How competitive of a school should I apply for?

College Search & Selection
1

Hello, I’m currently trying to figure out where I should be applying ED (top choice right now is Williams), as well as RD, and I’m wondering about what my chances are/how my list looks.

Some facts:
UW GPA: 3.98
W GPA: 4.6 Academic, 4.74 10-12
ACT: 35 (9 Writing)
SAT: N/A
PSAT: 1440/1520
SAT Subject Tests: Math L2: 800, Bio: 760
AP: Biology: 5, APES: 5, English: 4, French: 3 (not submitting)

Currently taking 5 APs and an independent research course, researching the tumor microenvironment and immunotherapy
Summer Work:
Stanford Pre-Collegiate Institutes in Psychology (9)
Columbia Summer Program in Molecular Biology and Genetics (10)
Stanford Pre-College Program (took Stanford classes, ended with 4.0)

Extracurriculars:
National Charity League VP Philanthropy: Organized and led a mural project to paint two murals for a charity organization
Youth and Government (YMCA Organization) Community Liaison (also won my mock trial!)
Science, Engineering and Technology Club Member
Student Sports Club Vice President
Club for Patient Comfort Co-President
National Honor Society Member
California Scholarship Federation Member
Organized a discussion for solutions to social issues with school administration
Elected as an alternate for Girl’s State
Jumpstart Mentor
Peer Tutor for Math, Science, French, English
Student Orientation Leader
Co-initiated political campaign to lower voting age in school board elections
Independent Research Project

Also got English Award for my school last year.

I am white, come from a wealthy background, and can’t really think of a hook other than my involvement with my community. I go to a competitive public school in Northern California.
My main areas of interest are Biology and Pre-Law .

My ED is Williams right now, but that isn’t looking so hot, so I may change it to Barnard or Wellesley.
My list now is:
Williams College
Wellesley Coll (W)
Bowdoin College
Carleton Coll
Oberlin College
Kenyon Coll
Reed College
UC-Berkeley
UC-Davis
UC-Irvine
UCLA
UC-Merced
UCR
UCSD
UCSB
UCSC
Wesleyan U
Bates College
Tufts U
Colby College
Barnard College (W)

Any insight into college apps, hooks, different schools not on my radar, etc. would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

2

What about one of the Claremont Schools (Pomona, Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd, Pitzer or Scripps)? Although each college is small, you can take classes at the other colleges so it gives you the advantages of both a small and medium-sized college.

3

In terms of pre-law, College Transitions named 20 schools that would be safe bets. (Their methodology may be incomplete, or insufficient in other ways, so consider the listed colleges as a sampling only.)

Amherst
Brown
Claremont McKenna
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Duke
Georgetown
Hamilton
Harvard
Middlebury
Northwestern
Pomona
Stanford
UChicago
UMichigan
UPennsylvania
U of Southern California
Yale
Yeshiva

Some of these schools, particularly the LACs, but also maybe Georgetown, seem to align well with your current choices, and might be additional options for consideration. Biology would be top-notch at all or nearly all of these colleges.

4

You say that Williams is your top choice right now at the beginning of your post and then later “that isn’t looking so hot”. Can you clarify?

With your stats, I don’t think you need to use an ED bump on Barnard or Wellesley unless you really like one of those schools best. Where have you visited? What social, location, vibe kinds of factors are important to you?

5

^ I agree. Getting into most of the schools on your tentative list should not be a particular problem for you, @Redducky22. So think carefully about where you would like to go, more so than about which of your listed choices might be open to you in terms of admissions – as a guess, I actually think you might receive ~19 acceptances if you submitted a carefully crafted application to all of those colleges!

6

You have good enough stats that you should apply ED at your first choice school. There’s no need to game the system for fear of simply squandering your ED option.

Pick the one where you think you’ll be happiest academically and socially. You aren’t looking for anything exotic program-wise, so it really opens things up.

7

@yauponredux Williams has a bad history of accepting people/having people attend the school, and someone from my area is already attending for sports. Also, another girl is applying ED, and we’re very similar academically and EC-wise.

8

If you’ve developed an interest in Williams due to its particular attributes, then look particularly to Hamilton, Colby and Middlebury and perhaps Colgate for colleges with similar characteristics. The single-sex, suburban (and popular) Wellesley, for example, would not seem to make a great alternative for someone truly interested in what Williams offers, though a single-sex school such as Mt. Holyoke might come closer.

9

@Redducky22,
Pre-law isn’t a major. Other than bio, what other subjects interest you?

Amherst is similar to Williams and is also located in a “cute” college town. Northampton a short bus ride away.
Amherst has the advantage of being part of the five-college consortium, which is composed of Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Amherst’s stunning new science center will open the summer of '08

I second Middlebury and Dartmouth is another school worth looking at. If location is of some importance, Dartmouth and Middlebury are also located in superb college towns.
Many of your colleges offer ED1 and ED11. Why not ED1 at Williams and, if necessary, ED11 at your second choice school?

I wouldn’t let the fact that someone from your high school is applying ED to Williams influence your decision. Vassar accpeted 4 students ED from my Ds school. None of the four were recruited athletes. Multiple acceptances do happen.