Soon to be Swattie? Chancesss for ED.

Colleges and Universities A-Z Swarthmore College
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<p>I recently visited Swarthmore, and to be honest, I've fallen in love with this school. Everything about it feels great and is a good fit for me. Chances?</p>

<p>MALE
State: UT (no, im not mormon! Will being from this state help my chances?) </p>

<p>GPA: 3.87 UW
Class Rank: 6/21.... Please allow me to explain. At my competitive school, what separates me from the val. is literally a tenth of a point. I know that a 3.97 is still higher than a .87 but that gives you some context for the other 4 people. I have had the most rigorous course load of my class, have the most EC's, and would easily be ranked top 5% at the public school near my own. My GC told me that all this will be explained when she sends the school profile and rec... ok moving on. </p>

<p>ACT w/writing: 33 (10 essay) </p>

<p>AP's: Lit (4), took Bio but did abismal lol, taking Calc, lang, and gov (self study) this year. My school doesnt offer very many AP's :/ but ive taken all the ones i could. </p>

<p>Extra Curricular
*Debate 9th-12th- Captain 10-11' around 900ish NFL points, Academic All American. Team's won 1st, 2nd and 2nd so far in state during my three (and now four) years. </p>

<p>07-08 major accomplishments- 3rd Extemp State tournament, 2nd Public Forum State tournament, 2nd extemp region tournament, 2nd public forum region tournament. </p>

<p>08-09 major accomplishments- Extemp State Champion (1st), Public Forum State Champion (1st), Stanford National Invitational Extemp Semifinalist, NFL National Tournament Qualifier in Extemp. National's Qualifying Tournament Finalist in Public Forum, 2nd extemp region tournament, 1st public forum region tournament. </p>

<p>09-10 major accomplishments- Silver and Black (National Level and TOC qualifying) tournament quarterfinalist in public forum, State Champion in Extemp, 3rd Public Forum State Tournament, 2nd region extemp, 2nd public forum extemp, 2nd place speaker award at statewide tournament, and some other awards that are at the all state level. </p>

<p>Ive had more awards, but I just listed the most important ones</p>

<p>*Freshman Class President
*Student Body Treasurer 11th
*Peer Leadership team 12th
*Small Group Leader in 11th and 12th grade
*NHS 10th-12th grade
*Varsity Bell Choir 9th-12th grade. We take a week off of school every year to tour needy schools in the west. Also tour the state during X-mas season.
*Piano- 10 years, with award given by my music studio.
*Pianist/Accompanist in Fall '09 Melodrama
*Varsity Baseball 9th-12th. 09-10 State Semifinalists.
-Featured player in my state's 2 main newspapers
-Academic All-State
*Varisity Golf 10th-12th (played 9th but didnt letter)- 2nd place in state both of my varsity years. Most improved award for 2 consecutive yeras.
*Tutoring/Teaching: During highschool, ive been a peer tutor and also assisted my debate coach (for credit) in teaching middle schoolers debate.
*Rock Climbing Club 11th-12th
*09-10 Excellence in U.S. History Award
*about 250 hours of volunteer work
*some work experience at a silversmith group during the summer</p>

<p>*Last but not least, I've just started an internship at a prestigious law firm that deals with many civil court cases. I'm very excited for this and will probably continue the internship for at least 3 months. </p>

<p>(Possible) Hooks: Geographic and ethnic diversity? Will it help that Im from Utah?
^both my parents are immigrants to the US, one coming from indonesia and the other from switzerland. </p>

<p>Recs will be good, and im also submitting an additional rec from my debate coach, which will be outstanding. </p>

<p>Essays will be fine</p>

<p>*I interviewed today on campus with an admissions fellow (trained senior) and the conversation lasted an hour and a half. Both of us were really engaged and relaxed;it went very well. Can this really help my chances?</p>

<p>Also, does Swat superscore the ACT?</p>

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<p>I think you have great grades and rank and ECs. Your being from UT will help with geographical diversity. Good luck!</p>

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<p>Thanks! How much will the great interview help?</p>

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<p>any other thoughts? some more input would be great.</p>

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<p>Who interviewed you?
A great interview with an admissions officer can help I think. An alumni interview - less so…</p>

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<p>It was an interview with a trained senior on their Student advisory board or something like that. It would have been nice to get an admissions officer, but you take whats given to you I guess. He took a lot of notes and we really got past the normal Q&A interviews.
I think it was shown that I was a really good fit for Swat, but does the adcom still consider the student interviews and can it still help in admissions? Or is it something that is overlooked?</p>

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<p>Admissions Fellow interviews are weighed the same as interviews by an admissions staff member - it really doesn’t matter which of the two interviews you, the part the interview plays in your application is the same. So yes, they “still consider” the student interviews as much as they would any staff member’s interview.</p>

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<p>^thanks for the insight. I was just thinking how swarthmore could trust and value their students so much yet not in this particular case.
Also do you know if Swarthmore superscores the ACT?</p>

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<p>kai:</p>

<p>I think you’ve certainly got a shot. </p>

<p>It’s hard to explain without giving it too much weight, but being from Utah will make you stand out from the pack just a little bit and standing out from the pack (when the whole pack is basically qualified) is the name of the game.</p>

<p>Debate is a fairly big deal at Swarthmore (the debate team throws the best parties, go figure), so that EC should be advantageous for you.</p>

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<p>Nice to get a chance from ID! Yes, I’ve heard great things about the debate society at swarthmore! As far as im concerned, the college will list me as mixed race (right?), but I know that swarthmore already has a pretty diverse campus. Is my ethnicity another one of those little helps?</p>

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<p>Are you applying ED?</p>

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<p>^yep</p>

<p>Will Swat superscore my ACT?</p>

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<p>Three freshmen are attending Swarthmore this year from Utah, a relatively large cohort from the state. Several times that applied. It has become a very popular choice among seniors from select high schools in the state. I am not saying that this affects your personal chances of admission; I am just indicating that coming from the state may not confer any particular geographic advantage, as suggested above, and as may have been present in the past.</p>

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<p>I am pretty sure you’ll get in ED.</p>

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<p>To all who are wondering, I was accepted!</p>

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<p>Congratulations! You will love it at Swat, I am sure!</p>

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<p>you by any chance from Nuames, or Northridge? =/</p>

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<p>No, I do not. I actually haven’t heard of either of those schools, but I could just be oblivious.</p>

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<p>Firstly, congrats on your acceptance!</p>

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<p>Oh that’s cool! My grandfather was from Indonesia.</p>

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<p>Well Congratulations! Which “NHS” do you go to btw?</p>