<p>Hi,
I have about a weighted average of 97.2 out of 100. Would this be competitive at Dartmouth or is it too low to get in? Also, according to some sources I have read, a 97 usually converts to a 4.0 on a 4 point scale. I know this varies by school, but can anyone confirm this? Thanks alot!</p>
<p>Bump char10</p>
<p>I think it is most important to consider the context of your weighted average. Does that average place you at the top of the class? Or does everyone you know have that same 97.2? If you allow me to speculate, I will claim that Dartmouth will accept an applicant with an 82 average if that average put the student at the top of the class and reflected a strong course load. Important as well, I would further claim, is the good standing of the school. Is the school known to be difficult? Are the classes “real” or are they “Mickey Mouse”? These conditions - the questions that come with them - I think are more revealing than an average.</p>
<p>It occurs to me only now to write this, and I don’t dare presume that you are looking for reassurance, but it may please you to know that I was accepted with less than a 97.2.</p>
<p>The average is one that comes at a top-100 public school that sends at 15-30 out of about 300 to the ivies and other top schools. I have the most challenging class workload possible, taking almost entirely honors or AP classes. Aside from one year of Spanish, every class that could be honors/AP has been. I would say it would put me in the top 6-8% of the class. </p>
<p>Sorry for not including this with the original post.</p>
<p>Actually, I am writing more to see if I am on the right track :)</p>
<p>I got some advice when I was starting high school and I have attempted to stay with it ever since. As I understood it, more important than scores and grades and this, that, and the other thing was the overall uniqueness of the applicant. College’s are not lying, I think, when they say they are looking for a student body diverse in all areas - unique, if you will. While certainly playing soccer, being in the National Honor Society, tutoring, having high SAT scores, are all very admirable qualities, I am not sure they constitute a unique applicant because every applicant possesses those same admirable qualities. Suddenly a highly qualified applicant becomes a standard, highly qualified applicant. Better, as I understood it, was to do something interesting, something different. I turn now to my own circumstances not because they are the best example, but because I know them best. I taught myself Norwegian. I know many people in the National Honor Society; I know no one who has taught themselves Norwegian. I speculate here, but I think that made my application a bit more diverse - it embodied the different trait. I will stop here with this for fear that I will become too self-congratulating, but I hope you have the idea. I think that if you have pursued activities, done things that are distinctive, you are more on the right track than you would be otherwise. I could be wrong, of course, but I do not think that I am.</p>
<p>I agree that uniqueness is important, possibly the deciding factor, if you have stellar grades, a rigorous curriculum and top 99% SATs.</p>