Chances please :D

Colleges and Universities A-Z Wellesley College
1

<p>Im currently a Senior in high School, and hope to eventually major in English.
Ethnicity/ Gender: Asian/female</p>

<p>Academics
Am an IB Diploma student, hoping to get a predicted score of AT LEAST 38/45 (Inclusive of bonus points)
English HL- 7
Business HL- 7
History HL- 7
Math- 5
Biology- 5
Spanish-7</p>

<p>Final Grade 11 score was 35</p>

<p>All scores are on a 7 point scale
Am in the top 20% of an extremely accademically challenging high school</p>

<p>SAT
CR- 750
Writing- 740
Math-690
Was in the 97th percentile for PSAT</p>

<p>Extracurriculars
- Founded first school yearbook
- Editor of yearbook for 2 years
- Founded first school paper
- Editor of paper for 2 years
- Spent 2 years in the Press department of school festival, was the Head of Department my second year
- Summer school Harvard 2006
Have a very strong portfolio with published poems, articles in major newspapers, school paper i founded etc</p>

<p>Work Experience
Summer Internship at a very prestigous national newspaper
Working to raise funds/tutor kids/study child rights at a shelter for the children of commercial sex workers. Have an official online blog on the shelters website documenting my experiences. Could possibly film a documentary on it.</p>

<p>Sports
- Swim team for school grades 6/7/8/9/10/12
- Club swim team
- District Swim Team
- State Waterpolo Team</p>

<p>Social Service
- Volunteer at an Old Age Home
- Volunteer at a homeless shelter for kids
- Volunteer at a Girls Orphanage</p>

<p>Apply to:
NYU CAS, Vassar, Wellesly, Barnard, Northwestern University, MAYBE Columbia though it may be a bit too much of a reach, Boston College</p>

<p>Any thoughts on more unis to apply to?</p>

2

<p>I think your chances at Wellesley look pretty good. Your stats are in the right place, and you have good extracurricular interest to add to your application. The only "bad" thing that I see is that your rank is not top 10%. I understand that your school is challenging, but that is a bit of a detriment for Wellesley (approx. 85% in top 10% of HS), although certainly not one that cannot be overcome. As with any selective college/university, the real devil is in the finishings--excellent recs and essays and even maybe interview, at least for a smaller school like Wellesley. I did not interview, however, and I still got in, so it's definitely not mandatory. </p>

<p>As far as your other schools go, I am a bit worried that you don't have any real safeties, or even safe matches. Columbia is a big reach (not unrealistic, but a real reach, esp. because of your lowish rank) and Northwestern is a reach as well. Wellesley, Vassar and Barnard are all similar in selectivity, and while you could easily be accepted by all or most of these schools, you could also easily be rejected/waitlisted. NYU and BC come the closest to being safeties, but their low acceptance rates and your lowish rank could be an issue at those schools as well. I'm not trying to alarm you or make it seem like you are not a good applicant, but admissions can be extremely unpredictable. Personally, my admissions decisions made sense, in that I was rejected by the two most selective schools on my list, waitlisted by the next two most selective schools, and accepted by each of my other schools (2 high matches, 2 safe matches, and 1 true safety), but many people do not receive such understandable decisions. I also applied (and was admitted) to NYU and BC, and I can tell you that there were people with very good stats (even people who got into what most would consider to be more selective schools) who were waitlisted or even outright rejected. </p>

<p>All I'm saying is to add a couple of schools that are still good, but somewhat less selective. It seems that you want to be in or near a big city, so what about Boston University, George Washington University, American University, Bryn Mawr, or Macalester College. Not all of those schools would be safeties, but they are all in/near city life and are a peg or so down the selectivity ladder. Other schools near/in big cities that you might consider are Carleton College (feels small town/rural, but only 45 min. away from Twin Cities), the University of Chicago, Georgetown, and Tufts. Obviously, these schools are as tough to get into/tougher to get into than the schools already on your list, but you might want to consider them anyway. Also, it's not near a big city, but Wesleyan seems like a good fit with the kind of schools you are considering.</p>

3

<p>Not sure if this is true (correct me if I'm wrong, anyone) but in my opinion, IB diploma candidates slightly have an edge over candidates who aren't doing either AP or IB. According to your predicted scores, you would get credit for all your HL classes (which is definitely a plus). There's never a definite yes or no for whether or not Wellesley will accept you, but your chances are looking pretty good based on what you've given us. Keep in mind that the essay and free response are a big factor as well.</p>

4

<p>Looking at your ECs, I can tell you that starting and running organizations, particularly newspapers, looks pretty amazing on most college applications. It makes you one of those "interesting" people the colleges love. Did you start the yearbook and paper as a sophomore or freshman? Will you be continuing on as editor? How do you think these instituions will fare after your graduation? So I would say give the Columbia application a shot if you are really interested.</p>

<p>It also sounds like you want to be a writer/journalist/English major (oh wait, you said that). If you are interested in continuing with newspapers, I would look at schools with strong journalism programs and student papers. If you are still in the college visiting phase, I would try to pick up a newspaper at every college you go to and see what you think. I would venture to say that the weaker the paper, the larger chance you have at running it your way.</p>

<p>Wellesley has a weekly paper, and it's okay. Pretty much anyone can write for the Wellesley News. You sign up at the org fair and they email you with story topics. I wrote a movie review back in my first year. I don't know how our periodicals scene compares to most other colleges. Legenda (yearbook) has been floundering in recent years and worked on making a comeback lat year. Counterpoint was pretty good my first year.</p>

5

<p>Thanks a ton for all the help.
The list of colleges don't include my safeties, just places that I'd be really keen on going to...
I started both the newspaper and yearbook as a junior, so I'm the editor of both in my Junior/Senior year...</p>

6

<p>I'd add Tufts and Wesleyan.</p>

7

<p>I'd say you have a really good chance of acceptance. Your extracurriculars, work experience, and volunteer work show that you are a well rounded student, which is always a plus. Your SAT scores are also right up there, though I'm sure a school like Columbia rejects students with 2400s, so they won't help too much there. The best piece of advice I can give you, which is probably a great, resounding DUH for most people but could have scrrreeeewwed me over is to SHOW YOUR INTEREST. The schools I was accepted by were the ones that I visited, contacted, and showed genuine passion for in my essays. I was waitlisted by two schools which I considered good matches that are within a reasonable distance of my town. If I had visited/interviewed there, my chances might have improved. </p>

<p>And as for Columbia, go ahead and throw your hat in the ring. What's the harm? I applied to three Ivies and was rejected by all three. It worked out for the best. I'm soooo excited to start at Wellesley in the fall. I hope I'll see you at the accepted student open campus thingy next year. Good luck!</p>

8

<p>Thanks a ton, what do you think about applying ED? And how come the acceptance rate is around 50% for ED, i though it would be waaaay lower?</p>

9

<p>Mainly the result of a self-selected applicant pool that results from the fact that it is ED, plus half the population is inelligible, rendering half of the remaining group thus uninterested.
You see similar numbers with a lot of other women's colleges. The self-selection factor is there though, based on the number of grumpy CCers come December and late March.
The year before I applied, the ED rate was something like 2/3. But that netted 120 acceptance letters IIRC.</p>

10

<p>Oh..ok thanks :)</p>

11

<p>FWIW, when I visited colleges last year, Wellesley was the only school where the admission's office really seemed to understand (and gush about) the IB diploma. Other schools seemed to equate IB tests with AP tests, and didn't get what the whole IB program (including the Middle Years program) was all about.</p>