ACT: 32
SAT II US History: 720
SAT II Lit: 740
Unweighted GPA: 3.43 (my school doesn’t have weighted GPAs, Honors, or APs)
Sex: Female
Race: White
Grades: B+/A- range
Potential Major: History
Home: New York City
Private School
Junior Classes: Art History, Modern World History, Shakespeare, African Lit, Advanced Statistics, Biology, and Latin
Senior Classes: European History, Global Politics, Creative Writing, Historical Lit, Macroeconomics (Math), Latin, and Advanced Art
Awards:
Scholastic Gold Key winner for Art (painting)
Scholastic Gold Key winner for Art (drawing)
ECs:
Newspaper cartoonist
Yearbook - President
Leadership Club - Vice President
School Art Magazine
Feminist Club
Community Service Club
Varsity Track
Varsity Lacrosse - defender, not many at my school
Volunteering: Working with children with autism, organizer of the children’s holiday party
Work Experience: Internship at an art gallery, working at a investment advising company
I will not be seeking a sports scholarship and will need financial aid.
Are there schools that I might have a better shot at?
Your test scores are solid and your extracurriculars well suited for a LAC applicant, but your GPA is a bit lower than idea.l However, if the colleges in question are familiar with your high school, and if they regard it as having a particularly rigorous curriculum, this fact might weigh in your favor.
Here’s how I would rank your chances, from most to least likely:
Conn College
Trinity College
(I think you stand a good chance at both schools. Your ACT is at or above the 75th percentile, and your artiness adds color to your TC application, while your jockiness adds color to your CC application.)
Colgate University
Colby College
(Your ACT is right around average for both institutions, but Colby is simply a tough admit, even if its stats are about the same as those at Colgate.)
Williams College would be an outlier (given your GPA), but it offers a compelling blend of sportiness and artiness. It wouldn’t hurt to apply if you have the time and resources to devote to a super-reach.
Why not Smith, Bryn Mawr, or Mount Holyoke? All great schools. Smith/MHolyoke are part of the 5 college consortium, and Bryn Mawr is part of the Quaker consortium. Those schools may be in better range with your GPA.
For any of the schools that have distribution requirements, you may appear to be a risky candidate with so little math and science. Not to say you don’t have a shot, but that could get in your way. I agree that Conn and Trinity are better bets.
I could envision a school like Bard really liking your combo of arts and English (although that would be a different vibe from these 4).
Regarding your indicated future major, history, you’re likely to find a solid acceptance for this field with Trinity. The less likely Colgate would also be excellent for this academic interest.
If you would like to diversify your potential options, look into Hamilton, Holy Cross, Kenyon.
Bates is very need aware. Coming from an NYC private school - and as a white female - you will not be adding the diversity that they usually reserve their aid dollars for. You sound qualified on all other counts, but at our NYC private Bates did not accept any students asking for substantial aid for the past several years. I wish our counselor had shared that before D applied, as it would have helped manage her expectations. You should ask your counselor about this if you are thinking of applying ED.
^Bates is mostly need blind. The first 75-80% of the class is composed before they look at need. What that means is that if you’re among the top 3/4 of the class as assessed by admissions how much FA you need will not come into play. The final 1/4-1/5 is composed with the FA budget in mind, meaning that if you need substantial FA you will be at a disadvantage. If you need a smaller amount of FA you will be at a lesser disadvantage. Like many schools, Bates has become tougher to get into than in the past. As @4junior notes you’re in an overrepresented demographic. But then again, it’s an overrepresented demographic because Bates has a lot of white girls from NY.
ACT: 32
SAT II US History: 720
SAT II Lit: 740
Unweighted GPA: 3.43 (my school doesn’t have weighted GPAs, Honors, or APs)
Sex: Female
Race: White
Grades: B+/A- range
Potential Major: History
Home: New York City
Private School
Junior Classes: Art History, Modern World History, Shakespeare, African Lit, Advanced Statistics, Biology, and Latin
Senior Classes: European History, Global Politics, Creative Writing, Historical Lit, Macroeconomics (Math), Latin, and Advanced Art
Awards:
Scholastic Gold Key winner for Art (painting)
Scholastic Gold Key winner for Art (drawing)
ECs:
Newspaper cartoonist
Yearbook - President
Leadership Club - Vice President
School Art Magazine
Feminist Club
Community Service Club
Varsity Track
Varsity Lacrosse - defender, not many at my school
Volunteering: Working with children with autism, organizer of the children’s holiday party
Work Experience: Internship at an art gallery, working at a investment advising company
I will not be seeking a sports scholarship and will need financial aid.
