Chances, anyone?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Dartmouth College
1

<p>I had written off the Ivies as somewhat "too much" for me, but I've recently become really interested in Dartmouth and decided to give it a shot and apply. So here's my stats:</p>

<p>Personal Info:
Senior at large PA school that usually sends maybe 1-3 to top schools (usually Penn) every year
White male
Hoping to major in bio (perhaps a bio/marketing double major)</p>

<p>Academics:
GPA: 4.0 UW, 102.71 W (not sure how that converts onto 4.0)
Rank: 1/488
Courseload: most difficult available, taken every AP of the 7 my school offers and all other classes are honors throughout all 4 years
SAT I: 760CR 710M 730W, 2200 total
SAT II: 740 US History, 690 Math I
APs: 5 US History, 4 Bio, 3 Chem (taking 4, possibly 5 more tests at the end of this year)</p>

<p>ECs:
--greatly involved in my church for my whole life and have racked up 1000s of volunteer hours in all sorts of activities--altar server, usher, volunteering at bible school, setting up for the church picnic, anything possible really--I have a great rec from my priest
--United States Senate page for Sen. Arlen Specter in summer 2007...I'm most proud of this, seeing as I applied and got accepted on my own merits and without connections
--internship at the World Aerobic/Hip Hop Championships in Los Angeles for three weeks two summers in a row (Hip Hop Championships will be featured on upcoming NBC reality series World Moves!)
--chosen as "Scholar of the Year" from my school, where each district in the area picks the most well-rounded student for a newspaper piece and radio interview
--Scholastic bowl team (12); my school does things backwards and ONLY chooses seniors...we won states and went to nationals last year, hoping to live up to that!
--National Merit Commended Scholar
--AP Scholar
--National Honor Society
--Spanish club (9,10,11,12)
--school golf team (10,11); nothing special here, just something I enjoy
--school bowling team (9,10,12); won most improved in the scholastic league in 10th
--won photography contest in our decently large local newspaper (100,000+ circulation)
--pretty extensive world traveler...don't know if this really counts as an EC, but it did help to shape my world outlook and thus my essay, which I think came out great!</p>

<p>Work experience:
--job as dietary aide at local hospital from Oct 2006-August 2007, about 15 hrs/wk
--job as dietary aide at nursing home from August 2007-present, about 10 hrs/wk</p>

<p>Recs are glowing!
I wrote my essays. I think they're good. Most others do as well...so we'll see!</p>

<p>So what do you think? The test scores probably aren't Ivy material (at least by CC standards anyway), but I'm pretty interested to see what response I get.</p>

2

<p>you know, im sick of people posting say "i know im not ivy league material blah blah blah" and then rattling off very impressive resumes. YOURE A VALEDICTORIAN AT A COMPETITIVE SCHOOL. 2200 IS A PERFECTLY SOLID SCORE. YOU HAVE A GOOD CHANCE!</p>

3

<p>when people ask to be chanced, they should be borderline candidates. Otherwise youre just wasting time and space.</p>

4

<p>Seriously??</p>

<p>I usually see people with like 2350s and three 800s on the SAT IIs get ripped apart on here, so I didn't think I could have had that great of a chance. And our valedictorian last year did get rejected from Brown and Yale (but got into Penn). I just wasn't really sure about Dartmouth's cutoffs. And being white and from the Northeast doesn't help for the Ivies either.</p>

<p>I didn't mean to come off as arrogant, though. I just see people with better stats than me and amazing research experience and so on get told they're still reaches for places like the Ivies. This CC mentality really scares me sometimes, so I hope you get where I'm coming from.</p>

5

<p>i get where you're coming from, but i think people on CC often think they know more about college admissions than they really do. I know people with SATs in the 1200s (out of 1600) get into Ivies wih no huge hooks - so apply and see what happens. Also, you need to realize that alot of the people on CC who rip apart seemingly perfect applicants to top schools ae just bitter becuase they didn't get in</p>

6

<p>Shackleton, a 2400 + valedictorian would be someone who isn't borderline.</p>

<p>Either way, he clearly doesn't know where he stands, so he's asking for a chance to see how he stacks up. Borderline people don't need chances, because we here aren't admissions officers, and at best, it would be a shot in the dark.</p>

7

<p>I have definitely seen people ripped apart with high SAT's and GPA because they did NOTHING ELSE. The OP has gotten the grades, scores, and has some really really interesting ECs!</p>

8

<p>didnt mean to come on too strong--I think you have a very good chance to get it but its never 100%</p>