Dartmouth Chances

Colleges and Universities A-Z Dartmouth College
1

<p>GPA: 3.9/4.0 (.35 points away with my percentage grade from a 4.0)
Class Rank: 45/514</p>

<p>I expect both the GPA and class rank to go up slightly this year, as they haven't been calculated after second semester Junior Year, and that has been my strongest semester thus far.</p>

<p>ACT: 32 (28 Eng, 29 Rdg, 34 Sci, 36 Mth)
SAT: 700 Math, 600 Reading, 640 Writing I will be taking again this fall, and I'm expecting improvement over last fall when I got these scores.</p>

<p>SAT 2: 740 Math 2, 700 Chemistry, 640 Literature
AP Tests:
World History- 3
Chemistry- 3
Physics B- 3
Computer Science A- 4
English Language/Composition- 4</p>

<p>My Senior Schedule:
AP Biology
AP Calculus AB
Dual Credit English 4
Student Council Officer
Professional Internship Program (20+ hr/wk internship at a local hospital)
AP Psychology</p>

<p>EC's
Boy Scouts- Eagle Scout
Baseball- School and EC
Work: Little League Baseball Umpire since '05, PetSmart Cashier (about 25-30 hrs/wk, slightly less during school year)
Student Council- I will be the Secretary this year
National Honor Society
Mu Alpha Theta
Senior Interact
Computer Club
Chess Club
I attended a summer program called NNAYI, 65 natives from across the US who are interested in health professions, and it was basically 9 days of seminar from 6 AM to 8 PM
Hospital Internship this Fall</p>

<p>Basically, I've taken all of the hardest courses offerred at my school, all of them are PreAP/Honors/AP if possible. I'm a registered Native American, Cherokee tribe, yay minority status. I'm planning on being a Cognitive Neuroscience major, PreMed as well. I suppose it will probably have to be Neuroscience with a minor in cognitive sciences, but close enough. I'm also working very very hard on my applications, I already have almost all of it done, and I'm going to refine my essays for the next couple months.</p>

2

<p>Being Native American is an added bonus for you, a plus to your already decent profile :D</p>

<p>I'm going ED dartmouth btw :D</p>

3

<p>I would do ED, but I'm just worried about the money, and my first choice school doesn't offer ED/EA so I just am not bothering with it.</p>

<p>I am possibly attending a Fly-In for Native Americans this fall, if I get accepted, and from what I've heard, most of the kids that get accepted to that, also get accepted to Dartmouth when they apply. So i'm crossing my fingers for that. I've heard that Dartmouth is very generous towards Natives as well, I believe it's something in their charter.</p>

4

<p>Ya it's in their charter.
Also, why are you worried about money? Even I'm applying for financial aid (as an international), and I even emailed and asked them, they're completely need-blind and full-need.</p>

5

<p>I'm not worried about not getting any money, I just would like to compare between schools. If there are two schools I'm debating between, and one offers me a significantly more amount of money, i'll probably go there.</p>

<p>Dartmouth isn't my first choice either, as cocky as that may sound. lol</p>

6

<p>You should have taken EC's that are revolved around one idea unless you're really into all those clubs you've taken. Not to be critical, but it would look like you've taken a club or two just for the show of it. Meaning just to make your stats look nice. If you don't include the clubs that you're least passionate about then maybe you've got a shot. Being Native American is good because Dartmouth is big on accepting Natives Americans :p.</p>

7

<p>I don't know how it will appear to admissions, but all of those 3s on AP exams don't look very impressive to me. They don't validate a top GPA at your school. I would try to figure out whether it would help or hinder to report your scores in the Academic Honors section of the Common App when applying to top schools. (For a rule of thumb, consider whether the school in question accepts that score for credit or placement. At Dartmouth, IIRC you need 5s.) Generally, it doesn't look to me as if your SAT scores are going to help you, especially that 600 in CR. Check out the conversion table on the College Board web site to see if your ACT composite would be better. If so, report that and not the SAT, if you can.</p>

<p>I don't see anything wrong with your ECs, but make sure that you break out the big projects you did to get Eagle Scout. (Don't expect that they will just know the level of commitment this took.) Native American URM status is certainly desirable at D and elsewhere...I don't know how much they care whether this means a) you grew up on a reservation, or b) you are a registered member living a typical middle-class life.</p>

8

<p>I'm thinking I'll just report the 4's then. 3's are techincally passing (and my mom is making me put them on the app) but I didn't think too highly of them either. I'll probably drop the Mu Alpha Theta and Chess club since those weren't really too high on my priority list, but the others I'm definitely involved in. I'm also retaking the SAT this fall, and I'm pretty sure my scores will go up. We'll see where I end up with those scores...</p>