Conn was popular at my kid’s school and typically enrolled a number of grads each year… When my kid was applying 6 years ago, the CC felt he had very good odds ED but would be rolling the dice in the RD round. (He was not serving any institutional need .) Good test scores, good rigor, decent but not amazing grades. My sense was that this is a school that needs to manage its enrollment pretty carefully and that it makes use of both ED and its WL to build its classes and avoid overenrollment. He applied RD and was WL. The CC suggested that if it was his top choice and he submitted a LOCI, he had a reasonable shot at being offered a WL spot. (He didn’t need FA.) It wasn’t a top choice so I can’t report on whether she was right.
The same CC said that Oberlin cared more about grades than Conn. Another RD WL.
I think with any of these 3 schools, they want to see that they aren’t a back-up plan. They need to put together a class of capable kids, and that doesn’t happen when you admit kids who will only attend if they don’t get into any of their top 12 choices.
As an update, Skidmore and Conn are off the table. Oberlin is ok (we visited), but she likes Fordham much better (and as a plus, it’s an easier admit!)
My daughter is currently a freshman at Connecticut College. She is very happy there so far and loves the smaller-sized student body, great professors and beautiful campus.
She applied RD and submitted 1420 SAT scores. 4.0 unweighted GPA and 4.6 weighted. Conn was not at the top of her preferred college choices until she received her acceptance letter. She received a huge merit scholarship (didn’t qualify for financial aide). The generous merit scholarship is what helped her decide to enroll.
Connecticut College is often overlooked, but is so generous with merit, and prospective students shouldn’t overlooked that.