Chance the coolest history & English major trying not to suffer

[foxrye]

@Lindagaf

Kenyon also, as it is very strong for writing. Not safeties though.

I liked Kenyon decently when I went in the summer but I could not stand the midwest for the life of me sadly.

[Catcherinthetoast]

@parentologist

for those who have exceptional achievement in an outside field, you can and should add letters from teachers or coaches for that special activity. My kid submitted the two academic letters, plus two letters from kid’s special activity

Completely agree and similar to our experience. I think Yale spells it out pretty clearly…

https://admissions.yale.edu/supplementary

They also basically provide a warning that if it isn’t meaningful and something otherwise observable in the application you are diluting or hurting your chances.

“The most useful extra recommendations provide new information and dimension to a candidacy, rather than repeat the strengths and qualities found elsewhere in the application. The recommender should know you well personally or have mentored you closely in some capacity.”

In other words don’t waste our (your limited review) time and we don’t care that your family knows famous people.

If however it is unique, impactful, and outside of the totality of your application or hits any of the other criteria mentioned in terms of performing arts, etc,it should be included.

[Shelby_Balik]

My kid did this too. She had great (I’m assuming) LORs from an English and Bio teacher, but the one who knows her best is her Journalism adviser, so he wrote one, too. I was surprised at how many schools accepted three letters.

[Shelby_Balik]

Keep an open mind about the Midwest – it’s not a homogenous region across the board. I understand not wanting to go to states that have explicitly anti-LGBT laws on the books or seem to be heading in that direction, but the region as a whole is more diverse (politically and culturally) than you might think, and even in red states, there are pockets of blue, especially in cities and college towns. Oberlin (liberal college in a liberal town, 30 minutes away from a liberal city) is an example. You might think about Macalester, too, as a school with a target admit rate that will check a lot of your boxes. Also in a progressive and very diverse city in a (generally) progressive state.

[MistySteel27]

Have you looked into some of the west coast LAC’s? Reed, Lewis and Clark and Whitman are much easier admits than your list. Whitman does a financial preread so you’d know if it was affordable Portland is LGBTQ friendly. You would need to determine if Walla Walla is too far from everything and probably a good idea to reach out to the LGBTQ community on campus to get an idea of the region. I wouldn’t choose rural Oregon or Washington in general but Walla Walla might be ok.

[ColdWombat]

I agree. The locations of Kenyon or Grinnell are much different than Minneapolis, Chicago, Cleveland, etc. I wonder how OP feels about those cities? If they don’t like the midwest at all, fair enough. But I don’t know if they’ve visited urban midwestern places or not.

[parentologist]

Conn is a solid match i think.

[Shelby_Balik]

Right. Having grown up in California and lived in New England, I can verify the coastal bias against the “flyover zone” is real. However, having lived for many years in the Midwest, I can verify that it’s unjustified. For example – Madison, WI was a million times more diverse and international (with the food and cultural amenities that go along with that) than the town in Connecticut where I lived for a few years. I loved living in Connecticut – but the part of the state where I lived had nothing on Madison for cosmopolitan vibes.

[DigitalDad]

Trying to think of another school for Creative Writing, with a very accepting culture, and where you wouldn’t get caught by the high rejection rates of most of your other prospects:

Creative Writing

[ucbalumnus]

@foxrye

being so nice and respectful rn but can you clarify why enviro is not a core? IIRC it’s a science and it’s the science course I’ve been taking this year and I’m doing funded research in next year.

Some colleges consider biology, chemistry, and physics to be the core sciences that they expect or prefer high school students to complete, while environmental science is seen as an elective science that can be taken in addition to the three core sciences.

[tsbna44]

This was my point/thought and I’m reading required or core classes I read a few time but the collective wisdom pointed out I am in error. So I’ve learned something new today. And wish OP well.

Thx for the back up though!!!

[skieurope]

Everything is in context. In the English language, core also means, amongst other things, the center of certain fruits or muscles of a torso’s midsection or a part of a nuclear reactor. None of which relate to recommendations. A recommendation from a teacher in a core subject is as I’ve outlined earlier.

Whether the OP should take physics in HS is a different, unrelated question

[foxrye]

@skieurope

Whether the OP should take physics in HS is a different, unrelated question

if I have this conversation (about physics) again with anyone I will start sobbing. but thank you to everyone who has helped re: enviro rec!! I’ll keep it in mind but it will likely be my third rec for schools that require 2 core recs and we will see what happens

[foxrye]

@Shelby_Balik

I loved living in Connecticut – but the part of the state where I lived had nothing on Madison for cosmopolitan vibes.

thank you so much for your input!! I do agree in that I have some internal biases against flyover zones. mostly because I just haven’t had a superb time in those states (eg oklahoma ohio missouri etc) but especially in oklahoma city I did notice there was more stuff offered than I expected… I will try and keep an open mind about midwest schools esp in cities but yea it is also a little hard for me just imagining going to school in a landlocked state I love new england right now and I think it will definitely take a lot of getting used to; just don’t know if that’s something I want to do

[Shelby_Balik]

I will say that the overall vibe of OK (which is not the Midwest, but that’s beside the point) is very different than WI or MN. But in all of these states, it totally depends on where you are. There are some great schools in the Midwest, so just do a little research before you write them off. (Also – any school that borders the Great Lakes is only landlocked on a technicality.)

[foxrye]

■■■■ I got state youth poet laureate!! that’s cool and new and fun hopefully adding to my list of being a good english major

also sat this weekend

[foxrye]

bumping a bit. also wanted to clarify what I was looking for in this thread:

• are my ec’s good enough to be competitive? where are the common threads you guys see emerging when you first look at my profile etc. does it seem focused or scattered? if so what can I focus on more next yr?

• stats wise, I know my stats aren’t as good but will TO help or harm? I have heard mostly good things about TO but I wanna get some other perspectives

• writing: has anyone gotten contact with profs etc for writing and what was ur exp???

[AustenNut]

@foxrye

are my ec’s good enough to be competitive?

@foxrye

stats wise, I know my stats aren’t as good but will TO help or harm?

You’re at a boarding school and you’ve indicated that you have a good college counselor there. Talk to that person. The counselor should have a very good idea about your application in comparison with those of your peers and recent graduating classes and how students with similar profiles did at the schools you’re considering. That counselor will have a better idea than any random person on the internet.

@foxrye

stats wise, I know my stats aren’t as good but will TO help or harm?

I know I just said to speak to your counselor, but I’m going to give my $0.02 as someone who is not an admissions professional.

1. Ask the college’s admission rep (some schools say to only report if it’s above the school’s median…others don’t care).
2. If the admissions rep doesn’t give you a helpful reply, then look at the school’s scores. What percentage of students submitted scores? If the majority of students submitted their scores, then I would say that if your score is in the 25-75 range, that I would submit, because it seems pretty evident by their acceptances that the particular college cares more about scores. (Also, some colleges are no longer TO this upcoming year.)

Looking at your list from post #1, you’d probably want to go TO at most of your schools.

@foxrye

took off drexel; added conn coll, oxy was already on the list

Are these schools that your boarding school counselor thinks are a LOCK for admission? Or just a likely? Make sure you have at least one school (and preferably 2) where you are a lock for admission, AND that these are schools that you would be happy to attend AND that are affordable for your family. There have been several instances this year of students with high stats and strong accomplishments who were only accepted into their safety schools and aren’t happy about that being their only choice. This is not the first year that has happened, either. Please don’t let that be you.

@AustenNut

You say that your family is willing to pay up to $25k if you pay $10k. So the expectation is that you will take out a federal loan ($5500 first year) and subsidize the rest via your work or additional scholarships. So, we’re working with a $35k budget. Is that correct? If your school ends up costing $25k or less, will your family still expect you to contribute $10k? Also, has your family run any Net Price Calculators? If so, I would have them do that and eliminate any schools that don’t offer merit aid that don’t get to that $35k number.

Do you have any of the answers to these questions from before?