**Dartmouth International Applicant's Thread 2017**

Colleges and Universities A-Z Dartmouth College
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<p>@Sunny
I love projects (well the few we have had to do)! The problem was that with our A Levels, we have no course work (not for my subjects) and therefore if we had had projects they really didn’t contribute to much :confused:
In my IGCSEs, I did do a DT project (our course work) where I built a trailer to carry my surfboard that joined onto my quad bike… didn’t work very well! HAHA -_-
Apart from that, the closest thing to projects have been written reports from research online (which isn’t much of a project).</p>

<p>One of my interviewers actually asked about any notable projects and I felt bad that I had to tell him that we didn’t actually get any projects. All our time was taken by class (some days I had a full day of classes from 7:30 AM till 5 PM with our school lunches (2 short breaks)… and then had gym from 5-6 PM and swimming training from 7-7:30 PM… With our A Levels, doing 5 subjects (which is what I did) barely gave me any extra time :frowning: quite good that we didn’t get projects though (well time wise for me)</p>

<p>What is this project you are doing for?</p>

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<p>Class till 5pm?? OMG, my longest day is from 7:45 am till 1:50pm
What happened to your trailer? :D</p>

<p>We have to do it in French but are allowed to write our reports and do our presentation in German, so we don’t have to talk French (good for me) :smiley: we have two topics in mind but can’t decide which one we should take. </p>

<p>This cellphone is driving me crazy. I will tell you when I am at home and can use my laptop to type :D</p>

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<p>@Sunny
Yea… A Levels through Cambridge is very in depth… I did the physics and maths SAT subjects with out really studying (just went through one test as practice) and got really good marks… finished early and was relaxed (those are based off of the AP exams for the US) - not boasting just pointing out that A Levels are really in depth.
I’ve heard the Abiture is also really in depth! I’m not very familiar with it though (I know the South African Matric, IB and Cambridge A Levels).</p>

<p>haha… I decided to work with metal (we weren’t taught how to use metal… only wood). I had this one guy teach me a bit. The bars I bought were too thin and melted when I welded them together (so when I measured a length and cut them… they became shorter) so the welds couldn’t hold the whole trailer together :stuck_out_tongue: It also broke slightly when I had to take it to school. It fit onto my quad bike though, and held my surfboard comfortably. It did its job, but broke when I had to take it to school :confused: Now I just sit on my surfboard… :stuck_out_tongue: much simpler solution! LOL</p>

<p>French project! Awesome :stuck_out_tongue: well let me know what topic you choose for it :slight_smile: but presenting it in German is like cheating :stuck_out_tongue: just kidding… but we had to do so much in French; presentations, speeches, discussions, everything actually :|</p>

<p>Haha no problem, my phone doesn’t even let me write back… just see the messages. Have a good day and have fun at school :smiley: <em>quite happy I’m finished!!</em> :D</p>

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<p>@Raith
Thanks :wink: Finally I am at home :smiley:
Yes, but it depends in which “state” in Germany you are living. The level of difficulty varies from state to state. But I won’t take it, I will take another exam.</p>

<p>Our teachers don’t speak French with us, only German. Honestly, I wish they would speak with us because we have to take one oral examination (French or English). The whole class wants to take English because no one can speak French. But they will split us. Well, hopefully I can take English as well. :smiley: </p>

<p>This is so annoying when you work on something and it breaks down on the way to school. :smiley: </p>

<p>Probably our topic will be “progeria” (don’t know if it is the same name in English, sorry. It is a genetic condition). We are trying to get in contact with some professors and a patient. We will do some charity actions at school and donate the money. :)</p>

<p>And I thought my phone is stupid :D</p>

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<p>I have a few family members in Germany (Hesse). Their curriculum is nowhere as difficult as A Levels. The things they are learning are around GCSE-level (Honors in U.S.), perhaps a little higher. They do, however, take more subjects than students take at A Level.</p>

186

<p>I dont mean to discourage anyone or make them lose hope but , a 2000 - 2100 is not competitive at all for Dartmouth.
You could probably get away with a 2000 or a 2100 if you had some major ECAs or something that draws attention away from the score.
You must remember that Dartmouth has a very small acceptance rate , just 9.8% as of 2012.
A competitive score would probably be a 2250+ </p>

<p>You can check this out :
[Dartmouth</a> College - GPA and Test Scores Needed for Admission](<a href=“http://collegeapps.about.com/od/GPA-SAT-ACT-Graphs/ss/dartmouth-admission-gpa-sat-act.htm]Dartmouth”>Dartmouth College: Acceptance Rate, SAT/ACT Scores)
Look at all the red dots at 2070 and a little after it.
There’s a greater amount of green and blue dots after the mid of 2070 and 2400.</p>

<p>Again , I dont mean to discourage anyone but there’s no point raising false hope either.</p>

<p>Best of luck you guys :)</p>

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<p>Also , you can see the major importance given to GPA. ^</p>

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<p>@goingtodart - Well, we know that 2000-2100 is certainly not a competitive score (and no one on this thread claimed so…). </p>

<p>Instead, what we are worried about is that whether the adcoms on seeing a 2000-2100 will read further into our application or not!! </p>

<p>Also, note that after 2100 – It actually doesn’t matter how much you get on the SAT really. You’ll see more acceptances towards 2400 just because those capable of getting a 2400 or so are equally capable of having a good GPA and good ECs!!</p>

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<p>Hey , there’s no point arguing but I am not sure where you’ve heard that all scores above 2100+ are treated equally.
There is a MASSIVE difference between a 2100 and a 2200 , 2300 , 2350 , 2400.</p>

<p>For one , 2100 is no difficult task . Two , out of all the people I know , very very few have gotten into an Ivy or any other great school (Duke,stanford,swarthmore etc) with a 2100.
Three , a 2100 is pretty easy to score , really.</p>

<p>A 2300+ means that you had a nearly perfect paper , you made very few errors. A 2100 means you made quite a few , but not too many.
And really , a 2000 is no big deal really , at least not any more when every other kid gets that much.</p>

<p>I don’t mean to sound harsh , but saying that all scores above 2100 is not only misleading but it seems to be something a person with a 2100 says to convince himself that he’s basically scored a 2300.</p>

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<p>And I wouldn’t worry about the officers reading applications. I’m pretty sure they read them all. Essays are very important. It’s been said by admission officers a thousand times that they probably take 3-4 seconds to see and analyze your SAT scores and then they see everything else.
Go read any dartmouth acceptance letter and that’ll tell you what they’re looking for :)</p>

191

<p>@Sunny
Oh ok, well good luck with what you do do then :slight_smile: </p>

<p>Yea I know… you put so much work into something and then it breaks :frowning: and for me it was cause I only learnt the basics… and I also wasn’t able to find the right materials. Oh well, it is in the past and there are no worries.</p>

<p>Well your french topic sounds interesting… did some research on it (like 5 mins :stuck_out_tongue: ) but it definitely sounds like you have it under control :slight_smile: </p>

<p>@MeIsHM
Yea, students at A Levels (depending on which board, I seem to have noticed?..) tend to do only 3… sometimes 4. If they are profficient in multiple languages then maybe more than 4. But for us, any science inclined student stuck with 3 due to difficulty and work load. I think the most out of people who did science was 5…</p>

<p>@Goingtodart and Rishav
Thank you very much for the posts and I do see what your point is and where you are coming from Goingtodart… and if you had read the whole of the thread you’d have found where the 2000/2100+ came into play. If you want to know send me a PM and I’ll explain my source and what was told to me. </p>

<p>A couple of things;</p>

<p>I would also like to point out that there were still a couple of acceptances for people ranging from 1600+ for Dartmouth (regardless of whether they attended), also, you will notice the intensity of the red dots at the 4.0 GPA range from 2200+. I don’t claim to know every applicant to Dartmouth, but you will find that Americans and some Internationals (where going to the US is a big part of their high school prep for uni, and therefore have learnt how to teach students for the SATs etc) - you will find that the majority of applicants will be from the US and these few other countries. A larger pool will give rise to more acceptances in those ranges as well as more rejections. We were also making an assumption (to a certain degree for the fun of this thread, and make us [me anyway] feel a little better) to the sort of “cut off” zone - once again not assuming that they will refuse to read anyone’s application further.</p>

<p>Now consider that the average international student applying (where it would be calculated as an average of the average for each country; very biased estimate I know, but it gives an idea of the greater pool rather than biased towards certain countries), for argument’s sake lets say this average is a round 2200. If you received applications as for down as 1500 from an English speaking region, would you seriously consider it? Or would you sit there thinking that they may be able to add to the Dartmouth campus life, but maybe not keep up academically? We are pointing out that this 2200 (that I just used) is more likely to be around 2000/2100, as any higher you are likely to be able to cope with the work (especially if your GPA is around a 4.0) that people below that. Also keeping in mind, if someone is international and may not be great at analysis of passages, slow reader, no access to a large vocabulary, etc, but are brilliant at math… their combined SAT could end up being around 2000 (assuming a decent CR 600, M 800, W600 - which a very bright friend of mine didn’t even reach, did amazingly on her TOEFL, and is extremely proficient in speaking English) they shouldn’t be at a disadvantage compared to the thousands of applicants who are taught in such a way that the SAT type exams are familiar.
To demonstrate a similar point; South African matric VS Cambridge A Levels, the South Africans who got 90+ on all their matric exams (and close to full marks for the subjects they were taking at A Level) had to learn what the questions were asking as they were worded differently, once they did, their marks went straight up.</p>

<p>GPA is a great indicator to work ethic and ability to keep up, which I’d imagine is one of the many reasons they highly consider the GPA. What I don’t get is how an A- is above 90%?! For the A Levels (CIE), an A can be as low as 60%… does that mean that British students essentially can have a 4.0 GPA by getting straight 80%?? Just a thought there.</p>

<p>On a side note, I do appreciate the input, but I would really like it if you wrote here in a lighter frame of mind, if you are an international applicant or if you are a Dartmouth Admissions Officer who is here to correct misguided international students. Thank you once again, but I would have appreciated your posts a little more as PMs aimed at this thread.</p>

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<p>^ Well said Raith.</p>

<p>@goingtodart- It seems to me that you are basing your argument solely on the scatterplot. If that’s the case, then I have three things to say:-

  1. There is absolutely no concrete relation between stats and decisions. Even from the plot, you can notice that after 2070 - It kind of becomes arbitrary.
  2. Even Allen Grove, the author of the blog/guide notes that most accepted are in the region of 2100+ and near 4.0s. However he also goes on to say that even in that region - there are a lot of rejections and so Dartmouth is a reach for everybody! (Which we all agree with).
  3. You might say that the HUGE no. of red dots indicate that a 2070 or abouts will not cut it with the adcoms anymore. But there is another thing to notice here:-
    In terms of no. of accepted students, most lie in the 2000 - 2200 range! (2200-2400 have a greater ratio of accepted to rejected, but not a greater number of accepted). This means that even though a ~2100 doesn’t differentiate you from the lot, a majority of the entering class is accepted from this range!! </p>

<p>All said and done, other factors like GPA, essays, ECs matter a lot. The question is, beyond what point - do they actually matter?? And I guess the answer to that is a 2000/2100.
I bet the acceptances <1800 were either recruits, URMs, exceptionally talented or had some special circumstances!!</p>

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<p>And btw, for those who didn’t know –
Dartmouth will be realeasing decisions before 1st April for sure!! :slight_smile:
Mostly, on the 28th of March.</p>

<p>Source - My CSS profile says Dartmouth’s last aid notification date is 04/01/2013. So they’ve got to release admission decisions before that!! :)</p>

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<p>My point is that there is no ‘point’ beyond which the SAT scores stop to matter . Im repeating myself here , but , If you believe a person with a 2100 will be looked at in the same way as a 2300 , you’re mistaken.
MRU , you’re taking an extreme case of a 1500 , and they too can be recruited if they are devision 1 athletes.
obviously your SAT score is not looked at in an individual way but instead how well you did with respect to others. Further , the SAT is a kind of test in which you can improve from a 1900 to a 2300 straight. It’s standardized and just required practice . It’s obvious that if you want to stand out (the aim of every applicant who wants to get into a university) you have to be better than a lot of the rest.
MRU , don’t take any of this personally but it isn’t fair to declare that after a 2100 it doesn’t matter , in an context. You’re raising false hope
for others and yourself . I’m not saying that you have negligible chance , no way , you all have a good chance (as good as a 9%-10% acceptance can allow) but you must be a bit levelheaded .
Anyway , there’s no point arguing because none of us know anything about the admission officers anyway and we’re all just assuming here .
But considering Dartmouth is a respected ivy and that 20k+ people apply and they select like 1800-2000, 2100 could definitely not be competitive or looked at the same way as a higher score.</p>

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<p>@Rishav
Thanks
Great, we might be getting our responses earlier… nervous but excited! :smiley: </p>

<p>@Hypnosys
I agree that there is no point where the SATs don’t matter, but is the difference substantial? are there more 2400s accepted vs 2200-2300?</p>

<p>I would be very interested to see what SAT scores internationals get, more particularly from countries where they are not taught how to ace the SAT.</p>

<p>We were trying to get at the idea that, for internationals at least, that if we were to have below 2000/2100 we would have a significantly lower chance (disregarding hooks, ECs etc) than at the 2000/2100 range. Basically, I am under the impression (from looking over many of the results threads for the Ivies and top universities) that there is a significant change in chance of acceptance below the 2000/2100 mark (I am using these values for Dartmouth) than there is above - of course having a solid 2300+ shows very well, and I believe more so if you are an international who is having to learn how to sit the SATs on the side of a potentially heavy work load.</p>

<p>And yes, we are mentioning this to make us (or at least me) feel a little better - it is FAR better than just sitting around thinking “well we got below average, around the 75th percentile, we probably shouldn’t have wasted the money applying.”</p>

<p>Thank you for your contribution, although I request, as I did of Goingtodart, that unless you are an international student applying to Dartmouth for 2017 or an admissions officer, that you PM me - or any other active member of this thread to discuss your point.</p>

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<p>** To everyone on this thread **</p>

<p>Sorry for the change in atmosphere from last night… hope it doesn’t bother any of you guys and that you can take the recent posts more as suggestions (as ours were before) rather than cold hard facts :P</p>

<p>Hope you have all had a good week and catch you guys back on here to discuss the more fun things about our applications to Dartmouth. </p>

<p>Thanks for being such great sports!</p>

<hr>

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<p>@Everyone in this discussion about SAT scores, let me put it this way–
For the Ivies, say you get
1800> - God help you. Unless your major hooks or talents can help yourself!! :p</p>

<p>1800-2000 - Trying for the impossible eh? But well, Mission Impossible was possible!! :D</p>

<p>2000-2200 - On the bright side, 60% of the admitted class will be in this range. On the dark side, ~80% of total applicants will be in this range. Another 100 would’ve surely helped - but you’re no doubt in the mix now! :)</p>

<p>2200-2400 - Congratulations on your near perfect score, but it doesn’t guarantee you an admission. True, this will be another testament to the bright student you are but that is not all that counts. You too are in the mix, but on the upper layer!! :)</p>

<p>^ That is how I see it. And I guess Raith sees it similarly!!
And I agree - the main point of this thread is not to argue about what you need to get in but what all makes you want to get in!! It might have possibly been started by us(me & Raith) – comparing our SAT woes!! :p</p>

<p>But lets chill. I hope everyone agrees to the rather brief(yet broad) segregation of SAT scores.</p>

<p>Now for another question, how many internationals here applying with aid??</p>

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<p>@Rishav and MRU93Raith…abt my research…
Here, farms in the rural part of India get water from 1AM to like 4AM in the morning(Really harsh on the farmers…what to do:()So these ‘shrewd’ farmers switch on their pump sets at night and switch off at morning(wasting almost 50MVA of electricity and tonnes of water…the total power consumption for a state is 130MVA…lol)</p>

<p>So to combat the situation, I made a ‘smart circuit’ which measures the moisture level in soils and operates irrigation pumps automatically based on the reading it receives using dual tone multiple frequency signalling(3rd year EECS engineering topic). It also sends status updates to farmers and a website that I monitor periodically:)
Well…I know that my circuit won’t match awesome inventions like an ‘LHD’ or something, but it seems very useful because i currently have 100,000 consumers and made like 200,000$(PS: i couldn’t increase the cost of my circuit cause i was dealing with poor farmers so my cost comes to like 2$ in comparison to 200$ circuits in market). I also won an International research award for my work:)
Cool thing for a pastime…right:)</p>

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<p>^ WOW!! Brilliant!! :D</p>

<p>I had something going about a generator based on Pascal’s law - but just can’t get a satisfactory relation between input and output!! So I didn’t progress with it…</p>

<p>But the main idea was that instead of the broad & deep rivers that Dams require to generate viable amt. of electricity, why can’t we use a smaller narrower stream(albeit flowing with the same speed/kinetic energy)…</p>

<p>Plus I had to do everything theoretically because I can’t build that complex a model!! :(</p>

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<p>@Rishav
Thank you for putting it in a simpler way to understand :stuck_out_tongue:
And yes… I suppose we were the spark to the flame hey, oh well, the world hasn’t ended yet has it? :D</p>

<p>Interesting research, yea I really don’t think I have done anything even close to that! I do fantasise about the design of various things (usually green/negative carbon footprint buildings) but that mostly involves me just thinking. I am not very good at drawing and have been trying to learn various architectural/engineering software to design what I have in mind… but nothing comes out right. Briefly, I consider the use of plants to recycle air as well as form cool areas and form humidity in others (where a pressure potential can help drive turbines or provide ventilation), organisms like algae; growth can be controlled to an extent to provide shade, and when they die - bio fuels. Things along those lines as well as more philosophical ideas involving quantum theories :stuck_out_tongue: but I doubt any of them are even close to being true… haha!</p>

<p>@Quiver
WOW!! Well done on the research and success, any chance you can send me a link to your website/product? Sounds very interesting and I’d love to read more about it :slight_smile:
And about the price, as long as you are covering whatever costs, I think you have made a brilliant impact by helping all these farmers! Major congratulations to you!</p>