Grinnell ED

Colleges and Universities A-Z Grinnell College
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The comment about sports recruiting and early decision is right on. Most, but not all, Div 3 schools really go out of the way for targeted, recruited athletes. But Grinnell has placed special emphasis on this as shown in these recent articles, and the second one has some particularly interesting stats:

http://www.thesandb.com/sports/incoming-class-sets-record-for-early-decision-committment.html

http://www.thesandb.com/article/how-campus-visits-differ-for-prospective-athletes.html

You’ll note that nearly half of campus visitors (42-48%) are students interested in sports, but only 14% are recruited athletes. Colleges usually discuss only “athletes” and don’t give data on how many of those are recruited. But it’s only the recruited ones who are hosted by the teams and whose applications are “tagged” or “sponsored” (I’ve heard both terms used) by the athletic department. I have seen data that says at most schools such applications are accepted at a rate of around 95% because the student has to be pre-qualified in advance by the coach working with the admissions office.

Our D experienced visits both as a recruit and as a non-recruit at a school where she might have been a walk-on but not a starter on the team. At the non-recruit school the coach was willing to meet with her, but was very unresponsive to texts and only offered a time after she’d been on campus for a while (she turned it down - the whole experience was sour for her, not just the team experience). At recruited schools she stayed with a team member and often was accompanied by different team members throughout. At one school (not Grinnell) she and her mom were taken out to dinner at a nice local restaurant by the coach. In all cases the details of the visit were well coordinated and well communicated in advance and there was special effort made to make her welcome and answer all her concerns.

82

Congratulations to all!! Hug your kids, now they can breathe and know they are in the school they want to be in. And finish out their senior year relaxed and confident. I am so happy for all of you.

83

Class of 2022 - i thought the ceiling was going to cave in when he found out - hope that everyone else had similar experiences tonight.

84

I’m dying! Did @Grinnellhopeful get good news?

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I hear ya @homerdog. Fingers/toes crossed for @Grinnellhopeful and congratulations to @cornellian88

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Congrats to @Cornellian88 and @ellivdeal!!

87

@homerdog my D got rejected. It was unfortunate timing as she is taking her 2nd ACT in the morning. However, we just finished a long discussion in which we focused on what we learned. She said she learned what she wanted from a school, in my opinion that is a great lesson. She is probably going to decline her scholarships from her state school, she knows that’s not the atmosphere that she wants. We have created a list of 10, we have three favorites in there so far. We will wait until her second scores come out which should be in a couple weeks, which might cut things close. But if she scores 30-32 composite it might open some other doors. As her GPA and class rank look really good. It was a rough few hours, but she is handling it with grace. And we are focusing on the fact that there must be another place that she is supposed to be.

I’m proud of her. She will inevitably get another rejection or two but will also get acceptances (although we are late in the process). But it’s all part of the process. I feel confident she is feeling empowered and knows she will land where she is supposed to.

She is obviously sad because Grinnell is an amazing school. But there are other amazing schools out there and everyone that chimed in gave us some amazing guidance about where to focus next.

ACT score- Unknown what score 2 will be
GPA- 3.97
Top 10% of her class
Excellent LORs
7 honors classes
6 IB classes
1 AP
IB and AP were not available until JR year…She choose IB over AP and prefers that style of learning.

We are about 1 week away from 1st semester finals and she has all A’s…she should see a bump in her GPA

I just reinforced that she is still an amazing student. Because she is.
Grinnell is an amazing school…but clearly they were not amazing for each other.

I am overjoyed for those that got in. We are not bitter or resentful. We are moving forward. And we have met some really kind people here who have given us great guidance and hopefully we can continue to follow and bother everyone for advice about where to go next.

88

You are a great mom. I wish your daughter the best of luck.

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@Veryapparent I’m obviously not the most prepared mom. I could’ve done better by her. I like to think that she raised a good parent. She’s a pretty special, no, exceptional human being, despite me. Thank you for the kind words, though.

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@Grinnellhopeful that is a super bummer that she dealt with this the night before her ACT but it sounds like you have developed a fantastic plan of attack and I strongly agree with those that provided lists of schools previously. If you were able to cull a list of 10 out of those suggested you are in great great shape. My recommendation based on nothing more than what you have provided is to relook at the essay (proably won’t be popular with your daughter) and really make sure it says as much as possible about your daughter. It has to distinguish her as an applicant from all the others, giving Admissions ammunition during the decision making process. Also I would strongly suggest reviewing her ECs and figuring out how to articulate all the great things she’s done even those things that may not be “official” but are consistent and time consuming. Lastly I would suggest taking the option when given to talk about your loss and it’s impact on her school work and ECs within the Common app. It is not looking for sympathy or asking for special treatment when a tragic event impacts the performance of a young person. It provides context for the transcript. Your daughter has an impressive academic resume (that list you just provided should make u very proud) and with an improved ACT will be a very strong candidate for many midwestern small LACs that will throw money at you in the process. Best of luck!

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@Grinnellhopeful I’m sorry that your daughter didn’t get the result she was looking for but she sounds like an amazing girl and I’m sure she will find some place that is a good fit for her where she will thrive. One thing I wanted to mention to you is that I noticed in your post that your daughter now has accommodations in place for the ACT which is great. Know that in our case (and I’ve seen where this is true with others) scores for students with accommodations often come out much later then the scheduled release date. For us it over 6 weeks. I say this only so that you are aware and can factor it into your planning. Best of luck to you and your daughter - you are a wonderful mother and doing a great job.

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@Cornellian88 First of all I want to congratulate your son. I’m thrilled for your family. I also want to thank you for your input. I’m thinking of starting another thread to help us with this list. The great thing that came out of the rejection is that she absolutely knows what’s she is looking for. The next great thing that came from this is all the support I have found on this board.

I am hoping that some of you would be so kind as to help us since I know nothing, I mean nothing.
I do communicate with another poster on this thread outside of CC and she read my D essay. I would be willing if it doesn’t violate TOS to let someone else read it as well. But I will say this my daughter feels very strongly about her essay. She is very very very ethical. And very determined that it’s her voice and her real passion that comes through in her essay. However, we aren’t professionals and only really knew about state schools. You might be surprised by her essay though? It might be better than even I think. Or maybe it’s not. I simply don’t know.

She does not like to dwell on what we have experienced, she wants to be looked at just like every other person. I was able to convince her to put a small personal statement about it in the common app. That probably needs to be tweaked.

Also, today, she is taking the ACT with the time and a half accommodation she has been eligible for but didn’t want to use because she says life doesn’t give you accommodations. I feel very strongly she might get a 32 or higher. But for now, let’s assume 30.

She’s ADD and you can see from each subscore that she started strong and scores went down consistently each section after. She is meticulous and couldn’t manage her time. She wanted to really tear about the science questions and there isn’t time to do that. She LOVES science, she loves Chemistry, she loves physics. It was odd that was her lowest subscore Her English score was 31 BTW. Her test prep consisted of her going to library doing practice problems from each subject. Which she did a few days this week but yesterday prep was ruined by her rejection.

I think the time and half will still get her a great score. She also said her physics course this semester which she has a 98% in has made something click in her brain.

She took it the first and only time in September, just 3 months ago. She has not had any professional test prep courses because they are just not in my budget.

I would love feedback from you and others who have really rooted for us.

I was just getting ready to start a new thread to help with this list and come up with the best list and a great ED2 choice.

I would be grateful for your expertise.

I’m trying to decide where to start it and what to title it.

I’m going to have my daughter create an ID so she can use her voice to articulate what she wants and so it doesn’t have my slant to it.

93

@cornellian88 I don’t think she will say my loss is responsible for the one C on her transcript. She didn’t respond well to that teachers method of teaching (he’s a great teacher though) and she didn’t reach out for help, she kept saying I can figure this out myself.

You’ll find that it was her ECs that suffered the most because she was picking up the slack at home. And because she was isolated. Given the trauma of our loss it’s pretty normal to feel isolated and put yourself in a bubble.

Her consistent EC has been choir, her school has the best choir in the district and the best scores in the state. She has always been in the most selective choir. She is on the exec board this year. She helps with every fundraiser, every single thing including set up and tear down. She helps with the elementary school choirs.

It wasn’t until this year that she began doing NHS, Spanish NHS, Art NHS, and she found that she loves it. She loves volunteering. She loves using her Spanish in the community.

So, she might be described as a late bloomer? I don’t know how to address that or have her address that. But I will say choir takes up quite a bit of time. Not to mention the fact that she did all the grocery shopping, cleaning, meal prep, even budgeting money here at home (so hard for me to admit that) but she did list the time she spends doing that in her activity section.

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I feel like I need an app coach!! LOL, I understand why it is a valuable service. We won’t get support from the school although the LOVE my daughter, they just aren’t familiar with this process. Grinnell has to walk our GC through submitting the common app as he had NEVER seen it before. But he has always advocated for her and supplied supplemental material.

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@Dancer41 I read on ACT board that her score should still come out on the 19th? She isn’t taking the writing portion (although she probably should, she writes well), but it seems most schools don’t require the writing or even look at it.

Which accommodation did you have? She only has the time and half accommodation.

But oh no! If it is delayed several weeks beyond the posted score release we will be in trouble for ED2.

This is where I am lost…how do I help her submit apps strategically?

I’m getting ready to start a thread titles Looking for a great fit LAC. If anybody wants to contribute. I would like to keep this thread as Grinnell centered.

96

My daughter got double time. She took it over multiple days so that may be the difference but I did hear from other parents whose children received extended time all in one day that the scoring can take longer. I hope that isn’t the case for your daughter. I am not an expert and I didn’t want to add something else to be nervous about to your plate, but I wanted to mention our experience so that you’re not surprised if it happens.

I’ll look out for your new thread. Not sure how I ended up on this thread as my daughter never had Grinnell in her sights but your story really touched me and I’ll look forward to contributing some of our experience in our search for other LACs over there.

97

@Grinnellhopeful Good luck on the ACT! I’m going to guess that was the key factor, but to learn more you may want to contact your Grinnell admissions counselor and ask politely if they have any suggestions on how to improve her application for other schools. In my experience the counselors want the kids to be successful and she may offer some help.

Based on that, and if the ACT does go up quite a bit, you should re-apply to Grinnell with the new information.

Regarding similar schools, you’ve said you made a list of 10, but just in case I’ll suggest in the nearby area Augustana, Cornell (block system) and Coe. Wooster in Ohio is another special school.

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@Grinnellhopeful I just noticed that you said your D starts strong on the ACT and scores go down. It’s late for this time, and hopefully she won’t need to take it again in the future, but I’ll put this out there just in case. Most schools “super score” - that is, they take the best score for each section of all of the tests taken and combine them. Grinnell is one such school.

So, if after this re-take she’s got 3 high scores and one low one, if she takes it one more time focus only on that low section - don’t worry about the other three - just focus everything on improving that one section.

99

@Grinnellhopeful , I’m sorry Grinnell didn’t pan out, but you are doing a PHENOMENAL job and your daughter sounds like a catch.

Regarding the following…

“You’ll find that it was her ECs that suffered the most because she was picking up the slack at home.”

In that case, her home duties BECAME one of her ECs. She can say that. What they want is not “What school clubs is she in?” but “How does she use her time outside of academics?” Literally … what’s extra-curricular.

Regarding app coaching, here’s a book I found helpful I’m sure there are others – but it had great info on…

a) how to describe and prioritize ECs, and also how to deal with unconventional ECs such as helping out at home.
b) how to make sure the app tells the applicant’s STORY – in her case, it’s (at least in part) the story of a responsible, ethical, determined kid (etc. etc.) who doesn’t want extra favors. Make sure that shines through. It’s a great quality.

The book is a little geared towards families aiming towards tippy top schools (probably its key market), but not over the top. The title is:

How to Prepare a Standout College Application: Expert Advice that Takes You from LMO* (*Like Many Others) to Admit

Also, if you haven’t yet, check out the Colleges That Change Lives. Wide variety of schools – some more appropriate for her than others – but good central organizing (and, admittedly marketing) principle that sounds like what she’s looking for: https:// ctcl.org/

(A long time ago, Grinnell was one of them, but I think they decided they wanted to market themselves differently some time ago, so joined a different group of schools: https:// 8ofthebestcolleges.org/)

We’re all rooting for you and her here.

100

@Dancer41 I just started the new post. I am so glad that you did stumble upon this thread. I am meeting the best people. And I’ve been quite isolated for six years. Also her score was initially 26, not a terrible score but not to Grinnell score. She probably won’t retake after this. Today’s scores will be the scores because we are late in the game. And yes I do notice that most schools super score although not all of them. I think with the time and a half we’re going to see a big difference. She has the knowledge she needs to score well. She just needed the extra time.

@GocartMozart I also really want to look at those schools you just added you’re the second person who mentioned Coe to her.
And you might know the above comments regarding ACT. Her score wasn’t terrible. I have to check the list of schools and see which ones on that list super score.