Chance Me: Pomona College

SAT I: 1550 (750 Writing; 800 Math)
Subject Tests: 790 Math 2

School information: Very small school with around 1,500 students. Rural area so not much opportunity in terms of academics (we only have 6 AP classes in total).

GPA: 4.0 (4.33 weighted)
Rank: 1

Senior Course-load: AP Chem, AP Lit, Forensics, Physics, Statistics, Civics, Econ, PE
Note about course-load: I finished AP Calc AB sophomore year but I don’t have enough math credits currently so I am taking the next highest math class, which is stats. I also have taken all the AP classes that my school offers (AP World, AP Calc AB, APUSH, AP Env. Science, AP Chem, and AP Lit)

Extra-Curriculars:

  1. Water Polo (Junior and Senior Captain) - I’ve played year round ever since 8th grade.During the off-season I play club polo. Couple of honorable mentions in our conference.
  1. Piano - I've played piano for 10 years and finished my state's piano program to level 10 out of 10.
  2. Mock Trials (Senior Attorney Captain) - Year round Mock Trial for 4 years throughout high school. We went to San Fran last year and are going to New York this year (global competitions). Our team made state last year and placed 8th (The highest our team has ever made it)

Also:
Income Bracket: 50k
Asian Male

You look great on paper! High scores, strong ECs and course load. Are you planning on playing water polo in college and trying to get recruited? The most important thing for pomona is that you would be an asset to the community. What will you write your essay on? what is meaningful to you? What experiences have you had that will make you a good fit at pomona? Nearly everyone applying will have high scores and great ECs, but who are you to the school?

Hey @jojolee! Do you want to play polo in college? Are you good? If so, since you are a senior, please reach out to the water polo coach at Pomona ASAP. He can review your transcript and scores with admissions as a “pre-read” if he is interested in you. Do you have a polo video tape? If so, send it his way as well. The coach also from California and is a great guy. Please feel free to PM me if you have any questions. Best of luck!

I definitely want to play polo in college! I already emailed him six days ago but I got no response. I might try again and send him my transcript this time.

Could you send me a PM, I cant seem to because I am a new account.

As a man, your chances are better than a woman, since more women apply but they accept roughly 50-50. That said, no matter how good your stats, admission is highly competitive. What worked for my student is to really profess your love for Pomona. Explain how you would use the opportunities that the school provides in your essays. Really polish your essays. And above all, give some thought about what makes you awesome and unique and how you hope to contribute to your new community. Good Luck. So many great students and not enough seats for all who wish to become Sagehens. But don’t get discouraged, put some elbow grease into it. You’re going to have to show your enthusiasm.

@jojolee36 I agree that it’s important to “profess your love for Pomona.” But to be convincing, you need to learn specifics about Pomona College and link those specifics to your goals and values.

^^Well, yeh, of course.

Your Scores are ok enough. Your workload this year just for your school is nice but keep in mind that even though you took all of your school’s AP courses, you still are at a disadvantage because of the lack of AP courses. Within your school you are good but outside the attractiveness decreases. Also what major do you want to do what state are you in? All of this affects your chances. 8th in California is much more attractive than say 8th in Vermont.