Do I even have a shot at Dartmouth?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Dartmouth College
1

<p>About me:
Major: possibly business, but most likely undeclared
Male
Asian-American (Korean)
Live in Southern California</p>

<p>School does not rank
GPA weighted: 4.24
GPA unweighted: 3.76</p>

<p>About my GPA, my sophomore year I was taking 3 APs and I got 4 B's first semester and 2 B's second semester (3.91 GPAW). My junior year I took 5 APs and got straight A's for both semesters (4.8 GPAW). Hopefully, this shows at least an upward trend and that I can handle an extreme courseload.</p>

<p>UC Eligibility in Local Context ELC (indicates top 4% of class)
SAT: 790 Math, 780 Writing, 730 Crit Reading, 2300 overall
SAT IIs: Math 780, US History 720, Chemistry (taking in October, expecting around 750+)
APs:
Sophomore year:
AP Calc AB – 5
AP Euro Hist – 3
AP Environmental Science – 4
Junior Year: Again, hopefully my AP scores also show an upward trend from my sophomore year
AP Calc BC - 5
AP Physics C - 5
AP US Hist - 5
AP English Language – 5
AP Chemistry - 4</p>

<p>Senior Year: AP Stats, AP Physics EM, AP Eng Lit, AP Gov, Spanish 7-8 (did all 4 years of HS), Comp Applications(for requirement)</p>

<p>ECs:
-Math Tutoring Club Secretary (11), Treasurer (12)
-Investment Club founder (12)
-Volunteer at local Hospital (10-12) over 100 hours
-National Honors Society (11-12)
-various local writing and math competition semifinalist
-School JV tennis (9-10), MVP for Sophomore Year
-Piano National CM test Level 10 (9-12)
-participate in city's Youth Symphony (9-12)
-Youth Symphony Marketing Committee
-kiva.org member and participant (9-12)
-smaller school clubs that I might or might not write down
-Stanford EPGY Summer program (11)</p>

<p>Work Experience:
-Internship at IBM Korea and Deutsche Bank Korea (2 weeks each, not sure which one to write down), can get a 3rd optional rec letter from either
-Volunteer work at North Korean refugee camp in rural South Korea (3 weeks)
-Work at UPS for 4 hours per week during the school year</p>

<p>Rec letters:
-pretty sure of 2 very good recommendations, one from physics another from US History to balance it out
-can get a 3rd optional from one of my internships</p>

<p>Essays: I have one very, very unique experience at the North Korean refugee camp and another talks my overarching passion for business that I’ve shown through my ECs and and the different types of work experience.</p>

<p>Hooks: Can pay full, Brother currently attends Dartmouth (does this count as Legacy?).</p>

<p>Antihooks: Asian, Korean, I have alot of ugly B's, upper middle class</p>

<p>Thanks in advance!</p>

2

<p>

Not a hook as far as I know. Dartmouth is need-blind, and I can’t see any other reason they’d think of you being well off as a major plus.</p>

3

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<p>Don’t be naive. There is a difference between rejecting someone because they need financial aid and accepting someone because they can pay full. Particularly in this economy.</p>

4

<p>^I agree, every school needs it’s quota of full pay students. But at Dartmouth and the other very top colleges, they could fill themselves 5 times with those willing to pay full freight.</p>

5

<p>I’m not saying its going to make him an auto-admit or anything like that. But it certainly won’t hurt his cause if he’s otherwise a borderline candidate.</p>

6

<p>It doesn’t hurt at all, no – but it’s not a hook. And I think often need-blind colleges insist that they don’t view at all candidates’ abilities to pay – this information is kept separately by financial aid.</p>

<p>Though of course one’s socioeconomic class is usually evident from the application, I don’t see how being upper middle class is a huge hook.</p>

7

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</p>

<p>That was a turn of phrase. My point is, that being able to pay full could push him ahead of someone who can’t, especially if they are fighting over one of the last spots in the class.</p>

8

<p>I don’t think he has a chance as a business major because Dartmouth does not have a business major.</p>

9

<p>But back to the OP’s question:</p>

<p>I’m exhausted from reading your accomplishments. In other words, you’ve got a ton of them. Your SATs are awesome, your grades are amazing. Your brother attends, so IMHO this suggests to Dartmouth that you already know a lot about the school and therefore, if accepted, you’ll attend. That’s a big plus for their yield.</p>

<p>I think the fact that you will be a full-pay is advantageous.</p>

<p>I think you have a good chance.</p>

<p>As Sybbie points out above, however, there is no Business Major. Instead, many people at D major in Economics.</p>

10

<p>What is OP’s overall unweighted GPA?</p>

11

<p>sybbie- 3.76 (what he posted)
:)</p>

12

<p>Sounds like a solid application to me, despite your stumbling sophomore year.</p>

13

<p>Looks good to me, but there’s a lot of arbitrary randomness in the college admission process.</p>

14

<p>I really, really wonder about someone whose brother is actually at the school who doesn’t know that it doesn’t have a business major.</p>

<p>Other than that, you have a very solid application, if they want yet another Korean kid who has a music EC and wants to major in “business.” Sorry, I don’t mean to sound unpleasant, but if I’ve gotten tired of reading chances threads from such applicants, I can only imagine how tired of them the admissions committees must be.</p>

<p>I would agree with your self-assessment that your ECs and work experience–leaving aside the “I founded an investment club senior year just in time to put it on my resume”–are stronger and more focused than many.</p>