I always swore I'd never do a chances thread, but curiosity's bitten me...

Colleges and Universities A-Z Hampshire College
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<p>If any of you could perhaps give me an idea of where I stand, I'd really appreciate it. I am a current junior, planning to apply EA. (Barring financial reasons, I'd apply ED. I'm really in love with Hampshire.)</p>

<p>Objective:[ul]
[li] PSAT (breakdown): CR 74, M 63, W 70 (207 total)[/li]I have yet to take the SAT. I missed the May deadline and I'll be out of town for the June deadline, so I'm aiming for October, I guess. I think I should be able to manage a 2100+. I made the National Merit cutoff for my state (will make Semifinalist but probably not Finalist due to grades).</p>

<p>[li] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.3ish[/li]I have 3 D's on my transcript: Sophomore second-semester Honors Algebra II, junior first-semester AP Calculus AB, and junior first-semester Nursing Science. </p>

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<p>[li] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Around top 25%, I think. It's weighted, so my course rigor helps in that aspect</p>[/li]
<p>[li] AP (place score in parenthesis):[/li]- 10th: World History (3)
- 11th: English Lang and Psych, expecting 4/5 range because I love the subjects, USH not sure</p>

<p>[li] Senior Year Course Load: AP Biology, AP English Lit, AP Gov/Econ, Spanish IV, and Newspaper IV are set in stone. Not sure about the last two slots -- maybe calc, if necessary, and film.</p>[/li]
<p>[<em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):
Scholastic Art and Writing Awards
- National Gold Medal (Short Story)
- National Creativity & Citizenship Award (Journalism)
- Regional Gold Key (Novel Writing)
- Regional Gold Key (Short Short Story)
- Regional Gold Key (Journalism)
My teacher's also nominated me for the NCTE Achievement in Writing Award, but we don't hear back till around September I think.
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[</em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
- Multicultural Club (President)
- Newspaper (Editor)
- Black Student Union (Secretary)
- Youth & Government (no leadership, but it's so fun)
- Lots of babysitting for my younger brother, if that counts.</p>

<p>[/ul]Other[ul]
[<em>] State (if domestic applicant): NM
[</em>] School Type: Public
[<em>] Ethnicity: African-American
[</em>] Gender: F
[li] Income Bracket: Our EFC is 0, or close to it.[/li][/ul]</p>

<p>So, like I said, I'd appreciate any thoughts on how my chances at admission are. And how much aid do you think a candidate like me would receive? I know my transcript hurts a lot.</p>

<p>I really do love Hampshire; I'm visiting (and interviewing) this summer and can't wait. I don't think there's any school as amazing as it is that would possibly let me in with my three D's. All my hope is in the fact that they seem to favor subjective stuff over objective stuff. If I get in, my life will seriously be complete. (:</p>

<p>Thanks for your time!</p>

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<p>According to the Hampshire website, the average High School GPA of entering students was 3.49 and the Middle 50% of SAT scores was 600/710 in Critical Reading, and 530/660 in Mathematics. So, it looks like your GPA will be below average, but your projected SATs might be above average. If you pull a 630 in the Math SAT, that would be slightly above the average of incoming students, so that would help justify any bad Math grades you have received.</p>

<p>I don’t know - it looks like you have chosen to take challenging courses, which should count for something, and you can clearly document strong leadership and extracurricular activities. </p>

<p>I should think that a lot will be riding on your ability to write a compelling personal essay on the Common Application, as well as submitting an outstanding Analytical Essay from one of your High School classes. I would suggest spending a lot of time on Hampshire’s supplemental application questions. There is an optional question that asks if you have anything additional to share, and that might be the place to write something about your Math grades.</p>

<p>You may not be in line to get a great deal of merit-based scholarship money from Hampshire, but if it is one thing I have learned about financial assistance, it is that any merit-based scholarship money you obtain tends to be merely deducted from the overall aid package that you receive. So, if you receive a $40K need-based aid package (grants + loans + work-study) and then receive a $10K merit-based scholarship, then they just reduce the rest of your aid package to $30K.</p>

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<p>Anything writing-related I have in the bag. :smiley: Thanks for the response and advice! I appreciate it.</p>