I am a sophomore studying archaeology and biology at a top 15 liberal arts college. Could anyone let me know what should I expect from my school list? Thanks a lot!!
HS:
top target school in China
uw gpa 3.7
ranking n/a (~top 30% meh
exchange semester at Lawrenceville
College:
top liberal arts (one of vassar, w&l, haverford, or davidson)
16 credit-units
gpa 4.0
anthropology and biology major
premed
SAT: 1600/1600, essay 7/7/7
SAT subject test: math2 800, USH 720 (should I even send it???)
AP: Micro/Macro/Art History/Human Geography/Stats 5, all self-studied
Nothing impressive in terms of EC/awards:
College -
college farm intern
international student liaison
admission representative
chem peer tutor
elementary school tutor volunteer
EMT
High School -
museum guide
outing club head
community service group founder
scientific scuba diving
Archaeology -
college-funded summer excavation in Europe
summer excavation and research experience in China
institutional scholarship for bioarchaeology
underwater archaeology training
symposium presentation
Archaeological Institute of America professional member
English, mandarin, french (advanced); german (reading knowledge)
Chinese/Cypriot citizen, gay asian male, don’t need FA
Compelling storyteller, and profs like me (also don’t want me to leave)
I am looking at:
Yale
Princeton
Stanford
Chicago
Duke
Brown
Penn
Hopkins
Williams
Amherst
Swat
Bowdoin
Pomona
Guessing the goal is to “trade up” to a name that is more recognized back home?
From your other posts, I’m guessing that you are already at a school in a consortium with Swat, and that at least 4 (almost certainly more) of the places on your list rejected you in the first round (also that you have re-taken the SAT since then).
Surprised you don’t have UCB or UCLA, both of which have top-tier archaeology programs on your list- much stronger than Princeton or Duke, for example.
Guessing again: if you are looking next at bioarchaeology / biological archaeology PhD programs, there aren’t that many, and it’s not clear that admissions are better if you are an internal candidate.
Most guesses are fairly accurate. I definitely didn’t expect someone would bother to look up my old posts from years ago tho lol
The main reason why I am considering a transfer is actually less about the prestige but more about my peers. I do believe my current school has a solid reputation both in academia and in the industry. For the most part, I enjoy my school very much, but not so much when it comes to our sister school where I actually major. I would expect more rigor in the classroom, and I would expect to find that in a more selective program.
Well, big hint: those tippy tops don’t want to hear you want a transfer based on your current peers. And do the proper vetting to learn how few transfers some of those colleges take, plus what they look for.
Since you are looking at both Swarthmore and Penn, have you tried taking courses at either of them? It’s definitely doable through the consortium.