Chanceme for rice, pomona, uc berkeley

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

hi I’m here from the deferred thread that @ivyscholars started. I was deferred from Dartmouth for neuroscience and gender/sexuality studies as an Asian F. Seeing as Dartmouth only tends to accept 5-10% of deferred candidates, I don’t really see myself getting in (I’ll submit a letter of continued interest along with activity updates tho!)
I’m considering an ED 2 to pomona, while rice and uc berkeley are my top choices as well. I’ve already submitted my rice and berkeley apps and currently I’m working on pomona (did the interview, was meh). I’d love some advice! thank you

scores:
SAT: 1570 (R/W: 790, M: 780) essay: 16 oops!
SAT 2: World History 750, Math 750 yikes!
AP:
5’s in APWH, APUSH, Chinese, Lang
4’s in Biology, Calc AB, Gov, Physics 1
IB: 37/45 but I’m not submitting the score lol

UW GPA of 4.0 (my school doesn’t do weighted GPA)

senior courseload: AP Econ (micro and macro combined class), AP Chem, AP Stats, college-level English, chamber orchestra

ECs:
varsity XC, top 3 runner on girl’s team and helped team win regional award - wrote my personal statement about how XC helped me foster a growth mindset
HOSA (competitive medical events club) co-president of hs chapter with 3 years of officer experience (since 10th grade), did a lot of fundraiser planning and helped guide 80+ members to the state competition
chamber orchestra - auditioned into a more selective orchestra at my school, served as section leader, former violinist in highest level Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra, did some volunteer work for gigs and retirement home concerts
founder and lead editor of a nonprofit organization that shares how athletes are coping in COVID-19 and strives to provide athletic opps and gear for underserved athletes
intern with local city government, working to provide outreach to marginalized communities and plan events like MLK celebration
published neuroscience research (poster) from UW lab, interned under a research scientist in pathology dept
volunteered 40 hours in local hospital before COVID
wrote blogs and educational event scripts for running nonprofit
freelance tutor and teaching assistant for children’s summer science program
officer and co-founder of hs chapter of operation smile, helped plan 5K fundraiser run

Awards:
1st place at state for sci-fi writing competition, advanced to internationals (covid hit so could not attend in person),
3rd place at state for HOSA event, advanced to internationals (covid hit so could not attend in person)
made All-Northwest Orchestra and All-State orchestra throughout HS
3rd place at state for Science Olympiad environmental chem
honorable mention for international poetry competition

Recs:
my recs did not go as planned since one of my teachers is very flaky and bailed on me! I had to replace him with my Chinese teacher who knows that I am high-achieving and collaborative, but my performance in her class was strong at best when compared to other students
my other rec was from my biology teacher who likes me and knows well about my involvement in HOSA, etc.
optional rec from my city government mentor who believed I was quite capable with research and outreach
(overall my recs were probably on the weaker side but it’s alright! I really should have asked my orchestra teacher)

I go to a very competitive public high school in WA and students from my school are already being accepted to ivies, stanford, georgetown etc. A legacy and a sibling legacy from my school have been accepted ED to Dartmouth this year, and there is a former student from my school who is taking a gap year and will have a spot in the Dartmouth class of 2025. any advice for the RD round? I’m also applying to washu, vanderbilt, cmc, usc, tufts, wellesley, and a few more

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You look like you have a good list of colleges for your candidacy, and a strong candidacy overall. Applying for a neuroscience major (especially if you’re planning on doing pre-med) is very competitive, as there are a lot of students who want to take that track. Your extracurriculars do support your choice of major however.

Dartmouth does care about legacies, less so than other Ivies perhaps, but enough to give them a leg up. Their acceptance rate for deferred students is the same as for RD, that is to say, low. I don’t think a letter of continued interests or activity updates are worth it unless you’ve accomplished something so impressive you think it should be brought to their attention.

I would say focus on your supplemental essays most of all, as the rest of your app seems quite strong. Schools want to know who you are as a person, and how you’ll contribute to their community as a whole.

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You’re probably not looking for another highly selective school, but you seem like a strong candidate for Middlebury. Not only is there a lot of overlap among Midd and Dartmouth applicants due to location, academic excellence, and overall vibe, I think your well-rounded ECs, advanced language skills, and location would appeal to Midd. They are making an effort to be more diverse and that includes geography. Midd doesn’t have any supplemental essays, so if you can afford the fee, I would encourage you to apply.

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oops I just replaced Midd with Cornell… but I might reconsider. thank you! I have heard of the overlap as well :slight_smile:

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Thanks so much! Currently becoming more and more disillusioned with the Ivy League anyway after I received some very appalling news from a current Dartmouth student

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No problem. There are lots of good threads about Midd. @MWolf and @Contented_Panther are Midd experts. Good luck.