Hello :).
Sorry this so long, just wanted to be thorough. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!!
I’m a current senior who was recently deferred from Brown University ED, and I would like to know my chances of getting into Dartmouth regular decision. Since I got deferred, I’ve been looking more into the schools that were initially on my college list, and I found that I really love Dartmouth–the smaller community, the quarter system, the d-plan, the modified majors, and the campus. I also really love their engineering programs, because first of all in 2016 I think they graduated more female engineers than male engineers which I think is fantastic, and also their engineering program is very interdisciplinary which fits me perfectly because although I am a STEM nerd, I love writing, politics, etc (as you will see in my ECs). But enough about Dartmouth; let’s talk more about me. Here are my stats:
UW GPA: 95.5
W GPA: 97.7
Rank: Top 10% (that’s as specific as my school gets)
School: Strong public school. About 700 students, 151 students in my senior class.
SAT I: 1420 (700M, 720CR, 24E)
SAT II: Not sending. I think these scores led to my deferral from Brown lol.
Race: White, of Middle Eastern origin. I was born in Iraq, but my family moved to the US as refugees when I was 7 years old because of the war.
Language: Arabic first language (read, write, speak, spoken at home), English (read, write, speak, also spoken at home)
Gender: Female
State: Maine
Major: Biomedical Engineering Sciences as my primary major, and I put in Global Health and Government for my 2nd and 3rd interests.
Essays:
Common app: Don’t want to say too much, but I honestly don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say 10/10 though. It’s an essay that I wrote a while back (edited of course), and it means a lot to me. I won a Scholastic Gold Key for it a couple of years ago. It discusses my experiences dealing with two opposing identities as a first generation immigrant. I think it really shows off my writing skills. People have told me that it’s very moving. (It’s not a sob story though, I don’t want you to get the wrong impression).
Supplements: I would say 8/10. I tried to show off my personality more in these essays. Less formal than my Common App. I had to write a total of 6 supplements for Brown, and while I thought they were pretty good, looking back at them now I think that I definitely could’ve done better in terms of showing more of my personality and being more creative. I think I was so focused on getting in that I didn’t let myself have fun with them, but I definitely tried to change that for my Dartmouth supplement.
Recommendations:
Counselor
-My counselor spends a lot of time on her recommendations. She goes out and interviews teachers, gets quotes from them, etc. She said that out of all of her 19 years working as a counselor, if she could create her own college campus with only 50 kids that she’s worked with then I would be one of them.
Teachers:
-My first is from my AP Lang & Comp teacher from last year. I got 97+ in her class and a 5 on the exam. She said I was the best writer she’s had in years. I’ve also known her all four years of high school because she is the adviser of my school’s literary and arts magazine, which I am the editor-in-chief of.
-My second recommendation is being written by my Science Research teacher. I’ve also known her for all four years of high school and over the years she’s become a great friend of my family’s.
Peer Rec:
-From one of my friends who graduated last year. She did Sci’Re’ with me. Goes to Yale now, lol no big deal.
ECs/Volunteering:
-School Literary and Arts Magazine (9-12): Editor-in-Chief junior and senior year
-Student Government (10-12): Head of Academics Committee
-Science Bowl (11-12): Co-captain of team 2017, Captain 2018
-VEX Robotics (10-12): Team Captain 2018
-Civil Rights Team (10-12): Senior Member
-National Honor Society (11-12): Community Service Committee
-Youth Court Volunteer (11-12): Advocate/Judge
-I do an independent science research project every year and I have presented scientific research every year at the state science fair, and the junior sciences and humanities symposium.
-I volunteer at a local mosque teaching Arabic to young kids
Awards/Honors:
-Inducted into the French Honor Society (10th grade)
-New York Times Editorial Contest Runner-Up (Top 25 out of almost 8,000!!) (11th grade)
-Award from the American Psychology Association @ State Science Fair (9th grade)
-Three scholastic writing awards (Gold Key, Silver Key, and Honorable Mention) (10th, 11th grade)
-Columbia College Chicago Young Author’s Competition finalist in the creative nonfiction category (11th grade)
-My school chose me as one of 2 delegates to Girls’ State, and there I was elected to the senate, then elected senate president (11th grade).
-RIT Medal for Creativity and Innovation from my school (11th grade)
-Selected to attend Consider Engineering camp at the University of Maine (Summer 2017)
Course rigor:
By the end of high school, I will have taken 8 AP Classes, 1 IB HL class, and 10 honors classes. This is my course load for senior year:
-AP Literature
-AP Physics
-AP Calc BC
-AP Comp Sci (online)
-AP US Gov and Politics (online)
-AP French (conflicted w/ IB History and AP Calc–approved independent study. Pass/fail grade).
-IB History HL Year 2
-Science Research (Honors)
Thanks for the help :).
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