@EyeVeee Thank you so much for your take! In all honesty, I might be able to run on a mediocre DIII team. Given, I’m not sure it would be reasonable to try and manage a college athletic career and the rigorous courseloads many of these schools offer. With that being said, if running in college meant getting into some of my target and reach schools, I’d do it in a second.
My 2 cents on workload…if you can do it in HS, you can do it in college.
I would reach out to coaches and just give them a sense of your interest. Schools that you’re targeting often struggle to build full teams. Injury, graduation, transfers…the core of teams like cross country changes every year. Our child was an average athlete in D3 but ended up playing a lot freshman year when it seemed the whole team suffered from concussions and injury. You never know.
There are no requirements once you are at school to keep running. I would never advise that someone work the system to get into a school without any intention of participating, but if the workload proves too difficult, you can stop running.
Many of these reach school decisions can go either way. My D19, who was an IB candidate, SAT similar to OP, 5.0 wGPA got into Amherst, Bowdoin, Midd. But, was WL at Colby. Her friend had better stats, but, weaker extra curriculars didn’t get into Amherst or Midd, but, got into an Ivy. Another two friends that were way stronger than my S19 and D19, applied to HYPMS type schools and didn’t get into any. It is important to have a pretty broad range of schools and an ultimate safety school that you are excited about going, if things fall apart, as well.
My older daughter is at the same stage as you are, so we are struggling with the same issues regarding her essays. I’ve read with great interest the views of people on this forum over the past six months or so, but (aside from that) I don’t have any special expertise myself. That said, I don’t know why you’d use the essay to address a negative. Address a positive. This is your single opportunity to explain or show why you belong on a campus, why you would be a credit to the community and make the college experience better for your classmates. Make the reviewers feel like you belong and deserve to be there. Trying to explain away some negative generally doesn’t do that. No one is perfect; that’s what makes us human. Who cares that you’ve made some small, meaningless mistakes on your journey? I wouldn’t. Look to the future. Be awesome.
But again, this comes with the disclaimer that there are folks here that really have great insight on the way an essay should be structured and its overall tone–much, much more than me.
Just one anecdote - My S19’s essay was about a negative experience first year in HS, and how it shaped and improved the rest of his high school career and motivated him to do more to improve the lives of people around him. I wouldn’t have let him send that essay through, but, he finished it at the last minute and I only saw it after he submitted the common app hours before the deadline. I was worried about the essay. He got into all the schools he applied to and stats are probably about what the OP’s are (worse SAT, better GPA). He got merit scholarships from all but two. In fact in one of his admission offers, there was a handwritten note saying how memorable and different his essay was. So, I think emphasizing a negative is not necessarily bad, as long as you can explain how you learned from it.
These admissions counselors read 1000 essays during the process. You have 600 words to get their attention.
Since the topic has turned to essays…the comments above are all good advice. You want to stand out, but the biggest challenge is trying to give the reader a sense of who you are…which is really hard.
My advice on the essays…start now. Write a draft tonight…write a different essay on Friday…edit…write something different…edit…etc. Go for a walk…think about essays…jot down an idea or two while you’re out.
The essays don’t have to be life-consuming, but there are very few people who can write well enough to spit it out in a day or two.
You should aim to be done your essays by the start of school. If you complete them by then…the fall will be a LOT less stressful. Edit occasionally as needed. Our school had mandatory August sessions for all new Seniors that were several hours in small groups with English professors. It helped.
Last thoughts…be careful who you trust to edit, and don’t take edits on face value (unless they’re mistakes).
I think Colby is (and others are) careful not to admit kids who they fear will be accepted at other potentially more prestigious schools. They are protecting their yield and “selectivity”, by avoiding kids who are “off the charts” in their assessment.
It was interesting to hear where some of my D’s friends at Swarthmore were rejected. A lot of the rejection came from what they assumed were match toward safety schools, and several were accepted at Ivies. That kind of “feedback” (IMO) adds to the sense of randomness. It’s not random…it’s poker, and the AD’s are counting cards.
All you need is ONE safety that you would be happy to attend if it was the only school that accepted you. (Not saying that will happen, only that everyone should look at their one safety this way.) It’s easy to pick matches and reaches, but you need to spend time researching schools with a 40% or higher admit rate. I don’t think any of the schools on your list qualify.
Never mind.
FYI…Brandeis is NOT a LAC. It’s a Tier 1 Research University.