<p>Hey guys, I'm trying to decide is I'm a competitive candidate at Hamilton College for ED II. I just want to ask for my chances if I were to apply ED II. </p>
<p>Stats:</p>
<p>-State: PA
-Gender: Male
-Race: Indian American (immigrant)</p>
<p>-SAT: 1920 (Math: 720, Reading: 660, Writing: 540)
-SAT II: US History 710, Taking Math II in December.
-ACT: 30 (Math: 31, Reading 34, Science 26, Writing 28)</p>
<p>Your ACT is fine, but your UWGPA and class rigor are a bit lighter than they’d like. (No AP Lang or Lit, Physics 2 is not AP Physics C, level of foreign language is unknown. An UWGPA of 3.8 would be a lot stronger.) Not sure how they’ll weight your URM status. Depending on how they read your application, accept, defer, or deny are all possible, so I’d definitely have a Plan B ready.</p>
<p>I think the fact that you have no leadership positions in your ECs will hurt you. I know from my interview with a Hamilton Alum that Hamilton really values the “well-rounded” leadership types because, evidently, students get very involved on campus (my interviewer made that clear when I said I wanted to join lots of clubs - its very possible at Hamilton). </p>
<p>I’d suggest just sending in your ACT scores and SAT subject tests. The 710 can’t hurt you.
Other than that, your GPA is really what will be holding you back. Are all of your other classes Honors Level? That may help your case, and could explain your GPA. </p>
<p>Do you have any awards or participate in any honors societies? Those could also help.
Plus, the fact that you’re applying Early Decision will help! Not too much though; by looking at their class profile they admitted nearly the same percent of students during EDII and RD last year.</p>
<p>Have you looked at Dickinson, Franklin and Marshall, or Whitman? All are very respectable schools. You could probably get into them if you wrote a really good essay and applied EA for Dickinson (but that deadline is tomorrow at midnight, so…).</p>
<p>I’m applying to Dickinson and F&M while Whitman would be too far for my parents to stomach. I was thinking about using ED II to gain an advantage in admissions and apply to a more selective, but I guess Hamilton is a little tough. I’m also looking into Wesleyan University as a prospective ED II school. </p>
<p>I don’t think Wesleyan is going to be any easier to get in than Hamilton. If you’re just looking for an advantage rather than being truly committed to a school, I’d suggest you just do RD, otherwise you might wind up at a school you don’t really care for.</p>