Chance me for ED!!!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Dartmouth College
1

<p>Yeah, I know this is already in the "what are my chances" forum, but I decided to repost it here since it got buried underneath tons of stuff.</p>

<p>So... uh... here goes nothing. After visiting Dartmouth, I absolutely loved it, especially the sense of community in the campus and how nice and welcoming everyone was. I also made quite a few friends =D</p>

<p>So, I was wondering if you could chance me real quick. I understand and appreciate the fact that some of you believe that chancing for Ivies is counterproductive, but if you can, I'd really like an accurate assessment of how much choosing to go with ED will improve my chances.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance!!</p>

<p>Race: Asian (first generation immigrant)
Junior going into senior year
Sex: Male
Need financial aid. Although I live in northern new jersey, not all people there are uber rich.
Polysci/Economics Major
ACT: 34</p>

<p>ECs, including the ones I plan to participate in next year:
Student Council President (Won. Will take office next year)
Student Council Vice President (2009-Present)
Student Council Recording Secretary (2008-2009)
Transition Project (Leadership and community service)
Freshman Orientation
Model UN (4 years)
President and Founder of Chinese Club (3 years)
Latin Club Corresponding Secretary (3 years)
Spanish Club (3 years)
Multicultural Task force (4 years)
National Honor Society (2 years, you're only allowed in Junior and Senior years)
Concert Choir <a href="3%20years">Numerous Awards</a>
Wind Ensemble <a href="Clarinet,%20Guitar,%20Piano">Numerous Awards</a> (3 years)
Guitar Club (4 years), our band (The Francs) plays at a cafe to raise money for the Center for Food Action
Marching Band <a href="4%20years">Numerous awards</a>
Improv Club (4 years)</p>

<p>Awards:
Perfect Attendance (so far)
High Honor Roll (Frosh -> Soph)
Honor Roll (Junior year)
National Latin Exam (numerous awards)
(Senior year pending, I will try out for the US Senate youth program)</p>

<p>Community Service:
225 hours (and counting) as a Chinese School teaching assistant
Numerous hours with children at the YMCA
Numerous hours with SC raising money for the Tomorrow's Children's Fund (buying Christmas presents for children with cancer)
Numerous hours helping homeless people in NYC (was really an eye opening experience, I may write my college essays about this)
Numerous hours giving tours around the school, helping freshmen, etc</p>

<p>Recommendations:
English Teacher (this one's gonna focus on me as a student)
AP Gov Teacher (this is focusing on me as a leader). He writes really funny recommendations, probably gonna focus on how I enjoyed one of his personal favorites, the movie "Blazing Saddles."</p>

<p>I'm planning on trying to get one of my best friends to do the peer review for me and doing the review for her as well. We've done a lot of music things together, basically we'll talk about music stuff in the recommendations. Her sister is currently a sophomore at Dartmouth, don't know if that'll help.</p>

<p>Work:
sushi place over the summer
Tutoring other kids, lots of money
Playing with my band at cafes and birthday parties to raise money, ppl hire us xD</p>

<p>SATIIs:
Bio-740
Chinese-790 (DAMN, messed up one freaking thing, bringing me all the way down to the 44th percentile, I might not submit this)
US History (750 on practice test, will take next month)
Spanish (will take, but Dart. only requires 2 SATIIs. If it's too much work, then I won't take it)</p>

<p>APs:
Calculus AB- 5
US History- 5
US Gov + Politics- 5
Bio- 3 (crappy; will not submit, SATII makes up for it)
Chem- 3 (will not submit)
(Senior year scores pending, expecting 5, 5, 4/5, 4/5, 5)</p>

<p>GPA Weighted: 4.24
GPA Unweighted: 3.8</p>

<p>Junior year courseload:</p>

<p>AP US History
Honors Spanish IV
Honors Humanities
Honors Latin III
AP Gov and Politics
AP Chemistry
AP Calculus AB</p>

<p>Next year's courseload:</p>

<p>AP Economics
AP Environmental Science
AP English Language
AP Spanish Language
AP Statistics
Honors Model UN
Concert Choir/Wind Ensemble</p>

<p>Well what can I say? I gave it my all and put in every single ounce of energy that I could possibly muster. It's a solid resume, but not uber special haha. Unless I bring up the fact that I'm an Asian student council president in a conservative suburban neighborhood in Bergen County, New Jersey (If you know/can guess who I am by some strange coincidence, please don't post it here haha). But would that be too pretentious/platitudinous in an essay? You decide lolz.</p>

<p>Anyways, thanks, hoping for some replies, and I will chance you guys back ASAP.</p>

2

<p>Trust me, you want to minimize the fact that you are Asian as much as possible…I’m Indian, and you and I are in the same boat…
You don’t have very good EC’s…they are almost all school-based.
Your academic stats are decent…but hey, then again, you’re Chinese, and to get in, it’s almost expected that you have 2300+ SAT or 35, 36 ACT…
But good luck! Any Ivy League is hard to chance…</p>

3

<p>I don’t think Pranam0 is correct for a few reasons, including:</p>

<p>(1) You don’t have to hide the fact that you’re Asian. I’m a '14, but from what I saw when I visited, there are a ton of Asian people on campus. I talked to several, and they definitely did not all have SATs above 2300 or ACTs above 34. (However, it is indeed considered by most to be a bit more difficult to get into Ivies as an Asian.)</p>

<p>(2) It’s not bad that your ECs are centered around your school. That’s fine. They’re not the most impressive ECs I’ve ever seen, but they’re definitely better than “not very good,” as Pranam would have you believe.</p>

<p>(3) Since you’re applying ED, I think you have a decent shot.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

4

<p>Thanks :slight_smile:
It’s good to know that I’m an ok candidate haha.</p>

5

<p>Dartmouth has an insane amount of Asians who apply, most of them highly qualified (35/2300+). Many of these Asians apply ED because they are so academically inclined, prepared, and studious. On top of your already being in the incredibly difficult pool of ED Asians, you are from New Jersey, an astronomically over-represented area making admission for you doubly competitive. You might want to reconsider where you are applying ED…</p>

6

<p>Yes there are tons of Asians at the Ivies. Maybe that’s why OP doesn’t want to mention it? I wonder if the pendulum has swung the other way. If there are “too many” Asians at a particular school, might that hurt his chances there?</p>

<p>My son (rising junior) has his eye on the Ivies or MIT for engineering. He is not Asian. We’re kinda hoping one of those schools might be interested in a non-Asian engineering student. He very much goes against the stereotype (6 foot 4 varsity athlete).</p>

7

<p>Yeah, I get what ur saying, but it sucks ass especially since my ethnicity and location are factors beyond my control.</p>

<p>Do you think that applying for regular decision instead of ED help me in any way, or will it exacerbate my chances? My recommendations are extremely strong, painting me as a funny and outgoing person, and may help to cut through some of the Asian stereotypes.</p>

8

<p>These guys are so wrong, Jayster.</p>

<p>You * do not * need a 2300+ to be an admitted Asian student at Dartmouth. Most of the Asian students don’t apply ED, nor do they have 2300+ on the SAT. Spencer just made that statistic up. If it’s real, I ask spencer to provide a link to it. Applying from NJ isn’t “doubly competitive.” Again, another made-up statistic. Applying RD will lower your chances; ED improves them.</p>

<p>Apply ED if Dartmouth is your first choice. Don’t let these guys dissuade you.</p>

9

<p>Thanks. I just got back from talking to my guidance counselor two hours ago and he recommended for me to go ED if I’m really passionate about it. It’s a great school and everyone’s just so friendly, I’d really like to be a part of the community there.</p>

10

<p>I think you have a great shot, no doubt. I really do not have enough credibility to make assumptions about your chances. In my mind, I would accept you! I am just warning you to be aware of the competition, and the fact that yes, Asians are overrepresented at the Ivy Leagues. Hey, it’s not our faults that so many Asians apply. But all the best, man! I wish you luck!
By the way, I am about 85% certain I am applying ED. I am going to visit the campus in a few weeks just to make up that other 15%.
DartmouthForever, how much of a better chance does one have if he/she applies ED?
Also, would an Indian (from Asia) be considered an “Asian” in college admissions?</p>

11

<p>@DartmouthForever: Haha, can you even read? I didn’t say he needed a 2300 to be admitted I simply said many Asians do and he will be compared to them because of his ethnicity. Is it unfair? Yes. Is it going to change? No.
Every Asian I have ever known who went to Dartmouth (and yes, I know several, applied ED). There is no way to tell what the score averages for individual elasticities are but it is agreed upon that Asians have to score higher because they are so overrepresented. Also, about 20% of the admits last year were from the New England area. It most certainly IS overrepresented.
I never said applying RD would be better than ED. ED will be better but not by much.
You should def apply ED if you feel it is your #1 choice though! I’m just saying you would have a much better chance EDing at some other similar schools (Amherst, Williams, Pomona etc…)
I’m not trying to be mean, just honest (:</p>

12

<p>@Pranam: ED accept rate last year was 29% while RD was 11.5%</p>

13

<p>So if a student has the goods, their odds nearly triple by applying ED vs. RD?</p>

14

<p>haha not necessarily. MANY of the admits for ED are legacies, developmental admits, and athletic recruits. I would say the unhooked applicant admit rate would be around 15% although this is sheer speculation.</p>

15

<p>@Pranam0, yup, definitely visit. I loved it there the second I stepped into the admissions office.</p>

16

<p>Is athletics a hook at Dartmouth? I’m not talking about star football recruits. What about club sports?</p>

17

<p>Any recruited athlete is a hook. Intramural is not a hook.</p>

18

<p>Is a strong musical background a hook? My only huge EC is music and performance.</p>

19

<p>

</p>

<p>No, it’s not.</p>

20

<p>No it wouldn’t help you at Dartmouth because they don’t consider demonstrated interest (whether it be in the school or any program at the school) in the admissions process and, since you can’t be recruited for music, it’s just another EC to them.</p>