Chances RD?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Swarthmore College
1

<p>What are my chances RD?</p>

<p>GPA: 4.35 (Weighted; by end of Junior year)
3.95 (Unweighted)
Class Rank: Top 5% (5 to 8 out of 260; valedictorian has about a 4.40 (W))
Transcript (will only include real, core classes; no AP's offered until Junior year):
Freshmen Year:
Honors Geometry - A-
Honors Biology - A
Honors Latin 2 - A
Honors English 9 - A-
World Cultures (no honors offered)- A</p>

<p>Sophomore Year:
Honors Algebra 2 - A
Honors Chemistry - A
Honors Latin 3 - A
Honors English 10 - A-
U.S. History (no honors offered... took the AP Junior year) - A</p>

<p>Junior Year (considered most important year at my high school):
AP Biology - A
AP US History - A
Honors Physics - A
Honors Precalculus - A
Honors Latin 4 - A
Honors English 11 - A</p>

<p>Senior Year (schedule only):
AP Chemistry
AP Latin: Vergil
AP Calculus BC
AP U.S. Government and Politics
Honors English 12</p>

<p>Standardized Tests:
SAT:
Total - 2220
M + R (which I think is what UVA considers) - 1420 (will retake this fall0
Reading - 700
Math - 720
Writing - 800
SAT Subject Tests:
Math IIC - 800
Biology-M - 740</p>

<p>Extras:
Freshmen Soccer (9th grade)
JV Soccer (10th, 11th grade)
JV Tennis (9th grade)
Varsity Tennis (10th, 11th grade): Conference Champs
Jazz Band (10th, 11th grade)
Math Team (9th, 10th, 11th grade)
Concert/Marching Band (9th, 10th, 11th grade): Librarian (type of band officer) in 9th grade.
Tri-M (11th grade): Music Honor Society. Selection based on leadership, academics, and interest/participation in music.
NEC Investment Challenge (11th grade): Team captain. Lead a team of 5 people who make investments (in the stock market). Each team starts out with $500,000.00. Started in February, 2010 and will last for 2.5 months. </p>

<p>Volunteer Work
Recycling Club (11th grade)
Kipp Academy (11th grade): Math and Science Tutor.
Peer Mentor Program (10th, 11th grade): Peer Mentor. Assigned to an incoming freshman to provide guidance and friendship as well as help them transition into high school. </p>

<p>Achievements
Cornell University Book Award (11th grade): Awarded for outstanding academic achievement.
National Merit Scholarship Qualifier (11th grade)
High Honor Roll (9th, 10th, 11th grade): Have been on for 12 consecutive quarters (entire HS career). Minimum grade point average of a 3.8 required.
Maxima Cum Laude (9th grade): An award for high achievement on the National Latin Exam. Received for performance on the Latin II Exam.
Excellence in Latin II (9th grade): Awarded for outstanding performance in Honors Latin II.
Magna Cum Laude (10th grade): An award for high achievement on the National Latin Exam. Received for performance on the Latin III/IV Prose Exam.
Excellence in US History (10th grade): Awarded for outstanding performance in US History 1.
Rotary Youth Leadership Conference (11th grade): Selection based on individual teacher recommendations and recognized leadership potential. Took place in February of 2010.</p>

<p>I know my teacher recs will be good. For my 500 word essay, I will make sure to emphasize who I am... I was thinking about writing about being in a family w/ two sets of identical twins (I am a twin ofcourse)... not very generic at all I hope. </p>

<p>So yeah, what are my chances?</p>

2

<p>Probably higher if you don’t write UVA in the rec. Not to be snarky, but are you copying and pasting this and posting it in every forum to see if you’ll get in? While you seem like a strong applicant, this approach to college admissions is less likely to be productive when it comes to places like swat. If in fact you feel strongly that you would belong at swat, you will probably convey that in your application, and, i predict, do fine. If you don’t, then your application will probably read a bit ‘copy and pasted,’ and who knows?</p>

3

<p>Obviously, that was a careless mistake due to the fact that I posted it very late at night and was tired. That will definitely not happen on the real application because I have a college advisor who will proof read (I will as well) every one of my applications carefully. Swarthmore is certainly one of my top choices, and I will make sure my interest is apparent in my application. </p>

<p>Also, you willl find that I only “copied and pasted” my resume for 4 colleges on CC: Dartmouth, Middlebury, Swarthmore, and UVA. Apart from UVA, I found that these other three colleges had a lot in common, and I loved all of them.</p>

4

<p>Swarthmore first reads your Why Swarthmore? supplement. It is critical to being accepted and the most important part of one’s application.</p>

5

<p>Your academic stats seem good enough, but places like Swarthmore look at much much more than just academic stats. Swarthmore historically has had a very strong tennis program. If you are interested in playing tennis in college, I strongly recommend talking to the Swarthmore tennis coach over the summer. In my experience, applicants who would be impact players on a Swarthmore team do pretty well in admissions, assuming that they are academically qualified.</p>

<p>As others have posted, you should also make sure your “Why Swarthmore” essay is well thought out and conveys that you will be a good fit Swarthmore and vice versa.</p>

6

<p>Middlebury, Swat, Dartmouth, UVA… one of these things is not like the other, and it is Swat, not UVA.</p>

7

<p>Couldn’t hurt to get your V and M SAT’s up about 30-40 <a href=“mailto:points@”>points@</a>. Middlebury and Dartmouth perhaps have a bit more in common with Williams than Swarthmore (of the top LAC’s).</p>

8

<p>Thanks for the input. I will be writing the “Why Swarthmore” essay at some point this summer, so, would anyone be willing to read it and make sure it is well done?</p>