<p>Hello everyone! I'm also posting this in the Yale thread. I'm a senior and my top two choices right now are Dartmouth and Yale. I'm not sure what I want to study but I'm may go pre-med or do something with journalism upon graduating. 34 act, national merit semifinalist, 4.0 gpa, in top 2% of class, editor of our pacemaker finalist newspaper, involved in church, blah blah blah.</p>
<p>Now, I visited both colleges last week and I'm in love with both. Dartmouth's "outdoors-y" and less stressful atmosphere is amazing, as well as its beautiful campus. However, Yale's art program (I want to take graphic design classes), shopping period and residential colleges are really appealing. I've had several people say that i would "fit in" at Dartmouth better and I believe that that's true from my perspective at well. But some of Yale's programs (esp the residential colleges) sound so, so cool...</p>
<p>My problem is, I run track. The dartmouth coach has committed to me 100%. If I apply early decision, I'll get in. However, I don't know if I can just commit to that and not give yale a second chance. The coach is interested but may not be able to give me a boost in admissions.</p>
<p>Thoughts on which I should go for? Or if I should do both regular decision at the chance of ticking off the coaches/not getting in either?</p>
<p>Tough decision. It seems like you’re interested in the liberal arts education / research university combination. As a Dartmouth student I could say Dartmouth’s ranked number one in undergrad education and blah blah blah statistics but honestly they are both stellar for undergrad education. What I think it comes down to is that both are a step above the rest of the competition in terms of general awesomeness and if you apply RD you could sadly be one of the thousands of extremely qualified people who get rejected by both.</p>
<p>As far as your specific questions, I’d say unless you’re planning on majoring in art, Dartmouth will not be noticeably worse than Yale for that stuff. I do music stuff and I would say both those departments don’t have amazing depth in classes and really specific specialty stuff, but if you’re looking for some good classes in art or graphic design they definitely exist. </p>
<p>Re: residential colleges, I don’t know a ton about but I personally think freshman year people here find the groups of people they get close with through activities or dorm etc, and it essentially serves the same purpose. Later on most people join fraternities and sororities, which kind of serve that purpose too (but you don’t have to be any more active than you want to). I feel like you’d find your friends at college regardless of the social structures they put in place.</p>
<p>Disclaimer: if you’re not okay with hanging out in dirty fraternity basements, then the whole socializing thing is not as easy. But it’s pretty fun hanging out in basements as long as you’re okay with at least being surrounded by drinking even if you’re not drinking yourself.</p>
<p>Anyway I don’t think I can really say that Dartmouth > Yale for you but I think it’s at least ~= Yale. You’d probably be really happy here and wouldn’t be missing out on much with the art / residential stuff. Up to you whether not doing ED is worth the risk. And it really is an awesome place and people are not joking about the less-stressful atmosphere. Good luck!</p>
<p>I don’t really know which one is for you, but I will say this. For me “fit” was everything. I got into the best school in the country for what I wanted to study, the school I thought was my first choice, and turned it down for Dartmouth. Why? Because Dartmouth felt like home. And it still does, and now its hard to believe I ever thought I’d want to go anywhere else. So I don’t know which one is right for you, but i will say, don’t dismiss the gut feeling that a school is a good fit.</p>
<p>In all honesty you’d be a long shot for either school without the athletic hook. And that may or may not be a hook given cross country is not a revenue sport.</p>
<p>The 34 and top 2% are nice stats, but far from any ivy shoo in stats. 34 is mediocre for the non hooked, and most of those are val or sal at both schools</p>
<p>So you’re saying you have a sure shot at Dartmouth if you apply ED, but at Yale you have the same chance as every other well-qualified candidate. Hmmm. I know what I’d do.</p>
<p>Did you do official visits to both schools? I did three visits for track, Dartmouth included, and decided that it was the best for me. I don’t know much about Yale excepted for the unofficial I took (I pretty much cut it out because New Haven is awful). If you are the type of person who loves the outdoors Dartmouth can’t be beat.</p>