<p>Hi all, the title explains all: How difficult is it to get into Dartmouth?
I know the admissions rate is 16% (very low, I know :D), but I felt as though my stats were a little iffy, and on the weaker side, to have gotten a likely letter. If you were accepted this year, or had been accepted in the past, please post your stats (SAT, SAT II etc etc)! If you could also post your opinion on things the admissions officers had looked at, it would be much appreciated!</p>
<p>Yeah, im gonna go with its hard. Some people at my school with great ECs, 2250+, great grades got rejected and deferred</p>
<p>acceptance rate last year was actually 13 percent, and this year it’s supposed to be 11 percent, i think.</p>
<p>Some people still don’t know why they were accepted. If you really want to know, you can e-mail them and ask them why you got in.</p>
<p>Search for last year’s decisions thread or this year’s decisions thread to get an idea of what people’s stats were. Or better yet, post your stats and we’ll tell you if you’re weak or not.</p>
<p>you can email dartmouth and they’ll tell you why you got in? is that for real?</p>
<p>haha wow. that would be interesting… </p>
<p>dartmoose, is that what you did?</p>
<p>No, I haven’t asked them, for I fear that they will discover that they made an error in admitting me.</p>
<p>Someone else on here said they walked into the admissions office during dimensions and demanded to know why they accepted him. Apparently his application essay was hysterically funny, and he had the stats.</p>
<p>If I were you, I would wait until you were officially accepted to ask, but overall, the admissions officers I have met are all really nice and helpful.</p>
<p>are there usually this many likely letters?</p>
<p>^Yes. Many applicants come out of the woodwork once they get the likelies, and then again once every finds out if they are accepted. That’s why a huge percentage of people posting on here seem to have gotten one. In reality, only around 2-3% of applicants will be mailed a likely letter.</p>
<p>hey, during the Destination Dartmouth summer visitation program we had a group reading with the admission counselors in which we read two sample applications and they led our discussion the way they do when they actually review the real applications. to be honest, they’re unbelievably fair. they take everything into account, if there is one part of your application that you’re uncomfortable with, the chances are that unless it is that has no reasonable justification, it’ll probably be glossed over. when we read the sample applications what took longer were of course the essays and recommendations. as a result, these parts are what lingered in our minds longer. of course, you often get applications whose essays directly relate to their grades, to an aspect of academics, essays that are further strengthened by the stats of the applicant, essays that make up for the stats: my point is, you get all kinds. by the time i visited i was already working on my application but the truth is, until you read a complete stranger’s application, you don’t realize the wealth of information you are providing, meaning that there is so much space to put yourself on there. i don’t know that it’s easy to get into dartmouth, for just anyone, but i feel that if you do your research and find out as much about student life, academics, and everything else at dartmouth by communicating with students, professors and admissions officers and you still like dartmouth, then you should definitely apply. above all, enjoy your application. have fun with your essays, write about what makes you laugh, what drives you, a situation or aspect of your life that is essential to your Self and just wish for the best. hope that was helpful.</p>
<p>Dartmouth has been among the ten most selective colleges in the country for many, many years and will continue to be so. While selectivity correlates with the rigor and quality of the academic program, many other factors contribute to it. Too often, applicants and other contributors to CC fixate on selectivity (with the belief that it is a proxy for prestige) as the distinguishing feature of an instituion at the expense of fit. </p>
<p>There are some obvious insights in McBio’s post specific to how best an applicant can position himself/herself with the adcom. Of course, as McBio points out, it is helpful to know as much about Dartmouth as possible and to articulate in the appication why Dartmouth is a true fit. This is pretty self-evident stuff. </p>
<p>At the end of the day, there is a certain randomness in the admisisions process. If you are fortunate enough to get in, I’d recommend considering oneself lucky rather than deserving. And if you have to ask why you got in – well, I think only a loser would do that.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s easy to be admitted there at all. </p>
<p>I haven’t been yet (hope for happy news on 3-31) but my sister was in 2004. She worked her tail off in a Texas high school/college program called TAMS, was a Robert C Byrd Scholarship winner from our area, scored a 35 on the ACT, and STILL had to study her brains out at Dartmouth as a math major. She graduated this past June with a 3.51 (which wasn’t good enough for Cum Laude) and is headed for grad school this fall, going for her PhD in math. </p>
<p>You can bet that even though it seemed easy to you to be admitted, you will have to study hard at Dartmouth unless you’re majoring in something pathetic.</p>
<p>Agree completely with swissmiss3.</p>
<p>It really easy. Just like the other ivies. </p>
<p>They accept like a whopping three out of every twenty.</p>
<p>Hey, BalletGirl…do you go to Hanover High School?<br>
Last year my sister lived across the street from that school, at 40 Lebanon, in a yellow house on a corner.</p>
<p>Does anyone know how difficult it is to get accepted as a political science or religion major?</p>
<p>Same as all the other majors. D does not consider prospective academic majors in the admissions process.</p>
<p>What does it mean if Dartmouth sends you a letter asking you to apply to their school and giving you an extension on the deadline? Is this anything significant?</p>
<p>It probably means you’re in a demographic group that is underrepresented in their pool of applicants.</p>
<p>Hi all, thank you very much for all your insights! I have a better grasp of how lucky I am now. However, I hope you don’t see this thread the wrong way; Dartmouth was a much unexpected, fresh shock for me, and I feel extremely grateful and fortunate to have Dartmouth ease up my nerves. Up until this point, I’d been getting rejection letters almost daily and wondered what kind of people Dartmouth attracts, as this places will be a potential place to spend the next four years of my life and an impact that will last for the rest of my life. I wanted to see if I would fit in. I certainily don’t find this wonderful opportunity as “deserving,” since I would not even have bothered to create this thread if that were the case. Feel free to bump this thread, I think it’ll help people see how great Dartmouth really is. :D</p>