<p>I think you’re also not getting that what will get you into schools of this nature are NOT your grades/scores, but how you present yourself as an individual and how that manifests itself in your essays. Don’t be a textureless grind. I’m not saying you are, but all you’ve talked about are “scores.” This isn’t Korea. It’s not just about the scores. None of these schools are looking for perfection in scores; they’re looking for people who can do the work and who are interesting and bring something to the campus.</p>
<p>i really don’t feel like you need to bind yourself to a school that you didn’t care for until you got rejected. idk, i get the feeling that you’re staring at the rankings when you make these decisions. i mean which is fine, but look into the school a little bit deeper. </p>
<p>since you’re not entirely attracted to any school from what it seems, just hold out; just trust in regular decision. you’re stats are good enough. i’d say you’d at the very least get waitlisted by more than half of these: cornell, upenn along with duke, jhu and northwestern. uc berkeley, i heard, is very tough if you’re coming from out of state. i heard only 10% of the incoming class each year is from OOS, but even then i think you have a chance at there.</p>
<p>and yeah, pizzagirl definitely has a point there. you have better scores than me for sure. you need to make sure your essays are meaningful otherwise the ad officers will have no qualms in rejecting you</p>
<p>Pizzagirl: I wasn’t suggesting that Carleton is any kind of “step down” from Pomona in terms of quality (which I didn’t address), but I feel completely justified in characterizing it as a “half step” down in terms of difficulty of admission. Pomona gets 40% more applications than Carleton, and admits 33% fewer applicants. In terms of admission percentage, it’s more than twice as hard to get into as Carleton. </p>
<p>Carleton is a great college, but it’s a less-popular, slightly less-competitive-to-get-into college than Pomona.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t advise you to apply ED2 to “some college” out of desperation. You have good stats; you should have good options in April. Assuming you applied to some safeties you can really see yourself attending… and if not, that would be the priority now.</p>
<p>Remember that ED schools can reject you later if your grades are not up to par.
Don’t try to base selectivity entirely on numbers. Harvey Mudd, for example, takes about 23% of the applicants, but has a very self-selecting pool. The median 50% SATs are:
Critical Reading: 670-760
Writing: 668-760
Math: 740-800
Math 2 Subject: 750-800<br>
Carleton is a top rank school - it gets few applications in part because of the location.
Do NOT apply ED2 to any school you aren’t very happy to attend.</p>
<p>The OP has great grades and scores. But, like nngmm, I would not recommend applying EDII to Swat just to secure a place at a good college. Swarthmore is not for everyone and is certainly isn’t all right to not research what Swarthmore will have to offer before applying EDII (which is as binding as EDI).</p>
<p>Thank you, everybody! I really appreciate each of your advice. </p>
<p>I did my research and decided not to apply to Swarthmore after all. Instead, I added more schools to my list, which now include CMU, Vandy(RD), and U of Alabama <- expecting scholarship. Also, talked with teachers and heard encouraging news: if I really really shape up, my C and B couuuuld rise all the way up to A-/B+. Will have to work like hell, but so sweet!! Many of you posters were so right!</p>
I base it on the fact that Vandy came to our northeast school (big, public and diverse) and said they were trying to expand their appeal to our area and that it was easier to get into from here. Especially if you weren’t a WASP. That was a couple of years ago, and their acceptance rate has gone down in the meantime, but I’m pretty sure it’s still easier to get into from our neck of the woods.</p>
<p>Glad to hear that the OP isn’t succumbing to panic. I’m sure he’ll have good choices in the spring, and so nice to hear those grades look to be better than he feared.</p>
<p>Although it dosen’t have the feel or fit as most of the other schools that the OP has applied to, he should know that he not only will be admitted to U of Miami (he mentioned it on his first post) but he may very well be offered either a 3/4 or full tuition scholarship there with his stats. A student with his academic abilities would do very well at such a school and no doubt be successful in his grad school admissions later on.</p>
Also, talked with teachers and heard encouraging news: if I really really shape up, my C and B couuuuld rise all the way up to A-/B+. Will have to work like hell, but so sweet!! Many of you posters were so right!</p>