Hello. I am a high-school senior who has been interested in Smith since my sophomore year. I know Smith College doesn’t pay attention to demonstrated interest, but I’ve visited the campus, I am applying EDII, and I am also trying to request an interview (currently the representative in my area has yet to reply). I believe my essay is pretty good; I am a bit concerned that because it is a personal/sensitive topic (anxiety I was able to overcome), it might raise concerns but what I’m most worried about is my grades.
Smith is already a reach school for me and during marking period 2 my grades went down from the 80s to the 70s range. I am trying my best to get great scores this marking period, but I feel like it isn’t worth it because of my GPA. It is currently an 88%. I was considering talking about the reason my grades have gone down is because of a mental health issue, but I do not want to raise any doubts about my application.
My ECs are President of NSHS, member of NHS, traveled to europe with school, big brother big sister, founder of school gardening club, robotics programmer (2 years), College prep program (3 years), internship at Rockefeller University, etc
Please let me know what you think about my application and if there is anyway I can make it stronger.
My ECs are President of NSHS, member of NHS, traveled to europe with school, big brother big sister, founder of school gardening club, robotics programmer (2 years), College prep program (3 years), internship at Rockefeller University, etc
Are your test scores strong? If you had like 1500+ SATs that might really help. ED definitely helps. I would definitely explain how your mental health issues affected your grades. Make sure your counselor and teacher recommendations reinforce that. Good luck!
If you are really interested in a school, the only good reason not to apply would be if you thought it was unrealistic AND the application was too expensive for your family. The Smith application is free, so I cannot think of any reason not to apply.
I think you would have a chance and should give it a try. Smith recommends doing an interview. That seems like it would give you a chance to talk about your health issues and how you think if affected your grades. Just be prepared to initiate that conversation yourself, or you might not get a chance to bring it up.
Focus on the things you can still control. Write a great essay, get your recommendations all lined up and take a chance. Good luck. Just know there are a lot of great colleges out there. If things do not work out with Smith you can still find someplace great for you.
Smith is a great college (my D wound up elsewhere, but Smith was in her top 3.) A lot of schools talk about practicing holistic admissions, but I get the sense that Smith really does consider your whole package. If your enthusiasm for wanting to attend comes across in your application (and applying ED 2 will definitely show that it’s your top choice) I think it’s definitely worth a shot.
Obviously you’ll want to do your best to get your grades back up if you’ve suffered a dip - but if there are extenuating circumstances (and mental health issues would fall under that) you’d want your GC to mention that even if you don’t. It’s worth discussing with the GC, at any rate! Good luck and hang in there - it’s always worth it to make the effort.