Chances at LACs?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Currently a junior
CA Public school
major legacy at USC but not interested...
GPA: 3.83 unweighted, 4.4 weighted
Current Courses: AP English Language, APUSH, Honors Pre-Calc, Honors Chem, French 3, Varsity Tennis
Senior Year Courses: AP Econ (macro), AP Gov, AP Eng. Lit, AP Enviro Sci, AP Chem, French 4, Varsity Tennis
Grades are usually all As except for Bs in math, but I want to go into Poli Sci
Class Rank: 18/519
ACT: 30, essay:11 (to be retaken in Sept...weak science score brought me down)</p>

<p>ECs:
3 years-tutor for underprivliged youths
3 years-temple youth group board, 1 year president, 1 year social action vice president, 1 year religious and cultural vice president
4 years-California Scholarship Federation (CSF)-will be secretary next year (very large club)
4 years-National Honor Society
3 years-Key Club
4 years-French Club (treasurer for 2 yrs)
Founder and Pres.-Peace Club (started in '05), over 30 active members, organized Peace Week (lots of press), toiletry drive, Darfur fundraisers (~10 hrs/wk), one of the biggest clubs on campus (most fervent passion)
Founding member-Save Darfur chapter in my community. Worked with a local elementary school teacher to found the chapter, table almost weekly at farmers markets, events, etc. to raise funds/awareness (~6 hrs/wk); organize several dinner fundraisers/yr..one of the only youths involved; only youth founding member.
Varisity tennis-4 yr. letterwinner,lots of league awards, captain next year, also boys manager (want to play if I go DIII)</p>

<p>this summer: working at a day camp and possibly a local bookstore. </p>

<p>solid essay-writer, creative, compelling, good friends with most of my teachers and my counselor loves me. extremely involved in community, passionate about peace, darfur, and tennis. </p>

<p>what are my chances at:</p>

<p>Swarthmore
Wesleyan
Macalester
Wash U
Pomona
Brown
Vassar
Tufts
BC
Bowdoin
Middlebury
Brandeis
Emerson
Amherst
Northeastern</p>

<p>Any suggestions? Also, desperately need some safeties..and some places with good financial aid.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Gah. I entered a huge post, but it got messed up..</p>

<p>Summary:
-Academics could be stronger
-Are you taking math Sr. year?
- Work hard Sr. year to boost Academics</p>

<p>EC:
- Do you really spend that many hours in Peace Club and Save Darfur Chapter. ADCom's will find this suspicious as do I, you wouldn't want this great EC to be discredited. Side Note: Both of those combined are about how much time i spend on Track (6 days a week). You have tennis though...explain this.
- NHS, CFS, Key Club, French Club won't be worth much at all...
- Temple Youth Board is impressive, make sure to mention it and think about having a priest write a rec for you (I had a good friend who did this and got into Midd. and Oberlin).</p>

<p>Swarthmore - reach (fits you though)
Wesleyan - realistic reach
Macalester - high match
Wash U - high reach
Pomona - high reach
Brown - high reach
Vassar - high match/realistic
Tufts - low reach/realsitic
BC - match
Bowdoin - reach
Middlebury -reach
Brandeis - match
Emerson - safety
Amherst - high reach
Northeastern - safety?</p>

3

<p>yeah, I'm dropping the math because i'm not interested in the field at all and I study so much to retain my Bs and that class is the source of approx. 75% of my total stress! just not worth it. However, I am taking two science classes (APs)-chem/enviro....I'm not merely taking the humanities route--and I'm also genuinely interested in the environment and if I don't do poli sci. I may opt to create my own major at one of these schols, something interdisciplinary along the lines of environmental policy...</p>

<p>anyways, thanks for your suggestions. I'm also considering Whitman, Colorado College, and others...</p>

<p>re: ECs..
I actually do spend that much time on Peace Club/Darfur because I am the president. There is one VP but no other officers...we have lots of people who come to meetings and show an active interest, people who will help when we're doing activities, but when the going gets tough (aka organizing, calling, planning) i'm pretty much on my own, and then i just have to delegate tangible, specific responsibilities the day-of. it's kind of frustrating, because it doesnt seem to be all that difficult to call a bagel shop and ask for donations or put out a press release, but it appears that my fellow club members are either: a)inept or b)lazy (probably the latter!). oh well, it's still my favorite activity even if i end up getting the short end of the stick every single time. Darfur: we table almost every single weekend! this usually goes on for about 4 hours, and I wouldn't doubt that I spend a good two hours a week making copies of all the flyers we hand out, going to the post-office to mail postcards to D.C., planning our big fundraisers...and yes, those other clubs seem small on paper and it is frustrating because I actually go to meetings every week or every other week and occasionally some (Key Club, NHS) have weekend comm. serv. events...but it looks so miniscule on paper! oh well, it's still fun and rewarding.</p>

<p>tennis: pre-season (right now) is hard becuase I have to design the uniforms and order them...and of course, my girls aren't satisfied with a dress and a t-shirt, no, they need the sweatshirt, visor, socks, blahhhh blah blah. haha. but during season this is a good 3 hrs/day for practice 3 days a week and matches are about 4 hours 2 days/wk. boys manager requires me to go to all of their matches and do stats, prepare the courts, etc. and also the first half of their practices to play (so i get PE credit)</p>

<p>again, thanks for your insights! the ACT really needs to go up...ahhh</p>

4

<p>Yeah, you're in definite need of safeties...Right now your list just looks like the top 20 LACs as ranked by USWNR, and there is nothing wrong with that, but why do you want to go those schools specefically? What is about them, besides prestige obviously, that attracts you to them?</p>

<p>I cannot really reccommend any safeties until I know that, but you may want to look into Reed College.</p>

5

<p>I dunno about chances, though I think you have a reasonable shot at many of those schools, but I thought I'd chime in by saying that several people at my school had no math senior year (though they did all go through Calculus...) and they got into fine schools, so I don't think that will kill you.
Anyway, good luck! I recommend Swat, if you get in :)</p>

6

<p>yeah, others have said Reed as well. I've heard that it's a bit radical...or perhaps the better word would be zealous...sounds like an adventure!
reasons:
Swarthmore -as of now, my dream school! that campus is abounding with incredible social justice initiatives and I haven't visited yet, but overall it seems very vibrant...something I reallydesire.
Wesleyan-also very charismatic...I'm attracted to the diversity.
Macalester -kofi annan went there! but besides that, I really like the idea of a "worldly" education and if I do choose intl. relations as a minor (which i am considering) this school seems perfect. on a side note, aesthetically appealing viewbook!
Wash U -don't know much about it, seems to have all of the program I want...?
Pomona -I live about 2 hours away, and I'm not enthused about any of the UCs other than Davis--plus, they're all gigantic--so the Claremonts are essentially the only LACs nearby. I don't mind going far away, but I feel like I need to apply somewhere close to home. Also considering Pitzer as a safety--I like their unstructured curriculum and I would be able to cross-register at all of the other Claremonts.
Brown - not as interested as I used to be as I am realizing that this isn't really realistic. We're visiting next month, though...obviously very prestigious and I'm afraid (as with most of these schools) of a snooty aura. the lack of a core curriculum is appealing.
Vassar - also visiting next month. solid programs in what I am interested in. don't know much about it.
Tufts - also visiting next month. another great intl. relations program and "worldly" education. like the location--not quite IN the city but fantastic access.
BC -visiting next month, I'll see about the location because I'm not sure how urban I want to be. strong academics, lots of focus on service (thanks, jesuit founders!).
Bowdoin -don't mind the maine location. The fact taht it seems so different from my current typical CA beach town is very appealing. I've emailed the admissions dean, he personally answered and was very nice (re: should I take a 4th yr. of math? he said it didn't matter as long as I continued to challenge myself in other realms of my academic program...). also seems to be very passionate and engaged; easy access to wilderness/outdoor adventures!
Middlebury-don't know much about this one, either. have heard lots of rave reviews, seems to have all of the things I am looking for (small, discussion-based learning, interaction with profs, focus on education of whole person). very environmental, and if I go into that, this is an amazing place to be.
Brandeis -not sure if I'll like this one, maybe a bit too Jewish (I am one, but still)..visiting next month. Still, seems like it has many of the programs I am looking for, good location in suburbs.
Emerson -not sure if I'm going to like the urban location. visiting next month. seems extremely vibrant as well. i would major in poli. communications which sounds interesting...
Amherst-aunt went here, loved it, visiting next month. amherst seems to be an amazing college town, no core curriculum, etc.
Northeastern-the Co-op prog. is attractive. 5 yrs mandatory for grad. but that's not really an issue. a bit bigger than some of the other schools i'm looking at. visiting next month. i believe it's an enclosed campus in the city so we'll have to see about the location.</p>

7

<p>Colgate actually offers a Peace Studies major which you might find interesting.</p>

<p>you can also check out "Colleges with a Conscience" for schools that tend to have a big emphasis on activism/students who want to 'save the world!'</p>

<p><a href="http://www.princetonreview.com/college/research/conscience/default.asp%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.princetonreview.com/college/research/conscience/default.asp&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

8

<p>if you're looking for another school in california you might want to check out occidental it seems like it has a lot of the things you are looking for</p>

9

<p>If you spend 10 hours a week on your club than you are a much better club president than I am:</p>

<p>Fellowship of Christian Athletes: 1.5 hour
Uganda Matale Sister School Club: 2 hours (this is a weekly average, there are weeks when I will work 5 hours, but most are 2)</p>

<p>Anyways. Congrats! I think you might want to lower the number of hours to <8 for each club because I've heard that Admissions Officers get suspicious of clubs because most clubs only take up 3 hours max.</p>

10

<p>i think the number seems inflated because her club requires more after-club hours making flyers, selling things, etc. While perfectly valid, you should definitely be explicit about where those hours go - make sure that the adcoms know what you're doing with those 10 or so hours per week.</p>

11

<p>Holy Cross-near Boston- is a very good Jesuit school with large endowment. Maybe Colgate.</p>

12

<p>thanks. so i'd presume that the best way to "make sure that the adcoms know what you're doing with those 10 or so hours per week" is to write the supp. essays about these major activities like Peace Club and Darfur? how do I get it across to them..</p>