Okay--I feel a little silly, but...

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I figured it couldn't hurt to jump on the chances bandwagon. :p</p>

<p>So, here goes. It's kind of lengthy, but I guess that's not unusual. </p>

<hr>

<p>The colleges:
-Stanford (EA)
-Amherst
-Bryn Mawr
-Carleton
-Dartmouth
-Haverford
-Middlebury
-Mount Holyoke </p>

<p>Me:
-Female
-Lower middle class (on the edge of low income)
-Keeping my race to myself (white)
-Small-town public high school, slightly above-average SAT scores</p>

<p>SAT I: 2210
-770 CR
-760 W
-680 M
SAT II:
-800 Literature
-770 French
-710 Math level 2
-700 Biology E
-610 Chemistry
AP:
-5 Spanish Language
-5 English Language
-5 Literature</p>

<p>GPA:
-4.0 unweighted
-4.23 weighted (but HS doesn't weight)
Rank: #1 in class of 250</p>

<p>-Will have taken 9 of the 10 honors/AP classes offered at HS <a href="They%20say%20they%20offer%2014,%20but%20don't%20actually,%20so%20my%20counselor%20has%20almost%20certainly%20checked%20the%20%22most%20demanding%20schedule%22%20box%20anyway.">i</a>*</p>

<p>Senior schedule:*
-Independent French IV
-AP Calculus AB
-World religions
-Technical theatre <a href="vocational%20classes%20are%20required">i</a>*
-AP Statistics
-Marine science
-Independent world literature
-Drama III
-AP Physics
-AP French
*We're on a block schedule, with 8 credits per year. To graduate I need only the tech theatre class, but instead I'm earning these 10 credits.</p>

<p>Awards:
-National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist
-AP Scholar
-Young Playwrights Festival 2006 National Playwriting Competition semifinalist <a href="top%2015%%20of%20entries%20nationwide">i</a>*
-Work published in The Sun magazine "Readers Write" section
-National Honor Society member (11-12)
-Numerous academic awards from the high school in foreign language, social studies, mathematics, science, English and drama</p>

<p>Extracurricular activities:
-Foreign language: Independent study Spanish III, AP Spanish V (in 10th grade), and French IV (last summer--independent travel to France to study at a language school), for credit; self-taught French I in summer, 2005, not for credit. I am currently self-teaching Norwegian, also not for credit.
-Creative writing: Creative Writing Club member/co-editor of high school's biannual literary magazine; I've had several poems published here and there in small regional publications, won a few PTSA Reflections literature contests; however, I mostly write for pleasure. (9-12)
-Fencing: a founding member of my community's first and only fencing club and team. (9-11; assistant coach in 10) <a href="The%20club%20dissolved%20last%20summer%20because%20the%20coach%20left%20town%20abruptly,%20and%20I%20can't%20afford%20to%20commute%20to%20the%20expensive%20Seattle%20clubs%20for%20practice;%20otherwise%20I%20would%20still%20be%20fencing.%20I%20will%20explain%20this%20on%20my%20unsent%20applications,%20but%20I%20think%20I%20forgot%20to%20on%20my%20Stanford%20EA%20application.">i</a>*
-Drama: lead roles in fall, 2005; volunteer stagehand in spring, 2006; head audio technician in fall, 2006; role(s) anticipated for one spring, 2006 play and guaranteed for another. (11-12)
-Knowledge Bowl (11-12)
-Honor Society volunteering (about 30 hours a year)</p>

<p>Other:
-Essays: fantastic.
-Recommendations: fantastic. The teachers I asked to write my letters are ones with whom I have outside-the-class relationships, if that makes sense. They're the teachers that I drop in on for a chat, spend time with in the community (outside of school) -- because they're my friends' parents, because they've sponsored my independent studies, because they're friends with my mother, because they're the director of the school plays... and because I loved their classes so much that even when I don't have them that semester I still like to discuss things with them.
And my counselor seems to think I'm practically a goddess. :o</p>

<p><strong>[[Though I don't have all that many or impressive ECs, I have shown a great deal of initiative with my education--since my high school doesn't offer much. (That's why I am including foreign language as an EC activity.) This will come across to colleges on my transcript and recommendations, as well as because some of it will be on my applications' list of ECs.]]</strong></p>

<hr>

<p><em>cough</em> :o So... what is your expert opinion? ;)</p>

2

<p>Carleton would probably love to have you. That jumps out at me as being a good-fit school for you as you describe yourself. </p>

<p>Certainly, you have a shot at any school to which you apply. Stanford EA is a decent possibility.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

3

<p>SAT old is 1450, good, but nothing special at Stanford. Though ed will help, it's still a reach (as it is for everyone), but you have a good chance especially with that class rank. SATs also avg at Dartmouth and Amherst, and they accept 15-18%, so they are both reaches, but to a lesser extent than Stanford. That being said you still have a pretty decent chance. Middlebury is a good chance, the rest look good as well.</p>

4

<p>Might want to look at Duke and some less elite LAC's like Colgate, Holy Cross, or Bates for more financial/merit aid.</p>

5

<p>Thanks. :)</p>

6

<p>... Oh, par72, I hadn't seen your post. I've looked at Colgate and Bates, but neither seemed like good fits for me... just because of things I've read about them and their campus cultures, things like that. A cursory look at Holy Cross (C of the HC or HCC? --well, I looked at both just now on collegeboard.com) makes me think a "no" on that one.</p>

7

<p>-Stanford (EA) - slim chance
-Amherst -good chance
-Bryn Mawr -in
-Carleton -in
-Dartmouth-decent chance
-Haverford -in
-Middlebury -in
-Mount Holyoke -in</p>

8

<p>Thank you for your responses. Any more opinions?</p>

9

<p>There are only so many times I can bump my own thread before I start feeling self-conscious. :o :p</p>

10

<p>Stanford (EA) - 35% shot
Amherst - 50% shot
-Bryn Mawr - 90% shot
-Carleton - 85% shot
-Dartmouth - 50% sot
-Haverford - 75% shot
-Middlebury - 75% shot
-Mount Holyoke - 95% shot</p>

<p>You'll get into many of these. My only advice is to add a couple more slight reach schools in the Amherst/ Dartmouth category. You might want to add Williams or maybe Brown?</p>

11

<p>


</p>

<p>It's funny you say so. Williams and Brown happen to be the two schools I visited on my college trip this fall--I looked at all of the colleges on my list except Stanford (which I visited before) and Carleton--that I struck from my list. :p
But thanks. :)</p>

12

<p>I'd agree with Slipper. Would you have a preference for all girl schools/coed schools? Have you thought about Smith/Wellesley?</p>

<p>I can't gauge a lot about your preferences based on your list of schools, they're all over the country and seem to have lots of different campus vibes. I don't know why you struck Williams from your list (too rural? bad feeling?) but I'd suggest you add one or more top schools. I see you have Bryn Mawr and Havorford, would you be opposed to Swarthmore? and since your top choice is a California school, have you considered Pomona?</p>

13

<p>I agree that maybe you should look at Pomona.</p>

14

<p>Bryn Mawr has a great record of its grads going on for PhD's, if that's what you want to do.</p>

<p>You'd LOVE Brown.</p>

15

<p>I agree, I think college visits can be misleading. I visited Dartmouth on a rainy day in the summer when the campus was quiet and didn't apply. I regretted the decision. The next year I went up again to visit a friend during Homecoming (while I was a student at Columbia) and I absolutley fell in love with it. I ended up transferring to Dartmouth and had the time of my life.</p>

16

<p>Every day of my college trip (except the day I left Philly) was GORGEOUS... unimaginably gorgeous... way more sun than I would ever expect from home. I thought all the campuses were beautiful... </p>

<p>Well... I guess I wasn't so impressed by Williams. It wasn't because of the weather, though. It was a crisp, blue-skied day in early October. I didn't much like the architecture--I thought it was ugly, some buildings too grandiose and others just cold-looking--but mainly I imagined myself in the middle of winter up there in the "mountains" (I don't know how accurate the term was, but it seemed like I could feel the altitude in the air) trying to get from point A to point B on icy paths and having to cross roads... blech. (Yes, that will be a problem everywhere but Stanford. But I thought of it when I was at Williams, and the idea seemed particularly distasteful when put in the context of Williamstown.) And there weren't really any places to sit down. And I didn't much like the town.
I was a little doubtful of how "at home" I would feel there in the first place; I had heard that Williams is really into sports, and when I talked to some students there they emphatically agreed. It seemed like if you yourself weren't an athlete, then you were out in the stands doing the whole "Rah, rah, go team" bit, and I'm not into that so much. </p>

<p>Brown was off mainly because it was such a horror getting into and around Providence. Also, someone there mentioned to me that "Brown is the place to go if you want to be a doctor, a lawyer or a politician." I do NOT want to be a doctor, a lawyer or a politician. And I just didn't feel very comfortable walking around campus. </p>

<p>But the fact of the matter is, I visited Williams and Brown because my mother wanted me to. She thought they sounded good because of a few interesting programs they offer, and she liked that Brown has no core curriculum. Other than in those few details, Brown and Williams didn't appeal to me much.</p>

<hr>

<p>Another consideration (which I've overlooked in the cases of some of these schools, just because I like the school so much and figured I could find a way to get around inconveniences) is that I should be able to travel fairly easily. My family will be living in Ecuador during the first year or so of my college career, and there are some areas of the country from which it is easier to get to Ecuador than other areas. </p>

<hr>

<p>I looked at Pomona a couple years ago and hated the town. I'm not the biggest California fan in general, anyway; Stanford is on my list because it offers SO MUCH (even studying Quechua is a possibility! --and many other languages) and because one of my friends and his sister both go there and LOVE it. He is a physics major (which isn't what I'm going to be... unless something new hits me), and his sister is a human biology major; she was more into the things I'm into when she was in high school, and she's just a really nice, unpretentious (and incredibly smart) person. So, people that I admire love Stanford. </p>

<hr>

<p>I actually have doubts about Mt. Holyoke. It sounds like a really nice school with an attitude I like (minimal partying). However, I had an interview there and my interviewer really emphasized how coming to a women's college will be the first time so many women will have the same opportunities that men always have... and I frankly don't feel that way. I think girls are doing fine. Maybe they're not elsewhere, but god, at my school girls outnumber the boys on the honor roll three to one. In the yearbook when they picture the "top 10 academic" and "top 10 outstanding" students in the senior class, there will be like 8 or 9 girls versus 1 or 2 boys. In AP classes, other than calculus and physics, there are far more girls than guys--like Lit last year, where there were 14 girls and 2 guys in my class. In my experience, girls are not disadvantaged, and for the vastly greater part accomplish more (academically) than guys. </p>

<p>I liked Bryn Mawr, though; I didn't get the same feeling about it as I did about MHC. It was after-hours when I got there, but a tour guide who was just leaving the admissions office took me and my dad to dinner in one of the dining halls and showed us all around campus, including a couple dorm rooms, and I was really, really impressed. The tour guide was an absolute blast. (I thought especially highly of Amherst in part because the tour guide was engaging and well-spoken... which I guess I take to be representative of the student body. I hope I'm right. :p)
Another reason I like Bryn Mawr is its proximity to Haverford. Swarthmore isn't so close, and I've read that Swatties drive themselves into the ground with studying more than students at the other two colleges. Anyway... I don't know... I just haven't read as appealing things about Swarthmore as I have about HC and BMC.</p>

<hr>

<p>Trust me, I've done my homework, and have been doing it since tenth grade. :p When I noticed recurring themes in various descriptions of a college, I took note, and some of the themes are ones that I found distasteful--or at least, not as nice as what I found in descriptions of another college. Every college on my list has drawbacks, and I'm resigned to that; but every college also has many attributes that I find very attractive. They're not always the same attributes; one college offers something I like that another college doesn't. The positives have far outweighed the negatives in each of the colleges on my list, and that is my final list. I don't really want to have to pay any more application fees than I will already have to, either. As I said, my family is far from financially comfortable... but not low-income enough to qualify for waivers. My school district's policy is that couselors only write letters requesting a waiver if the student's family is on the free/reduced lunch list, and mine isn't... although, by the end of the college application process, all the fees--just for standardized tests and applications--will have added up to about half a month's living expenses. :(</p>

<p>I appreciate your suggestions, though. :) Any more "chances" opinions would be welcome, too.</p>

17

<p>Stanford Slim chance especially that nxt Stanford is one of the only Top Top schools with EA so everyone is going to apply EA there and RD and stuff at Harvard and such, Stanford likes students with amazing scores but they really look for unique people you can have a 2400 and be #1 and still be rejected. My sister goes there this yr and she's told me all bout it</p>

18

<p>If that's the way you feel, I would knock Mt. Holyoke off of your list and replace it with another schools - have you considered Smith or Wesleyan? What about any of the three top Maine LACs? Mt. Holyoke is very isolated, the town is quite boring. The campus is absolutely beautiful, but it is not a place to go unless you absolutely love the school. Smith is located in the lively, bustling town of Northampton. </p>

<p>Anyways, good luck with everything. As an Amherst student, I have to give the obligatory Amherst plug and say this is a great place to be. :)</p>

19

<p>Thanks, unregistered. You're probably right about Mt. Holyoke. :-/</p>

20

<p>Oh, hey-- Stanford accepted me. :D <em>feels triumphant, especially after people said I have a slim chance of getting into Stanford</em></p>