I’m currently a senior who’s very worried about the college process. I’m most interested in medium liberal arts schools, but these also happen to be the most selective.
My list:
Reaches:
Cornell
Haverford
Schreyer Honors College at Penn State
Tufts
Northwestern (may or may not be applying)
Boston College (may or may not be applying)
William and Mary (may or may not be applying)
Colby (reach/target) (may or may not be applying)
Targets:
Villanova
Boston University
Washington and Lee
Northeastern (Deferred EA)
Likelys:
Penn State
University of Rochester
Kenyon
Here are my stats:
White, Female
GPA: (school doesn’t calculate, but I’m guessing around a 3.4)
Rank: (school doesn’t rank)
SAT: 1390
Subject Tests: 730 US History, 660 English Literature (planning on retaking)
Major Interest: Biology/Cognitive Science
ECs:
Research: (Summer 2015) Young Scholars Program at UC Davis for 6 weeks summer. Conducted novel research about almond tree cultivars
Research 2: (Summer 2016) Laboratory Learning Program at Princeton University (highly competitive). Extracted DNA, ran PCRs and gels on goldenrod species.
Peer Group leader: Chosen by faculty. Teach a class of freshmen during senior year
Head of Debate Club. Run weekly meetings and plan and supervise tournaments.
Soccer (14+ years): Club and Varsity 4 years on school team.
Fencer (3 years): Varsity foilist for school team
Writing center mentor (2 years): selected by faculty, edit papers for students
Climate Scholar and Garden Club member: Selected by faculty, attend climate lectures, tend to garden, create tutorials and almanacs about garden procedures and organic recipes.
Model UN (3 years)
Work (2 years): Tutored kids aged 5-13 in abacus mathematics and reading
Recs (how I think they went) : College Counselor (8 or 9/10), science teacher (10/10), english teacher (8/10)
Hooks:
highly competitive high school
twin
strong ECs
upward trend after sophomore year
My worries:
Cs in an honors math class sophomore year
SAT subject tests (should I take Bio since I’m applying as a bio major, or is it too late?)
Not enough APs (3)
Is my college list too ambitious? Do I have a shot at any of my reaches? I’d love to hear your honest thoughts.
I’d say put some more safeties on for sure…
Today I’d consider Northeastern a reach (it’s getting more elite every year)
Consider some safer schools for sure.
I foresee a lot of denials as is. Especially your reaches. Your likelys I wouldn’t consider safe per se either.
Right now, most of these schools are reaches and Penn State is a match. (3.4 is the minimum to be admitted to University Park in an undecided major, or perhaps in liberal arts.)
Apply to Bryn Mawr, Dickinson, Denison, and Muhlenberg, Temple Honors. If you’re willing to look further afield, include Mount Holyoke, Agnes Scott, Suny Geneseo, St Lawrence, Goucher, St Mary’s honors college of Maryland.
Well, there’s no need for eight reaches… (I understand you may not apply to them)
Being a twin isn’t a hook.
Three AP classes doesn’t seem so bad, but how many does your school offer? I don’t think you should worry about retaking SAT II Biology.
Your GPA is a bit on the lower side for those school, but your ECs are strong. Try looking for schools with freshman profiles close to your stats.
And also, your letter of recommendation and essay will play a relatively large role in your admissions decisions
^ I agree Kenyon ought to e treated as a reach, not a likely, unless the school has an established relationship with Kenyon AND Naviance shows that kids with our stats typically get in, in which case it’s be a high match.
On what planet is Kenyon a likely? It’s a reach for you. You maybe have one safety, Penn State. You urgently need a safety school, and you urgently need to ask your GC to send your transcripts and recs before Xmas break. Please listen to MYOS.
Hooks are not something YOU make up.
Hooks are standard and something that the school needs and are:
URM, recruited athlete, legacy, first generation college applicant. I don’t see those in your description.
We took a tour of Skidmore, and our tour guide mentioned her twin sister was a tour guide at Kenyon and asked if any of us were visiting there. We will visit if my daughter gets into Kenyon, and request her twin since they are hoping for the day they both give a tour to the same student. So maybe being a twin for Kenyon is a hook. Seriously, though, my daughter had 1450 SAT, 8 AP’s, over 4.0 weighted and considers Kenyon a low reach. Not a match because of it’s low acceptance rate. She just got deferred from Colby ED. Not trying to bum you out, just being honest.
I think you really need to reevaluate your choices as you are below the middle 50 stats for many of these schools. @MYOS1634 mentioned some great options. I applied to schreyer with well above a 4.0 and a good act and consider it a reach. Many of your targets and even some of your safety’s seem like reaches too. You seem like a great student, but some of these schools just aren’t likely and will not be good matches even if you do get in.
University of Rochester is probably a reach for you. I’m worried about my son (he has a 3.8 GPA, 32 ACT), and we’re considering it a reach. Their average admitted student has a 3.8.
Is PA your home state? That will influence your chances at Penn State (or William & Mary depending on whether or not you are in state). You should try to identify at least one true in-state public safety - both for admissions and affordability.
I would not spend the time or money applying to Northwestern as their admit rate in the RD round is less than 10% and your stats aren’t competitive there. If you haven’t already applied to Cornell, Haverford, Tufts, I would also eliminate them from your list.
As others have mentioned, the majority of schools on your list are reaches. I also like @MYOS1634 's suggestions for more realistic alternatives of LACs that are more likely for admission. The Colleges that Change Lives schools (ctcl.org) might be a good bet - maybe check out Ursinus, Susquehanna, or Allegheny?
My daughter got into Rochester ED with stats similar to yours but regular admission will be much more competitive, especially for science majors (my daughter is humanities/social science). Kenyon has become extremely competitive and is definitely not a safety for you. I think Washington and Lee is also a stretch for you.
It’s also hard to imagine anyone who thinks she will be happy at Northeastern also applying to Kenyon (or Haverford, or Washington and Lee for that matter)–two schools could not possibly be more different.
Northeastern apparently accepted hardly anybody EA. Daughter’s classmates with much stronger records than yours were deferred–nobody knows what this means.
If you are interested in biology, I would move fast on Brandeis (January 1 deadline)–coming from Pennsylvania you are actually in the range there. Also consider the SUNY schools – Stony Brook has great biology and I think it is rolling admissions.Is Rutgers a possibility? I think bio is also strong there.
Definitely look at Bryn Mawr–deadline isn’t until January 15 so you’ve got a bit more time. If you think you will like Haverford, give Bryn Mawr a try. It’s basically the same experience–with fewer men around, but much easier to get into.
Also, take a look at College of Wooster–you are in right in their range and they will love your research experience and your ECs. My guess is they will offer you a merit scholarship and it is a great place. I think with your research interests you might really like it there. Early Decision II deadline is January 15, but you shouldn’t apply anyplace ED without a visit. Regular deadline is February 15.
Villanova would have been a safety for my daughter, but for someone from PA I imagine it is harder. If Villanova appeals to you, what about Providence College? (Deadline January 15). I know a young woman who graduated from there two years ago with a bio degree and she got a great job. She had scores/grades similar to yours but her ECs were not nearly as impressive as yours. You would be a candidate for merit scholarships at PC also, I should think.
Wow. As someone who grew up in and has lived in the Boston area for decades, I’m having a hard time wrapping my brain around how selective Northeastern has become.
@justpassingthru The increases in popularity for Northeastern U are truly deserved (unlike some other newly popular schools) and are probably based on two principal factors. The strong Co-op program at NEU is still somewhat unique and resonates well with students (and parents) in the aftermath of the Great Recession given the increased importance of getting a good start to one’s career right after graduation. Also, another trend is that young people increasingly want to live and work in cities. Therefore, there is increased demand for universities with real campuses in attractive cities. As a result, similar to Northeastern, other previously less popular urban schools such as Temple, Pitt, American University and Loyola Chicago have become surprisingly popular with more high stat kids and have climbed the rankings as a result.
londondad, So why is Northeastern moving way up but not Boston University? As someone who got into Northeastern 25 years ago, they had co op then, and started the college search for my daughter, I was shocked at how high on ONE list Northeastern has become. So I did some research. Northeastern did reverse engineering to move up on US News list. For instance, US News gives a better ranking for lower acceptance rates. So Northeastern did ton’s of marketing to increase applications. US news gave better rankings for schools with a certain percent of classes with 20 of fewer students. So Northeastern started to have a lot of classes with 19 Students. They then realized their graduation rate was better for students who lived on campus. So they turned their parking lots into new dorms. Some think they prefer high SAT’s over almost everything else, so they move up. Not to say it’s not a good school, my daughter has a friend who is a Sophomore and loves it. Many, if not all of their improvements do make it a better school.
They would meet with US News just to see how they can improve rankings. I think their approach is why they are high on some list but a lot lower on others. I would classify them as a school that gamed the system rather than “truly deserved” it.
