<p>I have just gotten an email from Reed College saying that I was deferred to the regular admissions pool. Does anyone know any facts about the deferral process of Reed College, like how many students who were deferred get admitted? Just so you know, I am an African American with a 3.75 unweighted GPA, a 4.0 weighted GPA, and a 1780 SAT score.I really thought I would get in, and I hope that I still can.</p>
<p>Maybe you should take the SAT again and try to get higher scores? You could really study and practice over Christmas and take it Jan 22. Good luck!</p>
<p>Yeah, it’s the SAT (well, from the limited information I have). Maybe try the ACT? Also, look into Lewis and Clark if you’re a fan of Portland (also a neat school- I applied early action, not knowing I would be admitted to Reed), Bard, and Hampshire. Bard and L&C I know are score optional- not sure about Hampshire.</p>
<p>Okay, I will give more information. I am male. My extracurricular activies are: Academic Bowl 1 year, Beta club 4 years and president 1 year, Ecology Club and club leader 1 year, Spanish Club 1 year, Robotics Team 2 years, player then film manager for football team 1 year, and track and field 1 year. I have retaken the SAT in Dec. and am waiting for the results. Also, I have taken the ACT in Dec. and am waiting for the results. The other colleges that I will now apply to are Hampshire College, Bennington College, Sarah Lawrence College, Marlboro College, and Antioch College. I am looking for colleges that are unique and meet my standards: private college, Nonsectarian, co-ed, liberal arts college, no affliation with the military, no fraternities and sororities, no NCAA division, no open or same curriculum for all students, and a broad curriculum. I hope this is enough information.</p>
<p>I think you have a much better shot at the others you’ve listed. Good luck!</p>
<p>Maybe you should look into Beloit also - I think it meets your criteria really well.</p>
<p>Beloit College has greek life, not something I want. Greek life promotes exclusiveness and cliques. Moreover, I want your opinion. Should I apply early desicion to Antioch College, which has offers full tuition to its entering class of 25 students, or should I do RD in the hopes that there still might be a chance to get into Reed College? I do not know anything about how hard it is to get into antioch college and do not know if it is worth my time to apply ED or take a risk with RD.</p>
<p>Don’t apply somewhere ED willy nilly like that. ED is for somewhere you definitely know you want to go…
That said, the presence of a Greek life doesn’t make a college “bad.” If it’s in the background, you’ll barely notice it. My dad went to Beloit for his senior year and loved it. Maybe ask a student how prevalent the Greek system is?</p>
<p>I would definitely take your chances applying RD. It would be very dangerous, in my opinion, to apply to Antioch ED. Antioch is reopening this year after it had a financial crisis and closed it’s doors. I would not invest so much into a school that seems so unstable. Reed is much less shaky financially right now and is raising tons of money for it’s centennial. I also think you should retake your SAT’s because from your profile it appears that those are probably why you were deferred.</p>
<p>If you are looking for a really good LAC, you may want to consider Knox College.</p>
<p>jussmall, I don’t know how you could’ve missed Oberlin on your list of schools to apply to. Selectivity is identical to Reed (they are peer schools) and the college is just as liberal if not more so. However, I know someone with a similar hook and stats was admitted to Oberlin recently. I think they are trying a bit harder (than Reed) to find URMs and may cut some slack with the standardized tests if you have a high GPA, which you do. Just don’t blow the “why Oberlin” essay. It’s critical when you have test scores that fall in the bottom 25%. Oberlin will meet your financial need. The student body is totally against frats and sororities. There are none. </p>
<p>Oberlin is most definitely unique. Pick up “Princeton Review” and you’ll get a feel for it, but visiting is the absolute best thing to do, if possible. </p>
<p>They do have sports teams but the teams are strictly Division III, and the stands tend to be empty for home games because most of the student body could care less about sports. I’m mystified as to why they bother to even have teams because they lose almost all the time.</p>
<p>What is a URM and how will me being a URM help me in college admissions? Also, I just got my ACT score back and it is a 28 overall. So, can anyone give my chances of being accepted? Finally, the reason I am so picky about colleges is because I am spending a lot of money on getting an education and will probably have to take out a lot of loans. I have seen a show called Price of Admission: The True Cost of College and am worried if I am even going to able able to pay off my loans. So, I want to get this college selection thing right.</p>
<p>Seriously, are you from the U.S.? It’s odd that you are unaware of the term “URM.” URM means “underrepresented minority.” Essentially, African Americans (including biracial, multiracial) and Hispanics. All of the best LACs want more diversity, but how aggressively they pursue it varies. Your 28 ACT will put you in the low end of the middle 50% range. Combined with your GPA, ECs, and “hook,” you’ll have a great chance to get into Oberlin RD. I think you have a great chance to get into Reed RD, unless they have no idea that you are a URM. If you’re keeping that a secret from the adcoms, you might want to reconsider. There are all kinds of “hooks” students use to make themselves a bit more attractive like “legacy,” “full pay,” “celebrity status,” “professor/administrators kids,” and “athletes.” Your hook is not better or worse than others. Even gender can be a hook at some schools, if there is a disproportionate percentage of females to males. Most LACs are majority female, although the distribution varies from campus to campus. </p>
<p>Oberlin has a nice endowment. Not as big as Grinnell or Swarthmore but larger than Reed’s. If admitted, they will meet your full need as evidenced by the FAFSAS. I’m not sure of Reed’s policy when it comes to financial aid. The only drawback to Oberlin, for some people, is the location. It is not nearly as beautiful as Reed’s surroundings, and Cleveland is farther from Oberlin than Portland is to Reed. Portland is a way cooler city too, IMHO, unless you like big league professional sports. That’s the only advantage to Cleveland. They have all of the typical American pro sports teams. However, because of the distance (about 45 minutes by car–there is no mass transit), Oberlin students rarely venture there.</p>
<p>I don’t know where you are from, but from your list of schools, geographic location does not appear to be a critical factor.</p>
<p>Jussmall, you might also want to consider Grinnell (Iowa) and Kenyon (Ohio), two other peer LACs, and Macalaster College in St. Paul, Minnesota. Just in case. But I think you’ll get into Reed RD, if they know you’re a URM.</p>
<p>I have looked at Oberlin College. It has Divison III sports, which I do not like. Not many people at Oberlin College and similar colleges do not care about sports, and I feel that the college is wasting money on them. But, colleges without Divison sports do not waste money on them and have students who play sports for fun not competition. Overall, I feel that I do not want to go to a college with divison sports unless I get a really good reason. Besides, not selecting colleges with divison sports has helped me lower my college from 16 to the 6 I have now. I cannot afford to apply to many colleges, and the deadlines for colleges are fast approaching.</p>
<p>Before I forget. I do not want to attend Kenyon College because it is religiously affliiatied college. I feel that college should be a time to expand my mind to other viewpoints, not close it. I may sound picky about my college choices, but I really do not want to waste my money on a college I might not enjoy.</p>
<p>Just so you know: Kenyon has NO religious affiliation.</p>
<p>My mistake. I looked at wikipedia and no other websites. I guess wikiedia is not right all of the time. But, kenyon college still has greek life. So, no kenyon college for me.</p>
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<p>jussmall, your criteria are your criteria, but i think you are being unusually narrow in your criteria. Most colleges have some kind of athletic teams but they may have no more significance or visibility than the chess club. Not wanting Greek life I can understand, because it can drive campus social life, culture and a whole lot of other things. The same with D I sports. I know. I have a kid at Penn State. I also have a kid at Oberlin who has a similar attitude regarding intercollegiate athletics. Oberlin works for her because 90% of the non-athletes on campus can’t even tell you what sports teams exist on campus, that’s how much of a non-factor Div III sports are at that college.</p>
<p>Your criteria seem unncessarily strict. Top LACs like Amherst and Williams field sports teams and even after funding the teams have way more money for students and academics than Reed. Moreover, a lot of alumni donate gobs of money to their alma maters BECAUSE they are proud of the sports teams. Some of that money goes to academics, buildings, administration, etc. Schools WITHOUT sports teams are some of the poorest funded institutions in their class. Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Stanford field Division I sports teams. Even MIT fields sports teams (Division III in most, Div I in one sport). So will attending a lonely college with no sports teams get you a better education? Bigger scholarships? I think you know the answer is “no.” Perhaps something to think about is why exactly you have such an intense dislike of even Div. III athletics and what that does for you. You won’t get a better education, bigger library, more financial aid, or a more prestigious diploma by insisting on a college without intercollegiate athletics. In fact, you are likely to get less of one or more of the above. So what is the advantage?</p>
<p>I have no idea if Reed has Div. III sports teams. It’s a great college but I think that’s a bit of an odd reason for narrowing your college list. There aren’t many great colleges like Reed that are without sports teams. So, if you don’t get into Reed RD, although I think you will if they know you are a URM, you could wind up at a much less elite school than you are capable of getting into, just because you hate even Division III sports teams. It feels like you are not doing yourself any favors. Anyway, good luck with Reed.</p>
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<p>Jussmall, I have a third kid who like you is a HS senior. A piece of advice: Don’t research colleges on Wikipedia. You get too much misinformation and not enough of the kind of information you really need. Some colleges have frats/sororities that have so little influence and participation, they have no effect on campus life for 90% of the student body. You can’t get that from Wikipedia. CC is a good resource but not enough. Also check out U<em>N</em>I<em>G</em>O* (remove the asterisks) and C<em>O</em>L<em>L</em>E<em>G</em>E P<em>R</em>O<em>W</em>L<em>E</em>R (remove the asterisks). The latter site will really tell you how much Greek life and sports dominates campus life and culture. And dig into the websites of colleges before you depend on Wikipedia. </p>
<p>Just the opinion of a Dad who has gone through this drill three times now.</p>