Chance Me Please

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

State: IL
GPA: weighted- 3.5/4.0 (B’s and A’s)
haven’t taken SAT yet (predicting 28)
No class rank at my school, I go to a top high school in my state
Freshman yr: Bio reg, French 2, English 1 Honors, Geo reg, World History Honors
Sophomore: Chem reg, French 3 Honors, English 2 Honors, Alg 2 w/ Trig reg, AP Euro
Junior (this year): Physics Honors, French 4 Honors, AP English Lang, Pre-Calc reg, AP US History
Senior (what I plan to take): AP Bio, French 5 Honors (my school doesn’t have AP French), AP English Literature, AP Calc AB or AP Stat, independent study under my old AP Euro teacher

EC:
Student Council: class rep (Freshman), Secretary/Treasurer (Sophomore), Junior student liaison (Junior), student liaison (Senior - it’s an inherited position)
French Club: all 4 years (sophomore-senior: secretary and treasurer)
Orchestra: since 4th grade; Chamber orchestra (Freshman), Concert Orchestra and Honors Orchestra (Sophomore-Senior); I spend about 15-17 hours on orchestra per week
Job: McDonalds crew member; 18 hours a week (Junior year-present)
National Student Leadership Conference (was invited, and am thinking about applying)

Other: I’m a black girl from a single-parent home, lower-middle class, and I live in a house built by Habitat for Humanity. However, I do live in a town of about 27,000 people, 85% white and upper-middle class.

My top college picks are: Spelman College, Wellesley and Smith (I know those two are a stretch), UW Madison, Ohio State, Elon University, UM Ann Arbor, and other top liberal arts women’s colleges.

2

Have you considered Bryn Mawr? That might be a good fit for you, and a little more forgiving than Wellesley and Smith. You have a good number of ECs, and I am most impressed that you work 18 hours a week while doing all that other stuff and maintaining grades. I think it would benefit your grades a lot if you could cut back yours either at work or with your ECs. That will go a,long way to helping your chances. Have you looked into Quest Bridge? You might be a good candidate for that. I urge you to find out about it. It will really help you in lots of ways. Talk to your GC about it too.

I think 8-10 colleges is a good number, but it also depends on if you are looking for money. Are you looking for merit aid? If so, and in general to help your chances, your stats should ideally be in the 75th percentile. Being in the 50th percentile will help you get in, but probably not for merit aid. I don’t know all your colleges, but off the top of my head, I am sure you will get into at least a couple of those mentioned. You should consider taking both the SAT and the ACT. Doing well on either test can get you money. Good luck!

3

Ok, I’ll definitely look more into Bryn Mawr. I work mostly on the weekends by the way, but I’ll admit that my grades have suffered because of my work, thanks for the advice. I haven’t heard about Quest Bridge so I’ll also look into that. Also, I am looking for merit aid (because I come from a lower-middle class family). Thank you for all the advice! If anyone else would like to chance me, I’d greatly appreciate it.

4

You are doing very well for someone who works 18 hrs a week. And you are right Wellesley and Smith may be a stretch. But apply anyway. You never know what any given school is looking for in any given moment. I am certain they will factor in your work experience when evaluating your application. I would also encourage you to add Franklin & Marshall, Dickinson College and Skidmore to your list. Franklin & Marshall and Dickinson are excellent liberal arts colleges and are quite generous with financial aid. These schools are also slightly less selective than some of the others.

5

@akin67 , F & M did away with merit aid a couple of years ago. OP, my D was accepted there last year. Def no merit aid, but she got great merit aid from Dickinson, which is a college I recommend. Skidmore also offers merit aid, and is an excellent school. I beleive Elon is quite generous with merit aid. There is a pinned thread about which colleges offer merit aid, I think it is either in the parents forum, or the college search and selection forum. You can do a search for it.

OP, you need to get started with Quest Bridge asap if you are a senior. I really don’t know a lot about it, but if your stats qualify you, you are going to find that program really helpful. Good luck.

6

The college board has a financial calculator. You and your parent should fill it out. They have a couple of hundred participating colleges where you can then go in and see the estimated financial aid from each from with a few simple clicks. You will be surprised how much of a difference there is in the financial aid offers from the various colleges, even between the ones that claim to meet 100% of need. Based on your need, you may not need to limit yourself to schools that offer merit aid. Regardless, this will give you a very good idea of what your effective net cost will be for each school. You can then decide where to apply know what it will cost.