<p>I never thought I could EVER get into Smith but my mother made me send in an application. She was so worried, I applied to 17 colleges. My SATs were worthless - 580V, 620M, 560W. That is actually why my desperate mother picked out Smith for me. This year was the first year it was optional.</p>
<p>She brought home a study that I have not read yet, but it is one of many (first one was at Bowdoin, a reallllllly tough school to get into) that documents the correlation b/t SAT scores and income. The one she has is called, “SATs: Score or Demographic?” We are pretty low income, my mother never married my father, we don’t even have a refrigerator in our house. She works a lot of hours at a night job and wears clothes I am embarrassed about. But she sent me to take tennis lessons and I got really, really good at it (Im a nationally ranked tennis player and was a Varsity single for 3 years). Then she sent me away in the summer so she would not have to pay a babysitter and I visited really poor neighborhoods in South Africa, Puerto Rico, Swaziland and China. She gave up a lot to send me to these places. At home, I worked on 2 political campaigns starting in middle school. My teachers would not recommend me for Honors or AP classes, but I took them anyway and got Bs. My classmates are really snobby and stuck up, obnoxious and spoiled. And they cheat like crazy. I was afraid I would be out of my league at Smith and when I interviewed I was worried they would think I was just like the other kids at my school, so I made sure they understood my values. With all that, and an essay about a baby with AIDS that I took care of in South Africa, and a detailed reply about why I felt a woman’s college was perfect for me, I got accepted on Mar. 20th. I couldn’t believe it, I screamed and cried with joy. So did my mom.</p>
<p>So I am feeling really lucky, because this year 4009 applicants sent in applications to Smith and apx 670 got accepted. Will I fit in? I hope so. Out of my league? I hope not.</p>
<p>I was rejected from Oberlinl, Bard, Sarah Lawrence. I was accepted so far at Mt Holyoke and Bennington plus Smith. Middlebury hasn’t sent me an answer yet but I am going to go to Smith because I loved it when I visited. So many opportunities I never dreamed of.</p>
<p>I think with those superior SAT scores and the incredible GPA, you’ll get into an elite college. It’s just not going to be Smith. Good luck.</p>