My Chances?

<p>Okay, so being a typical high school senior I am wondering (and slightly obsessing tbh) about my chances of getting into college. I applied ED to Williams and I was really confident I was going to get in but I got deferred - so I freaked and applied to like 15 schools because I didn't believe I was going to get in anywhere. Anyway, I recently visited Carleton and I really liked it. I would love to go to Carleton for college, but I'm not sure I'm a strong enough candidate. I'll list some of my numbers/extracurriculars below and if you guys could just give me an honest opinion either way that would be great.</p>

<p>State: Minnesota. I go to the most difficult private high school in the state (according to most people anyway).
GPA: 3.7
Class rank: 10-25% but I don't think my school reports this.
Extracurriculars: I'm a football recruit and I also play lacrosse, I'm on science bowl, I play the trumpet, and I've done a bunch of summer programs at Stanford and I worked with my uncle who is head of the physics department at Richmond.
SAT: math 790, reading 790, writing 720
SAT II: chemistry 800, math II 750, physics 740
APs: chemistry 5, english literature 4, us history 4, calculus AB 4.
Hm... yeah that's probably the meat of my application. I think my interview went really well but it's an interviewer's job to put nervous high school kids at ease so I'm not sure whether my interviewer really liked me or not. I figure my best shot is through football, but I think the way that Carleton does it is that the coach can designate 6 or 7 reasonably strong candidates per year that would probably be rejected otherwise and the admissions office lets these kids in. I'm probably not going to be one of these 7 unfortunately. There are kids from my school who get worse grades than me that have gotten in to Carleton and kids with better grades that have gotten rejected, so... what do you guys think?</p>

<p>“There are kids from my school who get worse grades than me that have gotten in to Carleton and kids with better grades that have gotten rejected…”</p>

<p>You have answered your own question; you have a reasonable chance to be accepted, but by no means is your acceptance certain. With applications due in just a few days, there’s very little that you can do at this time to increase your chances. Instead, be comfortable that your achievements speak for themselves and that at least one of your 15 choices will admit you.</p>

<p>Or, if you have recently visited Carleton for the first time and it is now—unquestionably— your top choice, you might want to change your application to Early Decision. Your chance of admission will be higher than if you apply Regular Decision. Having said that, a geniune love for the school is the reason to apply ED, not taking advantage of a higher admit rate.</p>

<p>I got in back in December, and to give you a sense of mine:
GPA: 3.71
State: New York, from a competitive private high school, but certainly not the best.
Class Rank: Top 20% (I think)
Extracurriculars: I’m involved in the Science Olympiad team (captain) and the Future Problem Solving Team (NYS Champions, 2006-2009), the commander of a drill team for two years (second female commander in history), worked as tech crew on 8 shows, and a part of my school’s social justice and environmental clubs. Attended a semester program in Maine for the fall of my junior year to study Environmental Issues/Science, returned to work on their farm and attended a Sierra Student Coalition conference this summer. Was a camp counselor two years in a row along with babysitting.
ACT: 33 Composite, 34 Reading, 34 English, 33 Math, 30 Science
SAT IIs: 700 English, 780 US History, 730 Math I
APs: Environmental Science 4, taking English and Art History this spring
My interview went well, but I submitted my application with a typo, which I didn’t catch until after I’d submitted it. I applied ED I, although I originally was going to apply to Bowdoin or Williams. I loved the school, however, so I applied ED.
I think you have a good chance of getting in, since I had worse scores and less APs then you do, and I can’t throw a ball to save my life. If you like the school, I would apply ED, since you have a smaller pool of applicants to stand out against.</p>

<p>Ha, I couldn’t throw a ball to save my life either. I play lineman, which basically means I run into other pudgy kids every play (in case you don’t know). I’ve already submitted my application RD so I guess I’ll just have to see how things turn out… it’s good to know that you had similar numbers to me and got accepted. Hopefully things work out, maybe we’ll meet next year :).</p>

<p>Accepted! Sorry to bump this back onto the front page but I didn’t see an official results thread anywhere. Anyway, I’m unbelievably pleased with this. I thought I was a fringe candidate at best, so you low-GPAers out there: have hope.</p>

<p>Congrats! I was accepted with a not-so-impressive test score either. But it was decent. I believe Carleton puts a lot of emphasis on your ECAs and essays :)</p>

<p>Congratulations! I also think that my ECs and essays must have helped me.</p>

<p>Drought, Congrats…I am surprised you thought you were a weak candidate. As I remember, going to a good private prep school does really help with getting into Carleton. This was the background of quite a few of my classmates. I would have called you a match to begin with.</p>

<p>Carleton also puts a lot of emphasis on EC and essays. These will make or break students. The environment is “unique”, and some great students just don’t fit sometimes. Best of luck? Do you plan to attend? I liked it there…nothing is perfect…overall it was good though.</p>

<p>jack63: are you an alum?</p>

<p>If you are, could you comment on the job prospects or the general respect employers or other people have for Carl grads? Because I am slowly learning, that a large portion of my friends or family have never heard of Carleton College, most likely due to the fact that I’m an international from Hong Kong. But how <em>important</em> do you think ‘popularity’ for future prospects?</p>

<p>Yes, I’m an Alum.</p>

<p>This is a tough question because many Carleton grads go onto grad school. In my case it has been and will be(I’m back in grad school after working) the rep of my grad schools that get me the jobs. Carleton has certainly helped getting into grad schools and lab groups in the grads schools.</p>

<p>As for just straight jobs, in Minnesota and Chicagoland Carleton will help a lot. Carleton will help a lot for government jobs like the Peace Corps and similar things. The # of Rhodes and Churchill scholars coming out of Carleton are probably comparable to lower Ivies if you look at number of awards per student. Carleton also has placed analysts at top investment banks like Goldman Sachs.</p>

<p>The thing is that if you don’t want to go to grad school at some point, I would question whether or not Carleton is the right choice. If you just want a great job, consider a top public like Michigan, Virginia or Berekely or something. These students are getting great great jobs with top companies even in this economy.</p>

<p>“These students are getting great great jobs with top companies even in this economy.”</p>

<p>I wish it weren’t so, but unfortunately I have to disagree with this - strongly. NO college is connecting large numbers of graduates to “great jobs” in this economy. </p>

<p>At Harvard’s junior year (Class of 2011) student parent meeting earlier this month ([Junior</a> Parents Weekend - Class of 2011 Office of Student Life](<a href=“http://osl.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k65178&pageid=icb.page296854]Junior”>http://osl.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k65178&pageid=icb.page296854)) the administration reps were downright morose in describing prospects for their grads.</p>

<p>Carleton has a very dedicated bunch of alumni - giving rates are the highest of any school in the country. Last year a new program was initiated connecting graduating seniors to alumni and parents that has been a great success leading to job offers, summer work or internship offers, and even general career advice. </p>

<p>[Carleton</a> College: Engagement Wanted](<a href=“http://apps.carleton.edu/campus/career/engagement_wanted/]Carleton”>http://apps.carleton.edu/campus/career/engagement_wanted/)</p>

<p>The program’s being copied by a number of other schools now. There was a profile of this in The Chronicle of Higher Education last year when it got started.</p>

<p>[Carleton</a> College Promotes Job-Seeking Seniors on Listserv - Wired Campus - The Chronicle of Higher Education](<a href=“http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Carleton-College-Promotes/7159/]Carleton”>http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Carleton-College-Promotes/7159/)</p>

<p>1190…sure…I agree with you that NO College is sending a large number to graduates to “great jobs”.</p>

<p>Just my opinion as alum from Carleton and a student at one of the publics that I mentioned, that some large publics with professonial programs will give an edge on job prospects while Carleton will give the edge on grad school and other related opportunities(Peace Corps, Teach America, etc.). </p>

<p>I will say that some of the engineering programs at the top publics really do very well placing students in good jobs though…this is a very specific group though. </p>

<p>I agree that Carleton’s effort to use alumni resources to find jobs for its grads is very impressive.</p>

<p>Drought - CONGRATULATIONS!!!</p>

<p>I remember seeing your posts on the Williams forum - I am really glad it worked out for you at Carleton. I used to work with a guy who was from Carleton - he was super smart and nice, very successful, and went on to get an MBA from Wharton. He did an exchange program from Carleton which let him spend a year at Yale and he felt his classes at Carleton were much better - more involvement from professors, better exchange with the students, and just less attitude. Congrats again</p>

<p>Thanks everyone. One thing I didn’t explain in the OP is my downward trend in GPA: freshman 3.9, sophomore 4.0, junior 3.5, senior 3.4. I really thought this trend would kill my chances, but Carleton, I think, saw through my bout of apathy and realized that I am a fairly intelligent person.</p>

<p>Just curious about whether the GPA you’re posting in this thread is UW or W and does it include all courses or just core? I’m planning to apply ED next year. I have a few Cs in core AP/honors courses and am trying to determine whether that kills my chances at Carleton.</p>

<p>The GPA is UW. It was a 3.7 before my senior midterm report, now it’s a 3.65. I really dropped off the last two years of high school - let’s just say I got no A’s junior year and one A senior year in an elective course. The GPA includes all courses, but without P.E. and band my UW GPA actually increases to 3.73 (I don’t try to do well in classes that don’t engage me - it’s not a snobby thing, I just can’t make myself focus). One of my good friends got in ED with a 3.4 UW and a few C’s, so it’s possible. But I’ve never gotten anything lower than a B. Basically - you have a shot, but the C’s are going to make things tough. Good luck.</p>

<p>thanks Drought. ‘Not impossible’ is exactly the answer I was hoping for. A long shot is better than none at all. I believe I’m a great fit for Carleton and I’m working on making the rest of my application irresistable to them.</p>