<p>M’s mom raises a very good point. You will spending tremendous amounts of time with the tennis team assuming you play there and should really like the team and feel of the team environment. </p>
<p>Also, after just having come back from a recent trip to Grinnell. Our s was very pleased with all of the different things that were available to chose from on the campus. Each day he was there he had to make choices regarding what to go and do and see.</p>
<p>It is very rural, but who has time for shopping ect when you are busy with school. Also, if you do get bored you can catch the free bus to Des Moines each weekend. I think they also may have one that goes to Iowa city.</p>
<p>^ The Bus doesn’t go nearly every weekend. If I’m not completely mistaken, the shuttle ran a total of six saturdays this semester, twice to Des Moines, twice to Iowa City and twice to Williamsburg. </p>
<p>But most likely you won’t have time anyway to catch the shuttle too often.</p>
<p>Stats:
ACT: 34 (Writing-11)
SAT II: 800 Math II
760 Physics
GPA: 4.21
Rank: 29/1418
EC’s: soccer awards, cello awards, piano awards (blah)
AP’s: Four 5’s , One 4</p>
<p>I don’t know too much about Grinnell either. Anyone know about scholarships? They’re automatic merit based right?</p>
<p>They do offer merit based scholarships. Many schools at that caliber do not even offer merit scholarships, but Grinnell does which is great. They also have wonderful need based aid.</p>
<p>hey guys! i am also applying to grinnell for the RD, and I am an international…so, please go through my stats to see if I have a good chance to get in!</p>
<p>Here is my stats…
TOEFL-107
ACT-29 (math-35, english-32, science-25, reading-25)
ACT writing-10
SAT II:
Math IIC-800
Physics-760</p>
<p>recommendations:
counselor-highly impressive
teachers reco- math (super), physics (good)</p>
<p>rank-1/300
gpa- not a GPA system: my percentage is 85.4%
country-nepal
gender-male</p>
<p>essays–i have worked really hard on them…so, they are not bad!</p>
<p>extracuricullar:
-selected to participate in the international physics olympiad (IPhO), mexico, 2009, but could not participate for domestic reasons.
-regional inter school computer programming–first
-regional speech competition-first
-participated in a lot of quiz programs–first, second, or third
-president of ECO club
active member of red cross</p>
<p>experience:
-mathematics teacher for grades 6 and 7
-private tutor
-organizing inter school science quiz competition</p>
<p>I’m an RD who probably won’t get in, but it’s worth a shot because Grinnell is so amazing. Don’t worry too much about my chances; I applied to twelve other colleges! </p>
<p>Essays: good though risky
Recs: English (good), creative writing (excellent), counselor (personal)
Awards: School Biology Award, School Creative Writing Award, Regional Poetry Contest, National Poetry Contest
ECs: Giving speeches at autism conferences, literary magazine, several leftist school clubs</p>
<p>Special academic circumstances: as a special needs student, I was unable to take advantage of the most rigorous curriculum that was offered by my school. </p>
<p>So I’m not terribly competitive. Everyone can breathe now.</p>
<p>In response to Ekooo (#24, above) merit scholarships are not automatic. Some schools have a formula–ie with this SAT score and this GPA you are eligible for $X in merit aid. I assume that is what you mean by automatic. </p>
<p>I believe Grinnell hands out merit aid to attract those students it wants to fill its class. That means that if you are desirable geographically or because you play a certain musical instrument or have some other characteristic the college finds attractive, you may get more merit aid than someone with the same GPA and test scores who does not fill that niche. </p>
<p>The fact that merit aid is available at all at a school of Grinnell’s caliber is pretty unusual. (and many of us are very grateful!)</p>
<p>They (e)mailed ED1 decision on 12/14 so I hope they would do it early for ED2 also. </p>
<p>Last year there were 145/304 ED admits (both rounds) for a class size of 378 (it was very competitive last year due to the over-enrollment from the year before - 464 enrolled students.) Now their target class size is 390 but ED1 admit decreased by 17 spots to 90/175 compared to last year’s 107/176 ([Running</a> Tally on Some Colleges’ Early Admission Figures - The Choice Blog - NYTimes.com](<a href=“http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/tally/]Running”>http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/tally/)). Assuming the number of ED applicants & admits stays the same (304 and 145 respectively), ED2 admits will be 55/129 which translates to 43% admit rate. </p>
<p>My son got an acceptance letter today (ED2). That’s the good news. </p>
<p>The bad news: Financial aid offer was next to zero. We’re classic middle class, and the aid formulas assume that we can pay half of our after-tax income. We can’t. I was so happy I was crying when I saw the envelope; now I’m stunned and depressed. Oh well, that’s life.</p>
<p>Northwesterner, have you run a financial aid calculation yourself? Is the EFC that Grinnell comes up with radically different from your calculation? If so, you may want to look into this. Errors are possible. </p>
<p>President Osgood has opined that the FAFSA formula needs to be fixed, especially as it relates to middle class families. But the bottom line is that paying for private college is a reach for most middle-class families. Grinnell is no exception, although it seems like its financial aid is better than most. </p>
<p>I would not give up on Grinnell without further discussions with the college about the financial aid package. It may be able to increase merit aid or work-study or some other component in a way that can make the package work for your son. Good luck!</p>