Is Rhodes a good fit?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Rhodes College
1

<p>There is absolutely no way I can go and visit Rhodes before next May, but it's been recommended to me by counselors, teachers, and i have a friend who has a friend that goes there. My question is, can i get in and is it a good fit? Size isn't really an issue for me, and I'm looking for a school with a "intellectual vibe," fun stuff to do (more to do than just partying, but partying is always a plus) and just a well-rounded group of people. I'm also looking for a school that has good grad school placement.</p>

<p>White female from Tennessee
My high school can most likely be considered the best public high school in the south not including magnet schools</p>

<p>possible majors:History, English, or Political Science
possible minors:Spanish, Latin American Studies, Economics
(don't worry, I'm not going to try to do all of them)
after college: either law school,grad school, or business school</p>

<p>GPA: 3.73 (unweighted)/4.1 (weighted)
class rank: top 10%
I will have taken 9 AP classes, 6 honors classes, and 4 years of foreign language.</p>

<p>ACT: 30 (33 reading/30 math/29 english/26 science)</p>

<p>high school schedule:
freshman
Orchestra-A
Geometry Honors-B
English Honors-A
Health Class-A
Biology-A
Spanish 1-A</p>

<p>sophomore (definately weakest part of my application)
Spanish 2-B
Alg 2/Trig-A
Orchestra Honors-A
English Honors-A
World History honors-B
Chemistry-B
english/history is a team-taught class that is arguably the hardest at my
high school including AP classes</p>

<p>junior year
AP US History-A
AP Physics B-B
Pre-Calculus-A
AP Junior English-A
US Government-A
AP Micro Economics-A
Spanish 3-A</p>

<p>senior year schedule
AP Senior English
AP Calculus AB
Gym(required to graduate)
AP Macro Economics
AP Environmental Science
AP Modern European History
Spanish 4, Honors</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
Karate (1996-present)
training for 12 years
Second degree black belt:10/06
Nationally Certified Assistant Instructor Certification: 12/04
I teach both children/adults every week
Presidents Vision Tour Committee senior member
Head of 117th Regional Black Belt testing committee
2006 National Championship:
2nd place in two divisions
scoring/timekeeping committee
2005 Regional Championships:
3rd place in one division
Judging committee
Rotaract (2004-present)
Treasurer-2007
Head of Habitat for Humanity project chair-2006/2007
Relay for Life project chair-2006
RYLA nominated leadership conference participant-2006
Project Committee member-2005
various other projects I've been apart of
Student Council(2005-present)
Head of a committee, member of another committee
Homeroom Representative
Orientation tour guide since sophomore year
School Newspaper(2004-2005)-it was a class, could only fit it in one year
Sports Editor
TN HS Press Association award for feature article
National Honor Society member & tutoring/speaker committee member
400+ hours of volunter work by time of graduate (Presidents Gold Award)
Girls Club for two summers,then Animal Shelter,then juvy law group
Distinguished Spanish 1 Student award</p>

<p>The teachers doing my recommendations know me very well(one teacher I had freshman/junior year, the other I had sophomore/junior year) so I'm sure they'll be excellent.</p>

2

<p>You are a very strong candidate for Rhodes. Do you want to stay in the south? If so, I would also look at Centre College. If you want a LAC with an "intellectual" vibe, and location is not an issue, I would encourage you to look into Grinnell in Iowa, Kenyon in Ohio, Franklin and Marshall in Pa., Macalester in Minnesota, Earlham in Indiana, Reed in Oregon and Beloit and Lawrence in Wisconsin. I believe that these would all be matches with your credentials. If you are willing to consider womens' colleges, I would suggest Smith, Mount Holyoke and Bryn Mawr, all which have an "intellectual" vibe and would be matches. Reaches would include Carleton College and the University of Chicago.</p>

<p>Best of luck in your college search.</p>

3

<p>I just returned with our 17 year old twins ( D/S) from a week-end/Monday visit to Rhodes. I agree with markr, you are an excellent candidate for admission, probably one of the scholarships as well. Our twins take on the school is challenging academics with kids who do enjoy college life and find a way to fit many things into their day. The school just opened the Lair ( sp?) a pub in the athletic building that is incredible! My kids could not get over the facilities and how friendly the students were. </p>

<p>Look up posts by Curmedgeon- his daughter was admitted to a number of prestigious colleges including Yale. She turned down the Ivies for a full ride at Rhodes. </p>

<p>As for other schools that might fit your interests ( and where you would be lin line for scholarships- look at Davidson and Wake Forest in the south. I would check out Trinity in Ct. as well. Good luck to you!</p>

4

<p>And she's loving it. For a kid like the OP I don't know if you can do any better than Rhodes. An interest in Latin American Studies and Poli Sci? Rhodes has a great IR set-up .Well respected and well populated by top students. D, a science major , wants to take a couple of IR courses because everyone says they are sooo good. facilities are beautiful, library and student center are as good as you will find anywhere. Kids do have the work/play hard thing happening so be aware it's not BYU . Plenty to do in Memphis but you'll spend most of your time on campus. D is in a sorority and loves it BUT her roommates (by choice) are a girl in a different sorority and a GDI. It's NOT an exclusive "we only talk to each other" place at all. </p>

<p>Her prof's have been outstanding. Just super so far. As far as intellectual atmosphere, my D's friends are all pretty accomplished kids. Most could have gone to Vandy or Davidson or Emory or Bowdoin or many other more selective schools - but Rhodes is now a 48% acceptance school with a student body that it is well over 70% OOS and somewhat self selecting. She says that the top 20% at Rhodes are as smart as the smartest kids anywhere she's been and the next 50-60% are the "smart" kids in high school that made good grades, and cared a lot about their studies. While she thinks the bottom quarter may not be as smart as the bottom quarter at super selectives, she says "They are certainly NOT stupid". She says everyone at Rhodes works hard. She thinks there are a critical mass of intellectual kids to push the envelope , that she can be motivated by and that she can motivate. There ARE a number of pre-professional kids, but there are at most schools. If you are really opposed to pre-prof kids, it's maybe not the best place and Grinnell becomes a better choice IMO. BTW, I like Grinnell a lot. What I said is not a slam on Grinnell. It just attracts a more arty/edgy bunch. (Don't get me wrong, Rhodes has plenty of "Save the World" kids and actively recruits them and rewards them handsomely, check out Kinney Scholars and the other programs for big community EC kids. These kids are phenomenal go getters and very bold in their approach. Independent wholly self-designed Mission to poorest Africa? Why not after freshman year? LOL)</p>

<p>So far so good.<br>
The Hab for Humanity thing puts you in a good place because Rhodes values Community Service maybe as much as anything else EC wise. </p>

<p>Any specific q's?</p>

<p>Another BTW. Rhodes kids are very proud of where they go to school and think that it will be known as a top school before long.</p>