Chance me please...

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Ethnicity: Mongolian
Citizenship: Mongolia
Visa status: F1
GPA(unweighted): 4.0 - Private schools (2nd semester of junior year + senior year in the US)
SAT: 1360 (math:710, R&W: 650)
Recommendation letters: 2 from English teachers, 1 from History teacher
APs: junior year- AP Calc AB, senior year- APUSH, AP Human Geog, AP Computer Science A
Essay idea: frequent power cuts in my hometown + studying with a candle + inner feelings and thoughts aroused by those “insular times” + mom is angry because of power outages + insular situation helped me focus, make important decision, and get away from the busy world + different memories with my candle

Awards:
-International taekwondo black belt certification
-Grade Ranking 2nd place (previous school)
-Honor Roll in junior year
-Midterm Honor Roll in senior year

Extracurricular activities:
-Front-end web developer - part-time job
-Taekwondo Athlete
-Class President at former school
-Founder of a digital photography and web designing club
-Digital marketing manager of a community project for homeless students
-Volunteer worker of Asia-Europe Meeting 11
-Summer school in junior year
-Graphic designing training
-Rhetorical speech training
-Advanced level english course - 202hours

Colleges considering:
-Babson College
-Colgate University
-College of the Holy Cross
-Franklin & Marshall College
-Lafayette College
-Lehigh College
-Macalester College*
-Skidmore College*
-Soka University of America*
-St. Olaf College*
-Trinity College*
-Union College
*Colleges one of which I am thinking about choosing to apply through ED II.

Which college should I apply through ED II and which ones should I remove from my list ?
THANK YOU.

2

I think Macalester would make a great match for you. A liberal arts college in a great urban location. It may help with the adjustment you’ll feel coming from Mongolia. Schools like Colgate and Union may feel rural or isolated - which may or may not be an issue for you. Holy Cross, Colgate and Trinity have more conservative-leaning/preppy student bodies, largely from the Northeast US, many of whom are pre-professionally oriented towards landing jobs after graduation in New York City, Boston or Washington DC, or going on to law school or getting an MBA. That may be what you’re looking for or not, but I’d just be aware of it. I’m not deriding them - they are great schools for what they are (I am a happy HC alumnus). The culture at schools like those will be very different from Macalester (much more liberal and with a big international focus). Soka could be interesting - not sure of your religious orientation, it is Buddhist, I believe. Babson is pretty purely focused on business education, with less of an emphasis on a broad liberal arts education. Again - not sure what you’re looking for. Best of luck! PS I’d say your chances are pretty solid at most of these schools given your profile - Colgate may be a reach. They are mostly high match/low reach. Might want to add some safeties.

3

Thank you so much. Can you suggest some safeties ? To be honest, I have no requirement but enough financial aid. The problem of mine is financial status because my family is capable of paying $15,000 per year at maximum.

4

Maybe not safeties but more low match, based on the schools you listed: Gettysburg, Dickinson, Providence. Safeties could by Loyola Maryland, Fairfield U. UVM could be worth exploring too as a low match/safety if you don’t mind a bigger state school and the cold :slight_smile: Not sure of the financial aid situation there. Great college town. Very liberal, outdoorsy vibe. What are you looking for culturally? More buttoned up/conservative, or more fun/liberal/loose? And how appealing are Catholic schools vs not? Urban/rural? Having a tighter point of view on questions like those will help strategically form the best list for you.