Chances at ED1 Middlebury, or ED2 Kenyon?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I want to go to a liberal arts school to narrow down my interests, which are displayed through my course selection and EC’s, to find out what I really want to do. I just visited Middlebury, and fell in love with everything about it. However, while my EC’s, scores, and junior year grades are in the ballpark for Middlebury, my freshman and sophomore year grades were terrible because I was hanging around with the wrong kids. The peer pressure and anxiety issues I got from them made it harder to leave their group. When I matured, I ditched them for more studious and interesting friends, and turned my grades around.

I just visited Kenyon, and loved it too. I’m visiting Colby and Bates this summer. However, I can’t see myself loving these schools as much as Middlebury. My question is, should I go all out and ED1 at Middlebury, and hope to ED2 at Kenyon if it doesn’t work out, or should I just go ED1 at Kenyon knowing that I have a better chance there? I’d be happy at either one of these schools, but have my heart set on Middlebury. I know that Middlebury is definitely harder to get into than Kenyon.

31 ACT as of now but I am confident that I can bring it to at least a 33, i took it once and got a 31
My GPA freshman year- 2.7 uw, 3.2 w
My GPA sophomore year- 3.2 uw, 3.5 w
My GPA junior year- 3.85 uw, 4.6 w

Senior year course load- AP Lit and Comp, AP Econ, AP Gov, AP Environmental Science, German 3H, Con Law H, Pre Calc, Gym

Interests/Skills-

Hospitality, Writing, Filmmaking, Politics, Soccer

Internship at established lighting company in Frankfurt, Germany
Internship with the forester of Schwanheim in Frankfurt, Germany
Internship with the parks and rec department of Frankfurt, Germany
Spent a summer working at Sonic
Spent a summer working at local Gastropub (One career path I am interested in is hospitality)

Publicist of FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America Club) at my school sophomore year
Co-President of FBLA at my school junior year
States two years, Nationals one year FBLA
Boys State
Founded Young Democrats club junior year, Co-President junior and senior year
Worked on Phil Murphy’s Gubernatorial Campaign, 2017
School paper three years, contributor sophomore year, features editor junior year, arts editor senior year
Environmental Club junior and senior year, president senior year
Freshman soccer team, sophomore and junior JV soccer team, Senior Varsity soccer team
Ski and Snowboard Club 4 years

2

Have you worked with guidance counselor yet on putting together a list of target, reach and safety school? You’ve done a great job in turning things around which is a great story and you should be very proud. That said all of the schools you have mentioned will be reaches with your GPA and current ACT, with Middlebury being a super reach and Bates and Kenyon being more realistic reaches. Make sure you also look at schools that you can definitely see yourself at that are realistic targets and then safeties as well - there are lots of great schools out there beyond #1-25; look at Denison, Dickinson, Franklin and Marshall, Gettysburg amongst others.

3

Yes, I have, and I do have some safety and match schools. I’m looking at Bard and others as matches/safeties, although I really wasn’t into denison. However, if it is at all possible, I really want to be at a highly selective, highly ranked liberal arts college. They’re the ones that are most attractive to me for a lot of reasons. Thanks so much for your help!

4

@rsmm2000, agree that everyone should shot for the star that is achievable, but no one will ever ask if you went to a highly selective, highly ranked liberal arts college. Do you have any hooks that will better your acceptance chance - are you a under-represented minority, a first-generation college student, a legacy at a particular school, or a recruitable student-athlete; if not, for liberal arts schools make sure that your scores and GPA are in the top-25% for any school that you consider a reach or target and well above that for a safety.

5

@Chembiodad I know that no one will ever ask that very question, but I just meant that it happens to matter to me very much, for these types of schools have what I want and the student body I want. I am a recruitable athlete, and am reaching out to schools. If I can somehow get a 33 or 34 on the ACT, then my scores will be fine and my first two years will be the only bad portion of my app. Do you think that ED2 is weighted as much as ED1?

6

@rsmm2000, yes, being a recruitable athlete will be more helpful if you are a slot athlete as compared to a tip - a spot is when a student is told they are their #1 or #2 recruit, and a tip means you profile anyways and you being a recruit is the tiebreaker as compared to a non hooked applicant.

Given you are wrapping up your junior year, I assume you have been communicating with coaches this year - I know that NESCAC coaches are finalizing their lists now for pre-reads that can start July 1st. If you are given a pre-read, the coaches get a green light and they tell you they will support your application it will likely be contingent on you applying ED1, but the reality is plenty of athletes get accepted during ED and some even during RD.

ED1 always has a higher acceptance rate, sometimes ED2 is is close, but every school doesn’t have ED2 so you need to check.

7

anyone else?