<p>My d and I visited Mt. Holyoke yesterday and it knocked our socks off. Beautiful campus, great programs, wonderful engage students. We were actually in the area at an all-day program hosted by Smith, but MHC has now beaten Smith to the final "list."</p>
<p>My questions (as a mom): </p>
<ol>
<li><p>She was concerned about the all-girls thing. Many of her close friends are boys, she has a boyfriend, and while I would not in any way call her boy-crazy, she is wondering how much regular contact with boys she is likely to have. </p></li>
<li><p>Before she gets all jazzed up, I want to make sure she at least has a chance. Her GPA is 3.6 unweighted, 4.2 weighted -- very rigorous courses and lots of APs. First boards were 1980, she will take it again. She is Hispanic, good extracurriculars (accomplished ice dancer, a capella/theater) and wants to major in chemistry. Her weakest point is languages -- she only has two years of Italian (though she took Hebrew outside school).</p></li>
</ol>
<p>NJMomx3: Glad to hear that you and your d loved MHC. A year ago, that was my d and I, who visited/interviewed at Wellesley, MHC, and Smith in two days. The difference was palpable – the vibe at MHC was so upbeat and engaging. My d is now an exceedingly happy “firstie.”</p>
<p>She actually finds the all-women environment refreshing, in part because her classmates don’t feel pressured to jockey for attention from male classmates. She has already been able to travel to Amherst, Northampton, and the mall in Holyoke, all of which have a sizeable number of men around.</p>
<p>Your d’s grades, tests (although MHC is test-optional) are very comparable to my d’s. She applied ED1 last year and was accepted right before Christmas. There are no guarantees, of course, but sounds like a “chance” is there. Hope that helps!</p>
<p>NJMomx3, Congratulations on “falling in love” with Mount Holyoke! My daughter and I did that an unbelievable 6 years ago…she graduated in 2010. Mount Holyoke is a wonderful, wonderful school. My daughter thrived there. Two things she did to broaden her social options (she’s not a “partier”): took advantage of the consortium by taking courses at Amherst as well as one at UMass and joined the Debate Society. The Debate Society travels to colleges (mostly coed) in their circuit many weekends throughout the year…a great way to meet people! (…enhanced her public speaking skills along the way,too )</p>
<p>Knee issues halted the serious skating quite some time ago. I believe that she did some social skating though…Anyway, may internet “handle” has stuck with me through the ages!</p>
<p>I note that your daughter took Hebrew outside of school…as a foreign language (speaking, writing) or reading only? Is she continuing her Italian?</p>
<p>She took Hebrew for six years before her bat mitzvah. She took Italian for two years but dropped it this (junior) year – our school’s sole Italian teacher is poor at best, and she wanted to take two math classes so she dropped it. She was thinking more of engineering school at the time, where it wouldn’t make much difference. She can go back and take a third year senior year but would prefer not to. If it will hurt her chances, though, she may.</p>
<p>Honestly, I don’t know what, if anything my daughters’ pre-Bat Mitzvah Hebrew did for them in the college application process. I think what used to help the kids in our area (Wilmington, DE) was when they took advanced Hebrew courses at the (now defunct) Gratz Hebrew High School, which, though a supplemental program, earned college credit.</p>
<p>I would suggest that your daughter talk with admissions counselors from several colleges to get a flavor on whether 2 years of a foreign language are sufficient. She certainly can discuss what she is taking in it’s place and the situation with the language at her high school. She (or you) can even call some colleges she’s not really interested in, but have a competitive admissions field to get an idea. (I actually made several of those calls when we were choosing IB or non-IB…I called several alma maters!) Also, does her guidance counselor have any insight?</p>
<p>Her counselor gave her the option of dropping it. But she wasn’t as focused on a LAC at the time. She can take it again as a senior but might have to do some studying/attend a language program in the interim. Great idea to check with competitive admissions counselors!</p>
<p>Hi, NJMomx3! I’m a current MHC student and her stats are almost exactly like mine, except for the fact that I was more focused on Humanities. I think she has a good chance-- I wish her the best of luck!</p>
<p>As for language, it’s definitely a plus to have about three-four years. However, I think her case is a little different in that the school lacks a good Italian teacher, she wanted to take two match classes (such a plus), and her counselour advised her to drop it. On the common app, there’s an area where you can make a note for the application readers, and I think it would be good to explain these points there (or send a letter along with the application to Mount Holyoke) to clear things up. I had to give up a fifth year of Spanish due to schedule conflicts and I made sure the schools I was applying to knew it. </p>
<p>Thank you Woodywoo! That’s a good idea re: languages, Iu will let her know. She might pick up Italian again next year, at least she would have three years then. </p>
<p>Now that you are there, was it the right choice? How is your experience? Would you choose MHC again?</p>
<p>I assumed you knew the class statistics. In the future, CollegeBoard is a good website to compare students’ statistics among colleges.
ConCerndDad is correct, MHC and Smith women have almost identical statistics.</p>
<p>Great! I have been using Naviance, which is very helpful since it’s specific to our high school/demographic profile. But these are terrific as well.</p>
<p>Hi! I think it is the best choice for me. My top choice, before I committed to Mount Holyoke, was McGill and I gave it up for MHC. They do everything they can to make you happy and comfortable here-- they are so supportive. The small, liberal arts environment is just another plus. You just get a different feeling from Mount Holyoke’s students and faculty… you feel it from even a phone call to the school; they’re so warm. I remember when I was in the process of picking whether I should attend McGill or MHC, both very different schools, I definitely felt the difference between how a large school, like McGill, handles student problems vs. how a small school, like MHC, deals with them. I don’t know if your daughter is comparing big school vs. small school, but small schools are much more supportive when it comes to guidance (something really important the first ouple of years of college, at least to me).</p>
<p>I’ll also give you another example: my financial aid package was incomplete in the middle of April (VERY LATE) for Mount Holyoke, for I neither had realised it was incomplete nor was sure about which school to pick. When I called the Financial Aid office, they connectd me immediately to the head of the department, and after explaining my financial situation, the head told me to send in the missing form, told me not to worry, and that she’d take care of it. A week-and-a-half later, I got a really generous financial package. </p>
<p>What I’m getting at here is that what I’m msot grateful about Mount Holyoke is their commitment to their students-- it’s truly unbeatable. I have yet to see another school who understands and cares about their students as much as Mount Holyoke does. Itmakes you feel less alone and worried. </p>
<p>I’m so proud to go here, and I’m sure if your daughter gets accepted and decides to attend, she’d be just as happy as I am.</p>
<p>Thank you! I know exactly what you mean. She got a hand-written postcard from our tourguide with her email in case my d had questions – no one else has done anything like that. She is excited to go back and do a shadow day and maybe stay over…it will help her decide whether to apply early decision.</p>
<p>Wow, that’s great! So, we are similar in many ways! And what the tour guide did is extraordinary. I hope she has a great time during her shadow day. If she has any questions , or would like to talk about McGill, MHC, or any other school, she can definitely contact me.</p>
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