Reverse chance me, please!

Chance Me / Match Me!
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PLEASE READ ADDITIONAL COMMENTS SECTION AT BOTTOM OF PAGE

Straight white male, 16
US citizen
I attend a college preparatory school in NYC

Intended English and/or Comp. Lit major

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
*Unweighted HS GPA: 90/100
*Weighted HS GPA: 92/100
*Class Rank (WEIGHTED): Was last in top 25% but is now better (unknown)
*ACT/SAT Scores: N/A, test-optional

Coursework

Freshman: all standard academic
Sophomore: all standard academic
Junior: 2 honors, A’s in both
Senior: AP Lit, 2-3 honors

Awards

Appeared on Dean’s List for two consecutive years

In-School Department Awards:

Freshman: N/A
Sophomore: Earned distinction in science and Spanish
Junior: Earned distinction in English and math

Extracurriculars

  1. Founder of my school’s debate society, which trains and recruits students of my school and others and is set to compete in New York City debate tournaments. The club’s central debating facet lies with language, which, when used properly, we hold to be key to strongly conveying arguments.
  2. Have published works in three notable literary and poetry-oriented publications (1 national, 2 in New York)
  3. Editor of and contributor to my school’s newspaper
  4. Member of review committee to award-winning literary magazine (affiliated with my school)
  5. Have a literary portfolio (WIP)

Essays/LORs/Other

Essays: work in progress, all well thus far

Two LOR’s, one from Algebra teacher whose class I received a 99 average in and one from English teacher who was very complementary of my work

No cost constraints. My father is a top 1% income earner so I will not selfishly apply for financial aid either.

Additional comments

If it is taken into account, there is a lot of missing context here. I came to my current high school from a special needs school, was held back twice (once in elementary and once in middle) and always failed/nearly failed. In freshman year I had a mediocre performance (2.7 GPA, 81/100 avg). This brought me down in every way. I wasn’t eligible for AP’s/Honors until last year (junior) and when I was took all of the ones available to me (2 honors). I also moved up a track in all standard rigor courses, which is still below AP/Honors but better than the easier tracks. Next year (senior) I am set to take AP Lit (matches my major) and 2-3 honors. (My school only offers 4 AP courses, two in junior and two in senior, and only 3 honors for each year). Without freshman year, I have a 4.0 (95/100) UW GPA, 97/100 weighted and, if I do well next year, potentially an even higher one.

I chose not to take the SAT after a lot of consideration around Christmas time. I was fully remote for the entirety of last year (there was an in-person option, but my family insisted I stay home), and that was difficult given the fact that we were all cooped up at our second home together for months at a time (100+ miles away from school). I was in shock. School itself was hard enough, and for the SAT I had a lot of fundamental catching up to do from my past academic struggles. When schools went test-optional, I hesitatingly seized the opportunity. It’s too late to change that now, but FWIW, on some practice tests I scored in the low to mid 1400s. Some kids at my school have already gotten 36’s on their ACT’s. This worries me, but hopefully it won’t be a deal breaker.

With that, which schools do you all think I may be competitive for? I think it will depend on whether a school looks at freshman year, or knows to take my circumstances into account.

Some have told me I’m viable for tippy toppers. Others have said I’d be lucky to get into a T100.

I’ll let you decide. Thanks so much for reading!

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If you are interested in English, writing, and literature, sometimes the rankings don’t matter. One of the best departments for English and creative writing is at the University of Iowa. Maybe instead of focusing on rank you should focus more on the department in which you actually will be studying.

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This is true. I’m just looking to see where I stand.

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Your a 16 year old HS senior who had been left back twice…is that correct?

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Rising senior.

I should’ve made this more clear: I was held back twice in my public school system, but didn’t need to repeat the grades as my Special Ed middle school reasoned with the DOE (department of education) to push me through.

I also forgot to add that I transferred middle schools three times. On the third transfer I landed at the foregoing sp-Ed one (I do have a severe ADHD diagnosis, but thankfully its effects have diminished in recent years).

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What sort of educational environment do you think will work best for you. Start there and work back.

Big school vs small
Structured curriculum or open
City vs rural
Stress ok or need a laid back feel

Your best source of feedback will be your guidance counselor given your unique history and your description of the school as a NYC prep.

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I’m a bit on the fence about counselor guidance.

Last year, my brother had a 3.5 GPA, no extracurriculars, no honors/AP courses, and a rather mediocre essay. His dream school was American University (specifically their top program, nationally acclaimed and on top 10 lists). His counselor told him to be more realistic and recommended a bunch of lower caliber schools. Weeks later, he got in applying regular decision.

I’ll take my counselor’s guidance, but I won’t take it to the bank. If I have even a slight chance at getting into a selective school, I think I’ll give it a shot regardless of their word.

As for school environment,

I’d like to stay in the Northeast. Small-mid sized school, scenic, bucolic campus.

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I think you have a chance in Cornell, Duke, Dartmouth, Brown, UCB, UCLA, NYU, and other schools of that tier.

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“ I think you have a chance in Cornell, Duke, Dartmouth, Brown, UCB, UCLA, NYU, and other schools of that tier.”

What aspects of the OPs profile leads you to that conclusion?

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Would like to know this too.

I may have a chance, but a smaller chance than most applicants.

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Based on your interests, this article would be worth reading through for potential ideas:

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Thank you very much for this.

Based on my stats and story, any idea which of those schools I could get into?

I’ll need to do more research to find the right fit, but I think I know what I want. Quiet, sequestered campus, walkable town nearby, and a selection of clubs (mostly political/literary) to choose from.

I actually visited three of the schools on that list. Princeton, Wesleyan, and Sarah Lawrence.

Sarah Lawrence is in one of the most beautiful suburbs of NYC (Bronxville), which is certainly a plus. Princeton obviously meets all of my criterion, but is very unlikely to admit me.

Wesleyan is, well, not my cup of tea. Subpar neighborhood, ultra progressive (I’m a moderate) and very urban.

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If you are inclined toward Sarah Lawrence, it seems like the type of college you could look to for a match.

As another idea, you might want to look into Kenyon.

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Certainly is an option that I would at least consider applying to.

I also take an interest in Skidmore, up in Saratoga Springs. Seems up my alley and I recall my GC saying it was a safety for me.

And yet he said that Marist was a reach…

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Well, Skidmore, as you appear to have recognized, would be a significantly more challenging admit for most applicants than Marist. Nonetheless, however we characterize Skidmore, it would make a nice addition to your list.

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No doubt it would.

In fact, I decided months ago that I would 100% be applying. I stick by that. It meets all of my criteria.

You have any idea where else I may have a chance (preferably in the following format)?

Safeties:

Matches:

Reaches:

Thanks for all the info.

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Bennington, Wheaton, Sarah Lawrence and Bard might represent examples of matches.

Skidmore and Connecticut College could represent high matches or reasonable reaches.

For full reaches, you could find them with schools such as Kenyon and Hamilton.

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I had heard of Hamilton before, and it seems to be a great fit for me. Definitely agree with it being a reach, or at the very least a high match.

One thing I was wondering, though.

Skidmore has a 29% acceptance rate, Kenyon has a 34% acceptance rate.

I know acceptance rates aren’t the sole criteria for “chancing” prospective candidates, but could you explain this for me? I’m not quite sure why my GC suggested Marist was a reach but Skidmore a safety, either (all due respect to him).

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Marist as a reach and Skidmore as a safety seems backwards to me.

Does “no cost constraints” mean that you would be okay with full-pay at schools like Skidmore, Kenyon, Hamilton, etc?

If so, identifying two top choices for ED1 and ED2 could serve you well. Not to put too fine a point on it, but it could be especially smart to choose need-aware schools. Colleges definitely do not mind nailing down committed, full-pay applicants in the early cycle, especially as they recover from the financial strains of the pandemic. In this regard, Hamilton would be less advantageous, because it is need-blind. But Skidmore, Kenyon, and Connecticut College are all realistic reaches that are need-aware and could be terrific ED choices for you. Kenyon was my first thought upon reading your initial post.

Maybe I’m wrong, but I feel like Sarah Lawrence is no less liberal than Wesleyan…? Same for Bard. And this is why I’m not suggesting Oberlin.

One that’s outside of your geographic target area but might be worth a look is Sewanee. It’s on the list that Merc81 posted but I was already thinking of it before I checked the list. Located on a gorgeous plateau between Nashville and Chattanooga, this school has had a highly-regarded creative writing minor for years but is now on the verge of launching a full major. Sewanee Anticipates Creative Writing Major It’s known for its summer writing programs and its literary magazine. The Magazine | The Sewanee Review It’s ideologically moderate as you prefer and absolutely has the scenic/bucolic attributes, so it might be worth considering even though it’s outside the Northeast. And the admission rate is higher than at comparable schools in the Northeast, just because of the geographic supply-and-demand factor. Might be worth an EA application even if it’s not one of your tippy-top choices.

Hobart & William Smith could be a good but less-reachy option to consider - in the same category as Bennington but slightly less selective. They have a creative writing concentration within the English major, a literary journal (the Seneca Review) and a residency program that brings visiting writers to work with students (the Trias Residency).

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Well, I’ve made known to my parents that I intend to pay some of my tuition (not that I would need to necessarily), but if need to I can have the full tuition covered promptly by them. And yes, that would mean full price, no FA needed.

All very interesting options you put forth. Like you mentioned, I want to identify my ED choices also, but don’t know whether I should select a prestigious reach or a high match for the spot. So would I apply to a Hamilton, Williams, Wesleyan for ED, or a Skidmore, Oberlon, or Kenyon?

Not sure what I should do, but I’m now really just looking to get an accurate picture of where I may have a shot at getting into. I’ve done many of these “chance me’s” with invariably different answers. I’ve been told that my “story explains the mediocre parts of the app, apply to T20’s” but by others that I “have an infinitesimal shot” at any T20.

It’s all random and out of my hands at the end of the day. What’s in my control are the variables involved in choosing these schools. I do care very much about fitting in and the experience of the school. Proximity to home would help too. I also want something I could add to, especially activity wise. Perhaps given the fact that I started my school’s debate club, I could become a member of my university’s. One of many ideas.

But I also do care about the name. I spent two school years awake until 2 AM to catch up academically and achieve the high grades I did. I’d like that to mean I receive recognition by going to a somewhat acclaimed school that still has what I need.

I’ve also been told that applying to freshman-blind schools would make me look like a tippy top candidate (4.0 UW GPA, 4.2 W GPA, etc.). The problem is that those schools are hard to come by, and the most notable is Stanford.

Seeing as I didn’t cure cancer, solve world hunger, or even make any contributions to those endeavors, I’d spare myself the embarrassment of pressing the “submit” button on my application there.

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