Chance?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Dartmouth College
1

<p>Race: Caucasian
Grade: Rising senior
Gender: Female
State: CT
School Type: Public for freshman and sophomore years; private, coed, nationally-recognized for junior and senior years</p>

<p>A bit about me:
-My parents are divorced. Half of the time, I live with a low-income parent and the other half, I live with an upper-middle class parent. I have a stepmother and 6 year-old half-sister. This situation has been a struggle though I don't want to tell some sob story.
-I have traveled a lot more than the majority of my peers which gives me a unique view of the world. So far, I have visited France, Brazil, Canada, Japan, Spain, Denmark, Morocco, England, Ireland, Mexico, Italy, and Jamaica.
-I'm trilingual. Aside from English, I'm fluent in Spanish and French (mostly self-studied). In addition, I'm currently learning Latin. I love words and learning new languages.
-Besides my passions for the environment, writing and photography, I also love music and cooking. I've been playing the guitar since I was 15 and I'm currently learning how to play the piano.</p>

<p>Honors Courses: English 9, Ancient History, Spanish 3, English 10, Civics, World History, Geometry, Biology, Algebra II, Spanish 4, Chemistry [11 total]
AP Courses: Environmental Science, U.S History (11th) Biology, Euro, English and Spanish (12th) [6 total]
College-Level Electives: Research and Experimental Design, Bioethics, Poetry and Playwriting, Art History, Black Gold- Oil, Astronomy [6 total]
Summer Courses: Precalculus</p>

<p>UW GPA: 3.62 (Should be very close to a 3.7 after 1st semester of senior year)
Freshman: 3.4, Sophomore: 3.5, Junior: 4.0, Senior: 4.0
*The lowest grade on my transcript is a B.
Rank: My school does not rank or weight classes but as of now, I'm estimated to be #9/72. </p>

<p>Standardized Test Scores:
ACT- 35
SAT Subjects- Literature: 800, Biology: 800, U.S History: 780, Spanish: 770
APs: Environmental Science: 5, U.S History: 5, English Language (self-studied): 5, Psychology (self-studied): 5</p>

<p>Extracurriculars: *I don't include specific names for privacy purposes.</p>

<p>Sustainability-focused NGO (11, 12)
Outreach Coordinator and Member-at-Large (11)
Media Relations Coordinator (12)
Agents of Change program <a href="11,%2012">Connected to the NGO</a>
-Helped organize, attended, and spoke at numerous summits/delegations/conferences regarding biodiversity, climate change, etc. at the U.N and around the world.. I was one of the youngest, if not the youngest participant at most events.</p>

<p>Environmental Youth Corp. (11, 12)
-Founder and Chair
-Worked on a multitude of projects, most pertaining to environmental issues in my city/state
-Helped start more branches of the group in other parts of CT</p>

<p>City Waste/Recycling Department (10, 11, 12)
-Unpaid intern
-Made tons of presentations at summer camps and schools
-Created a composting program implemented at all of the city's public schools and in some parks</p>

<p>Green Team (9, 10, 11, 12)
-President (12)</p>

<p>Literary Magazine (10, 11, 12)
-Poetry Editor (11)
-E.I.C (12)</p>

<p>Newspaper (10, 11, 12)
-Art Section Editor (12)</p>

<p>Photography
-Photography Club member (11, 12)
-Blogger </p>

<p>Theater (11) [My school requires each student to play a sport or do theater for 1 season/year. I might do sailing next year..]
-Lead in A Midsummer Night's Dream (Titania)</p>

<p>Volunteer (10, 11, 12)
-Worked with an autistic child almost every Sunday morning</p>

<p>Work Experience:
Freelance writer (Published in local, state, regional and nationally-published newspapers and magazines)
Babysitter</p>

<p>Awards and Other Achievements: *I don't include specific names for privacy purposes.
Published an award-winning children's book about the environment
Finalist in an international environmental competition
1st place in a national environmental competition
Finalist in a national environmental competition
Semifinalist in a national environmental science competition
1st and 2nd place in state and regional science fairs
Local and state awards for my environmental efforts
Winner of three national writing awards (novel-writing, poetry, and creative nonfiction)
Winner of a regional writing award (playwriting)
1st place in two categories of a local literary competition (poetry and nonfiction)
Had photography utilized in my city's recycling campaign
Won local, state and regional photography contests
Had my photography shown in a gallery</p>

2

<p>When I read a chance thread, 99/100 times, I am fairly certain whether an applicant will be admitted or not. Of course, I always sugar coat my response, and attempt to be as constructive as possible, but in my head, I know.</p>

<p>But damn, your case is difficult.</p>

<p>As you probably know, your rank is weak, unless you’re attending Exeter or Andover, in which case you’re on the low end of Ivy admits. I find it a little strange that you’re making straight As at this tough private school, but didn’t do nearly as well at your public. That aside, the upward trend in your grades will be looked upon favorably.</p>

<p>Even then, you’re still not in the top 10% of your class. Ranking outside the top 10% would kill the vast majority of white, female, hookless applications from CT, but you’re different. You have very strong test scores, which indicates that you knew the material. This could portray you as a talented but lazy student. Hopefully your teacher and counselor recommendations will dismiss such an assumption.</p>

<p>I think you have a shot – but only if you apply ED. There will simply be way too many flawless applications from CT in the RD round, and the admissions officers just won’t have space for you. If you apply ED, though, I think they’ll be more forgiving.</p>

<p>Best of luck to you. I’m wishing you the best.</p>

3

<p>Thanks a lot for your response.</p>

<p>I’ll try to address everything you said…</p>

<ol>
<li>The highest GPA in my class is a 3.76. </li>
<li>After the 1st semester of senior year, my rank should raise to something close to #5. Mind you, ranking is unweighted so #1 could have taken 0 Honors/AP courses.</li>
<li>My motivation and ambition shot through the roof when I switched schools. I’ve dealt with serious personal issues - not laziness - which resulted in my low averages at my public school.</li>
<li>I will definitely consider applying ED.</li>
</ol>

<p>Thank you!</p>