Chance me: Dartmouth Deferred

Colleges and Universities A-Z Dartmouth College
1

Hey guys,
I am really hoping to be admitted to Dartmouth this RD round–it is my number 1 school by far. I applied ED in November, and was deferred to the RD round. I come from a private school with a good relationship and history with Dartmouth, and was really disappointed in the deferral. I am hoping for a better outcome in the RD round.

Key parts of my application are below. Since the deferral, I sent a profound letter of continued interest to the school, demonstrating my unwavering interest and also highlighting my contact with multiple professors at Dartmouth and positive updates to my application.

My application:

Testing

SAT: 1560 composite (790 math, 770 reading)
US History subject test: 740
Math II subject test: 760

EC’s:

  1. founder of innovative startup company to make projectors that display basketball court regulation lines on outdoor basketball courts (have patent)
  2. Youth district leader for international charity, raised over $20,000 through personally raised events
  3. Intern at medical company where my regulatory work was so well received they funded a trip for me to a company meeting in Japan
  4. Wearable technology intern at local university, developed publication with program director and presented at the collegiate research symposium
  5. Junior class president
  6. Attended orthopaedic conference in India for underprivileged patients
  7. Regulatory intern for telenutrition company
  8. Leader of school diversity and inclusion group
  9. top 5 runner on varsity cross country, letter winner
  10. self-taught the French language

GRADES (this is the WEAK point):

4.26 weighted
3.7 unweighted

Academic Honors:

Junior Marshal (top 20 GPA in class)
Science, Mandarin NHS
Regular NHS
(school doesn’t do class ranking)

I took 8 AP classes during high school. I am taking 3 currently. On the others, I got three 5’s (APUSH, HUGE, and World history) and two 4’s (macro and bio).

I am really hoping to be admitted in the RD round, and have expressed In my letter that I would commit to attend in a heartbeat. My application has also definitely been improved in a few ways since the deferral (a positive update on an internship, attending a leadership conference, strong senior semester 1 grades, etc.)

The Dartmouth website says they admit 5-10% of deferred applicants. My school is bound to send 1-2 students to Dartmouth this year, and 4 people applied RD including myself (all of whom have somewhat better GPAs but inferior testing and extracurriculars).

Sorry if that was a lot to read…What do you think my odds are of getting in RD?

2

I think that it is very hard to know what your chances are in the RD round. Clearly you have a chance or they would have rejected you outright. On the other hand, you are not certain to get in or they would have accepted you already.

At this point I think that you need to focus on other schools. There are a lot of very good universities and LACs in the US (and more elsewhere). Make sure that your applications are in good shape for other schools. Relax. Have a pizza or some ice cream. You will hear back relatively soon.

3

This is true. That being said, I would at least like to hope that my chances for acceptance are decent, perhaps better than 5-10%. Idk. Just asking because it’s my #1 school and I’m really hoping.

4

Be careful about contacting professors. Could help, could hurt, or could be a non-factor. Better to let admissions do their job unless you have a legitimate reason for contacting professors beyond “I really, really want to go to school here”.

5

What is your major? Are you a URM? What is your ethnicity? I’ve read that Dartmouth and like elite schools “shape” the incoming class not just by test scores and stats, but also by major, URM, ethnicity, etc. The question then is how do you compare to those “like you” who applied ED and were accepted?

6

@binlee I am an Indian male and have applied for a major in Asian Societies, Cultures, and Languages (Dartmouth’s East Asian Studies track). Does that change anything for chance RD?

7

You’re not a URM, if anything you’re probably an ORM. Also, I would imagine Dartmouth had plenty of high-stats Indian males applying in ED and accepted many. I would say your chances are no better, and possibly worse, than everyone else’s at RD. But you never know. Are you full pay? That would help! Best of luck.

8

Dartmouth is need blind for US citizens and permanent resdidents. Unless Op is an international student, being full payt will have no nearings on admissions. Dartmouth also does not admit by major