Am I screwed for Regular Decision Dartmouth? (Deferred)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Dartmouth College
1

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): Nope
ACT (breakdown): 31 (34 E, 29 Math, 33 Reading, 28 Science,30 Writing)
SAT II: Taking them in January, projected 750+ on Lit and US History
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): Around 3.8 uw, 4.43 w
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):Top 8% out of 480 students
AP (place score in parenthesis): No AP
IB (place score in parenthesis): I didn’t take any IB tests yet, but am Full Diploma Candidate
Senior Year Course Load: IB Chem SL, IB Calculus, IB History II, IB Senior Lit II, IB Bio II, IB Spanish 5, Theory of Knowledge, PLTW Principles of Biomedical Sciences, and AP Computer Science online.
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Lol no. I will be pursuing something for RD though…

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):

  • Finance and Investment Club, Head capt. and Pres for the past 2 years, joined sophomore year. We started from 3 members down to a solid, close to 20 count. Made regional history this and last year by winning. We have had a losing streak for the past decade…But we won! I trained the team to success.
  • Math Club President/Founder: We do competitions and stuff, but my friends and I do it for fun. I am not too great at math, but I love doing it regardless.
  • NHS President: Yep, that is a fun post. Pretty self explanatory.
  • …Homecoming King?
  • I write poetry. And am darn good at it.
    -Model UN Student Head: As it sounds, I am given teacher status for our Model UN this year. I write stuff out, the rubrics, and prepare students.
    Job/Work Experience:
    Parents will not let me get a job, but I know how to use a cash register with tiger prowess…
    Volunteer/Community service:
  • I volunteer at Wheaten Franciscan Hospital. Did it for the past Five years, have 600+ hours. Got to volunteer at some pretty awesome places.
  • I taught an Arabic Class at the local Library. Past three years, there have been 12 consistent students.
    Summer Activities:
    Not enough money in a family of seven.
    Essays (rating 1-10, details):
    Let me put it this way, my common app essay could have been better, but the supplemental questions were great. 7/10 common app (rewriting that), 10/10 supplemental
    Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: English Teacher, she likes me, and is really cool, 10/10
Teacher Rec #2: Economics Teacher, do not know what he wrote about me…but I got faith in him 10/10
Counselor Rec: I no doubt would have been rejected without her. 11/10
Additional Rec: My peer recommendation was really nice. It was short, but got to the point. 10/10
Interview: He was a busy guy, but we went half an hour over. He wrote a lot of stuff, and he was really nice.

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yep
Intended Major: English/Comparative Literature and Neuroscience
State (if domestic applicant): Wisconsin
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public, but pretty competitive
Ethnicity: Middle Eastern/ North African, Muslim (Ik it isn’t ethnicity)
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: 78k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): First generation college, had a good reason for my sad GPA, from a country in conflict, sibling goes there?

Reflection

Strengths: Essays, recs, EC’s
Weaknesses: GPA, ACT, no SAT II’s
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
No SAT II’s, a serious dip Junior year 2nd semester due to family problems overseas. At least there is hope, and I am happy to still be considered.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
I got accepted to UW Madison a month ago, and am hoping to receive the First Wave scholarship.
Applied:
No where else. If anyone can help me choose small schools that are like Dartmouth, most appreciated. For now, I may apply to Brown and Upenn.
General Comments:

Okay, so I didn’t get in. But I seriously thought I would get rejected. At least they are considering my application. I think if I win a state level competition, and show an improvement in my grades, I think I have a good shot still. The reason why my ACT/GPA is so low was because of some serious family issues overseas. So they must have taken that into consideration, and I mean, if showing improvement is all I need to do, I will do that. I have all A’s in all nine of my classes, and my SAT II practice test scores are 750+, with 800 in US History/

2

I’m sorry to hear about your deferral, but always remember that if you work hard, you can end up ahead at any school. Quite honestly, a deferral from Dartmouth is essentially a rejection. BUT you never know, especially if you are improving your application between now and the regular decision cycle.

Have you looked into the more prestigious liberal arts colleges? Amherst, Colgate etc are all great colleges. I’m not sure if they have neuroscience though, so make sure you check before you apply.

You may also want to consider Wash U, a lot of Dartmouth applicants also apply there too.

Best of luck!

3

@amandanee1 Thanks for the insight, but in your opinion, can SAT II scores get me to acceptance? I hear that they are taken to some consideration. Also, I aim for improvement. I know you are no admissions officer, but could it be possible they may want to see improvement in my grades and test scores?

4

At this point, you’re competing with the rest of the deferrals for one, maybe two spots. To set yourself apart, you need to really have amazing test scores and grades DESPITE the hardships you’ve been through, instead of saying that’s the reason they’re not so great. You really have to go above and beyond at this stage.

5

@17staffene That…that is the plan now. I just copied and pasted most of the stuff from the decisions thread, but yeah, test scores and grades. Also, 1-2 spots, really? I feel there has to be more than that.

6

@GiddyHiddy I disagree with what was said in the previous replies. I was deferred early decision by Dartmouth last year, and then later accepted in the RD round. In no way is a deferral from
Dartmouth a rejection. In fact, Dartmouth tends to accept 5-10% of deferred students.

I would continue to be in contact with Dartmouth admissions reps; keeping them updated with new achievements and accomplishments. I would also maybe have your guidance counselor call on your behalf, further vouching for your credentials and interest in dartmouth.

In short, a deferral isn’t a rejection. Don’t lose hope.

7

@Adele123 Awesome! I already asked my counselor to ask for me, but thank you very much

8

No.

You need to look at the below link. Although it was posted on the Yale forum, it’s just as applicable to Dartmouth.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/yale-university/1945081-omg-i-just-got-deferred-now-what.html

9

@skieurope So, and this is getting odd, I got a Super moderator who says I cannot make it, but a person who get deferred from Dartmouth, and then accepted RD telling me that it is plausible. I am going to apply to other colleges, and I already got accepted into my safety (UW Madison), and I seriously have no idea what other reach schools are there for my stats. I will still try of course, but you know.

10

It’s probably not on your radar and is much smaller than Dartmouth, but take a look at Washington & Lee University in VA. Also, Wake Forest.

11

I did not say you cannot make it; I implied that it’s unlikely. Obviously some deferred applicants do get accepted, but very few. So my suggestion is to plan that you will not get accepted, and if you do, that’s gravy. In the interim, love the school that loves you back.

12

@skieurope I misunderstood, my bad. I just think my application was unstable, but I already have an awesome school backed up.