Hi, I was wondering what my chances would be at Reed College, as well as UCSD, Berkeley, Grinnell, Oberlin, Kenyon, Colorado College, Colby and Colgate. Reed is, by far, my favorite.
ACT: 30
GPA: 3.7
Mostly college credit/ IB classes, however not a diploma student
Yoga Instructor (200 CYT)
Best Buy sales associate
Black belt in Karate
Leader of 6 clubs
Varsity dance team
Myers Briggs enthusiast
Get thee to the Common Data Set - google it for each school and scroll down to Section C to compare your states to those of admitted students. It’s the best way you have to chance yourself. And check out the costs while you are at it. Your chances are zero if you can’t pay for it.
You have a good shot at Reed if you show fit in your essays. Berkeley is a high reach. You will need to check the common data set ranges for the rest, but I would say you have a shot at all except maybe UCSD.
Reed meets the financial need (using a standard calculation) of all students applying for aid. Reed prefers the SAT (it’s more indicative of how you think than what you’ve learned). Agree re essays that you have a good shot at Reed.
I don’t think any college in the US has a preference, for the SAT or ACT any more. Some were slow to start accepting the ACT, but I honestly think even those colleges slow to take the ACT now treat it as the SAT equivalent. Rumors have persisted for years about some schools having a preference, but they are just that… rumors. The ACT is much more commonly taken in some parts of the country, and colleges that want a nationwide student body really have to treat it as equivalent.
The SAT/ACT dichotomy has been having its lines blurred with every new incarnation of the SAT. The verbal analogies are long gone, the reading passages and the math have been dumbed down, and the vocabulary sections ain’t what they used to be. And let’s not forget that, starting in March of 2016, the new SAT will have more in common with the ACT than it does with the current SAT.
Sorry, I got sidetracked by the SAT vs. ACT issue.
I agree that the essay is very important for Reed, as will be the teacher recs. You’ve got a pretty good shot at most of those schools. Are you in-state or OOS for the UCs? Are you counting on financial or merit aid? What are you planning to study?
BTW, I disagree that Berkeley will be easier to get into than UCSD. Also, both of the UCs are quite different than your other choices, which seem to mostly include LACs - not research universities.
I don’t think anyone said Berkeley would be easier.
Sorry @intparent - I missed the part where you said that Berkeley was a high reach and was commenting on your last sentence, which you ended by saying “…but I would say you have a shot at all except maybe UCSD.”
Reed is legendarily holistic, and tough to chance, but I’d say that it’s a moderate academic reach. For comparison, my son was waitlisted as a full-diploma IB student. His unweighted GPA was only 3.3-3.4, but his weighted was over 4.0. His ACT was 31, and his SAT was 2060. He had numerous “leadership” ECs, including Model UN (since middle school, and a Co-President); JSA/Debate (Co-President for two years); Student Council (4 years; Secretary as a junior, and VP as Senior); community service in inner-city Newark and on Navajo reservation; summer jobs since he was fourteen; outstanding counselor and teacher recommendations; etc. We had a high EFC, but would not have been full-pay, and I suspect that played some part in the decision. Although Reed meets full need, they state that they are not need-blind in admission, and I think they are pretty stingy when it comes to students who won’t enhance the community’s diversity or are not truly exceptional. Pitzer, which has a slightly lower acceptance rate than Reed, accepted my son, but did not offer any aid whatsoever.
The OP doesn’t say if their GPA is weighted or unweighted. That does make a difference.