Chances?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Bowdoin College
1

<p>I applied RD, but I don’t know a lot about the selectivity at Bowdoin, so if you could tell me if I’m in the ballpark for admission, and if my chances are decent? Thanks!</p>

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<p>MY INFO:
–Caucasian female from public school in Minnesota
–first generation college student (kind-of; my dad went to a 2-year trade school, but he doesn’t have a degree, just a trade certificate)
–G.P.A. = 4.0 UW (4.0 scale)
–Class rank = 1/253, Valedictorian
–National Merit semifinalist
–I’m taking the hardest classes offered at my school (4 APs out of 4 offered)
–my intended major will most likely be a liberal arts or humanities discipline
–ACT = 32
–didn’t send my SAT or SATII scores (they weren’t bad, but not exceptional, and I couldn’t afford to send them all)</p>

<p>EC’s:
–piano lessons since 3rd grade
–clarinet since 6th grade (auditioned for, and made it into the Wind Ensemble – the top performing group at my school in 10th grade)
–superior rating at MN solo/ensemble contest for clarinet
–Cantabile’ Girls’ Choir (3 years, entrance upon audition)
–National Honor Society (3 year member)
–Project 4 Teens (I was trained to go into 8th grade health classrooms, and teach about abstinence and healthy relationships & help w/transition into High School)
–Teens Against Tobacco Use (trained to go into 4th grade classrooms to teach about negatives of tobacco use)
–swim team (4 years; lettered, received Academic Gold Award)
–nordic ski team (5 years; lettered, received Academic Gold Award))
–cross country team (2 years; lettered, Academic Gold Award, co-Captain this year)
–2 school musicals: once in the Pit Orchestra, once in the Cast
–marching band (2 years)
–school board subcommittee (2 years)
–selected to attend Minnesota Girls’ State
–won a statewide essay contest, which qualified me to attend the Spirit of America Conference in Philadelphia
–received 4 Academic letters
–worked part time at Banana Republic for 1 year (received employee of the month, + many nominations)
–teach piano lessons
–concession stand employee</p>

<p>COMMUNITY SERVICE (main projects):
–Sunday School Teacher
–volunteer within my school through prevention programs such as SADD, TATU, Target, NHS, etc.
–train 3-5th graders to be Peer Mediators at a day camp every summer
–confirmation retreat chaperone
–9th grade “respect retreat” facilitator</p>

<p>OTHER:
–common app. essay was excellent; it was kind of an offbeat essay about my passion for skiing (is strong involvement in winter sports a plus for Bowdoin?)
–Bowdoin supplemental essay was o.k. (I was kind of rushed)
–1 good rec., 1 exceptional rec.
–great counselor rec.</p>

<h2>–i missed the deadline for requesting an alumni interview because I didn’t really discover Bowdoin until later in the game, so I unfortunately won’t receive an interview.</h2>

<p>So… How are my chances? Thanks a million!</p>

2

<p>oh, and current courses:</p>

<p>1)Economics
2)AP Calculus
3)AP Biology
4)Spanish IV (College in Schools Course -- U. of Minnesota)
5)Chemistry
6)Wind Ensemble (Top performance group)
7)Humanities (College-prep)</p>

3

<p>I'm 2/300 with a 3.98 GPA. I got in E-D. I'm sure you will get in R-D...you sound more qualified than I was. ;)</p>

4

<p>You look like a strong applicant. However, the applicant pool is bound to be strong. Only time will tell whether or not you qualified enough.</p>

5

<p>thanks for the replies! any other opinions?</p>

6

<p>You have an excellent chance of being accepted. I wish you the best of luck.</p>

7

<p>oh come onnn, no offense, but this is really ridiculous. why do you need people on here to tell you if you will get in or not? what could be WRONG with those extensive stats?? you're the friggen valedictorian, with a 4.0, and above average act score, not to mention a crazy amount of EC's. why would you need to worry? am i missing something?? get real. i'm not trying to be mean but just come on! congrats on the insane accomplishments and stop worrying because you dont need to, and you know it.</p>

8

<p>yea i agree with orca. while nothing can be 100% guaranteed, id be surprised if you dont get in</p>

9

<p>honestly i wasn't fishing for compliments. i don't know a ton about Bowdoin, and I read that it's ranked something like the top 10 for liberal arts colleges. Plus I won't have a chance to interview and my supplemental essay wasn'/t very good. I was just wondering if the rest of my info. will help to balance that. But thank you guys for all the replies</p>

10

<p>Well, I would say you should at very least do some research between now and April. If you are seriously considering Bowdoin, looking outside the US News rankings would be the best step. Being 6th in an overall ranking isnt very helpful in deciding a crucial part of your life like this.</p>

11

<p>i strongly agree w/ insertanamehere. although i understand completely that it is difficult to know exactly what we want at this point in our lives and it is sometimes ridiculous to try and ACT like you know, lol, i have pretty much learned from my personal experiences thus far that desiring a school for its US News ranking is an extremely bad idea. in fact i might even go so far as to say that that specific piece of literature is the devil. yeah, that's right, i said it. i think that we should burn it and start looking for schools that we want for reasons other than its rank and its interquartile range of SAT scores. i think that is the root of the problem with society today. people don't do what they want, they go along with what other people want of them, and quite frankly i'm sick of it!!!! life is too short to go on like that! okay, sry about that rant. anyways, in conclusion, yeah, this is not an attack because i was guilty of this myself, but you should think about looking for schools based on your own preferences, and not on its ranking. although it's obviously hard to really know about a school and what your experience at that school will be like BEFORE you go there, which is why i think this whole process is very difficult and involves some stabbing in the dark, i think that you really just have to go with your true first impressions and follow your heart. and that, right there, is my humble opinion. :)</p>

12

<p>orca25, I completely agree with you! When I mentioned that Bowdoin is in the top 10 for liberal arts colleges, I meant to say that it was the reason why I am inquiring about my chances.... not at all the reason why I chose to apply. I am interested in Bowdoin for it's academic rigor, its location -- where I can continue participating in my winter sports, the fact that it is small and removed, but also near a city (and a bus-ride away from Boston, etc.), and a lot of other reasons. I won't know a lot more about Bowdoin (besides what I've learned from the website, viewbooks, etc.) until I visit... and I will certainly visit if I am accepted. I will not go to any college where I have not at least had an overnight visit... because in the end I'm really interested in finding the best fit for me!</p>

13

<p>allie_babwa06, have you contacted the Nordic Coach? I would do that if you want to ski in college.</p>

14

<p>i haven't. should I contact the coach even if I don't plan on playing varsity sports? I'm not really at that competitive of a level... I would be continuing Nordic Ski at the club/IM level, or recreationally.</p>

15

<p>allie, is bowdoin your top choice?</p>

16

<p>Do you think it was my negative dorm report on Bowdoin ( but I love the college) that blew off all of the messages:) or was it the Bowdoin censors???????????haha</p>

17

<p>There's probably not much point in contacting the coach if you don't plan on pursuing intercollegiate sports. They get involved in the admissions process primarily with respect to potential varsity athletes.</p>