From An Average School- so what are my chances?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Dartmouth College
1

<p>I go to an average/below average high school. Next year I will be a senior. I want to go to a college where I will be around people like me who want to learn, have opportunities, and succeed. However, my high school does not offer the greatest preparation that other schools do. </p>

<li><p>We have no honors courses or AP courses available at my high school. Your junior/senior years you can take only two (2) classes that are honors/advanced/AP, but you are bussed to another school at the end of the day. Because my school has budget problems, there are not a lot of teachers so not a lot of classes. Because of scheduling conflicts involving required classes, I could not take the two AP classes my junior year. Next year (senior year), the other school is offering three morning classes in addition to the afternoon ones. I signed up to take all five, but they canceled two of my morning ones and I am no longer able to take anything there in the morning (missing out on AP Euro/AP Bio/AP Psychology). I still have AP English Lit and AP US History, but that is all I will have of honors classes to my record. Not by choice, by bad luck. </p></li>
<li><p>The normal classes my high school offers are terrible. People who are slow/jerks that interrupt for fun/super smart and need challenges are all bottled together. If you request advancement, they stick you in a class designed for a year ahead of you, so you’re in with seniors, not juniors, that are still slow, interrupt, etc. </p></li>
<li><p>No opportunities. I haven’t been on a field trip since the middle school went to Mackinac Island and I got to join them. We have old computers donated from a hospital. The school utilizes the same practice emergency rooms use: treat 'em and street 'em, so there is no force urging students to go to a good college (my school is a big advocate of COMMUNITY COLLEGE and getting kids into trades so they’re working immediately). The school focuses more on the state test (MEAP) rather than the ACT or SAT. No emphasis on talents/abilities unless it is sports.</p></li>
<li><p>Extracurriculars are rotten. The sports teams are favoritism-crazy. The only clubs we have are Spanish Club, Environmental Club, SADD, and NHS. No Quiz Bowl, no Chess Club, notta. The clubs offered do not do anything and I didn’t want to join and be a part of nothing. My school does not have a paper or lit magazine (or I would be editor-in-chief). There is a yearbook but it is taken as a class and only open for one hour (causes scheduling conflicts). We have Student Council which does do quite a bit, and Class Officers, but that is a popularity game and not worth playing. Band is very big but that takes talent and I didn’t have it. Not to mention it is run by a substitute because the excellent instructor was fired for an unknown reason. The choir was taught by the band director too and therefore suffered. </p></li>
<li><p>This is what I have to my name:</p></li>
</ol>

<p>-Civics/Economics/Psychology/American History/World Studies
-Special World Lit/Special Humanities/American Lit/English Lit and Comp/Creative Writing
-Biology/Chemistry/Earth & Physical Sciences
-Integrated Math 1/Int. Math 2/Int. Math 3
-2 years of Spanish
-1 year of art
-1 year of Peer Mentoring (helping students in a freshman class)
-1 year of computers
-1 year of swim/health/gym
-2 years of JV softball
-2 years of NHS
-won English Award of the Year (as a junior)
-work at a movie theater on weekends- 1.4 years now
-2 years of Reading Club (that was disbanded)
-won city writing contest
-4.006 GPA
-27 on ACT (first try)
-1130 on SAT (do not plan to use)
-43 hours of community service, 31 of which was tutoring at middle school</p>

<p>This is what I want to ADD to my name:</p>

<p>-AP US History/World History
-AP English Lit.
-Advanced Biology
-Pre-Calculus
-Speech or Newspaper (if it gets off the ground next year) or whatever is worth taking that is available
-a year on Varsity softball (old coach cut me because of popularity reasons, new coach now because old coach got laid off
-third year of NHS and possible secretary or Vice President standing
-looking to nab second English Award of the Year as well as Social Studies Award of the Year
-continuing work at movie theater, looking to become projectionist
-looking to get published for my short stories (awaiting submission response) or a possible screenplay of a short film
-higher GPA (weighted as follows: A+ = 4.25/A = 4/A- = 3.5/B+ = 3.25/B = 3)
-taking ACT again, hoping for at least 29 or higher
-looking to take tennis lessons, I am a big fan of the sport</p>

<p>What do you suppose my chances are?</p>

2

<p>Not good, but then again no one has a lock on admission.</p>

<p>When Adcoms look at school profiles they are primarily looking for an understanding of the grades achieved within a school system. If you have the highest grades in a ultra-achieving school district you get the nod. Get the highest grades in a bottom rated school and the assumption is that the grades were easily obtained.</p>

<p>It will be very bad form for you to gripe about the raw deal you got in being dropped on a particular piece of the world that had a sucky school. I assure you they have heard far worse horror stories from third world applicants.</p>

<p>The only way you can get your image raised is in the reccs provided by teachers, etc... that tell of you being the diamond rising out of the dumpster that is their school. Unfortunately the schools that are very good about getting their students into Ivies already know this trick.</p>

<p>Of your list of planned improvements only the literary and Standardized Tests will have much bearing. But, sorry to say, a 29 ACT isn't going to do it either.</p>

<p>You can give it a shot. You will make yourself a lot more attractive to other schools if you try to package yourself for D-Mouth. Just don't bet the farm.</p>

3

<p>I disagree Gizmo, there are many kids who go to poor schools and still do well on tests and make the most of everything around them taking college classes, etc. The problem here is that you're just talking about the lemons rather than having made lemonade. A 29 ACT would still be way sub par.</p>

4

<p>Half full or half empty (with a crack).</p>

<p>Note that Bashful makes no mention of going outside the system and taking college courses (APs dont' count). Other than his literary aspirations the list is very standard. A year of volleyball and a few tennis lessons won't get you a phone call from the Big Green coach.</p>

<p>If pragmatism can't overcome optimism then you have to look at the math:</p>

<p>If the entire applicant pool has a 17% chance of acceptance is this candidate above or below the applicant pool median? Since there is no mention of URM or Legacy we should be able to agree that the chances are below the 17% norm. </p>

<p>As presented, this candidate is most likely in the single digit probability for acceptance. A fifty-to-one shot can win the Kentucky Derby but it isn't the preferred way to bet.</p>

<p>Sorry, I'm all for this fellow to take the shot and wait by the mailbox but you better have something else in reserve when the math is going against you.</p>

5

<p>I wasn't disagreeing that chances are extremely low in this case, just that a bad high school works against you. As someone applying from a very top school, there are days I wish I'd stayed on in my bad public school system!!</p>

6

<p>I don't play volleyball, I'm a girl, and I'm looking to get into things that I enjoy, that's why I was thinking tennis. I was just curious if it it looks good at the same time as being fun. My school will only pay for college courses outside of my school as long as they count towards high school credit. Plus, I was told my counselor wouldn't put me through and make an exception because of the APs I'll be taking. I'm not looking for athletic scholarships, I just would be interested in joining activities when I get to college. When there are opportunities I am the type that won't shy away.</p>

7

<p>From my experience, Dartmouth tries to take into account every applicant's background, including those who come from "bad" schools. I met several people at Dimensions who said they were the first student in their hs to attend an ivy league school in many years.</p>

<p>My school sounds like the one you attend--horrible budget cuts, few extracurriculars, guidance counselors who want you to go straight to community college. </p>

<p>First--don't complain in your interview. They've heard worse, and unless you're from the inner city a lot of colleges won't believe that you've really got it that bad.</p>

<p>Second--and this has not been said enough, do what you love. Found a club , self-study for AP's, do some independent research. It's not too late and all of these things show motivation despite lack of resources. Lastly, don't let getting into college consume you. You'll regret it if you force yourself to pursue activities you don't truly enjoy. Don't worry--Dartmouth, at least in my case, was more willing than any other school to take into account the obscure school I came from. Good luck!</p>

8

<p>The SAT score is too low...Does not really matter if he does waht he loves or not.</p>