I'd deeply appreciate your thoughts. ^_^

<p>Hello everyone.</p>

<p>The college search process stresses me out everyday. I know where I would like to go, but I honestly don't think I have what it takes. I honestly don't know what kind of GPA I have, but I generally manage to get away with a few A's, mainly B's, and recently, and unforunate C+. If I average all my semester grades together, I get an 87% average.</p>

<p>I am a junior in high school and I'm on National Art Honor Society. I was president of my class freshman year. I've been in Visual Arts for all years of high school and have taken some fine arts summer programs. I've recently joined a Teen art club. I plan to study abroad in Japan this summer. I'm also on Student Recruitment commitee.</p>

<p>My ultimate dream school is Middlebury College, but I don't think I stand a chance. Other schools I'm interested in:</p>

<p>Reed College
Sarah Lawrence College
Skidmore College
Grinnell College
NYU
University of Washington
Hamilton College
Hampshire College
Occidental College
Bard College</p>

<p>I'm currently studying for the SAT, planning to take it in March. I may also take the ACT in June. In terms of where my strengths lie, I think I'm a rather good writer, and I enjoy and excel in classes such as English, Spanish, and History. Math and Sciences are not my strong suits. The reason I want to go Middlebury more than anything else is because it has a very good international studies and foreign language program. Sarah Lawrence college also has a good fine arts and writing program.</p>

<p>I apologize if my question and topic is a little less informative than it should be, but given the information I;ve just given you, what do you think my chances are of getting into any of the above colleges, assuming I get a 1300 on the SAT (that's obviously exclusionary of the Writing section). What advice can you give to increase my chances? I feel like I don't stand a chance at any of the above colleges. I know I can write a killer essay though! Grrr...this worries me so much.</p>

<p>I think you have a fair shot at most of them, barring Reed, Skidmore, and NYU. Those, and Middlebury, would be a reach with those stats. Some of the others are cutting it pretty close, but I think you've got a good list. And yes, the 1300 (and higher, if you can) would help.</p>

<p>Do you happen to go to Westover School?</p>

<p>Because we're in Middebury.</p>

<p>barring Skidmore you think?</p>

<p>I'm not sure, I think it's more like:</p>

<p>Reed College(reach)
Sarah Lawrence College(match/reach)
Skidmore College(match)
Grinnell College(match/reach)
NYU(reach)
University of Washington(match)
Hamilton College(reach)
Hampshire College(i really dunno)
Occidental College(reach)
Bard College(close reach)
Middlebury College (definite reach)</p>

<p>Any other thoughts?</p>

<p>Hum. Well, I've always heard that Skidmore was as hard/harder than Occidental, but I'm not that well-versed in LACs.</p>

<p>i'll rank them in order of difficulty (based mainly on test scores);</p>

<p>Middlebury College
Grinnell College
Reed College
Hamilton College
Occidental College
Bard College
Skidmore College
Sarah Lawrence College
Hampshire College</p>

<p>collegeprep11 is probably right on the order of difficulty but many of these schools: Sarah Lawrence, Bard, Hampshire would be likely to admit some interesting creative students with something to offer in lieu of the best test scores or grades</p>

<p>Most of the schools I've listed are primarily located in the northeast or northwest. The only reason I chose Grinnell was because my dad went there, and he said it's a nice school.</p>

<p>What about Lewis and Clark? Kenyon College? Oberlin College?</p>

<p>Any further thoughts?</p>

<p>List isn't quite right as "based on test scores." From the Sarah Lawrence website:</p>

<p>
[quote]
Test Scores</p>

<p>Not considered. Sarah Lawrence College feels that standardized testing is not effective in evaluating a student's ability to succeed in a writing-based curriculum such as ours.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>What are my chances with Colgate?</p>

<p>Anybody???</p>

<p>selectivity wise, colgate is somewhere between grinnell and reed, oberlin is just as selective as reed and kenyon is right below hamilton.</p>

<p>yeah schools like skidmore and sarah lawrence will be looking for good test scores, but they also like students who have something special, creative about them, more of a well-rounded person. hampshire doesn't really even look at test scores...they need people who are strong and dedicated, are good writers, and know what they want to do.</p>

<p>bump, any other opinions?</p>

<p>You have a chance (match) at Lewis & Clark, Oberlin is a slight reach and Kenyon I don't know. I think your best chances are at Hampshire and Skidmore, and maybe Grinell since your father went there.</p>

<p>You have no shot at Colgate at very little at Middlebury (sorry), but some of the other schools are looking for creative students--and that's definitely you--so play that up in your application. As was said above, Bard, Sarah Lawrence, and Kenyon are also looking for those with talent and that innovative spark.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

<p>As for Middlebury's (AMAZING) foreign language programs, you don't have to be a student there to take advantage of them- you can become involved over the summer. While I applied to Middlebury, it's not in my top 5, but I definitely plan on going to their Russian language school during one of my undergrad summers.</p>