3.8 UW gpa
No test scores
3 AP classes (school doesn’t offer many)
Extra curriculars
President of 3 clubs
Dancer and gymnast for 15
Member of National honor society
Awards
Italian honor society
Italian National exam bronze medalist and Latin National Exam cum laude
Own my own business
-Good interview at holy cross
1 Like
What are you studying?
My guess - difficult.
If you ED at HC, then much better - but is it: a) your top choice and b) can you afford.
Good luck.
Psychology-
Why difficult?
I also have gotten into Fordham, Fairfield, and Providence.
Congrats to you - three fine schools. Fordham a good get as are the other two but they are not as hard to get into. All three had early action whereas only Nova does of the last three.
Don’t forget, it’s just an opinion and I didn’t say no - but I said difficult. You asked - so you shouldn’t be offended at the response - it’s just a guess. I’m not an AO. You don’t say what kind of school you attend but if it were a parochial school I think it can help at two of the three.
The first reason is - you applied RD I assume to Lehigh and HC and hopefully EA to Nova.
Holy Cross has a very high ED acceptance rate but a lower RD rate -and per one of the Holy Cross champions, @Bill_Marsh they’ve over enrolled last year so they need to rebalance.
Lehigh has a 45% or so rate and again, you didn’t apply ED so it will be lower. TO will hurt potentially as more than half submit (in the last CDS) or half per their website. They don’t show a GPA.
Villanova will be the hardest of the three but hopefully you applied EA. With only 25% or so admitted.
You asked an opinion and I said difficult but not impossible. Perhaps Lehigh is the best odds. If you are full pay, that will help (at Nova and HC as I believe they are need aware).
You got into three great programs already - so you’re playing with house money now.
Hope you get into another or three.
Good luck.
3 Likes
Thank you! my high school is a Top ranked high school in Massachusetts. Was just wondering reason behind it.
Congratulations on your achievements and acceptances to date. No one can properly chance you without having access to your essays, LORs and context regarding your school and peers. Anyone attempting to do so is guessing in a relatively uninformed manner. Particularly at Villanova and HC your essays, contribution to your academic community as described in LORs and your record of public service play a major role in outcomes. At Catholic based institutions these factors have a meaningful impact.
Given the quality of your HS your internal resources are your best source of information. Between your GCs and the experiences of other students you should be able to assess your likelihood of success. Certainly your acceptance to Fordham confirms your competitiveness for the other three schools.
I have visited each of the schools you reference. They each offer a great experience with some commonality and some uniqueness. For example, Arthur Avenue in the Bronx has a very different feel than the bucolic fields of Lehigh. I hope you have an opportunity to visit each “finalist” as an accepted student so that you can make the decision that works best for you. I wish you continued success.
4 Likes
I agree with catcher’s above post so don’t have much to add. Please do try and schedule an interview with your Lehigh AO as demonstrated interest is important there.
If you haven’t visited these schools in person make sure to sign up for their virtual admissions session, and whatever other virtual programming they offer (some schools offer student panels, mock application reviews, etc).
Beyond that make sure to check your portals often, and read/click thru any emails the schools send you (especially at Lehigh and Holy Cross as they are looking at/evaluating demonstrated interest).
Congratulations on your acceptances. As long as at least one of those is affordable it will take a lot of pressure off of the rest of your search. Good luck!
3 Likes
Test scores are important at Lehigh. 98% of last year’s freshman class submitted them, so you are handicapping yourself by not submitting test scores there.
Test scores are not important at Holy Cross or Villanova. 40% of last year’s freshman class at Holy Cross were admitted without them and 55% of Villanova’s, so Villanova was the most receptive to test optional applicants.
I strongly recommend that you pick which of these 3 schools is your first choice and apply there ED II. All 3 take a high percent of their ED applicants: Villanova (60%), Lehigh (75%), and Holy Cross (80%).
As @tsbna44 said, Holy Cross is going to be harder to get into this year than they’ve been in the past because a higher than expected number of their acceptances decided to go there. As a result, they were over enrolled by about 100 students. As a result, I expect that they will take a smaller freshman class than they normally do.
As @Catcherinthetoast said, none of us can tell you what your chances are; we don’t sit on the admissions committee at any of these schools. As s/he said, your guidance counselor should be able to tell you how students from your school have fared historically at these schools. Villanova has been the most selective of the 3 in recent years (23% accepted last year). The other two have been comparable with both having been harder to get admitted last year (about 36%) than the year before (in the 40’s). With high school graduating classes getting bigger each year, every school will likely be more selective this year - with the caveat that Holy Cross is expected to be even more so than others. All 3 have become hot schools, attracting increasing interest from applicants.
You haven’t mentioned whether cost is an issue for you. If you are relying on any financial aid, that might influence the decision.
Best of luck. You already have 3 good choices, so you can afford to take a chance with one of these on ED II. You really have nothing to lose.
3 Likes
This is not correct.
50% of the Class of 2026 submitted test scores, see here:
Thanks for the correction. That’s a big change from the most recent common data set which they make available on their website. It sounds like they’ve very much more in the direction of test optional.
I really appreciate that you jumped on this so quickly so that bad information didn’t sit out there. My apologies for being out of date.
1 Like
You say you are at a top ranked HS in MA, but that it doesn’t offer many APs. This makes me think you are probably coming from a parochial school since the top ranked publics and independents in MA offer an abundance of APs. If that’s the case, my guess is that this will help you with HC and Nova. I think Nova is your biggest reach.
4 Likes
I am not sure what CDS you are looking at, but for Class of 2025 (the most recent CDS), 36% submitted SAT, 18% submitted ACT (and there’s likely some overlap there, see C9 at the below link).
2020-21
SAT - 70%
ACT - 28%
There might or might not be significant overlap.
Thanks again for birddogging this. There’s clearly been a significant shift.
I am not sure when Lehigh went TO, and most students from that year likely had test scores. Regardless the pandemic has dramatically shifted test taking/reporting.
2 Likes
Your guidance counselor might be able to help chance you. When a high school has many ED candidates to one college and a few have already been accepted, it may reduce your chances. Some of our local Catholic high schools have good luck with Nova acceptances. Good luck.
This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.