I am aware that I am at the lower end of the applicant spectrum for Dartmouth applicants, but I’d like to see what the folks at CC have to say anyways. I go to a small public high school (~1000 students) with an average gradutating class of about 200-250 kids. A few kids have gotten into Ivies, but mostly lower end ones. However, we did have two kids go to Harvard a couple years ago. Thanks for your help!
General Info:
Year: Junior
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: White
High School: Suburban Public
State: MA
Major: Economics or Finance with minor in International Studies
Academics:
GPA: 3.95 UW / 4.45 W
SAT: 1390 (670 CR/W, 720 M)
SAT II: Took US History, was unsure of only 3-4 questions so I am guessing 770+
APs: School only offered APs starting junior year. This year took AP Bio and AP U.S. History
Senior Year Courseload next year: AP Calc AB, AP Econ, AP English Lit, AP Pysch, Honors Physics, Honors Spanish 5
Awards:
DECA State Qualifier Financial Analysis (4th at District Competition)
Outstanding Community Service Recipient for tutoring program (see more below in EC)
National Honors Society
Recognition of Distinction for attending 2016 DECA ICDC leadership academy
Selected to attend Bentley University’s Wall Street 101 Summer Program
ECs:
Sports: 3 seasons cross country, 3 seasons winter track, 2 seasons spring track
International Club: Associate President - Organized and delivered blanket drive for single mothers and children at state hospital
DECA: Financial Analysis state qualifier and ICDC leadership academy in Nashville
School Council: 1 of 3 student representatives in the school - monthly meetings with principal and teachers to discuss long term goals of the school
NHS: Vice President - in charge of tutoring services
ProgressMe: I dropped spring track this season to start an after school volunteer tutoring program for students at my district’s 5th/6th grade school.
Seeking Alpha: I write stock research articles for the financial news website Seeking Alpha
Start-up: In the process of expanding my tutoring program to offer low-cost tutoring to low-income students in the adjacent towns to my hometown. 30% of tutoring income will be donated to a cause of the tutee’s choice.
Recs:
Both teachers I am going to pick for my letters of rec really know me well so those should have a lot of personal message to them outside of schoolwork.
I used to want to go into finance to make money, but I recently really became interested in global outreach and involvement, which is why I broke from the norm and quit spring track. Even though I became sort of ostracized from the team, I pursued creating a tutoring program because I wanted to take what I had learned from school and my clubs and actually apply it to a real-life scenario to help someone else out. Managing tutees, connecting with parents and teachers, and presenting myself has made the experience feel almost like running my own business. This summer I hope to actually start my own tutoring business with a community-oriented outlook.
Any other advice, tips, or other schools I could be looking at? I’m also looking at Bentley, Northeastern, Babson, and Umass Amherst (Honors Program).
Thanks a lot and sorry this is so long!!