@Meiyonnaise No I totally agree with you actually. First, I agree my other areas maybe lacking (such as background, essay, rec letter) and I kinda over emphasized the gender and race part of it. But you have to realize, anyone would be bitter if they devoted so much to a dream school just to get slapped with a reject. In fact, I think you would as well. I believe my reaction is rather normal. It would be weird to just say"hey reject, nice, no feelings, let me move on" to a reject from your dream school. And also just put yourself in my shoe for a second, I think you would have some very similar reactions. Yes, you got accepted as an Asian American but I think you will understand better if you truly get to know the full picture of my story (some details were never mentioned in my posts). It is easy to come from moral high grounds, but not easy to think of someone else from their position. This is something we both failed to do in our commenting. That being said, thank you. Good luck to you too in college.
@Takken98 He did submit a supplemental essay regarding a then recent tragic school event. But nothing else. Also, if you don’t know your regional AO by now, it’s time to make that acquaintance.
At the end of the day, the college process can be very confounding (for all of us!) because these select schools are not just looking to admit the absolute bestest and brightest (based on numbers alone). They are building living and breathing communities.
For example, if the top group of applicants (based solely on numbers) all wanted to pursue STEM, what would Dartmouth do with its classics, and languages, and econ and gender studies departments (and staffs and professors, and budgets)?
Additionally, these schools need the tuba player, the studio artist, the lacrosse player…
Admissions is much more like a puzzle, with schools trying to find and put the pieces together. Likely when they start the process, they have a set of pieces they know they need/are looking for (such as general percentage ranges for racially diverse candidates, geographic diversity, socio-economic diversity), and then they probably come across some puzzle pieces they discover and want (such as the applicant with the amazing story). If you have great numbers and stats, but don’t necessarily fill one of the more challenging puzzle pieces, they may end up deferring (or even rejecting) you, confident (whether rightly or wrongly) in their view that they may come across another “you” as part of RD.
The challenge for all of us is trying to show the schools how we fit into their puzzle while not necessarily knowing what type of puzzle they are working on, or what pieces they are still looking for…
Hi guys! RD Applicant here deferred ED from UPenn. 
Public Health intended major
@BuffDad2022 . Thank you very much!
@Takken98 I was an RD applicant to DMouth, so I don’t know too terribly much about it. I also personally don’t know anyone who was deferred and then accepted, but it definitely does happen. Some of my friends who were deferred then accepted at other schools last year wrote a LOCI (letter of continued interest)/update letter, but others didn’t and still got in. In other words, if you’re antsy, you can certainly write to Dartmouth with an LOCI/update letter, but I’m not sure how large a role it plays in tilting the scale. It seems DMouth rejected a large swath of ED applicants this year, though, which means deferral is probably a good sign!! @Tachanka11 No worries. I apologize, as well, for being overly aggressive. To reiterate: you seem like a wonderful applicant and I’m sure you’ll have many great offers to choose from. I’m very sorry Dartmouth didn’t work out, but it’s their loss! Best of luck.
Guys, I know an applicant from CA who had 1560 SAT, NMF, close to 4.0 GPA, captain of cross country etc. who got denied from MIT, Berkeley and UCLA and every other school he applied to. He wasn’t even going to apply to UCSD, but UCSD was the only school which accepted him. And this kid was one of top students from a darn good high school too. Well, he got close to all As at UCSD in Comp Sci and got a great job from U.S. govt working in the cyber security field, which was his goal anyway. Believe me, this kid was smarter than many kids who got accepted to top schools, and he tries super hard in everything he does. After his work experience at U.S. govt, I am sure he will be highly sought after by many private companies.
After receiving all his rejections, while seeing his friends who had lower stats, get into their top schools, he got very depressed and didn’t come to high school classes for two days, but then, he got over it and is doing very well. I have seen this happen many, many times, to know that not getting into certain schools does not mean you are worse students than those who got in. Believe me, there will be bumps along your lives, and sometimes, it’s better to experience the bumps early on. Successful people are those who did not let small bumps – believe me, not getting into certain colleges are very small bumps in your lives – along the way change their self confidence and belief in themselves.
By the way, before you think UCSD is not a great school, it’s ranked 15th in Comp Sci department, while Darthmouth is ranked 45th in Comp Sci, according to USNWR department ranking.
@websensation Wow it’s a very motivating story. I think this is also a reason why I did not really care about cs ranking that much but instead looked at the schools I really liked in terms of culture and overall rankings. I did actually consider UCSD, but as an out of state applicant I just feel like it is not as cost efficient. And plus UC’s deadline was 11/30 and I only applied to UCLA (for some reason I thought Berkeley would be very hard to get in and i have no chance so I just did not apply lol). One thing I wanna say is that I don’t want to trust the USNWR comp sci ranking too much because it’s grad school ranking and ranked based on research (i believe? not so sure but this is what I recall). I think in reality there are many colleges that focus on undergrad is being overlooked by the USNWR comp sci rankings. RIght now I am hoping that I can get into UVA EA but not gonna be banking on that like I did on Dartmouth this time lol. Anyway, thanks for your tips!
@Tachanka11 UCLA Comp Sci is just as hard. If you are NMF based on your PSAT, consider applying to Honors College with merits. How about Cornell?
I agree with @websensation about the strong EC’s over test scores path. I had a middle of the road ACT (33) and had Sat subject tests of 760 on BioM and a 670 on Math1. I had a weighted GPA of 3.9/4 and will graduate having taken 5 AP classes. My test scores are nothing impressive. I was happy with them, but in a pool of all 99th percentile applicants, I was on the low end.
I think Dartmouth aims for people they can remember, no AO is going to remember numbers (sorry), they see 36’s and 800’s so often they lose the rareness people think they have.
Some of the best advice I ever heard about EC’s was that if your achievements are impressive on the high school level, you’re a good applicant, but if your achievements are impressive on the world/adult scale, you’re a great applicant.
I centered my application around this advice. I was an EMT for 3 years with multiple certifications in specialized areas of medicine, will be publishing novel research at the end of this year (worked with a researcher at Yale), and sold my artwork all over the world. I’m not trying to flex here or be arrogant because I was very far from a “sure in”, but my point is that I have lower stats than the large majority of students, but that wasn’t all that was to me and my application. Dartmouth saw that I used my time for responding to 911 calls and furthering my medical training, rather than studying countless hours for a test. I spent time doing things I was passionate about. Was I passionate about the ACT, God no. I studied until I got an okay score, then stopped. Am I passionate about Emergency medicine, very. I’ve spent over 2,300 hours on an ambulance and over 400 in medical training and I think Dartmouth saw this passion and that’s what made me stand out in a crowd of perfect scorers.
I’m not saying that you shouldn’t try your hardest to get a good score, do your best, but don’t destroy your life over a few points because it’s not worth it. If you want to chase that perfect score, go for it, you’re like a celebrity to me.
But for those who love education, but don’t have the same passion for grades/scores… it’s okay to pour your time into other things.
In my personal opinion: scores are only there to prove you can do the work; once you hit certain threshold the scores stop carrying a lot of weight, then the EC’s are what matter. Dartmouth is a school where 90% of applicants could manage the courseload just fine if admitted, so how do they choose who gets in? They look at who you are and what you do when you aren’t at school or doing homework. D also admits by “fit”; they look for people who care about the community, are passionate about learning, and earthy or grounded.
I just wanted to share my view on it and am totally open to other peoples view/opinions/comments/concerns. I am very sorry for anyone who didn’t get in, but there will be other options for you, please don’t give up. And to all the 23’s out there, can’t wait to meet you next year!
@2022jx . Thank, man. That really lifted my spirit. Will try my best to show continued interest.
@screamingkettle . Wow! That was truly inspiring!
I don’t know if I understood you correctly but you said you were an EMT for 3 years. How did you balance school while also putting in that much work?
Also, what major do you intend on doing?
@screamingkettle A great personal example. My kid two years ago had almost exact hard stats (33 ACT and 3.9 GPA with two B+s) as you had (although he somehow made NMF in CA). When he became a sophomore, I intentionally stopped him from going to SAT prep courses to try to increase his test score and sat down to decide on one area of his interests he wants to pursue further. And he picked on languages/culture and international stuff, and from then on he focused on challenging himself and got involved with non-profit international refugee organization, applied and was selected as finalist in two nation wide scholarship programs that gave him scholarships during summer to learn language abroad and study another country’s culture etc. Well, fast forward to his senior year. Although there were kids with better GPA and test scores, he stood out among his class mates because no one participated in the kinds of programs in which he participated. He also was fluent/advanced in 3 languages and intermediate in 1 language. Around 75 kids from his high school applied to Stanford that year, and only he got in. A coincidence? I doubt it.
Another thing is as he got more involved in his interest area, he really started liking it and developed a big interest (not sure if it amounted to a passion though), and due to his experiences, he had a lot to say in his essays. That’s why gaining experiences matters because it comes through in your essays. Experience matters in everything you do. You really have to combine experience with some academic knowledge. Most people become motivated to study due to their experiences, not the other way around. People are wired that way. If you don’t speak from your experiences, your essays will not sound convincing; and if your essays don’t sound convincing, the adcom readers will not be moved by your essays and will not remember your applications.
Our kid go into all the colleges he applied to (which was not many), so he almost got carried away and even considered applying to Harvard, Yale etc. And I told him to please stop wasting his time submitting college applications, and why would he want to apply to more colleges when he got into his first choice, and instead he should get a paid summer internship, which he did.
If I have one word of advice to all the smart high school kids out there, it’s this: If you want to get into top college, it’s better to not shoot for perfection on your GPA or test scores, and instead use any free time to develop your outside interests and be able to show it in your essays how you changed and became a better person due to your experiences. Now, if you want to be a valedictorian, then go ahead and try to get perfect grades. I have no idea why many parents and smart kids don’t see that this is a better route.
I am giving you this free advice. Now, I don’t mean you should blow off your studies though.
2474 ED applicants
549 acceptances
138 were recruited athletes
15% legacy + 5% sibling or other connection
project to fill 50% of incoming class with ED
https://news.dartmouth.edu/news/2018/12/acceptances-offered-most-diverse-early-decision-group-ever
@Takken98 Thank you, and yes I became an Emergency Medical Responder (EMR )in 2015 and an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) in 2016. I have extended training in tactical emergency medicine, critical pediatric and infant pateints, water rescue, and mental health/suicide de-escalation. How did I manage the schoolwork??? I didn’t is the short answer. I would go to high school during the day, then go to school at night for medical training, and did homework whenever I got the chance in between. I basically survived on espresso and anxiety.
I have some free time in between 911 calls to do work but I mostly just muscled it out whenever I had a free moment. I was never a fan of busy work and only really did the homework that benefited my learning, and that’s a reason why my grades were low, but I was okay taking that point reduction.
I intend on pursuing biomedical engineering with a dream of becoming a specialist in viral engineering (the field I’m doing my research in right now on the Ebola Vaccine).
@screamingkettle congrats! You totally deserve your admission.
After factoring for recruited athletes and direct legacies (which I assumed to be equally weighted between recruited athletes and non-recruits), the acceptance rate for ED applicants who are not legacy/recruited athletes was 14%. This is still probably 300% of the acceptance rate for regular decision, so if Dartmouth is your first choice, you still have a MUCH better chance with ED than RD. But the numbers are really tough. So for folks who got deferred or rejected, it has nothing to do with you. It’s about ridiculous selectivity and the commoditization of our educational system. The numbers are daunting.
On CC, I realized I can’t delete my posts. Just re-reading this I feel like I’ve come off as incredibly arrogant and unable to recognize my own privilege. I want to clarify a few things before my intentions are misunderstood:
Just being able to live in my house and have food on the table is a privilege that SO many kids don’t have. Only 20-minutes down the road at (X city), people are getting shot at daily and kids (our age, btw) have to fight through streets of drug abuse and violence just to get to school. Their parents can’t afford to send their kids out to summer programs and to do other ECs, much less affording these expensive private schools. These are the kids that deserve admission to our top colleges, and I’m so happy Dartmouth and other Ivy League schools have expanded access to them. Living in my town itself is an INSANE privilege. I’m not complaining that I live a middle-class life. I am very fortunate that I can afford the clothes on my back and that my dad works so hard to provide them.
However, my point was that certain populations of the “super-rich” end up gaining an unfair advantage simply due to the $$$ in mom/dad’s bank account. Whether or not they’re smart or qualified is another point. I’m not calling all of these people “dumb,” but it’s also very clear that this population is advantaged (in some capacity). This leaves the inner-city kid from Brooklyn and the typical middle-class kid in the dust (90% of the time, at least).
I know most of you in this chat are middle-class as well, and have been accepted coming from “normal” circumstances and incredibly hard work and perseverance every day. You guys GENUINELY deserve your admission. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. You never had Exeter Academy spoonfeed your life to you… and to that, I’m very proud of everyone who was accepted. I hope you will do wonderful things at Dartmouth next year 
@mk1901 – Your reflection on your post and willingness to wade back into the forum and clarify your words shows the good person you are. You are absolutely in your right to feel disappointed, even angry (with the result). And you are correct that our system is not necessarily fair nor is the admissions process a pure meritocracy. I will be keeping my fingers crossed for you with Dartmouth and I confident with all that you have accomplished that you will end up at a fantastic school. Very best.
moderators note
We are not having a discussion on race, because there is already a thread on race in college admissions
so those post will be removed.