I need adult advice.

Parents Forum
1

<p>I need parents opinions regarding my chances. Please help. I'm so nervous!!</p>

<p>High school senior from Wyoming. </p>

<p>Have taken most difficult course load possible under the circumstances. (I've moved twice in high school and attended three vastly different schools with different requirements, sequences, course offerings, etc.)
APs: U.S. History (5), English
Dual Enrollment: Political science, psychology, Spanish, German</p>

<p>ACT Composite: 30
English: 34
Reading: 35
Math: 28
Science: 22
Essay: 11</p>

<p>Activities
Assisted with ESL program for newly arrived immigrants (11)
Mock Trial (11), award at state championships, varsity letter
National Honor Society (11, 12)
Tutor a struggling fourth grader around two hours a week (12)
Theater/Drama: (9, 10, 12) Secretary of Drama Club (10)
Co-led 4-H club for elementary school age children (9, 10)
Teens Against Tobacco Use Club: (9, 10) Organized tobacco prevention events in elementary and middle schools.
Speech and Debate Team: (12)
Volleyball (10) Scholar Athlete
National Honor Roll
Principal's Honor Roll
Academic Letter
National Young Leaders Conference
Internship with local prosecutor (summer before senior year, 25 hours per week)
Taught lessons, cared for horses in exchange for use of a horse and showing privileges, and instruction: (7, 8, 9, 11, 10-20 Hours per week)
Box Girl: (summer before junior year, 25 hours per week)</p>

<p>Good (I think) essays
Marginal counselor rec (He doesn't know me well, little knowledge of grammar)
Good teacher recs.</p>

<p>What are my chances at:
Boston College
Boston U.
Wellesley
Mt. Holyoke
Duke
William and Mary
U. of Mary Washington
George Washington
Middlebury
American U.
Northeastern</p>

<p>If possible, rate them on a scale of 1-10 or throw in accepted/rejected.</p>

<p>Thank you so much parents!</p>

2

<p>Bump........</p>

3

<p>Allie:</p>

<p>There are so many factors involved in admissions, we can only offer guesses. You have an excellent reading score but only so-so math and poor science scores. How adreps will interpret these scores is anybody's guess. You do have the advantage of being from Wyoming and many colleges look for geographical diversity. You also have some very good Ecs.<br>
I would say you Northeastern is a safety; so, possibly is American U. I would hesitate to hazard a guess with other colleges, some of which I am not too familiar with. At this stage, though, there is no point guessing. Apply and find out in April.</p>

4

<p>Allie:</p>

<p>The only two schools that I can talk somewhat intelligibly about are William and Mary and Mary Washington. As you are probably aware, William and Mary is very competitive for students from outside Virginia. Being more familiar with SAT numbers than ACT numbers, I suggest that you post on the William and Mary sub-forum under "Colleges" on CC. There are numerous "do I have a chance at W&M" posts there which usually get multiple responses from current students.</p>

<p>I think you have a reasonable chance at Mary Washington. UMW is trying to build more diversity into their student population and I would think that being from Wyoming would bring a valuable perspective to their student body. That may give you a "hook". (By the way, I don't know how many students from Wyoming apply to William and Mary, but I just checked their on-line catalog and it states that they only have 2 students currently enrolled from Wyoming----so your geographic origins may possibly be of help there also from a diversity standpoint.)</p>

<p>By the way, both W&M and UMW have equestrian club activities.</p>

5

<p>I agree with Marite.
Most adults on this board don't give chances estimates because most realize that chances estimates by uninformed people are as accurate as reading tea leaves.</p>

<p>The most that most parents will do is help students figure out what schools to apply to by commenting on whether colleges seem to be matches, reaches or safeties.</p>

<p>You also can do this for yourself by seeing how your stats match the colleges' profiles for their freshmen classes (check the US News Premium site, which is well worth the $15 or so enrollment fee and/or check the colleges' admission web pages) and by checking the spring admitted students lists for the individual colleges in CC's archives.</p>

6

<p>AllieJ - NSM and marite have summed it up well. My addition would be:</p>

<p>you have a lot of strengths, so be optimistic that one or more of these will yield fat envelopes.</p>

<p>regardless of your (or anyone's) strengths, this list of schools contains only two with acceptance rates over 50% (Mary W. and American). If you are not comfortable with the possibility that these two might be your only acceptances, I suggest finding a couple more late-deadline schools to submit your apps; make sure they have high % accepted and that they appeal to you. You ought to be able to do this via a simple push of the Submit button on the common app. Even better would be to find one which is rolling admissions and would give you a comfortable "in" within the next several weeks while you await the results of your full list.</p>

<p>This is not in any way to be discouraging; just to be safe and follow the Parent Forum mantra to "love thy safety" and have enough of them.</p>

7

<p>Thank you for your advice parents -- you put the process in perspective. I will apply to some more safeties and rolling admissions colleges.</p>

8

<p>How good are your grades? If they are excellent (I suspect they are), don't rule our Wellesley or Mt Holyoke. In fact, I suspect you are quite likely to get in to Mt Holyoke, and it is a gorgeous place with a great faculty.
Advice - You have a lot of EC's but make ONE stand out. My guess is that it is the horse activity, since you have devoted a significant amount of time to that. Colleges really value depth over breadth. And Mt Holyoke has significant equestrian activities. A friend's D is there now and loves it.
Good luck!</p>

9

<p>Good luck.......</p>