<p>What are my chances of getting into Carleton College in Minnesota? I really want to go here and major in Poli Sci/ International Relations and am starting to fill out the Common App, but would like to know my odds here to help me decide what other kinds of schools I should be applying to as Reaches and Safety schools.</p>
<p>White
From Illinois</p>
<p>29 ACT
4.32 W GPA
3.58 UW GPA (Though I don't think they ask for this on their App)
8.4% W Rank
13.1% UW Rank (Again, I didn't put this on the App)</p>
<p>Have take:
AP Calc BC (5)
APUSH (4)
AP Lang (3)
AP Physics B (3)</p>
<p>Currently taking:
AP Psych
AP Spanish
AP Macroecon/ AP Gov
AP Stats
AP Lit</p>
<p>-Co President of NHS
-Officer on the Debate team (4 years)
-Band/Marching Band/ Pep Band (4 years)
-Jazz Band (2 years)
-Speech team (2 years)</p>
<p>-Spent two weeks of the last four summers rebuilding houses in Appalachia with a youth group
-Teach religious ed at my church (2 years)
-Volunteered for a Campaign of a State Rep my Soph year
-Paid Intern for a State Senator last summer</p>
<p>It is definitely a reach. Carleton’s mean GPA and ACT scores are quite a bit higher than yours (Carleton, as all selective colleges, looks at unweighted–they will unweight it themselves). There 25%-75% for ACT and SAT are just a tiny bit below Amherst and Williams. I’m not saying it is impossible, but I’d highly advise you to try to raise your ACT (or try the SAT–some people do better on one than the other). Also, taking the SAT Subject tests might set you apart if you do well on them. Do try it! You have good EC’s and I bet you can write a great essay, but I do think it is quite a high reach right now, definitely not a “high match”.</p>
<p>I thought I might add this in case anyone else was looking at this in the future:
I did get accepted and committed to Carleton RD and getting deferred R2 ED. In addition to what I said in my first post, I did do an interview with them that I thought went well, wrote decent essays, and sent an email to the people I interviewed with in admissions after I was deferred, giving them some minor accomplishments I had done since I had applied and reiterating my desire to attend. </p>
<p>Looking back, it was probably my involvement in ECs and volunteer work, along with the interview, that got me in. I’m sure the email I sent after I was deferred helped too. Good luck to everyone applying in the future!!</p>