Chance me at Dartmouth, please?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Dartmouth College
1

<p>For both RD and ED.</p>

<p>Female Asian who wants to major in one of the pure sciences </p>

<p>SAT superscored: 2300 (750 CR, 800 M, 750 W)
SAT Subjects: 770 Spanish; 730 Math I; 640 Chem (will retake in Oct.). Also will take Math II and Physics in Oct. along with Chem retake
GPA: 4.0 UW; around 4.3 W
No class ranking - large public school - ~5-7 per year to ivies/MIT/Stanford </p>

<p>4 APs and 2 honors junior year - all A's
5 APs senior year
(this is about as rigorous as it gets at my school) </p>

<p>Extracurriculars: Math Club (president/founder as junior/senior), Speech and Debate (president as senior), Green Team Environmental Club (co-pres as senior), Spanish Honor Society, MUN, Volunteer Club </p>

<p>Volunteering: Mainly at a local scientific museum, environmental/animal rights activism (planting trees at urban park, organizing letter campaigns, petitions, vegan lifestyle), some various events through Volunteer Club</p>

<p>Awards: National Spanish Exam stuff (1st in state soph year, 2nd in nation; 4th in state and nation jr year), Math and bio and spanish awards at school...that's about it. </p>

<p>Essays: one compelling about family adversity, another unique and laid-back/humorous.</p>

<p>Recs: one great, one good (I'm assuming here); counselor's should be nothing special, though. Perhaps getting an extra from a summer program professor. </p>

<p>Hmm, what else? Definitely applying for finaid (but this shouldn't affect admissions because of need-blindness); income around 85k/family of 5. Dad lives in different state because of job loss here (didn't want to make me relocate schools middle of jr year) </p>

<p>Strengths: Good grades, essays, well-roundedness/multiple interests. Special family situation on which I will elaborate in my personal essay. </p>

<p>Weaknesses: Not a good test-taker (esp. standardized ones...), ECs seem all over the place despite the well-roundedness factor.</p>

<p>Any honest additions to the weaknesses list, agreements, and chances (RD and ED) would be appreciated!</p>

2

<p>Everything is very solid, except that there is little here that distinguishes you from many other applicants with similarly strong profiles. There is also no apparent link between you and your choice of Dartmouth. What is there about you that fits with what is unique at Dartmouth? You can study pure science anywhere. Finally, you have the Asian demographic working against you. In that segment, Dartmouth has a disproportionately large number of well qualified applicants. I would say that you have about 1 in 5 shot of getting in. Your chances are better than the odds (1 in 7), but they are not high.</p>

3

<p>Why did you say test-taking is your weakness? A 2300 is a great score, and a 770/730 SAT 2 combination is definitely solid (won’t hurt you at all). I agree with BalletGirl overall, though; your ECs are spread pretty thin over different areas. You have good chances, but as I’m sure you know competition is pretty staggering. Good luck!</p>

<p>Edit: Have you already started your essays? Pretty impressive!</p>

4

<p>On paper, you are what I like to call the stereotypical asian applicant. You have almost nothing that distinguishes you from another asian student that will study 24/7, get a 2400 on the SAT, and have zero social skills. I’m by no means saying you are the stereotypical asian in person, but from what I have skimmed from your post, you don’t seem to divert from academics, which can be good, but colleges are also looking for more. Some sports, maybe a passion for the saxophone, I don’t know. However, maybe I’m being too harsh, but be passionate about more than just academics. Other than that, you seem to have a solid academic record.</p>

5

<p>Thanks for the honest feedback, guys. I realize that I didn’t save an endangered species in the Amazon forest or that I didn’t travel to Cameroon as an AIDS volunteer. But I’m hoping that my essays will help me quite a bit. Think I’ll have a chance then?</p>