Chance me for Dartmouth, Penn, Emory ED

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Let me begin this post by saying I know I am far less qualified than the majority of the applicants and I know my chances are slim but I would appreciate it if you would give me your honest opinion on what my chances would be at Dartmouth, Penn or Emory ED. I have a legacy status at Dartmouth and Penn

GPA: 3.71… weighted (this is obviously my greatest flaw, very unmotivated student early in highschool )
SAT I: 2060 single, 2080 super
ACT: 33 E:35 M:35 R: 32 S:31 W:32
SAT II: USH: 710 Math II: 700 (going to retake Math 2 and hopefully score higher)
PSAT: 207

9th grade:0 AP/honors somewhere around a 3.5 gpa
10th: 2 honors, 1 AP probably more like a 3.7
11th: 3 AP 4.1 gpa
12th: 6 AP 1 honor hopefully 4.2+

EC:
President/Founder of Student Managed investment fund (we invest real money from my schools endowment into the stock market)
Teen Board (Officer) at a community center called Wesley Rankin
Teen Board (member) Ronald McDonald House
NHS member
Member of Junior Classical League
Participant in UT Dallas top trader comp this summer and last summer, finished top 10 last summer
Last Summer worked at a Veterinarian’s office, 6 hrs a day, 4 days a week, 8 weeks over the summer
Went to TCU for a week to participate in an investor challenge(for more info search tcu investor challenge)
Internship at private equity firm
President Volunteer service award all 3 years (300 hours total now)
Honor Roll all years
Varsity Golf in 11th, likely 12th, JV 10th
JV Crew 9th Grade
Member of World Affairs Club 9th, 10th
Member of Environmental Awareness Club 9th
Summer after Freshmen year took a service trip to New Orleans to help rebuild the wetlands through and organization called Student Shoulder to Shoulder

Teacher Recs
(10/10)- saw me progress from a B student in 9th grade to and A+ student 11th grade in her class
(10/10)- best student in the class and she’s my advisor, really likes me
Guidance Counselor Rec- not too sure but I don’t see why it would be any lower than (8/10)

My Essays should be pretty good

So I guess my main question is should I waste my ED on a school that is so far from my grasp? Or should I use ED on something a little more plausible like wake forest or emory (don’t get me wrong, both great schools) and then try and transfer into dartmouth after a year at one of those colleges, presumably getting all A’s. And if I did do the latter do you think I would have a fairly good shot at getting in with more grades under my belt? Thanks!

2

Legacy won’t help you at Dartmouth or Penn unless you apply ED. You probably shouldn’t submit the SAT. ACT is on the lower side but not terrible. EC’s are somewhat unique, but leadership is a little lacking. i would do Dartmouth ED if I were you. Statistically best shot.

3

@jarrett211 I’m assuming you’re meaning Dartmouth would be the best shot between Dartmouth and Penn; despite my lack of legacy at Emory i still think I would have a better chance of getting in there ED than I would at any ivy. Also one thing to take into consideration is that alot of my extra curriculars are based around business and seeing that Penn puts such a large emphasis on business, do you think that my business related ECs would carry more weight there than at Dartmouth?

4

i think you should try to raise your SAT score, unless you’ve already taken the test more than twice, or re take the ACT–either way, work on bringing those numbers up. and i disagree with the previous poster–you have a good amount of leadership. you don’t necessarily need to have a title to be impressive; for example, a lot of your volunteer service experiences display plenty of leadership skills.

Emory’s ED acceptance rate is the highest of all of these schools (i think it’s somewhere around ~35%) and you match their stat range the best. just going off of stats, i think Emory would be the most likely school for you to get into ED.
and i believe your business ECs wont hold any more weight at Upenn than they will anywhere else.

5

If 3.71 is your weighted gpa then I don’t see you having a realistic shiot at Penn or Dartmouth even as a legacy. Emory is probably also a reach but I don’t know the school very well. Good luck with everything!