<p>After asking one of my seniors, I figured I should lower my sights a bit in my search for colleges that I would like but still would be able to categorize as a match/safety.</p>
<p>Acads wise, my graduation gpa (weighted) would be a 4.3 max. Doing a math research project with DSO.
Sats: took the 5th June SATs -- expected grades: CR: 710+, M: 750+ W: 650+
APs: Taking AP Chem, Bio, maybe Physics next year. That's all my school offers for my subject combi. AP Calc AB: anticipating 4/5 </p>
<p>Am planning on taking SAT chem, chinese, bio e next year as well.
Lousy year 1 and 2 results, though year 3-5 has been pretty good so far. Pretty sure I'll get good recs from my english and chem teachers. Been working my butt off ever since year 3, though I'm now stuck with a 'less demanding' courseload thanks to my first 2 years results. </p>
<p>Extracurriculars: Volunteer at national library, actionforaids, maybe MILK. Volunteered for many school events as well. Worked a bit last year as a freelance article writer, have samples of work still in my hard disk. Was in Art Club for 4 years though I'm not really good at art, ODAC currently, transferring to journalism next year. Won 2nd at a blog contest in 2007.
I plan on writing about how I managed to get into the honors class despite my not-so-ideal year 1 grades, though i'm not sure on how it would go down with the admissions board. </p>
<p>Definitely gunning for Mt. Holyoke, though I'm not sure if I can get in. Really like the college though. Any suggestions for colleges that would be a safety?</p>
<p>A good friend of my D, now both HS grads, is an international. She has stunningly great SAT scores, had a great GPA, and got many academic prizes from their very prestigous New York City private high school. Yet, for college admissions, she only was accepted to one college/university, although she applied to 12, many the name brand name big universities. She did not apply to women’s colleges. The reason (unfortunately): money, she needed financial aid. Universities and colleges are not so willing to give their money to foreigners, and many, if not most colleges and universities are not “need blind”, but rather “need aware”. “Need blind” means that the admissions decision is independent of financial aid concerns. “Need aware” means that financial aid concerns are factored into the admissions decisions. Having said that, I KNOW that Mt. Holyoke (where my D will be going in the fall) is “need aware”, but also really wants internationals (MoHo has the highest percentage of internations among US colleges, I believe), and MoHo does apparently (from what I have read at the MoHo College Confidential site) award financial aid to internationals, though not as much as they hope for (this is probably true of USers too). I believe Smith and Wellesley also like internationals, but I do not know about their financial need awareness status.</p>
<p>As I recall, there is an inordinately long thread somewhere in CC, possibly in the Parents page, started in early 2010 about financial aid and “full demonstrated need”, a very touchy topic to many parents whose kids did not get all the financial aid that the parents thought they had demonstrated and to which they thought they were entitled. Apparently, colleges/universities have different views among themselves as to the same students as to what a “demonstrated” need is. I guess the point is, if one needs financial aid to attend a college/university, one should not assume that an admissions ticket guarantees that you and your parents will automatically be able to afford the tuition bill. And this caveat applies also to early decision applicants. Some EDers (USers and internationals) reported here on CC this past season that they had to decline the early decision college acceptance because the financial aid package was insufficient to enable attendance. unfortunate. The lesson is, if you really need financial aid, DO NOT apply early decision, even if you LOVE XYZ college and you know it’s a perfect fit for you – apply regular decision so that you can compare financial aid packages from all of the schools that accept you. You will have to wait 4 more months for your decisions, but in the scheme of things, that’s nothing compared to paying off a student loan that’s way too big for you over 10 long years.</p>
<p>Replying to the OP about safety women’s colleges, I would not assume that ANY of the Sisters is a safety for anybody, unless, for example, your stats are great and you play the oboe and the school is looking for an oboeist. The Sisters are: Mount Holyoke, Smith, Wellesley, Barnard and Bryn Mawr. Of course, once you are accepted by one of the Sisters, the girls say “It was easy to get in”. I am sure that all of the acceptees lost sleep until that acceptance letter or e-mail arrived. NO school wants too many of the same type, of any type. Each year, the applicaant pool changes. For example, this year there were few artist applicants, so the school wanted all of them. But last year there were too many artist applicants so only 50% were accepted. And maybe last year the artists were less impressive over all than those this year, thus the difference. The school doesn’t want 100 kids from China, or from New York City. It all depends upon the current applicant pool. A lot is luck. Good luck to all CCers.</p>
<p>Demonstrated need, entitlement, and aid formulas are a different discussion. Especially entitlement The purpose of my post was to assure women aid is not considered (for the majority of applicants) in the admission process.</p>
<p>“The lesson is, if you really need financial aid, DO NOT apply early decision, even if you LOVE XYZ college and you know it’s a perfect fit for you – apply regular decision so that you can compare financial aid packages from all of the schools that accept you.”</p>
<p>This applies if you want to compare financial aid packages. Many get a FA offer from their dream ED school that is affordable without huge loans. If you don’t like the FA offer from your ED school for whatever reason, just say thanks but no thanks (perhaps after an appeal submitting additional info, sometimes successful), and apply RD elsewhere as if you didn’t apply ED.</p>
<p>@concerneddad I get what you mean by the current applicant pool. Is there anyway I can improve my chances on my part? I’m gonna be performing in a concert my piano teacher organised at the end of the year, and am gonna emcee as well – should I put it in the common app as well or would it be better to leave it out?</p>
<p>If you play an instrument well, do not leave it off your Common Application. Most colleges/universities have arts supplements where you can describe your artistic abilities and accomplishments, including painting, sculpting, dance, and music performance or composition (I probably left something off). Most schools, includine MoHo, will also accept a CD or DVD of your performance or photos of your work. My D is an accomplished clarinet and saxophone player, and she also is an advanced pianist and also plays the flute. She has had many performances in groups and solos, jazz and classical. She had also been in the school’s orchestra for 6+ musicals. My D submitted a music resume, a CD, and a music teacher’s letter of recommendation as part of her music supplement to MoHo. I don’t know if that submission helped her or not, but the MoHo admissions web site invites such submissions. I suspect that others of the Sisters will also welcome and encourage such submissions.</p>
<p>Thanks for your advice concernddad! I’ll definitely be submitting the music supplement if I get good enough at the piano. ^^ As for the CD, how would one go about submitting it? I understand that Mt. Holyoke uses the Common App, so I’ll have to mail it in separately?</p>
<p>Yes, mail it in separately (or by FedEx, DHL, etc.) That’s what we did. And make sure that it is postmarked before the due date. But I would think twice about submitting an arts supplement if you have no interest in pursuing the art in college. Colleges look for people to participate in their arts programs. Colleges do not care, I would think, if you are good at an art but do not plan to do it in college.</p>
The purpose of my post was to assure women aid is not considered (for the majority of applicants) in the admission process.</p>
say thanks but no thanks (perhaps after an appeal submitting additional info, sometimes successful), and apply RD elsewhere as if you didn’t apply ED.</p>