Do I have a good chance at STRIDE?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Smith College
1

<p>Hey guys,
Apps are in and my exams are almost over, so I officially have nothing to do with my time but freak out about college! (I kid, I kid) but anyway, I love Smith and I would really really really love to get a STRIDE scholarship and I was wondering how likely that is based on my stats?
State: CT
School Type: fairly competitive public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Hooks: legacies: grandma, great-grandma, and great aunt all attended; grandma donates</p>

<p>SAT I - best in one sitting: 2330 (760 M 770 CR 800 WR), superscore 2360 (only difference is 800 CR)
SAT IIs - 740 Lit, 800 USH
APs - 5s on Lit, French, APUSH, Bio all in junior year
GPA -3.88ishhh
Class Rank: umm school only releases deciles I think? But probably top 5%
Senior courseload - AP psych, AP lang, AP art history, honors choir, honors french, AP calc, APES</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
-recreational martial arts since grade 8
- audition-only choir since grade 5, though i quit that this year and joined the school honors choir instead
- recreational piano since age 5
- National Art Honor Society, historian last year, currently vice president (we actually do things, like putting on shows and hosting "Chalkfest" and helping out at art benefits)
- Co-president of Freethinkers club (philosophy, culture, politics, basically a discussion club for any and everything)
- class council treasurer last year, student government executive board treasurer this year
- Leo Club (a community service club) secretary
- Environmental Club publicity secretary
- I write for several sections of the school newspaper
- 100 hours of community service, mostly from Leo Club and Environmental Club
- started debate this year, qualified for states
Awards:
-Grand Concours 9th in state, 10th in country (grade 10), 4th in state 5th in country (grade 11)
-NMSF
-CAPT scholar (not that it matters)
-AP Scholar with Honor (not that it matters)
-National French Honor Society (I count this as an award as we don't do anything)</p>

<p>Summer programs:
-performing/ fine arts camp going into 9th and 10th
-Middlebury-Monterey Language Academy going into 11th (a French immersion program)
-RISD precollege program summer before 12th</p>

<p>Interests: art, literature, world languages (especially French but looking to start another in college!), women and gender studies, history, lots of stuff
Recommendations should be pretty good from my APUSH and AP Lit teachers, haven't seen them.
Counselor rec should be decent (big public school, don't know her).
My common app essay was awesome/different (I know everyone thinks his/her/zir common app essay was awesome and different but whatever) and my Smith supplements were fairly good, though I had issues fitting specifics into the space allotted for "Why Smith?".
Interview: It was actually the best interview ever, for many reasons. I was giddy by the time I walked out of there, lol.
Not asking for financial aid.</p>

2

<p>Not asking for financial aid? Hmm isn’t that what STRIDE is? Other than that you have a strong chance in my estimation. Good luck.</p>

3

<p>STRIDE is merit aid, not need-based. I meant that I’m not asking for need-based aid, sorry for not clarifying. Thanks!</p>

4

<p>OK I thought that might be the case…you have a strong app as I said before. Best of luck with it.</p>

5

<p>woah. you just killed any ounce of confidence i had …your application is stellar. Congratz and good work…i wish you good luck although it doesn’t look like you will need it</p>

6

<p>It’s basically impossible to tell. Lots of meritorious people apply for admission and don’t get awarded STRIDE, including 4.0 students with top test scores. It is based on merit, but a lot more meritorious people apply than there are scholarships for. The only thing you can do is apply and hope for the best. Also, keep in mind that if you don’t apply for financial aid your first year you can’t apply again until your junior year. Given that financial circumstances these days are subject to unforeseen volatility, student financial services strongly recommends that students apply for aid their first year, even if they think they’re unlikely to get any. In 99% of cases with US students, financial aid is not a factor in decisions, even though Smith is technically not “need blind”, so if that is the only thing stopping you, I would think twice. Applying for aid, even if you think you won’t need or get any, keeps your options open for future years.</p>