<p>On a scale of 1 to 10, how difficult is it to get into Carleton? Are there any pointers you can give me on what to emphasize in my application (i.e., recommendations, extracurriculars, etc)? Also, would it possibly help if I'm African American? It's one of my top two schools right now! Thanks for any advice you can give me!</p>
<p>Use the latest Common Data Set, [Carleton</a> College: Institutional Research and Assessment: Common Data Set (CDS)](<a href=“http://apps.carleton.edu/campus/ira/basic_carleton_data/CDS1/]Carleton”>http://apps.carleton.edu/campus/ira/basic_carleton_data/CDS1/). Look at section C7.</p>
<p>Thanks! This is really helpful!</p>
<p>Anyone who’s applied to Carleton?</p>
<p>Carleton is very competitive. Not an easy school to get into by any means. You should be prepared to have a high GPA that places you in at least the top 10% of your class with a rigorous courseload and a solid 2000+ SAT, probably a at least a solid 2100. I don’t think Carleton can be considered a ‘crapshoot’ though.</p>
<p>And yes, it will help if you are African American. You are probably a URM at most of the schools you will be applying to.</p>
<p>Carleton has a Diversity weekend (they haven’t updated for the Class of 2013 yet):</p>
<p><a href=“https://apps.carleton.edu/admissions/visit/TOC/[/url]”>https://apps.carleton.edu/admissions/visit/TOC/</a></p>
<p>Also, last year they offered to pay for D2, a URM, to visit for an accepted students day. She didn’t take them up on their offer as she had already visited.</p>
<p>p.s. See this thread for other possible fly-in opportunities:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/770660-fall-diversity-visit-programs-compilation.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/770660-fall-diversity-visit-programs-compilation.html</a></p>
<p>Note: this thread is a couple of years old, you will have to check college websites for current information.</p>
<p>Carleton is hard to get into. DD2 was waitlisted there - 4.0 UW GPA, #1/450 in class, 2280 SATs. Being an URM will certainly help.</p>
<p>On a scale of 1 to 10, Carleton’s a 10. Even URMs need to be tops on everything, as Erin’s dad pointed out.</p>
<p>As a parent who just finished this process, make sure you have a balanced RANGE of schools that you apply to: 2-3 reaches, 4-5 strong possible matches, 2 safeties. Do your homework on the style of school and the intellectual and academic rigor. Matches don’t necessarily mean easier academics… Understand what is available to you as a URM and take every opportunity offered by a school as a sign of interest; make yourself standout in the admissions process!</p>
<p>Thanks so much, everyone! Carleton’s definitely tied for first on my list as of right now, and I’m hoping to boost my scores a bit this semester! :)</p>
<p>Carleton is hard to get into. 3 of my friends applied this year. SAT 1 scores of 2230, 2170 and 2270 with 4.0 GPA and all got waitlisted.</p>
<p>So, would you say a big component of the application is the extracurriculars/making yourself stand out?</p>
<p>Because it looks like, from what everyone’s said so far, that many people with 4.0 GPA’s and great standardized testing scores were even waitlisted…I guess, with these types of schools, the admission gets a bit more arbitrary :/</p>
<p>Because the students who apply are very good the differentiators would probably be ECs, admissions essays and recommendations. If you look at the CDS they are weighted right behind SATs, GPA and rigor.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>For any selective college:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Be an academically competitive candidate; this means gpa, rigor of courses & test scores.</p></li>
<li><p>Differentiate yourself through EC, essays, etc.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>It has to be in that order, there are relatively few instances where non-academics will outweigh a less than qualified academic background; think Olympic athlete, movie star, etc.</p>
<p>Essays are extremely important, perhaps even more so than ECAs, because many people do a lot of substantial ECAs but can’t write passionately about it, while some write beautifully about small things. You need a balance.
Although Carelton does not have a supplement, so I don’t see how essays would talk about your ECAs.</p>
<p>I think Carleton is the easiest one in top 10 (LAC)… I love it but I have no idea if I can withstand the winter in MN. But they don’t really focus on SATs like WAS do, same is Midd.</p>
<p>Carleton’s admissions office said ED applications this season came from a more qualified group than in prior years. They won’t reveal stats about this year’s applicants and the incoming class of 2016 for a while, but this blog post indicates it might be getting more difficult to get in.
[Carleton</a> College: Admissions: Admissions Office Blog: updates from Johnson House](<a href=“http://apps.carleton.edu/admissions/office_blog/?story_id=798118]Carleton”>http://apps.carleton.edu/admissions/office_blog/?story_id=798118)</p>
<p>aaron024–For what it’s worth, there essentially WAS no winter in MN this year…but that is admittedly not the norm.</p>
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<p>When I first read this I went, whoa, yes they do; so I went and looked at the CA. It’s interesting that their supplement for this past cycle was pretty minimal, just a few fun short takes. The year before when D2 applied, there were 5 short essays, and they were a lot of work because most had very little overlap with essays from other colleges.</p>