NJ, whereas Pomona isn’t open curriculum but it is in a consortium. In my high school of 1,800, there’s 12 open gay/bi people, and I don’t want that kind of experience ever again. Not that I’m expecting anyone to be an expert on this, but would it be hard to find relationships at Vassar seeing as how only 35% is male, and a minority of that 35% would be gay/bi? I think it’ll be easier to find relationships at Pomona because of its consortium whereas Vassar might be a bit limiting.
haha, man, i’m a bisexual male from rural tennessee whose school had a population of 1,200, so i most definitely understand your pain. however, vassar tends to attract many GBTQ+ men, probably more than pomona, and the current male:female ratio is 42%:58%, which is in line with most liberal arts colleges. vassar actually has a FAQ titled “I’ve heard that Vassar has a large gay population. Is that true?” on their website.
no, vassar is not part of a consortium, but keep in mind that both colleges suffer from hook-up cultures, so finding a relationship at either will be a bit challenging, gay or not. vassar is also roughly half the size of the four co-ed claremont schools combined, but i think you’ll find the same amount of GBTQ+ men with the claremonts probably having a tiny bit more just because, combined, the student population is double vassar’s size.
I’m planning to apply to graduate schools on the East coast which is why I’m leaning a little toward Pomona (also bc better weather and A+ diversity), in the fear I’ll never get to experience the West (I live in Illinois). However, Pomona is incredibly selective as nostalgicwisdom mentioned and if I ED II and get rejected (which will almost certainly happen), I might get rejected to Vassar too b/c I applied RD and then I wouldn’t have gotten into either of my top schools. If I ED II to Vassar, I might actually get in, so I think I’m going to go with Vassar for ED II. Thanks for the help @kalons !!! Much appreciated!
it’s no problem! I struggled with the same problem (wanting to experience the west out of fear i’ll never be able to since i’m from tennessee), but I had to make the decision to take pomona off my list since it’s so, so selective. it was really hard, but I didn’t want to waste money on a rejection, haha. I say go with your gut, whether that be applying ED2 to pomona or applying ED2 to vassar. do I think you should apply to vassar since I think you would be happy there and you have a better chance? absolutely. do I think there’s no hurt in trying for pomona against vassar since you have the stats? of course. it’s all a matter of choice.
