Chances at Dartmouth for an Unusual Case

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey</p>

<p>I go to a small Christian school in Hartford, CT. My class size is 4. I've taken all offered courses except Chemistry (its a satellite course; bad situation, rampant cheating etc.). My school does not offer any AP courses, but I took AP Calculus over the Internet, which gives me a ratio of 1/0 AP courses taken/offered. I did not take the AP exam because, having no teacher, I missed the deadline.</p>

<p>My school actively discourages any of its students from attending any college besides the ONE that it recommends. I have applied without guidance, being counseled for spiritual deficiency, and with actual obstruction. The secretary sent the wrong GPA to all the schools, did not send the transcript to princeton, did not send the school report to harvard, and reported my GPA as weighted when my school does not weight GPAs.</p>

<p>AP Calculus was essentially self-taught; I have also taught myself:</p>

<p>Algebra II
Latin I
Latin II</p>

<p>My SAT Scores are:</p>

<p>Verbal: 800
Math: 740
Writing: 800
Math II: 760
Latin: 720 (after 1 1/2 years of self-teaching)</p>

<p>My Cum. GPA is a 3.4, unweighted; I took 6 courses my Junior, and 4 courses my Senior year. My GPA in my Junior year was a 3.27</p>

<p>My extracurriculars are:</p>

<p>TRUMPET/PIANO
1st and 3rd at national competitions for trumpet.
Teacher is Roger Murtha, 50-year member of Hartford Symphony (he has played at Dartmouth graduation for 30 years).
Nothing special except participation for piano.
CHURCH
10 hours a week, every week, for 4 years (Does this count as community service in any way? I did 4 hours of actual service in the church in a given week)
SPORTS
Soccer- Captain, Coach's Award, Blood, Sweat, and Tears Award
Volleyball - nothing varsity, but I play it quite a bit; my school has no team
CHRISTIAN HONOR SOCIETY</p>

<p>My essay was about my friend, and the impact her life had on me as she went through some substantial difficulties.</p>

<p>My interview went as well as possibly could have. The alumna said she gave me the best recommendation she possibly could. She explained my school situation in her rec. she personally walked the rec. into the admissions office, and she requested that the admissions office call the Hartford Admissions Area Supervisor to discuss my application personally.</p>

<p>I accidentally saw one teacher recommendation, from my English teacher, a notoriously objective woman. It started out as "I wish I could write as well as he can..." and went from there, for about a paragraph. my other teacher recommendation should be good, and my trumpet teacher wrote a rec for me as well.</p>

<p>So what do you think? My situation is different from the cases cited as examples, so I have very little basis for comparison, and I'd like some informed opinions.</p>

<p>PS</p>

<p>On a perplexed note, in the academic index calculator, when i used class rank 1 of 4, i got a 5. But when i said i was in the top quartile, i got a 9. Considering I am the top quartile, that seems a bit odd.</p>

2

<p>A lot of colleges love to see interesting applicants and you are certainly interesting. Your SATs are well within the range of accepted students at Dartmouth. I think you may well be accepted.</p>

3

<p>Thanks, thats a cool thought. I certainly hope its true.</p>

4

<p>Where else did you apply besides the impossible schools like H and P?</p>

5

<p>Impossible schools like Yale, and a safety</p>

6

<p>lol...your ratio of APs taken to APs offered is undefined :D</p>

7

<p>Yeah, I know; isn't that funny? I hope they don't include it in any AI calculations.</p>

8

<p>Did Dartmouth at least get the right class rank and gpa? And not to be too nosy, but why attend such a seemingly anti-academic high school?</p>

9

<p>no problem, not nosy at all. The school is primarily religious; it considers it a success when a student attends this certain college, and a failure if he doesn't. I made sure that they sent the correct information, and i checked with the school. There are two excellent teachers whom I don't want to slander, but the rest are not very good.</p>

10

<p>Good luck, you have a great EC, and great Stats. Hopefully Dartmouth will look beyond your high school. And not to pass judgement, but maybe if you have younger siblings try to convince your parents to send them to another high school. I have seen how Religious schools sometimes create their own bubbles (case in point BJU).</p>

11

<p>LOL howd you know which college it was?!? My oldest sister left in her junior year, and my two other sisters got expelled. thats why i applied to other colleges anyway. The bubble analogy is so fitting, you've had some experience with religious schooling?</p>

12

<p>Wow, 4 people in your class. Must be pretty competitive :). Anyways, I think you have a good chance considering the conditions you went thru in the school - though I'm curious why you didn't just transfer. The SATs are very solid. You have a good chance.</p>

13

<p>It wasn't my decision to attend in the first place; my parents made the decision and I respect that decision, but I am making my own decision for college, and they're respecting that. Thanks for your evaluation.</p>

14

<p>I know a kid from my neighborhood who was really smart but in high school went to a nutty local christian school. He ended up at BJU and almost went crazy. His parents weren't very forgiving and it took him like 7 years to graduate from our local college. It really was sad. I have ran into him a couple times and that place sounds like a prison with choral music playing in the background 24hrs a day.</p>

<p>Also, the place has almost no validity outside the evangelical christian bubble. You are way to smart to end up there (sorry to pass judgement again, but its true.)</p>