What are my chances at Dartmouth. By the way, I am terrible at writing essays.
GPA so far - 4.53
ACT - 35
SAT - 1520
SAT 2 Molecular Biology - 790
SAT 2 Mathematics 2 - 800
SAT 2 Literature - 770
Here is my new essay by the way. (its already copywrited in case your wondering). If you have recommendations on how to make it better, please let me know.
“Which school has the best biology department?” I would say that phrase over and over in my head wondering if I would ever find a college with the science program that I desired. I would say up at night researching the best science and biology programs. I then came across one school that was particularly interesting, that school was Dartmouth. Although, my journey didn’t stop there. I was so attached to the great program that Dartmouth had to offer that I just had to continue doing research to further what I had already known. And what I found, I liked.
You should talk about why Dartmouth has the best biology department, and elaborate on that more. The sentences of your essay don’t seem to flow very well, and they are very choppy so try to make it more cohesive. You have a good GPA and test scores but I can’t chance you without your extracurriculars. What are your extracurriculars?
Here are my extracurriculars
Cross Country
Tennis
Basketball
Piano
Quiz Bowl
Spanish Club
Creative Writing Club
History Club
National Honor Society
Your ecs seem to be a bit generic and there is no clear spike in any field.
sorry not trying to be a downer but I dont think you have a great chance — you seem very smart to me since your scores are excellent but you seem to have only focused on your scores since your extracurriculars are not special in any way and your essay is completely generic and not well written because I could replace and college name in and you wouldnt be able to tell it has to do with Dartmouth. Focus on specifically why Dartmouth’s biology department stands out to you and try to do something unique and interesting outside of school instead of just joining random clubs and focusing on school. Maybe do something in biology? Also, try to get positions in a few clubs rather than be part of many clubs. Your scores are on par if not above Dartmouth standards though!
by the way ur a sophomore, why have u already written ur “essay” for dartmouth already?!!!? don’t focus on that AT ALL cause other aspects of your application need lots of amplifying
Thank you sanjanagupta1
I think that I will be joining the FPA (Future Physicians of America) and STEM club next year. I am planning on being a biology major with a neuroscience minor and hopefully become a doctor in the long run.
Probably my second choice school is UW-Madison. Do I stand a chance there?
Having good test scores and a billion random extracurriculars is great and all, but honestly no college is going to care unless you have an actual personality. Your essay, as you admitted, isn’t great. It has grammar, flow, and cheesiness issues. You need to focus on your writing skills before entering the application process, as well as consider what makes you unique and a potential contribution to the colleges of your choice. When a college looks at your profile, they’ll look at numbers (GPA, SAT, etc) to place you in a pile of hundreds or thousands of other applicants who have similar numbers. Then, they’ll look to see if you’re a minority applicant (first gen, racial minority, obscure states or countries, etc). After that, when they still have a massive pile of essays, they’ll only pay attention if they’re intrigued by what you tell them. Hope that helps!
Thank you anjalid.
@IvyDreams13 1. DO NOT POST YOUR ESSAY PUBLICALLY. 2. If you are a sophomore as suggested in previous posts, then you’re thinking about college too early. Furthermore, there are many other schools besides Dartmouth that have very good biology departments.
@IvyDreams13 Your a sophomore so u have lots of time on increasing your extracurriculars and stuff, your scores are great so I wouldn’t focus too much on that — maybe take science research, enter in science competitions, join science olympiad, volunteer at a local hospital, etc to show you are passionate about science and biology
Thank you. By the way, I’m still only a sophomore so I’ll have more time to improve my essay and my extra-curricular activities.
For my extra-curricular activities, I will likely drop history club and creative writing club to join the STEM club and the math team.
Just got back my newest SAT score. It went from 1520 to a 1560.
Purely based off of stats, you are in a competitive range but every Ivy is a reach.
@Keriell thanks for the quick response.
If you are in-state for UW-Madison, I can’t imagine them failing to admit you.
If you are OOS, it is a good deal more competitive, but you should still probably be admitted. Still, UW would not be a safety OOS.
Regarding Dartmouth and other schools that require multiple written portions: you’ll want to do a lot of reading and practicing in order to learn to introduce, describe and close a point. You also should work on using segues to more smoothly transition from one point to the next. You should learn these things because many of your competitors will be strong writers and essays are considered in admissions. Some schools value them more than others, but every CDS i’ve ever looked at reflects at least some interest in the qualitative aspects of the app.