Daughter denied 1530 SAT 3.95 UW GPA Private school does not weight GPA and has no APs
@oldandcold, I hear you. Your daughter really good stats. Iâm not sure whatâs going on with admissions at all the colleges not just middlebury. So many amazing students being waitlisted or rejected.
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My S23 4.0/4.5+, 35 ACT, ranked 5/400, 12 APs, good ECs was rejected/WL 6 times last week. He does have two acceptances with merit in hand so all is not lost, but he is feeling a bit dejected.
And then Iâll see 1 student who is accepted everywhere. Hooks matter more than anything these days. If you donât have a hook itâs a complete crapshoot.
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@techno13, total reasonable for your son to feel dejected. His stats look very good.
What kind of hooks would work?
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Some hooks⊠Legacy status not so much anywhere anymore.
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most of them (but not legacy, not anymore).
what are the hooks? urm/1st gen?
generally I believe hooks are: URM, first-gen, recruited athlete, legacy (not really anymore, but varies by school), and sometimes being from a very under-represented area (Alaska, LiechtensteinâŠ)
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Typically URM, first generation, legacy, big donor, and athletics in my mind are the main hooks. Legacy status seems to play a much less important role anymore, and in some places is even considered a negative (ie MIT)
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Where did he get in if you donât mind sharing. And what was his top choice?
I was on another thread and just got introduced to the concept of yield protection. Not sure if that actually exists (I have my doubts) but if it does it could be a factor here. I truly hope it does not existâŠif so it is very depressing. Not as depressing as hooks mind you 
Not sure if that actually exists (I have my doubts) but if it does it could be a factor here.
Pretty sure itâs not. Our CC always said to think about LAC admissions this way. Assume a class of 500. Thereâs an ED round, where they take athletes, special programs (questbridge, posse), may give legacy prefernce, and then take some kids that have no hooks. This will be tougly half the class.
Many good applicants are deferred to RD to be reevaluated in that pool.
Now in the RD round, they have 250 spots. Half for each gender. You need to be one of the 125 that checks certain boxes for them. Thereâs a lot of serendipity in that.
They donât reject kids because they think they wonât come. Especially at Midd. But itâs not unusual that a kid who doesnât fill a need at Midd will fill a need at Haverford or Williams. That makes applicants search for explanations. Itâs more like a sports draft â if I have a great QB, Iâm happy to pass on the top QB this year to beef up my offensive line and snag a WR.
And @DeadHeadDad , love the name!
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I donât think this was a case of yield protection. We knew his list was ultra-reachy thus the need for the two likelies that he has been admitted to. I still thought with 10 reaches, something would come through. And it may still.
Accepted: Holy Cross (merit), UMass-Amherst (Honors College, merit)
WL: Colby, Bowdoin
Rejected: Amherst, Williams, Middlebury, Notre Dame
Waiting: Dartmouth (deferred from ED), Vanderbilt, Boston College, Hamilton
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Yeah I get it and I assume you are right. My D is batting about .500 right now. I totally buy into the right fit concept. But that is what is stumping me about Middlebury. The one thing we all know is Middlebury is know for languages. I donât believe there is a kid out there with better language stats than my kid. She is self taught in German, Korean and Italian. Currently in 4 AP language classes. We visited and showed all kinds of interest. I would have assumed she was the perfect fit for Midd. AgainâŠno biggieâŠshe is perfectly happy with Swat, but it just makes me scratch my headâŠ
Pretty sure only the parents on the board understand my user name. Best,
DHD
Based on his stats, that is surprising. My D has similar stats 4.0/4.6 13 AP classes, 33 ACT (36 verbalâshe is a humanities kid).
Where my D had a competitive advantage was in her area of interest. She is a Language/Classics/Medieval Studies kid. In this increasingly STEM world, I think she is a bit of a unicorn.
I would think BC and Hamilton would be pretty close matches for your Sons stats. Good luck.
DHD
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Two acceptances from this group would not surprise me.
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how was that interest conveyed on app? what state from?
I always assumed that all the high school students who were highly interested and specialized in language put Middlebury on their list of private schools to apply to. I imagine that they have fewer high stat STEM students apply then they do amazing language students like your daughter.
To the point that @gardenstategal made above, if we think about it similar to crafting a sports team, there are only so many elite language students (or wide receivers) they can bring in each year. Itâs important they balance it with other needs/majors too, no matter how incredible the language students applying might be.
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We are in Virginia. Her entire application was built around her obsession with languages and the cultures of the ancient and medieval world. Her essay was about learning languages on her own. Her ECs all related to that (e.g. Latin Governorâs School). Her letter writers stressed it. She was very blunt about wanting to go to school to learn for the sake of learning.
With that said she is also well rounded academicallyâŠshe is currently in Calc BC and AP Chem etcâŠ
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based on what I hear from my kids, athletes have the best options (if they are really good) besides legacy, would be nice to have data on the other ones?
when I look diversity data, there is not much diversity so I wonder about URM. Of course, URM get in. I just wonder.
Itâs like a black box to figure out admissions.
If she got into her top choice, whatâs the use in giving this any more thought? I assume she wonât be taking the place on Middâs waitlist, right? As has been mentioned, Midd is well known for languages, so many kids with interests similar to your daughter applied. They probably got what they needed in the ED rounds, so in RD they were looking for the oboe player or the potential neuroscience major or the kid from rural South Dakota.
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