***Swarthmore RD 2021 Results Thread***

Decision: Accepted

Accepted Regular Decision, deferred Early Decision.

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): N/A
ACT (breakdown): 32 (36 English, 27 Math, 36 Reading, 29 Science, 12 Writing)
SAT II: N/A
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.5
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 25%
AP (place score in parenthesis): 11, mostly 3s and 4s, a few 5s
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP - Psych, Stats, Literature, Environmental Science
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): N/A

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Debate (Captain)
Job/Work Experience: N/A
Volunteer/Community service: N/A
Summer Activities: Debate Camp
Essays (rating 1-10, details): 10 - I put a lot of personal investment into these, I believe they adequately reflected my situation and passions.

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: English - 10 - Loved me, I loved her.
Teacher Rec #2: History - 7 - I liked him, he liked me, we didn’t talk too much.
Counselor Rec: No idea - we were familiar with each other.
Additional Rec: Debate Coach - 10
Interview: N/A

Other:

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Phil/Anthro/Religion
State (if domestic applicant): Midwest
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: Free and Reduced Lunch
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): First generation, Questbridge

Strengths: Subjective
Weaknesses: Objective
Why you think you were accepted/rejected/waitlisted? I made my application personal, which allowed me to make up for objective inadequacies with subjective excellence. I also had a lot of individuals advocating on my behalf, including a former Swat student.

General Comments: If you are a low income student who thinks you don’t have a chance because of test scores or lack of ECs - you really do!

Other schools you applied to and their decisions: 20 or so - nearly all rejections.

Decision: Accepted

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): 1510 (800 CRW, 710 M)
ACT (breakdown):
SAT II: 800 lit and world history
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 3/400
AP (place score in parenthesis): Eng Comp (5), world history (4), psych (5), european history (5), bio (3 at least I tried), macroecon (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: AP Lit, AP US Gov, AP Stats, gym (lol), couple electives
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): doodle 4 google, AP scholar, Princeton Poetry Comp, local newspaper awards

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): pianist at a jazz band, music festival performer (solo artist), couple honors Societies (president of 3) poetry club (president and founder), some other clubs
Job/Work Experience: intern at a law firm, intern at a grad school HR department
Volunteer/Community service: volunteer at a kids with disabilities program, tutor
Summer Activities: nursing home (volunteer director), SAT AP etc tutor
Essays (rating 1-10, details): common app. essay - 10 talked about family and where I come from
Swarthmore essay - 9 talked about the flower garden (not kidding)
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): 10
Teacher Rec #1: my poetry club adviser. We have a lot in common and she’s cool
Teacher Rec #2: college professor
Counselor Rec: idk
Additional Rec:
Interview: didn’t interview

Other:

Applied for Financial Aid?:
Intended Major: econ
State (if domestic applicant):
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: public
Ethnicity: white
Gender: female
Income Bracket:
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):

Strengths: Maybe because I published a book…I really don’t know. Like Swarthmore didn’t admit Obama. Nobody really knows.
Weaknesses: I didn’t interview? Maybe this is an advantage cuz I’m pretty antisocial
Why you think you were accepted/rejected/waitlisted?

General Comments: I honestly wish I had been wait listed…My friend didn’t get in and it was her dream school

Other schools you applied to and their decisions:

**Decision: Accepted/b

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): n/a
ACT (breakdown): 31 (English - 34; Math - 38; Reading - 31; Science - 29)
SAT II: n/a
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 2/143 when I submitted; I dropped a rank since then
AP (place score in parenthesis): 3s on all: English Lang and Comp, Chemistry, Biology, U.S. History,
Senior Year Course Load: AP Physics 1, AP Stats, AP U.S. Gov, AP Econ, Ap Psych, Theater, P.E., Health Science Requirements
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Locale awards for science competitions, AP Scholar (that’s it…I know, mediocre lol)

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Church Organist and Choir Member, Church District Youth Group (President), Class Government (Secretary), Student Ambassador, Church Media Team (Correspondent and Script Writer),
Job/Work Experience: Mentor for my school’s annual summer orientation week for incoming students
Volunteer/Community service: Community outreaches at different cities in Texas (through my church)
Summer Activities: People to People Medical Program at Johns Hopkins, Doc Prep Program at Baylor College of Medicine, High School Research Program at a local university

Essays (rating 1-10, details):
Common App: I’d give this a 7-8/10. I didn’t think it was too special or unique even though it explained a lot about me academically and personally. I let my English teacher revise so much of it that by the end it didn’t sound like my style of writing. The essay did the job but didn’t sparkle in mu opinion.

Swarthmore Supplement: 8-9/10? I’m not really sure how to rate this one. All I talked about how I fell in love with Swarthmore after reading many articles on the college’s blog and how those current students’ stories related to me and my quest for an ideal college experience. Among all my colleges, Swarthmore’s supplement was the one I cared about and worked on the least. I guess it did the job though because I got in??

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: 10/10 from an English teacher – I’m really close to: she has been a mentor to me, not only a teacher. She helped me develop myself as a student and person looking for her unique passion and individuality. She knows a lot about my personal life and extracurricular life. Plus, she’s known for writing good rec letters for students she’s close with.
Teacher Rec #2: 7/10 from my AP Chem teacher – Since Chem is my intended major, I included her even though I wasn’t the star of the classroom. I’m sure her rec letter for me was generic af; she doesn’t really know me except as a student who took an advanced science class.
Counselor Rec: 9/10 – I’ve been close with my counselor since day 1 of freshman year. She runs an organization in the school which I’ve been active for all my high school life. She known me for as long as a high school counselor can know one of their students so I’m sure she had a lot to say.
Additional Rec: 8-9/10 from a college professor I did research with – I actually have no idea what he said about me. I only think it’s 8-9/10 quality because he’s a college professor with a doctorate and I was heavily involved with his scientific research, which I hope Swarthmore thought was at least interesting if not unique.
Interview: none

Other:

Applied for Financial Aid?: yes
Intended Major: Chemistry
State (if domestic applicant): Texas
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Charter
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: > $150,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Underrepresented area of the country (Rio Grande Valley)

Strengths: I’d like to think my ec’s were unique. I don’t know many people who play to organ or is a correspondent for media. At least one of my rec letters had to be special, either the one from the college professor or the one from my English teacher
Weaknesses: Definitely my stats. 31 ACT score?? I think that’s barely in the 25% quartile if not below. I also was pretty mediocre on all my AP exams.
Why you think you were accepted/rejected/waitlisted? Definitely to achieve geographical diversity. I come from an underrepresented small border town in an area of Texas where majority of graduating high school students either don’t go to college, go to a technical school to get a skilled trade, or go to state universities. I’ve never heard of anyone from my area going to an out of state liberal arts school of any kind.

General Comments: When I applied to all my colleges, I made sure to have something I love about all of them so that I would be okay with going to any one. That being said, Swarthmore wasn’t my first choice, but I’m still so stoked to have the opportunity to attend this fall!

Other schools you applied to and their decisions:

Accepted:
University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley
Trinity University
Reed College

Rejected:
Pomona College
Columbia Uni.
Yale
Brown
Rice

Waitlisted: none

**Decision: Accepted/b

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): n/a
ACT (breakdown): 31 (English - 34; Math - 38; Reading - 31; Science - 29)
SAT II: n/a
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 2/143 when I submitted; I dropped a rank since then
AP (place score in parenthesis): 3s on all: English Lang and Comp, Chemistry, Biology, U.S. History,
Senior Year Course Load: AP Physics 1, AP Stats, AP U.S. Gov, AP Econ, Ap Psych, Theater, P.E., Health Science Requirements
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Locale awards for science competitions, AP Scholar (that’s it…I know, mediocre lol)

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Church Organist and Choir Member, Church District Youth Group (President), Class Government (Secretary), Student Ambassador, Church Media Team (Correspondent and Script Writer),
Job/Work Experience: Mentor for my school’s annual summer orientation week for incoming students
Volunteer/Community service: Community outreaches at different cities in Texas (through my church)
Summer Activities: People to People Medical Program at Johns Hopkins, Doc Prep Program at Baylor College of Medicine, High School Research Program at a local university

Essays (rating 1-10, details):
Common App: I’d give this a 7-8/10. I didn’t think it was too special or unique even though it explained a lot about me academically and personally. I let my English teacher revise so much of it that by the end it didn’t sound like my style of writing. The essay did the job but didn’t sparkle in mu opinion.

Swarthmore Supplement: 8-9/10? I’m not really sure how to rate this one. All I talked about how I fell in love with Swarthmore after reading many articles on the college’s blog and how those current students’ stories related to me and my quest for an ideal college experience. Among all my colleges, Swarthmore’s supplement was the one I cared about and worked on the least. I guess it did the job though because I got in??

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: 10/10 from an English teacher – I’m really close to: she has been a mentor to me, not only a teacher. She helped me develop myself as a student and person looking for her unique passion and individuality. She knows a lot about my personal life and extracurricular life. Plus, she’s known for writing good rec letters for students she’s close with.
Teacher Rec #2: 7/10 from my AP Chem teacher – Since Chem is my intended major, I included her even though I wasn’t the star of the classroom. I’m sure her rec letter for me was generic af; she doesn’t really know me except as a student who took an advanced science class.
Counselor Rec: 9/10 – I’ve been close with my counselor since day 1 of freshman year. She runs an organization in the school which I’ve been active for all my high school life. She known me for as long as a high school counselor can know one of their students so I’m sure she had a lot to say.
Additional Rec: 8-9/10 from a college professor I did research with – I actually have no idea what he said about me. I only think it’s 8-9/10 quality because he’s a college professor with a doctorate and I was heavily involved with his scientific research, which I hope Swarthmore thought was at least interesting if not unique.
Interview: none

Other:

Applied for Financial Aid?: yes
Intended Major: Chemistry
State (if domestic applicant): Texas
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Charter
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: > $150,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Underrepresented area of the country (Rio Grande Valley)

Strengths: I’d like to think my ec’s were unique. I don’t know many people who play to organ or is a correspondent for media. At least one of my rec letters had to be special, either the one from the college professor or the one from my English teacher
Weaknesses: Definitely my stats. 31 ACT score?? I think that’s barely in the 25% quartile if not below. I also was pretty mediocre on all my AP exams.
Why you think you were accepted/rejected/waitlisted? Definitely to achieve geographical diversity. I come from an underrepresented small border town in an area of Texas where majority of graduating high school students either don’t go to college, go to a technical school to get a skilled trade, or go to state universities. I’ve never heard of anyone from my area going to an out of state liberal arts school of any kind.

General Comments: When I was applying to schools, I made sure to love every single one of them so that I would be happy going anywhere. That being said, Swarthmore wasn’t my first choice at first, but I’m still soooo stoked to be attending this fall.

Other schools you applied to and their decisions:

Accepted:
University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley
Trinity University
Reed College

Rejected:
Pomona College
Columbia Uni.
Yale
Brown
Rice

Waitlisted: none