My daughter is a junior at a rigorous independent school. GPA is 3.8/4.0, ACT is 34. ECs: Mock trial for 3 years, county award 2 of 3 years, co-captain of team; editor of school literary magazine for 2 years; volunteer tutor; performed in or worked back stage in plays for 2 years; Black belt in mixed martial arts; Varsity goalie on water polo team every year; all-county team Junior year; made Junior Olympics team in water polo with club team for 5 years; Outstanding Academic All American for water polo soph year (and hopefully Junior year); varsity swimmer for 2 years; belongs to many clubs. I have a hard time knowing if I am under-or-over estimating her ability to get into schools! She is very interested in UChicago. Also loves Brown and Yale (her brother is there). We are visiting many other schools this summer but so far, these are top on the list. Any idea if she has a chance?
All of these schools are reaches for everyone. However, she does have a good chance at all. Just apply broadly and make sure to express interest for the schools she really wants in.
She has really strong stats and diverse ECs, but the schools she’s thinking about are top schools and are really a crapshoot when it comes to applying. Add a couple of strong safety schools (public schools such as Michigan and Texas). Does she want to play water polo in college?
Is there a chance she would be recruited as an athlete? She has good qualifications already, but if she is D1 level, that could definitely give her an edge. Check the college’s websites for info on recruiting if you have not done so already.
Thank you for your replies. She wants to play club or inter mural water polo in college - not DIII (she wouldn’t be recruited for D1). Her brother is a D1 athlete and she sees the (incredible) commitment it takes and the time it takes away from exploring other things.
I doubt UChicago even has much of a club water polo team.
These schools are reaches. You really need to spend more time on matches and safeties – it is harder to find ones your kid will really like. Reaches are easy to find and visit, but the fact is that students are a lot more likely to end up at a match or safety, so it is important to put the legwork in to make sure they really have places they want to attend in April. If she has UChicago, Yale and Brown on her list already, that is honestly enough reaches – I would not spend more time visiting reach schools.
Michigan and Texas, suggested above, are also reaches (assuming this student is OOS for both of them). They are harder for OOS students to get into, especially Texas. Michigan might be a low reach, but still a reach. Texas would be more of a “regular” reach.
Why doesn’t she look at schools with DIII varsity women’s water polo? She can still play a sport she is really good at competitively, but the commitment is definitely less than at a DI school. Here is a list:
http://www.collegewaterpolocoach.org/womens-division-iii-water-polo-programs.html
She should look at the Claremont Consortium schools, all have DIII women’s water polo teams. They are a pretty great arrangement, 5 small colleges that share a bigger campus space and many amenities. Students cross register easily across campuses. My kid who got into UChicago picked a 5C school over UC. Scripps and Pitzer would be good matches, and she might get merit at Scripps. Pomona and Clarement McKenna would be reaches. Harvey Mudd might not be the best choice, it is very challenging to be an athlete there with the academic workload (although that is the school my kid picked over UChicago). Other schools that might be considered low matches for her are Macalester (my kid at Mudd was also accepted there, your kid would probably get merit) and Occidental. She might get an admissions tip at a school with a DIII program too, although she may have to apply ED for it.
^ As usual, @intparent has good advice & the Claremont colleges might be an excellent fit.
Thank you for your thoughtful replies. We toured the CMC schools over Spring Break; I really expected her to like them - and she didn’t! Mudd is more of an engineering school and Scripps is all women, so we didn’t see those, but she didn’t like the others - or Oxy. We are visiting some target and safety schools on our next trip - just trying to gauge if she may be able to get into one of her reaches.
Yes, she has a chance. She has around the same stats as I do, and I got in EA to Chicago, and a few similar EC’s (Captain of Mock Trial, Black Belt, etc.). What is going to really important are the essays. You have to demonstrate that you are the UChicago type with your essays, demonstrating a quirky intellectualism and a passion for knowledge. But to answer your question, yes she has a chance at all of them (with possibly a slightly higher chance at Yale because of the sibling connection). But for UChicago at least, even if you try and get recruited, you still need to display almost as high of a level of fit as everyone else who applies.
UC doesn’t have a varsity women’s water polo team, so being recruited will not be an option.
@intparent Haha this should provide excellent insight to the student body right there. Another UChicago student who knows absolutely nothing about the sports they offer lol.
Your daughter is looking at schools in which admissions are pretty much a crapshoot. Friend got a perfect score on SAT, ACT, 4 subject tests, maxed out of math courses he could take by sophomore year, 5s on probably 13 AP exams. Rejected from Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, Stanford. What I’m trying to say is that your daughter needs some safety schools. While she may have the stats to get into the Ivies and a top-tier private university, the reality is that amazing students are turned down by these schools each year just because they weren’t what the school wanted. Have her consider at least 2 schools with an acceptance rate of over 50%. Best of luck in your search 