Chances for Amherst? Legacy RD

Colleges and Universities A-Z Amherst College
1

Hey everyone, I just applied RD to Amherst College and was wondering if anyone would mind chancing me.

I’m from a small public school in upstate New York.

ACADEMICS + TEST SCORES:

SAT: 1540… 800 Math, 740 Reading/Writing
SAT IIs: 800 Math 2, 760 Biology
Did not take ACT

National Merit Semifinalist

GPA: 95.78 Unweighted (I go to a NY public school so our GPA scale is out of 100. Not sure how this equates to a 4.0 scale.
Rank: 7/131. School is small and fairly competitive. Sends a handful of students to ivies each year (last year I think about 7 or 8 went to ivies, so that’s around 5% of the class)

Junior year APs w/ scores: US History (5), Biology (5), English Language (5)
Senior year APs: European History, Chemistry, Literature, Spanish, BC Calculus

**Concerned that I received an 89 first quarter in AP Literature. This is the only B on my transcript, but I know that most top schools appreciate only As.

ACTIVITIES / WORK EXPERIENCE:

President of my school’s community service club (huge club, over 130 members). As president, increased club’s size by 30 members by using digital recruitment methods on Google Classroom and Remind Messaging. Also broke several club fundraiser records (presumably as a result of this increased membership).

Vice President of Class Junior Year. Talked about events organized and specific amounts of money raised.

Conducted scientific research at the Sidi Chen Laboratory of Cancer Systems Biology (Yale Lab). Wrote a research paper and submitted it to JSHS competition. Discussed the research in application.
*** The principal investigator of the lab wrote me a letter of recommendation. I did not read it, but my guidance counselor told me it was good.

Student Gov Representative for 4 years

Co-Captain of Varsity Tennis Team. Second singles position. Competed in Section 9 tournament.

National Honors Society

Community service trip to Rancho Quemado in Costa Rica

(Work): Little league home plate umpire

RECS + ESSAYS:
Really can’t say much about my recs, wasn’t able to read them.

Common App: Not sure how to rate my own essay? Maybe like a 7?
Failure prompt. Talked about experience as umpire and how I learned that criticism from spectators is inevitable, no matter how precise my calls are.

Supplemental: 6-7 Might be the weakest part of my application. I think it started off strong but the ending was a bit sloppy. Who knows though. I’d appreciate feedback on it just to get a better idea.

HOOKS:
Legacy, father was valedictorian and has donated (not a ton though). Also attended Dean’s Day. Not needing financial aid?

I’m hoping that the legacy, research, rec from lab PI, and national merit semifinalist might be able to compensate for my possibly sub-par supplemental. Not sure though.

Thanks!

2

Hi! First off, I’d like to congratulate you on these amazing accomplishments. I looked at Amherst as an athlete (but committed elsewhere), and here is my best opinion based on my conversations with admissions, the coaches, and the current students.

Are you planning on competing as a tennis player for Amherst? This can greatly help your chances as an additional hook. You are on par/exceed the test scores of admitted students. Having legacy does help a great bit as well. I think the main issue comes when you consider the size of the college. They only have about 1800 students total, so about 450 per class. They seemed to have many people playing either a varsity or club sport. Therefore, if you exclude those who are athletes, there aren’t many spots left.

My best advice would be to keep up your grades, and not worry too much. I am sure if Amherst does not accept you, you will surely get into another high ranking college or university. Best of luck!

3

Bsc2215, thanks for all the info and advice. Truthfully, I’m not sure if I have the atheletic stats to get Amherst’s attention. Even though the college is a small D3 school, I don’t have any rankings or extremely significant athetlic accomplishments. I’ve competed in my section’s doubles tournaments, but I have not earned a first or second place title. I suppose I could try to use it as a hook, but I’m not entirely sure how. Should I email the admissions office and coaches?
Also… is there anything that I can do now to possibly increase my chances? I’ve heard some people suggest emailing the admissions office to confirm that Amherst is my top choice. Is this tacky/useless?
Thanks.

4

I would contact the tennis coach, ASAP. Tell him you are really interested in playing tennis at Amherst. I think that’s your best shot, but you are already in a great position. Best of luck.

5

As a legacy that got accepted a couple years ago with far worse activities/work experience and less rigorous classes I think your chances are extremely high.
Good luck!

6

Did you apply ED or RD?

7

RD. I think they said at Dean’s day when I went that legacies have the exact same chance of admission and are evaluated the same way regardless of whether they apply ED or RD. I was surprised but that’s ultimately why I ended up just applying RD.

8

I think you look good, especially with the substantial community service. Legacy can’t hurt. Amherst is building a new science center, so that’s going to help you, too. They need majors for it.
Sports really only help substantially at ED1. After that, it’s just like any other EC.
I give you over 50%.

9

My son applied as a legacy RD several years ago with very similar GPA/SAT stats. Was captain of his high school soccer team (but probably not good enough to be recruited. Didn’t contact coach) and captain of volleyball team (Amherst does not have a men’s team). Unfortunately, he was not accepted. However, he was accepted to other outstanding schools and probably made the best selection, all things considered. He was not sure about his top choice originally and he was told that there was no advantage applying ED vs RD. Perhaps ED would be important for recruited athletes. If Amherst is your top choice now, you may consider writing why you did not apply ED originally but want to signify your interest and commitment. I don’t think it would hurt. I would say that if there is any advantage for legacies applying to Amherst, it is only a slight one, unless parent is significant contributor to Amherst (time or money) or has long history of legacies (my freshman room mate had at least 15 members of his family attend Amherst, spanning 4 generations). You have a strong record, and I am sure that you will have excellent choices in April. Hopefully, Amherst will be one of them.

10

re applying ED or RD - while legacy status may not have been an influencing a factor at Amherst(and it is at a school like Penn where legacy status only applies for ED), the math of applying ED is still very relevant. Last ED admit rate at Amherst was 35% compared to 12% RD. And yes there may have been some athletes in the ED mix, but the best odds of getting in are ED, regardless of legacy status.

11

Update: I got in! Thanks everyone for the replies.