Chance me on Dartmouth? Will chance back!

Chance Me / Match Me!
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<p>I am going to be a junior next year and am really hoping to get into Dartmouth. I have straight A's (some A minuses), am taking one ap course at the moment as a sophomore (should have an a minus at the end, haven't taken the test yet so we'll see what happens with that.) Here's some background info about me and my EC's:</p>

<p>sailed around the world with my family as a preteen (offers a unique perspective, I think, good essay material)
published over 10 articles in national sailing magazines about places we visited
have started two successful online businesses, one selling feathers, the other hair accessories
homeschooled freshman-soph year to play tennis 5-6 hours a day, by the time i apply hopefully will be ranked within top 500 in nation
member of jhu cty, took two college level courses through the program
am heavily involved in my family's lavender farm business</p>

<p>I'm going to a "real" school as a junior this year, I'm hoping to be a leading member in their literary magazine. I'm also hoping to do a weeklong internship with the ceo of my dad's company who went to dartmouth. </p>

<p>Questions: To increase my chances, should I take two or three ap's junior year? I want to show that i'm taking a rigorous course load, but I also want to have enough free time to pursue my other interests, especially tennis b/c it requires a lot of work to be nationally ranked. </p>

<p>also, I'm trying to focus on writing/business/tennis as my three EC's, i think showing a large amount of dedication to a few activities you're passionate about is prob better than doing a bunch of stuff with little involvement. do you think these three things are enough, or do i need to add more? i don't have any activities that show leadership, which may be important, is this terribly bad?</p>

<p>what do you think?? just from what i've done so far in my high school career, am in on the right track? what more should i do?</p>

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<p>GPA is somewhat greater than or equal to ECs for most colleges - do you know what yours is? I don’t really understand your “real” school situation, would you mind explaining, if you know?</p>

<p>I’d try some ACT/SAT practice if I were you now - it could help a lot later on, but that’s really up to you.</p>

<p>More AP courses as well - 3 is nice, but 4 would be better and for most colleges, on par.
Of course, getting that nationally ranked tennis ranking is also exceptionally important - if it means the difference between 3 or 4, do 3, but I’d be hesitant to go down to 2 for any Ivy League, especially Dartmouth.</p>

<p>Your ECs are truly stellar; your parents would be proud, as am I reading this. Your ECs don’t necessarily say leadership (except business, which does to a minor degree), but they scream UNIQUE and HARD WORK ETHIC, which in your case might actually be worth more.</p>

<p>You’re crazy if you’re going to just use writing/business/tennis as your 3 ECs. What about sailing? Dartmouth recognizes (and feels for) sailing, it’s also a more rare (and very difficult imo) EC. I’d definitely include it. Tennis is your superstar though; work as hard as you can to get as highly ranked as you possibly can (obviously). Show passion for those 3 (4 for sailing!!), you’ll be set in that area. </p>

<p>You could really write a unique essay about your preteen experience. Lots of routes to go with this! Write a meaningful essay with it, you’ll probably be set there as well.</p>

<p>As for recommendations (which you’ll need - Dartmouth requires 2), work to build meaningful relationships with the teachers at your real school, especially ones in the AP classes. Get good grades in them as well, obviously, but you probably already knew that. </p>

<p>If you’ve got any other questions, just throw me a line. </p>

<p>Hope I helped!</p>

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<p>thanks so much! this helped, could you answer a couple more questions?</p>

<p>to clarify, i homeschooled to play tennis half fresh through soph year, i will go back to a “real school” aka a private school for junior and senior year. </p>

<p>also forgot to add a couple ec’s
nominated for and attended national youth leadership forum on medicine
print article in teen ink</p>

<p>when you say it’s crazy to only have ec’s based on three activities (tennis/writing/business) how many more do you think I need? going to private school i’ll def have more as there are opportunities for awards, mandatory community service, and a literary mag i’d like to get involved in. do you think that will do it in the ec dept?</p>

<p>my parents do have some dartmouth connections (not in the family, but friends/business partners), hoping i can get some recs out of them. how much do you think they’re worth as an advantage (knowing ppl who went there)?</p>

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<p>also, my gpa should be somewhere around 3.8-3.9 unweighted. i have a few a minuses and i think those are a 3.7 on the scale…</p>

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<p>Well ECs… this might seem a lot but I like keeping myself busy and I don’t like to sleep.
Volunteering, Co founder of two clubs, founder of MIT engineering club, math league, science Olympiad, chemistry Olympiad, chess club, dream team for world quest, will write for NY Times next year, starting an SAT summer boot camp, hack sometimes, on top of all this 4 APs
chem, calc bc, cs, ush, oh and nhs inductee and shr inductee. Also will do calc 3 and differential equations before I graduate… and I’m applying to Dartmouth…</p>

<p>Sent from my SCH-I535 using CC</p>

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<p>writing for the ny times? nice, how’d you get that deal?</p>

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<p>and are you doing 4 ap’s in a single year or through your high school career?</p>

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<p>4 APs in junior year. Google: open ed ny times getting published. A link should come up with syntax from nytimes website enter it</p>

<p>Sent from my SCH-I535 using CC</p>

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<p>Your EC’s are really good. I think all you need to is to take some Ap class and try to get a 5 Or a 4, get a SaT score around 2250 and you would be able to go into Dartmouth</p>

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<p>bump bump!</p>

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<p>Hahahaha, I meant it just as a joke and a strong encouragement to include sailing (it’s liked at Dartmouth from what I’ve heard and its rarity could open some doors for you). In all other respects, you’re fine with your ECs.</p>

<p>Opening a literary mag is something you REALLY should do if you think you can do it; that’s leadership, right there. You’ll be set with that.</p>

<p>Recs from former Dartmouth attendants might be helpful. I’m not saying it’s going to amount to anything, but it might mean a slight bit more than the average English teacher rec. However, I notice you say “business partners”. I don’t think the Dartmouth application has a spot for anything other than teachers in recs, though the vague “Dartmouth College Peer Evaluation” could be inclusive of that.</p>

<p>If anything, I’d recommend you use them for the interview. Save the rec up for a teacher, mentor, etc who you have a personal connection with. Using a rec simply because they’re “close friends” with the family won’t amount to as good of a rec as would something from a teacher/mentor you had come to know closely.</p>

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<p>Very, very strong application. I have yet to see your SAT scores, but considering how well you’ve been doing with your grades, a strong score would definitely catch Dartmouth’s attention. Just keep doing what you’re doing, and I can see you at Dartmouth really soon.</p>

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<p>bump bumppp</p>