neuroscience/comp sci/psych: pomona, bowdoin, amherst, williams, scripps

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

if it changes anything, i applied to pomona ed ii.

unusual circumstances (?): i’m currently in a public school, and entered last year (junior year). i spent all prior years in a public cyber charter. i left that school with a 3.97 uw/4.4 w gpa. also, i skipped two grades, so i’m currently fifteen years old and turning sixteen in march.

~ class rank: currently 8 out of 344
~ act: 34 composite in december (also 34 superscored), taken 3 times - june, oct, dec

  • 30 math
  • 33 reading (got 36 in oct)
  • 36 english
  • 35 science
  • 8 i believe on the writing test. that wasn’t a fun time
    … took the sat (got 1390 overall) but didn’t wind up reporting it
    ~ ap classes, grade taken, scores:
    ---- art history, sophomore year, 4.
    ---- english lit and comp, sophomore year, 3.
    ---- us gov, junior year, 3.
    ---- calculus bc, junior year, 4/ab subscore, 4.
    ~ gpa: i honestly have no idea how my current school weighs things, but my report card says 5.51 and i’m guessing it’s on a 6pt scale …??? also, they only took my classes here into consideration, so i’m not sure how my grades coming out of cyber come into play.
    ~ senior courseload, with grades if completed: ap chemistry, ap computer science (96), spanish 4 (96), ap multivariable calculus*, ap english lang and comp
  • considering switching out for ap psychology

~ extracurriculars:
---- varsity speech and debate, junior/senior year
---- jv track and field, junior/senior year
---- mock trial, senior year
---- national religious (assemblies of god) competition, 7th grade onward, i have won several awards for this
---- tech crew, volunteers/sets up for almost all events within my school
---- national honor society, i don’t hold any positions

personal characteristics, i guess: jamaican/taiwanese female from northeastern pennsylvania. i hope to major in neuroscience or computer sci and minor in psychology.

all schools i applied to: williams, amherst, bowdoin, colby, middlebury, wesleyan, wellesley, harvey mudd, scripps, claremont mckenna, lafayette, schreyers honors college (penn state), wustl, northwestern, stanford

i think my writing supplement and recommendations were all pretty good and showed my personality, passions, and voice, particularly my williams essay. i had my spanish teacher, calculus/programming teacher, and ap gov teacher write recs; my spanish teacher has said i’m one of the best students of her career and she was the first teacher who knew me when i entered the school. additionally, my coach for the aforementioned religious competition wrote a letter, as did my teammate from the competition/close friend who currently attends stanford.

i’m mostly worried about my lack of extracurriculars, but i’ve also only really had a year and a half to build them up.

thank you in advance!

2

You look like a competitive applicant, but the big “if” is your age. At Pomona, only 3% of students were outside the ages of 18-22, and the majority of those are on the older end as they are transfer enrollees or returning students from deferment/leave of absences. That statistic is pretty similar across most of the other liberal art colleges. That said, a classmate in my class graduated summa cum laude from Pomona in three years at the age of 19, so it’s not unheard of.

My own perspective is that I’m impressed and intrigued. To have such a high standard at an age considerably younger than other applicants clearly speaks to your potential. If I were an admissions officer, I would review your materials extensively, focusing on your recommendations and essays, to see if you have the maturity to transition into a class filled with people 2 years older than you. And if it was evidenced, I’d put a good word for you on the admissions committee.

Your academic profile is good, but your AP scores would make me wonder if you’re truly college ready. Some 50% of the AP exams submitted by Pomona enrolled students were a 5, but you don’t have one. Did you report these scores? You’re right in that your extracurricular activities aren’t really noticeable, but under your circumstance, it won’t really hurt you.

I think you’ll get admitted by some of these places and not others. It will not be a consequence of their selectivity but rather how the admissions person reading your application will perceive you. You’re not a traditional applicant, and thus it’s not really worth classifying those schools as “reach”/“match”/“safety”. I know Pomona’s results are coming out soon (next Friday, I think), but they are the hardest EDII school in the nation to get into, so don’t think too much of it if you’re not admitted.

3

@nostalgicwisdom honestly, my ap scores were low primarily because i hadn’t gotten used to the environment of a standardized test – especially timing, which i’ve become much better at over time (though i completely understand that they would stand out negatively). i’ve also communicated with the five schools in the title and asked if they had any questions, etc etc about my age and odd circumstances, because i didn’t interview with any. only one actually replied–williams, who said they don’t interview anyway and not to worry. of course, it didn’t really help that i took those at the ages of 13/14, and i had some issues with general anxiety at the time that manifested during those tests (also resulted in an awful sat ii math score that i chose not to report). i did report the ap scores, though.

i do believe that most of my recommendations will be focusing on the age difference and my ability to deal with a college environment, but my teachers and other recommenders have said “if i didn’t know otherwise, i’d have no idea you were any younger than our other seniors” pretty often. personality-wise, i’m fairly laid back and (supposedly, anyway) do come off more maturely than fifteen. my main qualm with my personality is that, since i’ve only had a couple years of genuine socialization, i’m still rather timid overall.

4

It’s good your teachers mentioned it. When an admissions officer reads your folder, they review all the little details, and they’ll notice the age difference.

If it brings you any comfort, I’d advocate for an acceptance depending on the quality of your writing supplement and recommendations. These top LACs and many of the top universities want not just academically strong applicants (which you meet with your rank and test scores), but also interesting, compelling ones. A 2 year difference may not seem like a lot to others, but it really is at your age, given how critical and transforming those years are. Now that I know that you took an AP exam right when you hit the teens, it does make me less wary. If your teachers mention that they’d have never noticed the age difference, it means you’re mature for your age and have a history of being able to fit right in even among older students. You have an interesting ethnic background, come from a less populated part of Pennsylvania (compared to others from Philly/Pittsburgh), and are interested in both STEM disciplines and social sciences. I have a couple of hesitations, but pretty much every applicant has several.

5

This may be an interesting read to you, particularly the section on age: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/sep/5/autism-not-a-barrier-to-16-year-old-college-freshm/

6

@nostalgicwisdom yeah, i considered waiting a year before applying because i’m also nervous about the age gap, but i figured i could just reapply if it doesn’t work out this go-around. as for recommendations, two teachers are from schools with somewhat similar characteristics to the places i applied (both graduated from lacs in the top 30) and asked me specific questions about academic history before writing the letters, so i’m assuming that they did discuss that thoroughly.

although i do believe my writing style and voice are relatively robust, i’m somewhat worried about the subject matter i chose for my supplements, because i wasn’t sure where to direct my responses. like, for pomona’s third prompt (‘write about a time you were aware of your difference’) i talked about when i realized my religious beliefs are vastly different from those who surround me and how the experience taught me to develop much-needed self confidence and helped me grow stronger in my own belief system and morals. i was told that it was a touchy essay because it mentioned religion, but at the same time, i felt that it was a piece i needed to write because it was the truthful reply.

another area i was unsure in–for my common app essay, i wrote about failure, and i gave an account of my transition from cyber to public and how i was initially doing worse academically than i’d hoped, concluding by saying that i’ll graduate having taken the most difficult courses offered and growing as a person. it was hard getting advice on exactly /how/ to address the unorthodox academic background, since it’s such a weird situation, so i wound up just talking about it for 650 words.

also, thanks for the read!

7

I’m not religious, but that supplement would be a very compelling essay for me. It’s clearly something that means a lot to you, and I think that’s what really matters. You’ll face that a lot upon matriculating to these top schools- being different from your peers- and it’s very important to remember to affirm your own background and perspective. I believe most admission officers will see it the same way. It’s perceived as a touchy subject, but when a good percentage of students are religious, it’s rather presumptuous to preclude someone or hold any prejudice against them for that basis alone.

Second essay doesn’t impress me as much because it’s a commonly done topic, but if you highlighted the more unique aspects of your background like moving from school to school or wrote it in a particularly captivating style, it could be very good too.

All that said, you have a good chance. I think you should look out for good news. And even if it doesn’t work, well? You have at least two years to do a gap opportunity, take more rigorous courses, and re-apply.

8

@nostalgicwisdom it was actually about me being raised in christianity and realizing i didn’t subscribe to any of what i was being taught, hahah! my mom thought i’d seem a bit like a heretic.

and on the second essay, i tried my best to focus on feeling out of place during the transition itself and not so much on the cliche of “oh i failed a test”.

anyways, thank you for everything!

9

Hey! I’m also applied EDII to Pomona. I agree with everything said above; your age will be the biggest thing to overcome in your case. I think the supplement about religion would be interesting, albeit a touchy subject (really depends on its execution). But, TBH, your personal statement doesn’t seem very captivating or original. However, again, if it’s written well, that will be a plus.

If you get rejected from most of your schools, I would take it as a sign to take the next year to mature through real-world experiences. You’re definitely qualifies academically, but many colleges do not like tsking on students who are young for college.

Just wondering… did you send both ACT scores to Pomona?

10

I also applied*

11

@ap012199 i think i only sent the 34 to pomona. re: the religion essay, i focused mostly on the contemplation/growing up i had to do to realize my own beliefs and less on the religion itself. and yeah agreed that my personal statement wasn’t amazing–but almost every school required their own supplement in addition to it and i felt confident in all of those, so im hoping it evens it out a little. thank you for the advice, too! good luck. :slight_smile:

12

@auhnix How did your Pomona decision go?

13

@nostalgicwisdom i was rejected )-:

14

Same. No one on cc has been accepted EDII yet lol

15

I’ve been tracking this and saw you got good news from WashU, Middlebury, Scripps (with a merit scholarship as well!), and Northwestern. Congratulations! Seriously impressive given your age and transition. Don’t think too much about the rejections/wait-lists. I think it really goes to show you how random the process can be. But one thing for sure is that getting admitted to NU (which had a less than 10% admit rate this year) and Scripps with a merit aid (which puts you in the top quarter of their already selective admit pool) means that you’re really compelling. Wishing you the best for your remaining decisions.

16

congrats on the good news!! ^

17

@nostalgicwisdom @nova17 thank you so much!

18

Do you know what your top choices are at the moment? Congrats on CMC as well, they’re the most selective LAC by RD acceptance rate! =D Keep us posted.

19

@nostalgicwisdom my top choice is middlebury, i think, though scripps is looking really attractive because of the 5cs and the scholarship … (and thank you!)

20

Hi, @auhnix - congrats on all the great offers! My D was offered the same scholarship at Scripps, and is interested in similar majors - Psych/CogSci/CompSci. Are you going to take them up on their offer to fly you in for a visit? My D is going to do an overnight during our spring break in a couple of weeks.