Deferred from ED. What can I do to improve my application??

Colleges and Universities A-Z Dartmouth College
1

<p>Here are my stats. Considering submitting an arts supplement. </p>

<p>Decision: Deferred
Objective:
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): 2230/800 Writing, 12 Essay, 710 Critical Reading, 720 Math
[</em>] ACT (breakdown): 33
[<em>] SAT II: 680 US History, 660 Chemistry
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.83
[<em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 20%, school doesn't rank
[</em>] AP (place score in parentheses): AP United States History (5), AP Chemistry
[<em>] IB (place score in parentheses): N/A
[</em>] Senior Year Course Load: AP Biology, AP Calculus AB, AP French, AP English, Physics, French and Philosophy Independent Study
[li] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Girl Scout Gold Award, 16th Best Score in Nation on National French Contest, 4th in the State in Science Olympiad Forensics, Best Delegate two years in a Row at Tennessee State Youth in Government conference (same at Model UN)</p>[/li]
<p>[/list][ b]Subjective:**
[li] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): Girl Scouts (Board Member of the Girl Scouts Board of Middle Tennessee, Gold Award, Honored for Leadership by the CEO of Girl Scouts at 2013 Girl Scout Luncheon, Featured in Girl Scouts' Quarterly Magazine, Co-Chair of Girl's Committee of the Girl Scouts Board of Middle Tennessee), 4 Year Letterman on Varsity Golf Team (Co-Captain my Junior and Senior year, on state and region runner-up team Freshman year, on state and region championship team my sophomore year, qualified individually for state my Junior year, Hole-In-One in Region Tournament, qualified individually for state my Senior year, placed 4th in Region, placed 8th in state, MVP Junior Year, Coach's Award for Leadership Senior Year), Model United Nations (Vice President of the General Assembly, Best Delegate 2x, Best Resolution, Served on the Security Council my senior year), Youth in Government (Speaker of the Blue House, Speaker of the Red House, Best Delegate 2x, Best Bill in House), 4 Varsity Basketball Team (2 year letterman, "For the Love of the Game" award, Team spirit Award), 4 Year Varsity Softball Team Member (District Team Runner-Up, Sportsmanship Award), Community Service (club member 4 years, Co-Chaired Second Harvest Food Drive, Volunteer at Room at the Inn), Clarinet (1st chair clarinetist in Concert Band, Pep Band and Jazz Band, pre-college lessons at Vanderbilt University's Blair School of Music), Art (Art work featured at Frist Center for Visual Arts, Christmas Card contest at Vanderbilt University winner 12 years in a row), Student Council (representative for four years, Chair of Prom committee).</p>[/li]
<p>[<em>] Job/Work Experience: Babysitting all summer
[</em>] Volunteer/Community service: See above under community service.
[<em>] Summer Activities: Spent all past summers studying at Vanderbilt. Took a novel writing class my freshman year, a class called "politics, persuasion and poetry" my sophomore year, studied Constitutional Law my Junior year and studied Epidemiology my Senior year. I've also traveled and hiked a lot: with that I have written a lot.
[</em>] Essays: I thought they were really good. My common app essay was really unique and my supplement was super down to earth.
[<em>] Teacher Recommendation: Really good. I chose two teachers that love me and that are pretty much my best friends. We text a lot and have breakfast together.
[</em>] Counselor Rec: It was so great. I cried when I read it.
[<em>] Additional Rec: Peer Recommendation was evidently excellent according to my counselor. I asked my best friend and she's super eloquent so it probably was very nice! She wrote about how outgoing and funny I am haha. I also had the CEO of Girl Scouts write me one that was submitted, and it was fab as well. Oh and two of my alumni family friends sent in letters on my behalf.
[</em>] Interview: The guy told me that I was a "Renaissance women that would solve all the issues of the world before I turned twenty." So it went pretty well.
[li] Supplementary Material: I submitted a resumé but nothing else. Thinking about doing an arts supplement so I'm not rejected regular.</p>[/li]
<p>[/list][ b]Other**
[<em>]Applied for Financial Aid?: No.
[</em>] State (if domestic applicant): TENNESSEE
Country (if international applicant):
[<em>] School Type: Private, Best School in Tennessee
[</em>] Ethnicity: White
[<em>] Gender: Female
[</em>] Income Bracket(mention if FA candidate): $100,000
[li] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None... I wish.</p>[/li]
<p>[/list][ b]Reflection**
[<em>] Strengths: I really thought I was a solid applicant. I loved Dartmouth more than anything when I went to visit. Still trying to get through the fact I was deferred.
[</em>] Weaknesses: Probably subject tests.
[<em>] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I don't know. If anyone has any advice for what to add to my application for regular, please let me know. Or weaknesses I need to improve.
[</em>] Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted to Georgia's Honors College, Accepted to CU-Boulder with full ride and admissions to Honors College, Deferred at Georgetown. Waiting to hear from UChicago, UMass, UVA, and Michigan.</p>

<p>[/list][ b]General Comments: **
PLEASE TELL ME WHAT I CAN IMPROVE! Should I submit an arts supplement? I don't have anything really that I can submit but I could work on some stuff. Dartmouth is the school for me and I would die to go there. Please help a sista out.
Thanks!</p>

2

<p>There is nothing to improve. Send in your first or second semester grades and make sure they are As. I think what might have hurt you could have been the fact that you saw your counselor’s recomendations-colleges can see if you read it on not on the common app. Also, send a nice letter to the admissions officers affirming your interest in Dartmouth. Good luck! Just remember, whether you get in or not, you will end up at which ever school that was meant for you. </p>

3

<p>You should not know that you were deferred at Georgetown, as you couldn’t apply there EA and Dartmouth ED. That issue makes me wonder about how thoroughly you read the other parts of the application. Go back and check the work you’ve done, and take a fresh look at how you completed the application. Best of luck!</p>

4

<p>I saw your plea in the results thread before this, and I PMed you @emchda‌ </p>

5

<p>Keep in mind that only 5-10% of students who are deferred ED are accepted RD. </p>

<p><a href=“http://admissions.dartmouth.edu/facts-advice/faqs”>http://admissions.dartmouth.edu/facts-advice/faqs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>There were almost 800 (787) students deferred</p>

<p><a href=“http://thedartmouth.com/2014/12/12/college-accepts-483-students-early-decision/”>http://thedartmouth.com/2014/12/12/college-accepts-483-students-early-decision/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Please make sure that you are working on your other applications.</p>

<p>Send in your mid year grades and keep the school updated on any new things in your application. Talk to your GC to review your application (letters, essays, etc). Find out if s/he can get some feed back from the regional admissions person</p>

6

<p>You could not be deferred from both Georgetown and Dartmouth unless you made a mistake by submitting both applications early. Georgetown clearly states in its Early Action website:</p>

<p>“In keeping with this principle, students applying under the Early Action program may not apply to any binding Early Decision programs since they then would not be free to choose Georgetown if admitted”.</p>

7

<p>It is a moot point since OP was not admitted at either school</p>

8

<p>It’s a moot point in terms of procedure, but not in terms of reevaluating OPs strategy. In my experience, the ability to follow directions is very important in college apps. Either the OP was being guided by someone who was not well-informed, or the OP did not read carefully enough. Either way, this suggests that someone else should review the app and all of the components to make sure there isn’t some other problem, as the objective stats look good. I think this is important not just for RD chances at Dartmouth, but also all of the other apps. Two deferrals means you have to adjust something, IMHO. (OP - In happy to look at your essays, it’d you want some additional feedback.)</p>

9

<p>I would recommend keeping grades at max, and participating in some prestigious EC’s or competitions. The people who send the most prestigious, frequent updates are the people who are selected out of the deferred pool. Best of luck!!</p>

10

<p>I’d say your problem is that your SAT/ACT is borderline and your subject tests are weak. (For Dartmouth: obviously they are good scores that would be welcomed at many solid schools.) Switching your W and CR scores would have done you a lot of good. But there’s nothing you can do about that now.</p>

<p>If you submit an arts supplement, would it be the clarinet? How good are you? Good enough for All-State? Have you ever played in an orchestra? There’s probably no point in sending one unless it is going to prompt a director to say “this is an outstanding player whom I would like to have in my ensemble.” If the response is going to be that yes, you are a solid HS level musician, well, that’s nice but I doubt it’s going to turn the tide in and of itself.</p>

<p>As first semester and a letter reiterating you interest would be good. If you win any awards or receive any honors in the meantime, by all means notify them. Maybe send them a Christmas card featuring one of your prize-winning designs. :)</p>

<p>ETA: I forgot to mention that asking your GC to call for some feedback and reiterate your interest is a good idea, although unlikely to yield any particular results in my experience.</p>

11

<p>Study like a fiend and get those SAT2s up there. Dartmouth, I believe uses a 5 part SAT test score and your SAT2s are bringing you down big time. Study of the subject tests, intense practice can really bring up those scores, more easily than redoing the entire SAT1. This is what my son would have done had he not been accepted to his ED school since his lack of SAT2 scores was a big minus in his presentation/application.</p>

<p>Some good advice others giving you. Most important to start focusing on other schools, and make sure you have a safety on your list.</p>

12

<p>If it helps, I saw that the Dean of Admissions is doing a FB chat Monday evening.</p>

<p>Found the original post: Applying to #Dartmouth? Our Dean of Admissions will be holding a Q&A on Facebook this Monday! <a href=“Live Admissions Q&A on Facebook | Dartmouth”>http://■■■■■■/1C9n5F2&lt;/a&gt; </p>

13

<p>disagree with consolation in one respect. Your rank is a problem, when a plurality of admits are Val or Sal. Being outside top quintile makes any Ivy a big challenge. Thus, get all A’s senior year. Mid-700 subject test scores would be nice as well, but it may be too late to register for a test. (M2, French?)</p>

14

<p>OP still has time to sit for the SAT/SAT II subject test
registration deadline for January exam is december 29</p>

<p><a href=“SAT Dates and Deadlines – SAT Suite | College Board”>The SAT – SAT Suite | College Board;

15

<p>If you can, retake Subject tests. Would be nice to have two scores over 700. Otherwise you have a very strong application. Does Dartmouth defer a lot of students or is it like stanford only deferring really competitive students?</p>

16

<p>Good luck from a fellow Tennessean!!</p>

17

<p>@emchda, so, what is the explanation for the Georgetown deferral?</p>

18

<p>@IxnayBob‌ I contacted the admissions office and they said I could still submit the application to Georgetown even though I was submitting an ED application. They said it was just a strong preference, not a restrictive rule… They also recognized that Dartmouth didn’t admit a lot of non-legacy non-athletes, and gave me a slip. My school has good relations with Georgetown. I think I got deferred because I only sent 2 subject tests… Evidently I was supposed to send 3. Know that now! </p>

19

<p>@Wje9164be I just got a 710 in French and a 760 on Math II! </p>

20

<p>@emchda, Are you suggesting that both AOs said it was okay? Interesting. </p>

<p>I assume that the required number of Subject Tests is available on the school’s web site. </p>

<p>I don’t understand the Dartmouth non-legacy non-athlete business you mentioned. </p>