Northeastern, Bowdoin, lots of LACs, with unusual circumstances

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Chance me please? Rising senior.</p>

<p>APPLYING
Bowdoin College (ED)
Northeastern University (EA)
Earlham College (EA)
Hollins University (EA)
Bennington College (EA)
Wellesley College (Early Evaluation)
Amherst College (RD)
Mount Holyoke College (RD)
Bryn Mawr College (RD)
University of Central Florida (RD, safety with NMF scholarship)
University of Kentucky (RD, safety with NMF scholarship)</p>

<p>DEMOGRAPHICS
Female
Caucasian (Jewish)/Cherokee (about 1/4 -- my mom's working on getting us enrolled in the right offshoot of our tribe)
Rural Kansas
Small public high school
Income <60,000
Extenuating circumstances (at bottom)</p>

<p>STATS
3.95 GPA (unweighted only)
No APs or IBs available at school, but have taken all honors/dual enrollment available to me
Class rank 18/156
35 ACT (36 R, 36 E, 30 M, 36 S, 8 essay) -- only taken once
2270 SAT (800 R, 700 M, 770 W, 9 essay) -- only taken once
231 PSAT, so will definitely be a NMSF at least</p>

<p>ECs
• Theater | 10, 11, 12 | Acted and built sets -- mostly supporting roles but hoping for a lead this year -- did 2 plays sophomore year, 1 junior year, should be 2 again senior year, 1 musical
• Forensics team, member | 11, 12 | Competed at forensics competitions, improvised, performed solos, recited poetry and prose
• Scholar's Bowl | 10, 11 | Captain at JV meets, competed in varsity meets -- I don't plan on doing this senior year as it's time-consuming and I don't really enjoy it
• Summer academic programs | 9, 10, 11
• Volunteer | 10, 11, 12 | Volunteered at clinics and rides for my trail riding organization -- these don't happen very often but they are whole-weekend, time-intensive events
• Cross Country | 11, 12 | Manager of the cross-country team (since I couldn't run) -- held fundraisers & took care of ice baths, water, times, uniforms, any other supplies</p>

<p>JOB
• Ranchhand/trainer at horse ranch | 12 (this summer) | Live-in, full-time job where I worked with foals, trained, exercise rode, put up fence, and did miscellaneous farm chores | Using money to visit colleges and interview</p>

<p>HONORS AND AWARDS
• Scholastic Regional Silver Key in Fiction, 11th grade
• National History Day | 1st in division regionals & state | Built exhibit with 3 teammates, fundraised $4K to go to nationals in D.C, exhibited project at Smithsonian
• Will be a National Merit Semifinalist and hopefully Finalist
• Award from local news channel given to outstanding high school students
• Honor rolls/academic letters</p>

<p>RECS/ESSAYS
Essays should be good. I started working on the ones I could earlier this summer.
Rec from my English teacher will be fantastic. Rec from Physics teacher will be good. Counselor rec will mostly explain my circumstances.</p>

<p>ADDITIONAL
I know everyone says they have a unique case and are special and have extenuating circumstances, blah blah, but I really do. I had a chronic illness that was really, really bad. Like hospital bad. I missed about 5 months freshman year, maybe 2 months sophomore year. I got diagnosed the summer of junior year and missed about a month that year doing a program at the hospital to get better.</p>

<p>I'm feeling tons better now! My job this summer was manual labor, even. But that is my explanation for my awful ECs, poor attendance, and two Bs. My guidance counselor is going to write about it in her recommendation, and I'm going to try really hard not to sound like a sob story.</p>

<p>If you made it this far, thank you for the chance! This won't change where I apply. I just wanted some opinions on whether this list is realistic. I don't have a college counselor or anything, and my guidance counselor doesn't know very much about selective schools. So thank you!</p>

2

<p>Honestly, your stats, especially in light of circumstances, are great. I think all of the schools you listed are matches/low reaches, very doable. Good luck and chance back? <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1673832-will-chance-back-chance-me-for-cmc-barnard-bryn-mawr-columbia-stanford-cornell-umich-stern.html#latest”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1673832-will-chance-back-chance-me-for-cmc-barnard-bryn-mawr-columbia-stanford-cornell-umich-stern.html#latest&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

3

<p>You are 100% accepted to Bowdoin if you qualify as Native American.</p>

4

<p>Thanks guys! I do qualify; it’s just a lot of paperwork and my mom has a demanding job. Hopefully we’ll get our papers by the time I have to send in apps.</p>

5

<p>@Oberyn, that’s not true. They won’t admit someone with low stats just because he or she is Native American. That being said, @glittervine‌ is VERY qualified. I would be surprised if you were not accepted ED. I’m going to be a freshman at Bowdoin next month. If you have any questions or need any guidance, message me!</p>

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<p>@collegebound752‌ I meant that her stats in conjunction with her Cherokee status is a sure guarantee.</p>

7

<p>Thanks @collegebound752! And thanks for the offer. :slight_smile: I’ll certainly take you up on it if anything comes up!</p>

8

<p>I think that, especially considering your circumstances, you have a very good chance of getting into all of those schools. The 1/4 native American will definitely help as well. Make sure your essays don’t make your story come across as cliche, because it’s not and you don’t want colleges to think that. NMSF will help a ton too. Wellesly might be a little tough, but early app should give you a good chance. In short, I don’t think you have anything to worry about :)</p>

9

<p>Putting the whole native American thing aside, you’re in based on your great scores, great ranking, and really powerful personal story and activities. Congratulations on what you’ve accomplished! </p>

10

<p>@Glittervine I agree that you have a good shot at most of these schools. I’m sort of surprised, though, to see Northeastern on the same list as Wellesley, Mount Holyoke, Bowdoin, Bennington and Amherst College. They are VERY different. Have you visited all these schools yet? If you haven’t and are planning a trip, I really hope you’ll be able to visit while school is in session. You’ll get a very skewed idea of each place, otherwise. Especially smaller less-urban schools like those LACs!</p>

<p>I’m not really familiar with Earlham or Hollins, but of the rest, I’d say your reachiest would be Amherst, Bowdoin, and Wellesley. Most of the LACs on your list will read your app pretty holistically, I think, so your illness will compensate for your relative lack of ECs as you noted. They’ll also have your high school’s information (lisiting the number of AP/IB/Honors classes offered) with your app so they will see that you took the hardest classes. It’s also something that your guidance counselor reports on. So I wouldn’t worry about the lack of AP/IB.</p>

<p>One thing you did not talk about is money. A lot of those schools are meets-full-need, but some are need-blind and others are not, and some will “meet need” by asking you to take out more federal loans and do more work study than others. And, don’t quote me on this, but I think Northeastern and Bennington are pretty stingy with aid and are NOT meets-full-need. Maybe you have a great college fund, but if you’re counting on grants, that difference will matter a lot, I’ll bet. We are same income bracket as you and my D initially had many of these schools on your list. She crossed at least one off due to the lack of funding likely to be offered. Have you run the NPCs for them all?</p>

11

<p>You have impressive stats, and a most interesting background. Being a native american makes you very desirable for most AdComs.</p>

<p>Why have you not considered adding higher tier schools to your list (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford)?</p>

12

<p>Thanks everyone!</p>

<p>@staceyneil‌ I know, Northeastern is the exception that proves the rule! I did visit this summer, and I liked it, although not as much as Bowdoin. I’m not crazy about the city school aspect, but I liked Northeastern anyway.</p>

<p>Finance-wise, I do have a college fund. I was hoping to save as much for graduate school or other later education as I can, but I can pay if I have to. Northeastern gives 30K for NMF. Bennington would be very expensive unless they gave me some merit aid. Bowdoin, Amherst, and Wellesley I can definitely afford. The others fall somewhere in between.</p>

<p>Since I have some full ride backups, I figured it would be okay to just see where the cards fall. Do you think that’s a bad idea?</p>

<p>@sgopal3 I think Amherst is pretty high tier! Haha. I did have Penn on the list, but I hated the feeling there. I’m a legacy at Harvard through my grandpa and uncles on my dad’s side, but it just doesn’t seem like a good fit for me. </p>

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<p>Well, then,I think it looks like a good list, especially if you’d be happy going to your full-ride schools. And I think you are VERY wise to be conscious of “fit”; so many people disregard that in the reach for prestige, and wind up at a school they’re miserable at. Good luck to you, let us know how it goes!</p>

14

<p>

. Touche. Good for you, go with your instincts. </p>

<p>As a member of a URM with extreme stats, you stand a good chance at every school in country. Best of luck!</p>

15

<p>In terms of chances - they are probably good and you will have choices. Hopefully you are thinking about what kind of school you want to be at. Midwestern, northeastern, urban, rural, cooperative, competitive… If you need assistance you will likely need to apply to several RD and compare. Likely you will get into several, and most will meet your need, but some will do more loans than others etc. In terms of atmosphere, any school that only looks at the numbers and does not consider your circumstances might not be a good fit anyway. I am most familiar with Earlham and think LACs are a great place for undergraduate education especially if you are thinking of continuing to graduate school, but you will need to figure out what works best for you. Good Luck!</p>

16

<p>Thanks everyone! I really appreciate all your help and advice.</p>

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<p>Hey can you apply to Pomona so that I can see you in real-life? You sound very interesting :D</p>

18

@glittervine let us know where you choose! I saw that you got into Mount Holyoke and Amherst. My D is at MHC and loves it: I’m sure she’d be happy to talk to you if you have any questions you want an insider answer for :slight_smile:

19

Thanks! I haven’t decided yet, still waiting on Swarthmore and Bryn Mawr. I’ve gotten in everywhere so far except Bowdoin; I decided not to do ED and was waitlisted RD.
That’s okay though. I have lots of great options!