<p>Here we go. I'm a white female, currently a junior at an extremely competitive public suburban MA high school. </p>
<p>Academics:
GPA 4.47 weighted, 3.87 unweighted (will probably go up by senior year)
Honors English, Math and French, Curr. I Chemistry and US History
(Next year: AP English, AP Calc BC, AP French, Honors Chorus, Ethics I, Theatre)
PSAT 74 math / 76 critical reading / 80 grammar, SATs should be comparable</p>
<p>ECs:
Morris dance 9-12
Folk Arts Center program committee 11-12
Israeli folk dance club 10
Forte a cappella 9-12; probably co-director 12
GSA 9-12; awareness day panel leader 9; Speakout reader 11
Junior National Association for the Deaf 9-12
Philosophy Club 10-11
French Exchange 10
Our Town-Mrs. Webb 11
(most likely more theatre senior year)
Church youth group 9-12; benefit coffeehouse organizer 9-10</p>
<p>Summers:
Sign language classes, work as an interpreter and office assistant at summer program, ASL theatre, work as waitress</p>
<p>Legacy:
Mother, father, aunt (alums)
Sister currently attending, will overlap one year with me</p>
<p>Awards, etc.:
National French Contest 5th place 9-10 (probably similar places this year + next)
Martin Luther King, Jr. essay contest honorable mention 10</p>
<p>Well, I think that's everything. You know what to do...</p>
<p>If Swat is your first choice and you set your mind to it, I think you would have a great shot. I'm assuming that your GPA gives you a pretty high class rank -- at least top 10%, probably higher, right?</p>
<p>The multiple legacy stuff is huge, but then you've probably already figured that out.</p>
<p>I would have three pieces of advice:</p>
<p>a) Work on organizing and presenting your EC interests in a more cohesive way. I'm sure that you would do that anyway, but I didn't know what half that stuff was. Don't make the adcoms do a google search to find out what Morris dancing is! Figure out if there is a way to highlight something that would light Swarthmore's fire. The sign language stuff may be something to consider.</p>
<p>b) Take advantage of your connections with your sister to spend some time on campus next fall. Go to a folk dance club session. Meet some professors. And, so on and so forth. This will really help in writing a good application. I think it's important for legacies to be able to articulate their own reasons for liking Swarthmore. The one risk that you can easily avoid is the perception that you are just applying because you are "supposed" to.</p>
<p>c) Apply early decision, if you can. You want to put Jim Bock in a position where he can't not accept you.</p>
<p>You might want to contact Dona Jo Napoly (Linguistics Dept.). She teaches the structure of ASL and other ASL-related classes, and is very involved in deaf community.</p>
<p>I agree with nngmm and Interesteddad. Put together a cohesive application with a few simple themes reinforced over and over. For example, if the focus of your extracurriculars was to help the deaf community, you should focus on that in some parts of the application as well as contact Dona Jo Napoly (nngmm's suggestion).</p>
<p>work hard on & be very thoughtful about your Why Swat? essay. I think the essay tips the scale tremendously, one way or the other, b/c most serious applicants have great stats and ec's. My daughter pondered her essay for 4 months before finally putting pen to paper.</p>