Hey all!
It looks like Grinnell updated the application status for some applicants on Feb. 6. Has anyone else who a applied RD heard anything yet?
Pleased to say that I was accepted! I’m estactic, although I’m not sure I will be able to afford attendance there. I didn’t receive any need-based aid.
Congrats! Where did it indicate that your status had changed to accepted? Thanks!
My son was also accepted with merit. We were very surprised that we heard back already. We were not expecting to find out anything until the end of march.
I was accepted! With merit aid and really great financial aid (Low-income)
@CrazyMom23 I received an email telling me to check my admission portal. It was at the top of the page.
I received an early write acceptance as well! I am beyond thrilled although also unsure if I will be able to attend due to cost. My parents aren’t paying for anything, and the cost of attendance after aid is still around 18,000.
DS was also accepted with merit. He was “pleasantly confused” by the e-mail. We are now trying to plan a trip to visit.
I was accepted as well with the Trustee Honor Scholarship. I haven’t submitted my financial aid forms yet, so hopefully Grinnell can make it possible for me to attend!
Congrats to all!!! Anyone mind posting some stats so we can see what Grinnell is looking for? Again…congratulations!!!
ACT: 32
GPA (unweighted): 3.96
Rank: 4/307
AP: World History (4)
Senior Year Course Load: AP Bio, AP English, AP Stats, Choir, Piano, Senior Project, Government
Major awards: None, just some departmental awards and dean’s list/president’s list at local community college
Extracurriculars: Jazz choir, musicals/plays, Book Club (President), National Honor Society (President), Debate Club (VP), Poetry (a couple poems published)
Job/Work Experience: Worked at Safeway from 09/2014-03/2014 and then a restaurant from 01/2014-06/2014
Volunteer/community service: Assisteens (non profit that clothes underserved kids in my county), NHS, library
Summer activities: NWABR Biomedical Research Fellowship (9 days) summer 2013, Intern at Fred Hutchison Cancer Research center (8 weeks) summer 2014
Essays: I can’t really tell how good my essay was because after reading it so many times, it just kind of loses the meaning for me. Had it edited by my sister-in-law at Columbia, several adult mentors, peers. It was a several month process.
Teacher Recs: Saw one and it was stellar. The other was from my AP Bio teacher who I’ve known for a couple years, so I’m assuming it was good.
Counselor Rec: Also great I think. She is the adviser for NHS.
Other rec: Had a rec from the social scientist I worked with at Fred Hutch. She cited me as in the top 15% of all people she’s worked with, high school students, undergrads, and grad students included.
State: WA
School type: Public (1200 kids)
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income: 100,000
Hooks: I’m technically a first gen. Also gay, so that may have influenced decision a bit too.
Strengths: Extracurriculars, recs, GPA, test scores to an extent.
Weaknesses: Amount of volunteer service, some might perceive my involvement in so many activities a sign that I don’t care as much about them as I could. I would disagree.
Why you think you were accepted: I think Grinnell is looking for people who make their experiences meaningful. Everything I do, I do it because I love it. Not because it’s another thing to add to my transcript. And my application isn’t terribly impressive compared to some of the people on this forum, but I’m a strong applicant, and Grinnell obviously saw that.
If you have any questions, let me know.
My daughter was accepted today - very unexpected as she was a regular decision candidate. Never had heard of
an early write acceptance. She received a very generous scholarship (we did not apply for financial aid). Her stats are:
ACT: 32
GPA: 3.7 unweighted
Rank: school does not rank
Senior Year Course: AP Calc, AP Psych, AP French, Honor Physics, English, US History, Chorus, (not sure what else)
Has taken AP Latin (4) AP Bio(4) AP Eng (4)
Extracurriculars: Many with leadership. Editor in Chief of Yearbook, Captain of Varsity Bowling, Treasurer of Latin Club.
Job/Work: 4 years throughout high school at the Elementary school as a teacher’s aid in the after school enrichment program
Summer activities: Volunteered at a camp for underprivileged children; traveled to Peru and spent the summer building a greenhouse for a village; worked as a docent at the Aquarium and took classes.
Teacher/Counselor Recs: no idea (probably good)
School type: Public (850)
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Income: not applying for financial aid anywhere
Hooks: none that I can think of
Strengths: Tons of volunteer work, much more than I could possibly fit here (13 years as a Girl Scout)
Weakness: There are lots of wonderful, involved academically motivated young people applying to these fabulous schools.
We love the idea of Grinnell but haven’t visited. Definitely a contender but she will wait until all the other schools she has applied to respond.
I was accepted last night as well. I was very surprised!
ACT: 33
GPA (unweighted): 4.00
Rank: school doesn’t rank
AP: US History (5), Lit&Comp (5), Lang&Comp (5), Psychology (5)
Senior Year Course Load: Chamber Choir, Dual Enrollment Comparative Government, Dual Enrollment Literary Studies, Dual Enrollment History of Western Civilization, AP Physics, AP Calculus, AP Statistics, AP French
Major awards: National Merit Semifinalist (likely finalist), AP Scholar with Honor, high honor roll at my school every semester…
Extracurriculars: Forensics (Captain), Loose Change to Loosen Chains (Treasurer, it’s a club that strives to end modern-day slavery), Academic Decathlon, Link Crew (freshman mentoring program), Varsity Tennis (Captain).
Job/Work Experience: assistant event photographer and babysitter (both fairly sporadic)
Volunteer/community service: I’m heavily involved with my local historical society. I am a docent at the society’s museum and am helping to re-archive an out-of-date system of organization.
Summer activities: Volunteering at the historical society, tennis camp, choir camp
Essays: I liked it… I think it told a story that personalized my application a little bit.
Teacher Recs: Excellent.
Counselor Rec: I’m sure it was good because I’ve had a pretty close relationship with my counselor.
Other rec: N/A
State: WI
School type: Public (1000ish students)
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Income: applied for financial aid
Hooks: None that I haven’t mentioned, but National Merit could have given me a boost.
Strengths: Teacher recs, demanding coursework, grades, test scores
Weaknesses: nothing glaring
Why you think you were accepted: I’m not sure. I think I put together a nice application.
ACT: 29
GPA (unweighted): 3.9
Rank: 9/298
AP: US History (4), Human Geography (4), Psychology (5), Microeconomics (4)
Senior Year Course Load: Spanish 3, Jazz Band, Symphonic band, Physics, AP English Lang., AP Calc AB, AP Calc BC, AP Government
Major awards: none
Extracurriculars: softball, marching band (section leader), Student Council, Executive Council (officer for 3 years), NHS, Freshmen Mentors
Job/Work Experience: job for almost a year, babysitter for a while
Volunteer/community service: mainly volunteer at local animal shelter
Summer activities:competitive softball, pre-law camp, leadership camp, economics/leadership camp
Essays: Probably not outstanding, but good enough
Teacher Recs: Excellent
Counselor Rec: Not sure
Other rec: N/A
State: MO
School type: Public (1200)
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Income: applied for financial aid
Hooks: None
Strengths: Teacher recs, demanding coursework, grades, interest shown
Weaknesses: ACT
Why you think you were accepted: I visited twice, with one being an overnight visit. I also had a good interview, and I’m sure my recommendations helped a lot, along with my grades in challenging classes
Does anyone know the maximum amount for the Trustee Honor Scholar?
I haven’t heard back yet. Are any of you international students?
I got accepted also with a trustee scholarship.
ACT:33
GPA (unweighted):3.78
State: TN
Everyone here accepted seem to be high overachievers 
What I had going for me was probably my involvement at my dance studio, an internship at a hospital over the summer, and a charity badminton tournament I will be heading in March.
Good luck to all in making these hard college decisions 
(I should know I applied to 16…)
ACCEPTED!!
with a really good financial aid package including the Trustee scholarship and Grinnell grant yayy
I would love to hear from current Grinnell students as to why you chose Grinnell and how the experience has been so far, as I am choosing between a few different colleges.
Hey all–I’m a current student (class of 2017) that got the Trustee Honors Scholarship and Grinnell Grants as well. The maximum amount as far as I’ve heard/seen the last few years is 24k/yr, which you can petition the administration for if you had lower than that and if you have reasons for needing that financial assistance.
Regarding those who are getting no support from your parents and finance is an issue, I strongly suggest emailing the administration and emailing the financial aid office. They’re really good about helping out in extraneous circumstances.
If any of you have any questions, let me know. I’m a (female and queer) computer science and political science double major with a neuroscience concentration so I know the sciences and the social sciences really well. My girlfriend is a Religious Studies major so she can answer questions regarding humanities if you have any about that too.
Grinnell really sets its students up to succeed. Congrats on you all on your admission and I hope to see you soon! 
I was accepted with the Trustee scholarship and Grinnell grant.
ACT: 33
Unweighted Rank: 1
Weighted Rank: 1
Many extra-curricular activities: Tennis, Math Club, Key Club, Science Club, NHS, ect.
Why you think you were accepted: I think my GPA and ACT are well within their range. Plus, I have completed two research projects, one of which I presented at the two regional conferences.
Congrats to everyone who was accepted. I definitely wasn’t expecting this, not even why I received an email saying my application page was updated.
My daughter just got the letter and the trustee scholarship. Very much a pleasant surprise! Thanks, Grinnell!
My daughter’s test scores and grades were near the very top of (yet not beyond) Grinnell’s published mid-fifty range. She goes to a rigorous, very large, public school on the east coast, and as such, took many challenging courses including 5 AP through her junior year, and 4 more this year. These APs were all in her areas of interest (history and English) and only the Calc AB this year. She didn’t force herself to take AP classes in subjects she was not that interested in, although she did take 3 years of science including physics
She did some interesting local internships during the summers, but otherwise did not engage in school extracurriculars, no sports, no music, no theater, no student council, just 1 or 2 clubs. This gave her time to concentrate on her schoolwork while also being a teenager.
Although my daughter would not represent ‘diversity’ around here, in Iowa she might be a bit of a novelty, if not exactly under-represented.
I’ve never posted here, but I wanted to just to counter the idea that kids have to be super-human to get into a good college.
Congrats to all early writes – such a nice feeling! The waiting game continues here. My D has stats above Grinnell’s posted numbers and nice ECs so I’m hoping all will work out. It’s been a long process as her school messed up a number of things (getting the correct letter of recommendation out, transcript issues… crazy past few months!).
Anyway, quick question – was everyone notified about their acceptances on their portal last Friday?
Thanks!