<p>I am a Korean junior student living in Canada. Dartmouth is my #1 choice and I am planning to apply ED. What are my chances?</p>
<p>GPA: 3.6 UW
school does not rank but roughly 10/400
SAT I: Verbal 740 Math 720 Writing 720
Sat II: none yet
AP: Bio 5, Psychology 5, Chemistry 5, Physics B 5, World History 5, more to come after this year
EC: "Success Program" Tutor (Japanese, Math, Science), Mentor Leader, Science Club (president), Leo's Club, Amnesty International (executive), Library Club, Piano (10 years), Swimming - Bronze Cross
Community service: 80 hours in senior center, 80 hours in various other places
Awards & Achievements: BCCM Music Festival First Place in Grade 6 & 9 (Piano), Principal's Award for Outstanding Science Project (freshman year), Highest Junior Japanese Grade Award, School Service Award (2 years), First place in BC Annual Japanese Speech contest
Miscellaneous Info: Low income ($24,000 per year), live with single parent, multilingual (English, Japanese, Korean), bad grades in freshman year, improved in sophomore + junior year.</p>
<p>Also, I am hoping to get in the top 50+ in the upcoming University of Toronto's National Biology Contest. How would that affect my chances?</p>
<p>I'd work on the hook. IMO, you're not unlikely or likely. Being Korean/Canadian will not help, especially with your profile (piano, science, language). Your stats seem in the mid to low range, though good AP's. In the old SAT's you'd need close to 1500. Being Canadian, the low income could go either way. Single parent is probably a small plus.</p>
<p>Work on the hook--move the SAT's and you'll be looking up.</p>
<p>how can i stand out more? would placing in the top tier for the UT national bio contest help me stand out? i hope to do really good because i have prepared since last summer. and if there is only a few people applying to the ivies in my school, would that be advantageous for me? what is dartmouth most interested in finding among their applicants? (besides the usual stuff)</p>
<p>Just so that you know, the UT bio contest is extremely FLUKY!!! Top 50 would be extremely respectable since there's like what, 6300 participants?
But you need to realize they have 50 MC questions, and the highest scorer doesn't even get 50, last year's first place got 3 wrong and got 46/50. Just goes to show it is a tough contest. But some people I know also guessed and got in the top 250.
but yeah, dartmouth is my first choice(ONLY CHOICE :D) too :D, I am applying for transfer this year from U of T currently a first year student
anyway, i think you got great chance, very balanced scores very good ec, Japanese and Korean wow, nicely done, when did you come to canada anyway?
good luck :D</p>
<p>hey newbyreborn, thanks for your kind words. i came to canada in 1997
it is true the ut bio contest is very, very competetive...i will be lucky to be placed in top 1000...that's why i must study up. :)
amazingly my school placed #1 overall last year (burnaby north) with two students placed in top 10! one of them is now in columbia and the other is a senior. people say he's going to harvard.
let's both make our push towards dartmouth with zeal!</p>
<p>ah you are from Burnaby North Secondary School, great school, don't be so pessemistic, top 1000 isn't that difficult, 1/6 isn't that hard, I barely studied last year, and I got around 120ish :), but like i said, the test is fluky! I am going to talk to the organizer to pursuade him to revise it in to a written test rather than a multiple choice test.
and yes, good luck to both of us :D</p>
<p>hey i would like to know too
y17k aren't you being a bit too generous? i'm thrilled you think i have such a solid shot but as david asked can ED be of that much influence?</p>
<p>Well he has everything going for him to make him a normally competitive applicant at Dartmouth RD (decent SATs, decent rank, fantastic AP scores, impressive ECs/awards), and applying ED increases the chance of such an applicant dramatically in my view.</p>
<p>Of course, a chance of a person with 2.5/1800 is not gonna change dramatically whether he or she applies ED or RD, but I think that this applicant in the general competitive pool, and the ED factor will give him the edge.</p>
<p>Good luck though.
Being an international student and an over-represented minority may work against you though :P</p>