Chance me for Dartmouth ED?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

GPA: 4.0 (UW); 4.45(W)
SAT: 2250 (first and only sitting)
SAT subjects: Math II: 750 (probably will retake bc I decided to take this test the day of lol), Chemistry: 780, Biology: 750, Korean with listening: 800
Rank: Top 1% out of 700-800 students (school never gave ranks, but this is a safe assumption)

AP Courses:
Freshman year- self studied HUG (4) bc school stopped offering this AP
Sophomore year- European History (4), Chemistry (5)
Junior year- US History (5), English Language (5), Biology (5), Psychology (5), Calculus AB (5)
Senior year- 5 AP classes

Extracurriculars:
3 clubs that I am super dedicated to and have been in since Freshman year; have held officer positions in all of them, will be president in 2 of them; two are related to mathematics/science/medicine

Summer:
Internship at a well-known and respected lab for 2 years; my name will be published in their research paper, hopefully by the time I enter college

Work experience:
-Minimum wage job at a doctor’s clinic
-Private tutor for math and science

Community Service:
I am really dedicated to community service and probably have about 500 hours, if not more. I hold several significant roles.

Awards/Honors:
I have a few national awards (nothing REALLY major like Intel) and a few school awards.

Major: can’t really decide between biochem, neuroscience and chemistry (hope to go pre-med)
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Female
Family income: $30K
Recs: pretty sure they will be really good since my teachers know me really well
Hooks: none- maybe the fact that I applied to Questbridge?

As of now, Dartmouth is my “dream school,” so I just want to know if my stats are competitive enough for the school (please consider the fact that I am an Asian girl competing with a lot of qualified students).

I learned that Dartmouth gives a rank of 1-9 to its students in many categories, including academics and essay/supplements. If any of you guys are familiar with this grading system at Dartmouth, please feel free to give me a rank.

Thanks for the help!

2

So you basically asked Dartmouth as your top choice through QB…

All I can say at this point is that you need a safety.

3

No, I am not applying through QB. I am applying through the common app, early decision.

4

@Catria

5

Even so, what are your safeties like?

6

My safeties range from UC’s to lower ranked LAC and some smaller privates. I do not want to be specific in my schools because my friends might identify me lol. If you REALLY need to know my safety schools (which I doubt you will since I’m just asking for my chance as a Dartmouth ED applicant, not other colleges) I can PM them to you :slight_smile:

7

@Catria And could you be more specific? I want to know whether it would be a high reach, low reach, etc.

8

It appears that you would be competitive to get into Dartmouth, especially if you apply ED. Beyond that no one can really say. May I ask what region of the country you are from and what your reasons for wanting to attend Dartmouth are?

9

You are a reasonably well qualified applicant academically for Dartmouth. That gets you in the game.

Admission will depend on your application (essays, recommendations, packaging, how impressed Dartmouth is with your research EC, etc…)

If you absolutely have to have a number - I’d say somewhere between 15%-25% as an ED applicant, or “High Reach” if you prefer.

10

Dartmouth: Reach

11

Look at their admissions page. They tell you directly that ED gives no advantage at all.

12

What they say and what happens in reality are often two different things. Yes, the applicant pool is stronger and it contains many hooked candidates but the chances of admission are still better for ED vs. RD. Like all top schools, Dartmouth practices yield protection and admitting 40%-50% of their class ED goes a long way to enhancing yield. Unlike the other Ivies, being Asian is almost like being a URM rather than ORM since many top ranked Asian students historically choose not to apply (for whatever reason). Only in the past couple of years is that starting to change (and the percentage of Asians in the admitted class is also going up). I still think OP has a better chance ED rather than RD but I am still interested in knowing her reasons for wanting to attend Dartmouth.

13

^^^^ Dartmouth’s enrollment is 14% Asian according to IPEDs, so I seriously doubt that being Asian is anything like being an URM there.

14

It’s 15% currently but you’re missing my point. At most top schools, the Asian applicant pool is much larger and more competitive. Fewer top Asian applicants choose to apply to Dartmouth (and attend when accepted) so if you are a strong Asian applicant you are not as much of an ORM in the applicant group as you are for the other schools. At other Ivies, Asians represent 18% or more (21% at Harvard, for example) of the admitted class, so if Dartmouth is interested in having the same kind of demographics than being Asian might be a plus for OP.

15

Unless you have inside information about the number and quality of the Asian applicants at Dartmouth and the other Ivies, I don’t really see how you can really justify any of this - a difference in the number of admitted Asians of 3% or even 7% could simply be a reflection of Dartmouth having a proportionally smaller pool of Asian applicants. If that’s the case, where is the advantage?

16

This is exactly my point.

As I said in post #14

This is where the advantage is.

17

As Yogi Berra once said, “No one ever goes there any more, it’s too crowded.”

Again, you have presented no evidence about the number of Asian applicants relative to the other Ivies, and so there is no basis for your statement.

18

Dartmouth is one of the only schools out there that considers Asians historically a minority (according to an article I read from an old admissions officer there) I Also have a thread about my chances at dartmouth if anyone wants to check it out :slight_smile:

19

^^ Thanks, I believe that article was in the Huffington Post. I will dig it up if I can. In the meantime, @nickflynn trotting out Yogi Berra quotes is a little immature. What about what I am saying seems illogical to you? Do you have any data to support your contention that what I am saying is wrong? Apart from the article and things I have heard from a number of people (what I am saying isn’t exactly a secret), I do not have actual admissions statistics. You’re going to have either believe what you read in the article and what I’m saying or not believe. It really doesn’t matter either way, I was just trying to help OP.

20

Here’s the article from the Business Insider. This is from an interview with a former Dartmouth Admissions officer.

http://www.businessinsider.com/secrets-of-dartmouth-admissions-office-2012-10

@NickFlynn Both of what I said in my first post are supported by what this person clearly states. If you have any evidence to the contrary, I would be happy to consider it.