Chance a middle class white kid from CT!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Dartmouth College
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<p>I really didnt even think about Dartmouth at all until about a week ago, but it seems like a pretty sweet school so i might as well apply. Anyway, heres my info:</p>

<p>second largest high school in CT, rank: 36/650ish, we send about 5 kids to ivy league schools max each year, but I think this is mostly because there are a lot of poor kids who just opt to go to Uconn on full scholarships, instead.</p>

<p>SATs: 660/650/770- I took them without preparing back in May. I just took them again last week after taking all the tests in that big book from the College Board and, judging by the various threads on here that have lists of a lot of the answers, got somewhere in the 1400s for M/V. I'd say around 750V and 680-720M, I just hope I'm not being too overconfident.</p>

<p>Classes: All honors and AP all four years, 10th grade i took AP World History, 11th grade AP US history and AP Bio, this year AP gopo, macro, stats, psych, and geo and an English course that follows the curriculum for Uconn freshmen.
AP World-5
AP Bio-4
AP US-5</p>

<p>ECs: Varsity baseball, 3 years, captain this year. Personally I think I have a chance of playing at a school like Dartmouth or a Patriot League school, or any relatively small Div.1 program, but I hurt my shoulder this past year and had surgery so any chances of being recruited were kinda thrown out the window with that. </p>

<p>Board of Governors Treasurer- Basically I control the finances for every club and organization at our school, i run Homecoming and all class elections, supervise all other student councils, do the student announcements in the morning, and gain the respect of a bunch of secretaries who all seem to love me even though I don't do much at all(although I could definitely play this one up on my apps!)</p>

<p>National Honor Society</p>

<p>Volunteered at the local baseball fields by coaching kids, organizing All Star games, etc.</p>

<p>Work experience- Pseudo-managed a concession stand at said baseball fields for the past four years, worked at Old Navy for six months or so but hated it because I was basically a drone. But the concession stand job is a serious thing and I think I can make that out to be really meaningful.</p>

<p>School Newspaper- Staff Writer and Copy Editor(sort of, I'm not in the class anymore but i still help out when they are laying out editions by copy editing articles and whatnot) for a highly-renowned student newspaper. 2 yrs.</p>

<p>That's it! I doubt this is a good enough resume for an Ivy League school since I'm white, not dirt poor, and not the valedictorian, but what the hell, why not give it a shot? Btw, I am also going to apply to Uconn, Penn State, Pitt, Bucknell, and Lehigh, so if you feel like it give me your opinions on my chances for those as well. Thanks!</p>

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<p>Oh yeah, my Sat 2s are as follows: 760 Us History, 720 World, 690 bio</p>

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<p>What's your gpa?</p>

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<p>3.9 UW, 4.3 W my bad</p>

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<p>Seems to me that you have a good shot if you get your SATs up, and have good recs, essays, and peer rec.</p>

<p>BTW, I don't know where you get this idea that schools WANT poor kids, especially poor white kids. I think it's quite the reverse.</p>

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<p>Fizzle, I know what you're saying. We middle class, white, New-England males lack that "hook"; the story of struggling with poverty, or the benefit making the school look diverse, the appeal of collecting a particular state; all that crap.
That said, you're clearly a funny guy, and I think if you let your personality through somehow and avoid flippancy, you should have a good shot.</p>

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<p>Most of the people I’ve met are white, not poor and not the valedictorian. You have as good a shot as any, especially when your essay is amazing.</p>

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<p>Just an update:</p>

<p>I received my SATs for the october test, and i got a 1470/2240- 780CR, 690M, 770 Writing</p>

<p>Also, I can see how that comment about the whole "not a minority or valedictorian" thing got misconstrued... I think that colonization kid articulated my point much better by saying I lack a real "hook"... that was all I intended my comment to mean. Anyway, tell me what you think now that I have my new and greatly improved scores. Also, I am interested in either a govt, history, or econ major, if that at all matters</p>

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<p>^Damn good scores in the English sections; luckily, Dartmouth is one of the schools that counts writing. You're now above their median, (a 2200), by a decent amount. And yes, Fizzle, majors matter. Unfortunately, Dartmouth is flooded with social science/history majors. (You can find the stats on collegeboard.com)It may be to your advantage to find something you can say you're considering that they don't get a lot of. Schools are less critical of applicants applying to their underrepresented majors. This is not just speculation- when I had an interview at Middlebury, the woman said this regarding majors, "You're a good applicant of your own merit, but it definitely helps that you're interested in math and science. God help the white, female, English-majors trying to get into Midd.Anyone by that description better have an amazing resume." The same is true of Hopkins and pre-med, or MIT and engineering.</p>

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<p>^ Hey, I read somewhere that Dartmouth doesn't give equal weight to the writing section as the other sections. Is that right? Or has it changed? </p>

<p>And yay :D 'cos I'm interested in computer science + math/physics</p>

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<p>gotcha- i kind of thought that was the case... I think I might say I'm interested in their Asian/Middle Eastern Studies major. I actually am very interested in it. Thanks for the advice!</p>

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<p>No problem. I don't know how they weigh the sections; hopefully the put emphasis on math, but I doubt it.</p>