Anonymous
Post 01/16/2026 21:01     Subject: Carleton - Is it a reach RD?
It’s been a few years but my kid got rejected from Brown and Wesleyan but into Carleton and Grinnell. She liked Carleton and its ranking but felt Grinnell might be a better fit and when they threw merit money her way it sealed the deal.
Anonymous
Post 01/16/2026 20:58     Subject: Carleton - Is it a reach RD?
Anonymous wrote:DD thought it too liberal and woke and transferred. Much happier


Yea but your kid obviously sucks so
Anonymous
Post 01/16/2026 20:51     Subject: Carleton - Is it a reach RD?
Carleton doesn’t have better education than Williams, that’s US News nonsense
Anonymous
Post 01/16/2026 20:38     Subject: Carleton - Is it a reach RD?
People are not familiar with it.
Anonymous
Post 01/16/2026 20:34     Subject: Carleton - Is it a reach RD?
Anonymous wrote:It has the problem of heavily favoring recruited athletes. The popular SLACs really should publish separate admissions rates.


these are in the ED round though, not so much the RD round
Anonymous
Post 01/16/2026 20:33     Subject: Carleton - Is it a reach RD?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:If you care about your kid going to an “elite” school, Carleton probably isn’t the right fit. But also, or course, it’s a reach in RD. It rejects 80% of applicants. I could only imagine it being a target for certain applicants in the ED round.


PP. I don't see anything wrong with that. Elite as used could refer to an elite education, i.e., top tier undergraduate focused education.
Why Carleton isn’t the right fit?

It’s not among the most elite like Williams and Bowdoin but is close. Lower ranked like Pomona and Amherst.

I think you are still talking about as in prestige. Not as in education.
Anonymous
Post 01/16/2026 20:31     Subject: Carleton - Is it a reach RD?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:If you care about your kid going to an “elite” school, Carleton probably isn’t the right fit. But also, or course, it’s a reach in RD. It rejects 80% of applicants. I could only imagine it being a target for certain applicants in the ED round.


PP. I don't see anything wrong with that. Elite as used could refer to an elite education, i.e., top tier undergraduate focused education.
Why Carleton isn’t the right fit?

It’s not among the most elite like Williams and Bowdoin but is close. Lower ranked like Pomona and Amherst.


O.M.G. The Bowdoin booster is relentless.
Anonymous
Post 01/16/2026 20:15     Subject: Carleton - Is it a reach RD?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Our DD was admitted ED this cycle. Not sure how much of an advantage ED is at Carleton over RD, but we've heard not as much as at other places (Midd, Tufts). Here are her stats:

4.0 unweighted, public school
10 AP's, all 5's + one 4 so far (Spanish)
1530 (770 verbal, 760 math)
EIC school newspaper
Varsity captain of two team sports (not recruited athlete)
Lots of school leadership
No awards other than commended student, AP scholar
No hooks (e.g. national-level EC's, FGLI)

At the moment, she knows five other kids admitted ED this cycle from various publics. Three are recruited athletes.


What is crazy to me is that this would put her at an ivy 20 years ago. Carelton is amazing and congrats to her. I am just shocked as a kid with this provide would be EDing to yale in my HS class, and carelton wouldnt be on the radar. Man times change. You kids seems awesome!


No one in your HS class would be ED'ing to Yale because Yale has never had ED.


Not true. I applied to Yale ED in the 90s. SCEA is a newer option.
Anonymous
Post 01/16/2026 18:55     Subject: Carleton - Is it a reach RD?
Anonymous wrote:DD thought it too liberal and woke and transferred. Much happier

Transferred to where?
Anonymous
Post 01/16/2026 18:50     Subject: Carleton - Is it a reach RD?
Anonymous wrote:If you care about your kid going to an “elite” school, Carleton probably isn’t the right fit. But also, or course, it’s a reach in RD. It rejects 80% of applicants. I could only imagine it being a target for certain applicants in the ED round.


PP. I don't see anything wrong with that. Elite as used could refer to an elite education, i.e., top tier undergraduate focused education.
Why Carleton isn’t the right fit?
Anonymous
Post 01/16/2026 18:06     Subject: Carleton - Is it a reach RD?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Our DD was admitted ED this cycle. Not sure how much of an advantage ED is at Carleton over RD, but we've heard not as much as at other places (Midd, Tufts). Here are her stats:

4.0 unweighted, public school
10 AP's, all 5's + one 4 so far (Spanish)
1530 (770 verbal, 760 math)
EIC school newspaper
Varsity captain of two team sports (not recruited athlete)
Lots of school leadership
No awards other than commended student, AP scholar
No hooks (e.g. national-level EC's, FGLI)

At the moment, she knows five other kids admitted ED this cycle from various publics. Three are recruited athletes.


What is crazy to me is that this would put her at an ivy 20 years ago. Carelton is amazing and congrats to her. I am just shocked as a kid with this provide would be EDing to yale in my HS class, and carelton wouldnt be on the radar. Man times change. You kids seems awesome!


No one in your HS class would be ED'ing to Yale because Yale has never had ED.
Anonymous
Post 01/16/2026 17:33     Subject: Carleton - Is it a reach RD?
DD thought it too liberal and woke and transferred. Much happier
Anonymous
Post 01/16/2026 17:26     Subject: Carleton - Is it a reach RD?
Anonymous wrote:The only thing that matters for you is the Scoir/Naviance data for your school. Other people's experiences at other HSs are irrelevant.
DP - True. But, a few years back, our FCPS HS wouldn't let us see our school's data for a number of Midwest SLACSs due to a combination of privacy reasons and insufficient data to result in useful statistics.
Anonymous
Post 01/16/2026 16:50     Subject: Carleton - Is it a reach RD?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Our DD was admitted ED this cycle. Not sure how much of an advantage ED is at Carleton over RD, but we've heard not as much as at other places (Midd, Tufts). Here are her stats:

4.0 unweighted, public school
10 AP's, all 5's + one 4 so far (Spanish)
1530 (770 verbal, 760 math)
EIC school newspaper
Varsity captain of two team sports (not recruited athlete)
Lots of school leadership
No awards other than commended student, AP scholar
No hooks (e.g. national-level EC's, FGLI)

At the moment, she knows five other kids admitted ED this cycle from various publics. Three are recruited athletes.


What is crazy to me is that this would put her at an ivy 20 years ago. Carelton is amazing and congrats to her. I am just shocked as a kid with this provide would be EDing to yale in my HS class, and carelton wouldnt be on the radar. Man times change. You kids seems awesome!


I'm the PP you responded to. She wasn't gunning for ivies anyway, but she did look at T20's and a couple ivies (she's legacy at an ivy). But then she visited Carleton and that was all she wrote! The school was not on our radar at all until the last minute.
Anonymous
Post 01/16/2026 16:43     Subject: Carleton - Is it a reach RD?
If you remove the ED applicants from the equation, per the 24-25 CDS, the RD acceptance rate is 16%. So they reject 84% of RD applicants.

I have a kid there now. It's a wonderful school, and per a previous poster, many kids with stats for ivies. Smart, fun, kind students.