Reed, Hamilton, Scripps, Smith, Mount Holyoke, Bryn Mawr

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I have a safety where I was accepted and I may apply to another (I’m going to an event tomorrow), but it would pretty much make my life to get into any of my non-safeties. They’re listed in the title, but they are:

Reed College
Hamilton College
Scripps College
Smith College
Mount Holyoke College
Bryn Mawr College

My major is undecided! I will limit this to only what’s on my Common App.

Objective:

New SAT (breakdown): 1510 (770M 740EBRW, 1 sitting)
Old SAT (breakdown): 2110 (700M 700R 710W, 2 sittings)
SAT II: 730 Lit, 710 Bio M, 660 Math 2 (bryn mawr was the only to get Math2 because it was a free send)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.89
Weighted GPA (out of 5.0): 4.41
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 27/155 (top 20%), nationally recognized high school

My school is specialized so I am in the Healthcare Sciences academy. I have taken college-level healthcare courses from Rutgers since freshman year. Because of the college courses (and because it’s a fairly young school, I guess), my school only offers 2 AP classes (Physics 1 and Calc AB). I took Physics 1 but my AP score was horrible so don’t ask. My school has a program where us seniors can take all of out classes at the communtiy college, so that’s what I’m doing.

Senior Year Course Load: (S1) English Comp 1, Calc 1, Computer Science 1, Early Modern Europe, Lifetime Wellness
(S2) English Comp 2 Honors, Calc 2, General Psychology, Intermediate Spanish 2, Intro to Dance.

My grades for the first semester were pretty good (2 As, 2 A-s) except for a C in Calculus. I hope that this doesn’t hurt my chances too much but I’m really worried about it.

Awards: National Hispanic Recognition Program, National Merit Commendation, placed in HOSA-Future Health Professionals competitions on the state level twice

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (leadership in parenthesis):

Chorus (president, previously secretary and webmaster)
Jazz band
Marching band
Gay-Straight Alliance
Religious Studies club (Vice president, helped found)
Swim team
HOSA-Future Health Professionals
Antioch Leadership Team (we lead a biannual retreat for teens at my church)

Job/Work Experience: Lifeguard at camp for people with disabilities for 2 summers

Volunteer/Community service: I’ve volunteered as a religious education teacher at my church for 3 years

Essays (rating 1-10, details):

Common App Essay: Pretty good, maybe 8/10? I wrote about my love for creative writing and my experiences with National Novel Writing Month and writing fanfiction and how they both shaped my writing/how I’ve grown.

Supplementals: Some were definitely better than others, but all have had multiple people proofread them.

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Honestly, I’m not sure how to rank them. I asked one of my Healthcare Science teachers whom I’ve had for 3 years and my junior year English teacher. I didn’t do fantastic in the English class but I really felt like she got to know me and I put a lot of effort into improving my writing and public speaking so hopefully it’s good.
Counselor Rec: Again, not sure. I’ve talked to her a bit but she was gone most of last year and she has a lot of students.

Interview: I’ve had alumni interviews for Scripps, Reed, and Mount Holyoke and on-campus interviews with the rest. All went pretty well!

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes, I need LOTS
State (if domestic applicant): NJ
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Hispanic
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: Middle, but on the lower end
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM

Okay, so maybe I’m just looking for some validation here but will I probably get into at least one of them? I’ve done diversity programs at Hamilton and Smith and I’ve been told because of those I’m basically in, but I’m still really worried. I keep reading these RD threads with people who have received rejection on top of rejection on top of rejection and I’m nervous I’ll be one of them in the spring.

2

URM, HIspanic female with great stats? Yes, you will at least get into Scripps, MH and Hamilton. The key to Hamilton is to show your love. Hope you did that thru your essays. I know it’s a killer waiting, but you have nothing to worry about. Circle back come March and tell us where you are going please. thanks!

3

@Fangirl1999 I’m familiar with the women’s colleges and your test scores/grades would be very competitive. Your specialized high school sounds unique so I’m not sure how that will affect your admission chances. Regarding financial aid, I suggest using the net price calculators at each school to get a sense if they are going to be in your affordability range or not. Bottom line - these are very competitive schools, but you seem like a competitive candidate so you should have a great chance at getting in to one (or more)!

4

With your stats and hook you’re probably going to get into at least one of these schools. I think you could almost call MHC a match and the rest are probably high matches, with Smith and Hamilton probably the hardest to get into.

But these schools are so different from one another – even the four women’s colleges have some pretty big differences.

Is there a common thread that you were looking for in schools?

5

Hamilton would be your toughest admit, but still within range. Good luck!

6

Thank you for your inputs! I’m really hoping my essays will push me over the line into the admit pool!

@prezbucky I’m not sure, I’ve visited all but Reed, and I truly enjoyed the time I spent at each. I also really like open curriculum (Smith and Hamilton), and for the other four, Reed’s Hum 101, Scripp’s Core, and MHC and BMC’s freshman seminars all seem right up my alley. As for social atmospheres, they’re all to some extent different, but I can see myself finding my niche at each.

7

UPDATE:

Mount Holyoke: Accepted with merit scholarship
Reed: Waitlisted
Scripps: Rejected
Bryn Mawr: Waitlisted
Smith: Accepted
Hamilton: Accepted

I think it’s worth noting again that I attended diversity programs at both Smith and Hamilton :slight_smile: it’s probably between Smith and Hamilton at this point, but I feel like Smith is a better “fit”. Nothing official yet (I did just get those last two decisions today), but I’m most likely going to commit to Smith!

8

Congratulations! You’ve been accepted to some excellent schools. Good luck!