I am finishing my Junior year and my guidance counselor is urging me to get my thoughts together for early application, as they are only several months away. I have two schools that I want to go to: Dartmouth and Baylor. I would rather go to Dartmouth, obviously, but I will go to Baylor if I don’t get into Dartmouth. The big question is that will my scores/GPA, and extracirriculars help me with Dartmouth.
I have a 4.0 unweighted and 4.15 weighted with 4 honors classes this year, and 4 next year.
I have a 30 on my ACT
I have a 1420 on the new SAT
I am graduating in three years (as opposed to four years) from high school
Tied for 2nd in my class- with top awards
Extracirriculars:
Quiz Bowl (highest scorer on my team)
Interact (Volunteer) Club
Student Counsil Treasurer
Volunteer at local Food Bank
School Baseball team
School Theatre club; Lead role in Sound of Music, other plays
I will only have 3 years of ECs, but will they understand it was because of I finished freshman year in the summer? I will continue to improve my ACT/SAT scores as these scores were from my first time taking both the ACT/SAT just in 2016. I’m taking both again in February and March.
You are a strong applicant. Increase your test scores if possible, either one. Does Dartmouth require SAT Subject Tests? Baylor & Dartmouth are very different schools - you might consider broadening your list of schools a bit
They strongly “recommend” them. It says to take at least two, but I’m planning on taking three. I am taking both the ACT/SAT on the next testing day, hopefully improving my scores.
Great. Is it helpful if I get a letter of recommendation from a Dartmouth Alumni member? Any other things I should be doing to get on the right track as far as extracirriculars or any other part of high school?
I think your scores and grades are in the ball park and applying early will give you a great advantage. However, your ECs are lackluster. I’d also try to define why Dartmouth? Good Luck.
The dartmouth alumni rec won’t help much if you don’t really know them in some substantive way, i.e. them being a teacher or boss or some real thing where they know you. Your test scores will be the part of your application you’ll need to get up the most, I think a 1500+ would make you really competitive for admission. Also, your ECs look a little sparse on leadership roles, so it would be great of you could take captaincy roles or something leadership oriented on any of those teams. You want something to really make your application stand out, be it essays or extracurriculars. Good luck
I read this post b/c my daughter has applied to Dartmouth this year. I agree with a previous poster–Dartmouth and Baylor seem very different. My daughter applied to Dartmouth b/c it has a very liberal arts feel. She also has applied to several LACs. You should explore those possibilities–you might be surprised that there are others schools that have a Dartmouth feel. Coming from my experience, as a junior you might have a preconceived idea of exactly what you want, but I watched my student really expand her search during the year.