<p>We visited Mount Holyoke today, and my daughter loved it. It's now in her top 3 schools, whereas she had previously just thought of it as a safety. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, she has already sent them her SAT scores and they are well above the range given in the MHC literature. She also has a 4.0 unweighted GPA and interesting ECs. My concern is that they might reject her because they will think she's only applying there as a safety. I've heard horror stories about this.</p>
<p>What does she need to do to convince the admissions people she would strongly consider going there if admitted? She's not quite ready to apply ED (Pomona and Wellesley are the other two in the running for her favorite schools, and she doesn't want to rule them out yet.)</p>
<p>Demonstrated Interest. D should send an email to any admissions people she dealt with (info session presenter, student who led the tour) and tell them how interested she is in the school.</p>
<p>Women’s colleges involve some self-selection. It’s not only about if they think you are a good fit for them, but also if you think they are a good fit for you,</p>
<p>Your D could use her essays to speak to how much she wants to attend MHC. Be sure that the reasons are not generic, but unique to what MHC has to offer.</p>
<p>I don’t think you should ever worry that you are too good for a school. Mt Holyoke wants to attract the best and brightest that they can. If the application is well written and sincere - and she is as good as you say she is - they will try and recruit her. She would in the running for 21st Century Scholars.</p>
<p>Mt. Holyoke has plenty of students with 2400’s and 4.0’s. Many valedictorians, etc. It’s not like she is going to be so far above the rest of the student body intellectually. And, when you start comparing students from various high schools, suddenly a 4.0 student from a good high school can feel stupid compared to a 4.0 from a top high school!</p>
<p>As a current student I can’t imagine the Office of Admission rejecting a student based on a strong transcript and test scores, although if a student were strong academically but not involved in extra-curriculars, I could imagine that being of concern. As teachandmom said, there are many academically impressive students at Mount Holyoke. Some of those students are 21st Century Scholars, which is a relatively new merit scholarship program which awards approximately 35 students per class with $25,000 in merit aid per year as well as internship funding and admission to an honors tutorial. There’s more info about merit scholarships on this webpage: <a href=“https://www.mtholyoke.edu/sfs/resources/merit_scholarships[/url]”>https://www.mtholyoke.edu/sfs/resources/merit_scholarships</a></p>
<p>All in all, I wouldn’t worry about being too strong, but demonstrating interest definitely gets the point that you are truly interested in MHC across. Has your daughter interviewed? Could she attend a shadow day in the fall (<a href=“https://www.mtholyoke.edu/admission/visit/shadow_days)?%5B/url%5D”>https://www.mtholyoke.edu/admission/visit/shadow_days)?</a> If she’s an athlete, has she made contact with a coach? </p>
<p>It’s all about the Essay Mom, truly. My daughter submitted her excellent SAT scores, she too had an excellent GPA from a very challenging school in SoCal. She too fell in love with Mount Holyoke during two separate visits (one prior to applying, the 2nd after acceptance.) While MHC may admit some women with less than stellar school records, I believe it is the exception, not the rule. Perhaps they simply recognized the potential the individual could contribute to a bunch of brainiacs! :)</p>
<p>My daughter was accepted at several of the Nations best engineering schools but decided on MHC because of the warmth of the faculty and student body. Everyone we met from alumni to faculty to admissions to students at MHC went out of their way to be helpful and inviting. While the others were excellent schools, the students in general seemed self-absorbed (not in an arrogant way, just in a “busy” way.) </p>
<p>Now you’re probably wondering why an engineering major would select MHC… my daughter ultimately decided she wanted a more well-rounded education with exposures to many areas of study. She will apply for a Nexus minor in Engineering or possible a duo major (agreement with MIT or Cal-Tech) and focus on Engineering at grad school. She wanted the opportunity to study British Modern History, Ancient Languages, Art, etc. and MHC could offer her that.</p>
<p>MHC’s alumni association is incredibly strong as is the networking available to the students upon graduation. Amongst the alumni we’ve befriended are a recently retired Dir. of HR for Disney, one of the most powerful female, corporate attorneys in the nation, and a bright PhD candidate at Cal-Tech. </p>
<p>MHC draws bright women from an array of backgrounds both educationally speaking as well as culturally. I think the attraction is the potential they offer women to find their voice in a world that’s still very much a “man’s.” </p>
<p>I wish your daughter luck. It is not an easy process but we’re banking on my daughter having made the best decision for her. She turned down a total of 9 other excellent schools to attend MHC and will begin this fall.</p>