Dartmouth Bound?

Colleges & Universities A-Z Dartmouth College
1

<p>Do I have a chance at Dartmouth? I hope so!</p>

<p>I actually visited Dartmouth a few weeks ago (Dartmouth Bound program).. I loved it!</p>

<p>As far as majors I'm uncertain. I love biology.. but I really feel liberal arts might be for me because I love trying new stuff.. I want to learn Japanese, French, Italian.. Maybe go on a few study abroad programs.. I also want to learn the Piano and Violin.. Maybe dab into a little of the arts (Painting)</p>

<p>Anywho I'm a minority Hispanic student and I guess one could say that I'm from a 'low-income' family. Also, I'm from Houston, Texas. I am a first-generation student.. My family doesnt even have a HS diploma, so yeh.</p>

<p>My stats include:
11 AP classes
4.3 GPA
ranked 7/260 students
1200 SAT I (Just took my SAT 2's, no scores yet) , retaking SAT's in December also .. wish me luck!
Rice University Internship - Nanotechnology (freshman summer)
Volunteer (only 100+ hours)
Worked 40 hrs/week for 2 months during summer (sophmore and junior summer) @ Property Tax office .. (had to help out with bills)</p>

<p>In HS Marching Band (1 year in Marching Band but I've played the Trumpet/Baritone for 4 years), FIRST and BEST robotics (3 years), Varsity Baseball (1 year), Ultimate Frisbee (3 years, I participated in Ultimate Frisbee League during the summer also), Active skateboarder, Bmxer(3 years), NHS member, and I'm pretty much in all the clubs offered at my school</p>

<p>I'm also unsure if I should mention a little bit about my family history.. Such as.. My mom was incredibly young when she had me (14 years old).. I didnt know who my father was until I was around 13 (I spent some time trying to find out who my dad was.. DNA test after DNA test). I dont want to get too serious but all my life I've been on this search of self-discovery. Even though I know who my real father is, we dont talk because his wife hates me.</p>

<p>Moving on..
My essays were pretty good I think.. Quite creative (although most kids usually say that on this website)
Basically I just tried to be genuine in my essays.</p>

<p>My school is relatively small. Primarily African American. I believe the #1 and #2 students received perfect SAT and SAT 2 scores.. I am also the only Hispanic student in top 10 kids (not %)
2 years ago 6 students were accepted to MIT (5 went there, the other decided to go to Stanford)</p>

<p>As far as my personality goes.. I love trying new stuff. I listen to a lot of music (Spanish, English, Japanese, French, Korean, Vietnamese). My life isn't too bad though.. I'm the type of kid who really questions the very foundations of our society. I try to steer away from the 'norm' by expressing my individuality through music, skating, and all the other activities that I do.</p>

<p>If you need any other information just let me know.</p>

<p>Thanks to all who read this thread. Very much appreciated</p>

2

<p>male or female? you sound like a male, i mean bmx, skateboarding etc. don't mean to be sexist or anything.
i really sympathize with your past history. I feel that anyone who has gone through all that and still want to attend college should be really rewarded. However that's only my opinion, which doesn't say much, you really have to get the dartmouth ppl to feel that way. You are very unique and will probably bring a lot of interesting attributes with you, so you'll definitely have an edge. However, i don't think i have seen a 1200 accepted at dartmouth on this board. Although your ranks are superb, just looking at your stats, i would have said NO WAY IN HELL ARE YOU GETTING IN. but after reading your story, i am all the way behind you, go for it, i believe that you will have a great chance, just remember to write an awesome essay. If you want you can send me your essay and i may look it over(even though i am not a good writer, i might be able to help you on the contents that are associated with the essays). but anyway
i wish you the best of luck!</p>

3

<p>Oh man that would be great.. yeh i'm a male hehe</p>

<p>I actually know a student who was accepted into dartmouth with a 1080, yeh I know!
He did a program similar to the one I did for dartmouth (I went on the dartmouth bound program a few weeks ago)</p>

<p>Do you think I should write about my family for my essay?
I don't really want to be melodramatic.. I guess thats why I'm debating whether or not I should.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

4

<p>of course you should write about your family, that's what makes you unique! if sounding melodramatic gets u in, be melodramatic!
by the way, my msn is <a href="mailto:jack_frost429@hotmail.com">jack_frost429@hotmail.com</a>, if you want to talk, message me :)</p>

5

<p>Newby,</p>

<p>How are you. You know I have love for you but I am going to disagree with your assessment. </p>

<p>First of all being selected for and attending Dartmouth bound is a screening process in and of it self (as one must submit grades, scores if available and write an essay almost as if they are applying). Everyone who applies to Dartmouth Bound does not get selected to attend (I know the year my D applied there were almost 1000 applicants). </p>

<p>By the same token everyone who gets accepted to attend Dartmouth bound does not get admitted to Dartmouth.</p>

<p>Remember that admissions is a wholistic process and abeautifulmistake will be evaluated in context of the opportunities that he has had available to him. Being a student who is a URM, first generation and low income are certainly going to be tip factors. Regarding your essay, the adcoms are going to want to know about you and IMHO, I think that is where your essay should be focused. Leave it to your GC (whom I would suggest you visit), or teacher to include in their recs how you have done well and have taken adbantage of all that has been offered to you.</p>

<p>all the best</p>

6

<p>abeautifulmistake,</p>

<p>I think that you should also look into becoming a ventures scholar (as Darttmouth is also a member institution)</p>

<p><a href="http://www.venturescholar.org/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.venturescholar.org/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

7

<p>Thanks guys.
I actually spoke with one kid who also did a dartmouth program similar to the dartmouth bound and he told me his sat was a 1080.
He was my host.
Pretty crazy but I feel if I just boost my SAT up a little more, I think I'm set.</p>

<p>I didnt know that people who attended Dartmouth Bound dont necessarily get accepted into Dartmouth.</p>

<p>Oh the guy running the program this year told us that 500-600 kids applied, but only 25 were accepted.</p>

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<p>I think my essay is mainly about me, with only 1 paragraph talking about my family.. but not into too much detail</p>

<p>If anyone has any free time... maybe read over my essay?
:)</p>

9

<p>I think last year's program was called destination dartmouth although it is a different name each year, it is still the same program.People who did not get accepted could have had a change in their grades, scores, recs essays between the time they attended the program and the time they applied. </p>

<p>Don't let someone else not being accepted scare you as the odds of being accepted are in your favor the nothing is guaranteed. Sometimes you have to be like a horse-put on blinders and run your own race.</p>

<p>All you can do is your best and toss your hat in the ring.</p>

10

<p>lol nice analogy</p>

<p>As far the common app goes.. should I do any one in particular?
I actually wrote a 'sort of' Autobiography for my ap english class, and I was just gonna use that for my essay
Any suggestions?</p>

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<p>It depends on the other schools you are applying to. I am not one for re-inventing the wheel and the advice I gave my D is have 3 really good essays that with some modofications can be used for the rest of your apps. </p>

<p>She applied to 7 schools using the common app (writing the essay of her choice). </p>

<p>She had to do a mandatory secon essay for Amherst, which she was able to use with some minor modifications for Tufts, </p>

<p>The schools that wanted the "why X college " essay were pretty similar so she was able to modify the essays. Just did the rest of the supplements, some had a series of short answer questions, som needed a graded paper with comments. In the end she was 7 for 7 and is a very happy 08 at her first choice school.</p>

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<p>alright great,
thanks</p>

<p>btw where is she at now?
just curious</p>

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<p>Dartmouth :)</p>

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<p>oh neat.....</p>

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<p>Work on bringing your best self to the application process as over the past few years the URMs have been bringing a strong game to the table. remember also that even with your tip factors, you will not be a shoo-in at any of the ivies.</p>

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<p>yeh I'll try my best
Hopefully the URM's this year will be incredibly weak :P</p>

<p>Hey, a kid can dream..</p>

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<p>Never happen in fact the numbers of blacks and hispanics applying to selective schools have actually increased making the overall pool much more selective.</p>

<p>there is nothing wrong with dreaming and dreaming big, but make sure that you have a balanced list of reach match and safety schools. This is going to be a particulary interesting year in the admissions process because you are going to have a wide variety of students who hae overcome circumstances (tsunami, katrina and wilma) throwing their hat in the ring</p>

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<p>lol damn hurricanes
yeh i have quite a few dream schools
im trying to decide between my safety schools
either ut or a&m... and since im in the top 10 % i'm gauranteed admission</p>

<p>what do you guys think, a&m or ut?
:P</p>

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<p>You are going to have to look at the pros and cons of attending each school. remember your safety should also be a financially feasible option for your family.</p>

<p>For dartmouth :</p>

<p>there are 72 hispanics in the class of 08
<a href="http://www.dartmouth.edu/%7Eoir/pdfs/cds_200405_02.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.dartmouth.edu/~oir/pdfs/cds_200405_02.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>68 hispanics in the class of 07
<a href="http://www.dartmouth.edu/%7Eoir/pdfs/cds2003_04.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.dartmouth.edu/~oir/pdfs/cds2003_04.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>71 hispanics in the class of 06</p>

<p><a href="http://www.dartmouth.edu/%7Eoir/pdfs/cds2002_03.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.dartmouth.edu/~oir/pdfs/cds2002_03.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>ah I see
guess I'll look that up now</p>