Right now I am trying to select which college to apply to for Early Decision 1. So far I have:
Vassar
Middlebury
Swarthmore
Haverford
Amherst
Williams
Macalester
These are all reach, but ED will hopefully get me a little edge on RD.
I’m a homeschooled student with some AP courses, many honors courses, and duel enrollment courses on my transcript with a 3.9 GPA. I have many extra curricular activities, such as Internships, volunteer hours, clubs, and sports (Unique ones like martial arts and bowling).
I’m writing an few essays, one on how travelling the world has impacted my life and one on how bowling affects me more than most. I will be choosing one soon.
The main thing holding me back is my SAT scores. I have a 700 writing and a 590 math. I have taken AP calc in sophomore year and I did well in the course (so maybe the college could disregard the low math sat score). I simply don’t test well when it comes to SAT math. I’m taking the ACT next Saturday to compare, but I don’t expect the scores to differ much.
My question is, which of the schools that I’ve listed do I have the best chance at? Which school relies on SAT scores the least, and which has the least amount of homeschoolers? (If that’s even something I could find out). I realize that given the information, you would be generalizing heavily. But any info is useful. Thanks so much.
I’m no expert, but Macalester. I believe it is the least competitive to get into. Still a reach. You can calculate each schools ED acceptance rate if you look near the end of section C of the Common Data Set. Every school publishes this on their websites. Have you considered a SAT retake? And I do hope you have some other schools to apply to if ED doesn’t work in your favor-- good luck though.
Also, I have seen that some schools-- not sure which ones-- weight SAT/ACT higher for homeschooled students. If you have good AP scores (4-5) be sure and submit them too.
Macalaster does have the highest admission rate of that group- but your SAT puts you in the bottom 25% of accepted students (only 7% of admitted students had a math score under 600).
ACT & SAT can vary a lot for some people- maybe it will for you.
Did you take the AP for Calc, or just do the course? Do you have subject tests? if no to both, the only external indicators that the schools have to go on is your dual enrollment marks and SAT.
Those schools are all welcoming to homeschooled students- but a) they need to know that you can do high level work at a high level of intensity, and b) you are competing with seriously qualified students.
Does your brief summary of your ECs undersell what you have? do you have some that show depth? ie, commitment over time, growth in responsibility, evidence of being a good team member / leadership / maturity / other?
If not, without something more to give them, I would pick one or two as a super-reach, and then go come up with a new list, including some test optional schools and/or with higher admission rates.
I wouldn’t pick an ED school based on the the liklihood of you being accepted. Sure, that may be part of the strategy, but if you don’t have a clear first choice - and they’re all reachy - you better have a little more to go on. Do some more research on fit and ED to the one where you would have the best chance at (educational) happiness and success. Also make sure affordability is in the mix too. Have you run the NPCs for each of them?
Many students come back to these boards in January and February second guessing, even regretting, their ED choice and decision. If you base an ED app mainly on acceptance rate statistics, you are likely to be one of them.
I understand some of the schools I listed are more reachy than others.
My ECs definitely show all the qualities you listed. I have been volunteering for years, got accepted into two competetive internships, and am the captain of my bowling team. I also have other ECs that show the diverse things I’ve done. But do you know if any of those schools have any less reliance on SAT scores? Or they all have the same weight.
ED can provide a bump for a non-hooked applicant, but you would have to be in range to get that bump. You have excellent credentials but your SAT does put you out of range for most of the schools on your list. A few years back there was a poster who had similar scores to you in that the math score was very low compared to the reading. Poster applied ED to one school on your list and was rejected but then was accepted to Macalaster ED2.
you can get an idea of the relative weight of standardized test scores by looking at the common data set (section C7). For example, for Macalaster, test scores are ‘Important’ (v Very Important, Considered or Not Considered).
But: heed @Groundwork2022’s advice: be sure that any college you ED is where you really belong. It is a binding commitment, and these schools are more different than you might think- if you haven’t visited them I strongly advise against an ED. I have heard first hand accounts of students who barely walked onto several of these campuses before telling their parents they wouldn’t apply there- it just felt wrong (including from my own collegekids).
Finally, although there are schools where ED make a big difference (where a high % of the class is admitted ED), for most schools it’s a tip more than a boost- as @wisteria100 points out, you have to be in range. These schools all have more than enough fully competitive applicants that they are going to have to say ‘no’ to. I actually have more faith in AdComms than many on CC do- ime, they are pretty good at recognizing a good fit. IMO, you will get more of a boost by figuring out where you are genuinely a good fit & applying there than from ED.
There are some good alternative colleges near most of the ones on your list. Visit some of them as well. I’m assuming that this is your ED list- & therefore all the ones you know are the reachiest. Make sure you visit some that are likely and some that are certainties- you need some of each.
Are you male or female? Being male will help at some of those schools, definitely at Vassar. My D (coincidentally homeschooled until hs) did far better on the ACT than the SAT; she felt the math was especially easier.Best of luck!
When applying to highly selective and selective schools, home schooled students should be taking as many standardized tests as possible to provide context for what the grades on their transcripts represent relative to other students. “Mom gave me straight A’s” is much more meaningful when backed up by 5’s on AP tests, and great SATI and SATII scores.
That makes the “test optional” route a very poor choice for home schooled students at selective schools.
Based on your qualifications, concerns and list of targeted schools, I think that you have it exactly right by applying ED to Vassar College followed by EDII, if necessary, to Macalester College.
I’m male. Vassar seems like a solid choice for me. Do you know if I take the sat in early November, I will have time to submit them by the ED date for Vassar? And if I take it in December and do better, can I give that to Vassar and have that apply to my application?
Most of my courses have been through online academies, (Wilson hill academy, Art of problem solving) and duel enrollment at my local college. I’ve done on all of them, and duel enrollment should show that I am capable of taking college level courses. Not many of my courses were taken purely at home.
With respect to submitting December SAT scores to Vassar College, Vassar’s ED notification date is December 15th. (Vassar’s ED application deadline is November 15th.)