<p>Andrea, I think it is remarkable you did so well following your father's death.</p>
<p>I still don't like the gap year idea, but do think it would be best spent doing a program like Americorp instead of a regular job. You might want to do some searches on Northstarmom. I think one of her kids did that for a year.</p>
<p>Hornet, yes, Grinnell knows. For one thing, the common app asks for some information about your parents - I listed my parent's marital status as "widowed" and put in the date of my dad's death. Also, I wrote my main common app essay on how his death got me interested in my favorite EC, genealogy. I tried to show that I was able to focus my pain onto a positive activity, rather than becoming a drug addict or whatever.</p>
<p>However, I tried not to go too crazy with talking about his death, because I did not want it to seem like I was making excuses, and I also didn't want to seem mentally unhealthy/severely depressed. The point I tried to make was basically "his death hurt me a lot (see junior year grades) .... but I overcame it (see senior year grades)". I am not sure how clearly this came across, though. I saw my teacher recommendations and they checked "top few encountered in my career" in the category "overcoming obstacles", but they didn't really elaborate on it too much. Neither did my counselor. And if I try to explain it, it feels like I am making excuses. So that is why I am considering asking my English teacher.</p>
<p>I just can't figure out why I got waitlisted/rejected to all of my schools (other than safeties). Everyone that I have talked to seems to agree with you, hornet, that my grade dip was minor and shouldn't have hurt me. My overall GPA was 3.75, and while that is not amazing, I feel like it is not outside Grinnell's range. Also, my SATs were 2210. Plus, the schools that I applied to supposedly consider "the whole person" rather than just the numbers. If anything, I thought that this way of evaluating applicants would help me rather than hurt me. I really don't understand why/how this happened.</p>
<p>Andrea -- Did you interview with Grinnell? I have a rather unscientific theory that applicants who didn't interview were seen as less interested in attending and more likely to be waitlisted. From all I've been reading, this has been a strange year, to say the least, and the prevailing wisdom seems to be that colleges were looking for students who found ways to indicate their interest in attending if offered admission.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Have your English teacher write the rec. It will only help you. I think it can strengthen your app a lot.</p></li>
<li><p>Do not tell Grinnell that you would wait a year for an admission. That does sound obsessive and a bit stalker-ish to me. You want them to view you as someone who is determined to move forward in her life wherever she winds up, not someone who is pining for one particular solution and who can't move forward unless that one solution comes through.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>As several people have mentioned, this year is different than other years. Schools are obviously using the waitlist a lot, so don't take it terribly personally that you're on a bunch of 'em. So are a lot of great kids. Your objective now should be to tell Grinnell you want to be there, and to do the most you can to make that happen.</p>
<p>It's too bad things aren't yet settled for you and that this will take another month. But considering your whole life, what's one more month?</p>
<p>
<p>No, unfortunately I did not. I could not afford to go to Iowa. However, I did put a paragraph in the "Additional Information" section that said that I couldn't afford to visit, but I was really interested in Grinnell and I was working so that I could save money to visit later.</p>
<p> [quote=VeryHappy] 1. Have your English teacher write the rec. It will only help you. I think it can strengthen your app a lot.
</p>
<p>Okay, I think I will. I was just hesitating to do it because I feel bad that he let me slide so much in terms of assignments....I feel bad about asking him for another favor.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Okay, I did not include this in my note.</p>
<p>My temptation would be to move on with my life, unless the year off is compelling. On the positive side I know someone who two years ago did not get into any school she really wanted, took some course at Bryn Mawr and reapplied and got into Penn.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Okay, I think I will. I was just hesitating to do it because I feel bad that he let me slide so much in terms of assignments....I feel bad about asking him for another favor.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Get over "feeling bad" and get on with achieving your objective.</p>
<p>Okay, I got my financial aid letter from Lewis and Clark....it was not pretty. If I matriculated from there (assuming I get basically the same award each year), I would graduate with over 70,000 dollars in debt. Yeah, so that isn't going to happen. So now I feel more sure than ever that I am going to wait a year if I do not get off the waitlist at Grinnell.</p>
<p>I have contacted my regional admission officer and I am planning to call him tonight. I think I will ask my counselor to send an email as well, and I will ask my English teacher to write me a letter also. Can you guys think of anything else that I should do to try to get off the waiting list?</p>
<p>How are your FA packages from the WA schools? Yes, I'm still hoping you head off to school in the fall! If you do take the gap year, please do consider Americorps. I just don't see you being a stronger applicant in a year by working a "regular" job.</p>
<p>What if Grinnell's F/A is no better? Grinnell does not improve your grad school or job placement rates significantly. Are the Wash. schools less expensive? That would be a good way to go and then try to transfer. That way you've saved money your frosh year.</p>
<p>2blue, I wouldn't necessarily have a better application, although I suppose I would have time to work on my essays more, so that should help. The main thing that would improve my chances is that I would apply early decision....</p>
<p>
[quote]
<br>
* Number of early decision applications received: 158
* Number admitted under early decision plan: 129
* Number of regular decision applications received: 2856
* Number admitted under regular decision plan: 1272
[/quote]
</p>
<p>So, as you see, the ED admission rate is 81%, while the RD admission rate is about 44%. I feel pretty confident that I would get in, because my stats are in the range for Grinnell. I will talk more about this with my regional admission counselor.</p>
<p>And there are a couple of people who are encouraging me to transfer, but here are the transfer stats...</p>
<p>
[quote]
<br>
* Total number of transfer students who applied: 103
* Total number of transfer students who were admitted: 35
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Not good. Also, I just don't want to get settled into a school and then have to leave it. I mean, I would make friends and get used to the school, even it if wasn't my dream school, like Grinnell is. I think it would be better to go to the same school for all four years.</p>
<p>Edit, I haven't received my package from Western, but my UW one was okay. I think I had about 20,000 in loans that I would have to pay back.</p>
<p>
[quote]
What if Grinnell's F/A is no better? Grinnell does not improve your grad school or job placement rates significantly. Are the Wash. schools less expensive? That would be a good way to go and then try to transfer. That way you've saved money your frosh year.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Grinnell actually meets full need....I think Lewis and Clark met 57% of mine, and with a lot of loans. Then I got some merit aid, so that brought it up to 75% of the total cost of attending. Also, I think Grinnell's endowment is something like seven times greater than Lewis and Clark's. So I feel like I would have better luck with Grinnell.</p>
<p>Consider that the ED stats may not be the same next year. There could be other students thinking now just like you are!</p>
<p>It would be helpful imo, if possible, to get a a few more years of ED data to see how this year compared to other recent years.</p>
<p>If you go forward with your gap year, besides having an excellent Plan A, be sure to have an excellent plan B in case you don't get in ED.</p>
<p>
[quote]
It would be helpful imo, if possible, to get a a few more years of ED data to see how this year compared to other recent years.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yes, that is a good idea....I just looked that up. It's on page seven of [url=<a href="http://web.grinnell.edu/dean/Reports/05-06/ReportOnAdmission2006.pdf%5Dthis%5B/url">http://web.grinnell.edu/dean/Reports/05-06/ReportOnAdmission2006.pdf]this[/url</a>] website. So it appears that even though the number of ED applicants is growing, the admission rate has remained fairly constant.</p>
<p>
[quote]
If you go forward with your gap year, besides having an excellent Plan A, be sure to have an excellent plan B in case you don't get in ED.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Right, I will have a plan B.</p>
<p>I have not gone through all the thread, but would it be possible to accept your admit to L&C and then ask to postpone enrollment for a year. That way, no matter what, you still have option next year. Also since you will have to reapply, you will stand the same chance or less depending on the applicant pool.</p>
<p>I don't think you're allowed to apply to other schools if you're taking off a year prior to attending the school you accepted.</p>
<p>Also, I wanted to bring up a very important point regarding finances. You said all the students you've talked to about Grinnell's FA has been happy with their packages. That is a self-selected pool. People who weren't happy with their aid are now students elsewhere. I think you should talk to the FA office sometime this summer and get an estimated aid package before applying ED. (But I still think you should go to a WA school instead of waiting a year, or should do something instead of a regular job. Mothers! We just can't help ourselves...)</p>
<p>I think colleges have simpathy for some, and for other not. It depends the mood in which the ademitence person is in tha moment. It kind of sucks because they might give the chance to someone who just applied wondering he was never going in and guess what, he got in. It sucks but well, waiting list are not always bad.</p>
<p>A few thoughts:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>I would strongly suggest mentioning to Grinnell that they are your clear first choice and that you'd attend if taken off the waitlist. Particularly given Grinnell's isolated location, they want to make sure that people who attend really want to be there. And I think it's particularly important given that you didn't visit.
I know that some other parents felt that you may compromise your ability to get the maximum financial aid package if you tell Grinnell you'll definitely come. And while recognizing that none of us can get into the heads of the Financial Aid office, my judgement would be that this would not be the case at Grinnell, for the following reasons:
(1) Grinnell's website says that they are need-blind (for domestic students) and meets 100% of demonstrated need. They also say that need-based loans will be capped starting this year at $2000 per year (the rest presumably being grants and campus employment). I'm sure you've seen this already, but here's the link in any case:
[url=<a href="http://www.grinnell.edu/admissionnew/apply/tuition/%5DTuition">http://www.grinnell.edu/admissionnew/apply/tuition/]Tuition</a> and Financial Aid - Grinnell College<a href="2">/url</a> Our (limited) experience is that Grinnell has been extraordinarily straightforward and transparent in their dealings with us. My S applied ED1 this year and we asked if that would affect the chances of getting a merit scholarship (versus applying RD). They said no (what else would they say?), but the verbal response was detailed enough to seem credible. And indeed he did end up getting a merit scholarship. If they had wanted to play games and minimize the money spent, there would be no reason for them to give him the scholarship since he was bound to come anyway. But they clearly felt that it would be fair for him to get the same merit money that other students with his stats got in the RD round.
(3) As noted earlier, their huge endowment allows them to be generous - and fair - with their FA.
So I'd be very upfront with them and trust that they would be fair with you. After all, your strong desire to go there is one of your strongest selling points now (apart from your stellar credentials) - so I would make sure they know it.</p></li>
<li><p>I think it's a good idea to get a teacher rec that would also touch on the impact your father's death had on your junior grades. It's possible that in their quick reading of your application, Grinnell may not have connected the dots and given you adequate latitude. In their admissions process, Grinnell says that your classes taken and GPA count for 50% of their decision weight (they have a 36-point scale on which all applicants are ranked). So it's possible that in the number-crunching, they lost the qualitative aspect of what got your junior grades lower, and I think it would be a good idea to bring this up again.</p></li>
<li><p>In terms of ED stats: yes, last year's was very high. Not sure about this year's, but I suspect next year's may be lower since they would take into account the stellar quality of this year's RD pool when deciding on their ED%. Also keep in mind that ED acceptance stats are inflated by athletes that are recruited using ED (coaches want to make sure their slots are filled). I still think at Grinnell ED is a better shot than RD - I'm just pointing out that it may not be quite the cinch that the 80+% number from last year implies.</p></li>
<li><p>Finally, I agree with the other posters that the name of the undergrad institution matters far less to graduate programs than your grades, GRE scores and teacher recs. So I hope that Grinnell comes through for you - but if it doesn't, I really think you're the kind of student that will succeed at any school.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>hmmm. . .before I got to the financial aid package I was going to suggest you go to Lewis & Clark. Previous poster was correct about the size and quality of the school allowing a top student there to build the kind of profile and recommendations that will get him/her into grad school.</p>
<p>Whatever happened to Reed? They have a stellar track record getting their grads into grad school programs.</p>
<p>Bottom line: I don't see what a year off will get you, unless you recalibrate your apps. That could get you acceptances at places like Kenyon and Occidental, particularly if you do use ED. If the money is good I would put in a deposit at Western, with the goal to knock out a 4.0. This would put you in good shape with grad schools and perhaps give you a shot at transferring elsewhere after two years. And I would stay on the waitlist at Grinnell and Macalester and see what happens.</p>