OFFICIAL Swarthmore 2015 RD Decisions Thread

Colleges and Universities A-Z Swarthmore College
1

<p>As likely letters have been mailed out I figure it's time one of these threads is posted. Follow this template. </p>

<p>[ size=+1][ color=green][ b]Accepted[ /b][ /color][ /size]</p>

<p>[ size=+1][ color=red][ b]Rejected[ /b][ /color][ /size]</p>

<p>[ size=+1][ color=blue][ b]Waitlisted[ /b][ /color][ /size]</p>

<p>[ b]Stats:[ /b][ list]
[ *]SAT:
[ *]SAT II:
[ *]ACT:
[ *]GPA:
[ *]Rank:
[ *]Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB):
[ /list][ b]Subjective[ /b][ list]
[ *]Essays:
[ *]Teacher Recs:
[ *]Counselor Rec:
[ *]Supplementary Material:
[ *]Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): [ /list][ b]Personal[ /b][ list]
[ *]Location:
[ *]High School Type:
[ *]Ethnicity:
[ *]Gender
[ *]Applied for Financial Aid: Y/N[ /list][ b]Other[ /b][ list]
[ *]Extracurriculars:
[ *]Awards:
[ *]Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?:[ /list]</p>

2

<p>i got my admit letter today!</p>

<p>i don’t think scores are as important as some people think they are, but they were pretty good.</p>

<p>biggies:
~president of several clubs
~i founded science outreach club at my school this year
~lots of music accomplishments
~published my independent research project in an urban ecology journal earlier this year. </p>

<p>really, comparing is pointless.</p>

<p>best of luck to y’all!</p>

3

<p>is it a early write or have the regular admit packages started coming? Last year they weren’t sent out this early</p>

4

<p>dogdogcatcat is right:

</p>

<p>It’s a point I’ve made before:

</p>

<p>Not meaning to sound cranky, and definitely wishing you all the best of luck.</p>

5

<p>The range of stats does matter, though. Straight 800s is meaningfully different from straight 700s, although both are “good enough” to get into Swarthmore, depending on everything else. Overall, I find the stat profiles marginally more helpful than harmful.</p>

6

<p>I think Stat files are helpful because they show what types of people get in with certain scores (for example, what are norm SAT scores for a white male from MA, etc).</p>

7

<p>Accepted</p>

<p>Stats:[ul]
[<em>]SAT: CR-720 M-720 W-750 E-11
[</em>]SAT II: MathII-730 US-730
[<em>]ACT: N/A
[</em>]GPA: 3.95 w/weird weighting. Basically a B or two every year.
[<em>]Rank: Top quintile (albeit near the bottom)
[</em>]Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): Lang-5 Stat-4 US-4 Euro-4 Art History-4
[/ul]Subjective[ul]
[<em>]Essays:
Common App - Pretty good. Wrote it on how I can travel back in time through music and how it can keep me calm all the time.
Supplement - Average but wrote it about a specific department so I think I did appear to be really interested.
[</em>]Teacher Recs: No idea?
[<em>]Counselor Rec: Probably good.
[</em>]Supplementary Material: Sent a list of my education policy related activities and reasonably detailed explanations of them (this may have been the tipping point for me).
[<em>]Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): Absolutely none.
[/ul]Personal[ul]
[</em>]Location: Mid-Atlantic
[<em>]High School Type: Private/Catholic
[</em>]Ethnicity: White, but left it unspecified.
[<em>]Gender: Female
[</em>]Applied for Financial Aid: Yes I applied but didn’t get a dime sadly.
[/ul]Other[ul]
[<em>]Extracurriculars:

  • Internship with the Lieutenant Governor (did education reform project)
  • Published writer about education reform
  • Student board member of school for disadvantaged girls
  • Coach 4th grade science olympiad
  • Captain of science olympiad team
  • Did field work for a paper at an alternative school
  • Math League Member
  • Academic Bowl Member
    [</em>]Awards:
  • AP Scholar w/ Distinction
  • 3rd and 9th state science olympiad medals
  • Random departmental awards
  • Honor roll
    [li]Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?:[/ul][/li]Have a passion! It can really offset less than perfect stats. I think Swat interviews are more important than they may let on. I’m so honored to have gotten in!</p>
8

<p>Accepted</p>

<p>Stats:[ul]</p>

<p>[li]SAT: 2190 - 760 CR, 680 M, 750 W</p>[/li]
<p>[li]SAT II: 660 Math II, 730 Bio</p>[/li]
<p>[li]GPA: 98.8 (100 scale, weighted, my school only does weighted, apparently…)</p>[/li]
<p>[li]Rank: N/A</p>[/li]
<p>[li]Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB):[/li]5-AP Language and Composition</p>

<p>[/ul]Subjective[ul]</p>

<p>[li]Essays: Common App: [/li]-Excellent, on my Mexican heritage and how I have learned to appreciate being an American citizen.
-Supplement: Good, not great</p>

<p>[li]Teacher Recs: Excellent</p>[/li]
<p>[li]Counselor Rec: Excellent</p>[/li]
<p>[li]Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): [/li]-Hispanic
-Double nationality
-lived in Mexico until this past Christmas (mentioned in the essay)
-National Hispanic Recognition Scholar</p>

<p>[/ul]Personal[ul]</p>

<p>[li]Location: El Paso, TX</p>[/li]
<p>[li]High School Type: Private, Catholic</p>[/li]
<p>[li]Ethnicity: Hispanic</p>[/li]
<p>[li]Gender: Female</p>[/li]
<p>[li]Applied for Financial Aid: Yes</p>[/li]
<p>[/ul]Other[ul]</p>

<p>[li]Extracurriculars: Show choir president junior and senior year; Ciudad Juarez’s Diocesan Choir for 4 years, music tutor there, participated as teacher for music workshops prepared for the group; Youth Group, Church Choir, volunteering at YWCA and nursing homes, tutoring…those are the most relevant</p>[/li]
<p>[li]Awards: National Hispanic Recognition Scholar; recognized nationally for test performance in Mexico, Math Contest 2nd place(Mexico); Don Quijote Nos Invita a Leer Creative Writing contest 2nd place State level (its only a state contest); chosen as representative for Youth Group Leaders’ National Convention (Mexico), Latino Community Leadership Seminar at Notre Dame</p>[/li]
<p>[li]Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?:[/ul] [/li]I honestly have no idea why I got in. I have good stats, but I always considered this to be one of my faaaaaar reaches…
Show your love for the school…I received the extension postcard and I answered it with another poem :stuck_out_tongue:
I AM THRILLED :D</p>

9

<p>Luludatis - Felicidades! So, where will you go Swat or Notre Dame?</p>

10

<p>No idea yet…financial aid will probably be the key point. I love both schools, and Swarthmore was my top choice for a long time, until I visited Notre Dame, so right now I am a little biased because I have not visited Swarthmore. I am glad that I get to go to Ride the Tide to experience the school in person!</p>

11

<p>holy crow…does this mean they’ve mailed the letters? suddenly i am not so sure i want to go to my mailbox.</p>

<p>snail mail only for swarthmore, right?</p>

12

<p>^^^No, RD decisions have NOT been sent out yet. There are a few kids who received “early writes,” which are released a couple of weeks before RD.</p>

13

<p>Accepted</p>

<p>Stats:[ul]
[<em>]SAT: 2390 (800 CR, 800 M, 790 W)
[</em>]SAT II: 790 Math II, 720 Lit
[<em>]ACT:
[</em>]GPA: 4.0 uw
[<em>]Rank: 1st Decile
[</em>]Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): 5 US History, 5 Biology, 5 Calc AB
[/ul]Subjective[ul]
[<em>]Essays: Pretty strong, I think, because I tried to keep it honest and introspective.
[</em>]Teacher Recs: One strong one from a teacher who knows me very well, and one probably average.
[<em>]Counselor Rec: My counselor really likes me but doesn’t actually know me that well… so average, I would say.
[</em>]Supplementary Material: Fairly strong. I wrote it rather last minute, but I put in a lot of stuff about DiscoSwat, so it conveyed a strong interest in the school.
[<em>]Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): [/ul]Personal[ul]
[</em>]Location: CT
[<em>]High School Type: Small but very competitive public high school
[</em>]Ethnicity: Asian
[<em>]Gender: Female
[</em>]Applied for Financial Aid: No[/ul]Other[ul]
[<em>]Extracurriculars: NHS (officer), Math Team (captain), several school music ensembles and private music experience, theater arts and pit orchestra, physics team, volleyball, other various clubs, etc.
[</em>]Awards: National Merit Finalist, AP Scholar, presidential scholar candidate, a couple district leadership awards, various academic awards within the school, several writing awards, a couple sports awards, etc.
[*]Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?: Going to DiscoSwat helped show my interest in the school, and to be honest, I think that’s the main reason I got an early write. [/ul]</p>

14

<p>Geez, you guys scared me for a second, since I sure didn’t get any letters from Swathmore yet!</p>

15

<p>Rejected</p>

<p>Stats:[ul]
[<em>]ACT:35
[</em>]sat ii (if submitted): Math II: 800 Physics: 780 US History: 730
[<em>]GPA:3.9 uw and 4.53 weighted
[</em>]Rank: top 5%
[<em>]Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): AP Calc BC, World, US, Physics C (both) all 5s
[/ul]Subjective[ul]
[</em>]Essays: eh, mostly fine I think
[<em>]Teacher Recs:good
[</em>]Counselor Rec: bland, big school
[<em>]Supplementary Material: Interview went really well, had a very good feeling about it.
[</em>]Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): National Merit Finalist [/ul]Personal[ul]
[<em>]Location: MD
[</em>]High School Type: Public
[<em>]Ethnicity: White
[</em>]Gender: Male
[<em>]Applied for Financial Aid: Y[/ul]Other[ul]
[</em>]Extracurriculars: bad, didn’t do very much, some extenuating circumstances though
[<em>]Awards:
[</em>]Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?:very blown, Swarthmore was definitely my top choice and I got rejected from Georgetown and waitlisted at Wesleyan, but that’s life, congrats to all who got in![/ul]</p>

16

<p>S Rejected today by mail
2180 SAT
32 ACT</p>

<p>congrats to all who made it!</p>

17

<p>Waitlisted! That’s better than I expected!</p>

18

<p>Decision: Waitlisted</p>

<p>Objective:</p>

<p>SAT I (breakdown): 2200 (700,770,730)
ACT:
SAT II (if submitted): Math II(800), Literature (750), US History (740)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Grades in AP/IB/honors classes (if applicable): 10 AP Classes, all A’s
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/274
AP (place score in parenthesis): American Gov’t (5), World History (4), US History (5), English Language (5), Psychology (5), Calc AB (5), Spanish Language (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calc BC, AP Econ, AP English Lit, AP Stat, AP Physics B
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Commended, MD Distinguished Scholar, NSCAA Scholar-All American</p>

<p>Subjective:</p>

<p>Extracurriculars (place leadership and number of years participated in a certain activity in parenthesis): Varsity soccer captain, student government class rep, captain of quiz bowl team, physics olympics, MESA effective communications competition (regional and state champion)
Job/Work Experience: Two part-time jobs
Volunteer/Community service: Assistant coach for youth soccer team
EC short answer (subject and personal opinions on it): Pretty generic, but well-written
General Essay (subject and personal opinions on it): Pretty personal, really gave a good depiction of me and my life
Teacher Recommendation (only if you saw it): Didn’t see, but I would assume very good. The teacher has taught me twice
Counselor Rec (only if you saw it): My counselor doesn’t really know me besides numbers
Additional Rec (only if you saw it): None
Interview: None</p>

<p>Other</p>

<p>State (if domestic applicant): MD
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public magnet
Ethnicity: White
Gender: M
Hooks (URM, first generation college, research, etc.): First Generation</p>

<p>Reflection
Strengths: Transcript, rank, AP scores
Weaknesses: Average SAT scores, mediocre supplement essays
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: My weaknesses sum it up I guess, and at a school like Swarthmore it’s just unpredictable. Congrats to all who got in!
Where else I applied: accepted: Notre Dame, Northeastern, UVA; waitlisted: Georgetown; still pending: Princeton, Yale, Duke, UPenn, Stanford, Brown, Columbia, JHU</p>

19

<p>How do you know you got waitlisted at Gtown? Did you hear back already?</p>

20

<p>Yeah, I just received their decision in the mail as well</p>