<p>I am applying ED at Dartmouth, but I'm a little bit worried about my SAT scores. </p>
<p>I'm a very strong student (my school doesn't rank but i think I'm around 3/109 and i'm for sure in the top 10% of my class at a very competitive private school that sends about 20% of grads to top colleges). I've also taken the hardest possible course load with a total of 9 APs. However, my SATs are a little bit low for Dartmouth (690 CR, 700 M, 730W) and I'm really worried that this will be the reason I won't be accepted. Also, one my SAT II scores isn't very good (I got a 790 on French but a 690 on US History).</p>
<p>Does anyone know how important SAT scores are in the admissions process at Dartmouth? I know grades are always more important, but I'm still worried.</p>
<p>this is pretty debatable... obviously you're more than numbers and i don't doubt that you probably have the potential to expose your human side and personal drive in your essays and activities; however, unless dartmouth has changed, my understanding is that--at least in past years--their admissions process has utilized a tool called the academic index. the ai evaluates you on a composite score of 240. you divide your sat composite by 30, the sum of your two best sat iis by 20 and then add in whatever your class rank converts to out of 80. so 1 out of 1000 gives you roughly an 80. </p>
<p>but again, you may have different circumstances and expereinces that make you an even more viable candidate than you probably already are. </p>
<p>my advice: you did quite well and don't belabor it, at this point its in the hands of the admissions office.</p>
<p>are you sure about that academic index? I've never heard that about Dartmouth. In fact, I heard that Dartmouth is very holistic, and they are willing to overlook decent (yet low by their standards) SATs if the applicant is otherwise strong.</p>
<p>the ai is a tool used by ALL ivy league schools - it was developed primarily as a standard for athletic recruits to make sure that the recruits who were receiving a boost for their athletics were still viable candidates.</p>
<p>every students' ai is calculated by all ivies when they apply, whether or not it is used is debatable. Michele Hernandez's book (A for Admission) claims that at least at Dartmouth it was a pretty big factor, but Furstenburg (the recently retired Dean of Admissions here) claims that it wasn't a factor for non-athletes once he took over ... but who knows who to believe.</p>
<p>I'd like to think that it IS a factor ... it's a way of combining all your stats into one composite number, but it is only a factor, nobody knows how large of one it is though.</p>
<p>I doubt that Furstenburg is actually lying when he says they did not use the AI on his watch. But then again, he is not being completely candid either. He's not actually telling us how much these stats matter. I'm sure they try to use a "holistic" approach, and part of the whole will be the academic statistics. With more and more schools refusing to rank they are unintentionally putting more weight on test scores. Another thing to consider is that in the holistic approach you are not compared with just your high school, but with the entire applicant pool. Your scores might be on the low side for Dartmouth, therefore you have to do the best you can to be sure your other qualities are given plenty of air time. Don't give up, but have back up plans.</p>
<p>you also have to remember that Dartmouth has a new Admissions Dean and some new regional reps this year. How that will play out, no one yet knows....</p>
<p>As an athletic recruit the coach should be able to tell you your chances. They usually bring the person up to admissions to see if they are a possibility. But coaches cannot make admissions commitments. You should also be getting a likely letter prior to the standard ED reply date. Good luck!</p>
<p>We were in Hanover last month and the Assistant Admissions Director talked at length on AI. She said that is was an excellent indicator of your chances. She also mentioned that Transcipts, Essays, and Teacher Evaluations were also very important. </p>
<p>I do not remember if she discussed if AI has changed since there is now three parts of the SAT. In A is for Admission by Michelle Hernandez, it is calculated as follows SAT Math +Verbal/20 + Three Subject Tests/30 + Class Ranking.</p>
<p>No likely letters for ED applicants. My goodness, when would they have time to do all that?? You'll get an answer five or six weeks after your app was received. I think that's pretty fast turn-around.</p>
<p>What is a good score depends on many factors, including hooks and the strength of the rest of the application. </p>
<p>Anyone applying to Dartmouth is probably acqainted with Hernandez and her books; worth checking out of the library if you want an insider's look at the D admissions process as it was back in the late 90's.</p>
<p>well the calculator you linked to didn't seem to have been changed at all to deal with the new SAT, but, if logic has anything to do with it (doubtful) then your SAT would be divided by 30 and the sum of your TWO best subject tests would be divided by 20 to give that part of the ai (since D only requires 2 subj tests)</p>
<p>according to Hernandez's book, people who equate to "academic 9's and 8's" have something like a 90% shot, 7's about 70%, 6's around 40 ... and so on. Actually i haven't read the book for a few years, but i remember something like that.</p>
<p>Yeah. It makes a big difference since my son received an 800 on the writing portion. His AI goes from 228 to 232 if you use the three SAT's and the two Subjects. This takes him from an 8 to a 9. With all the conjecture and stats available he is still in a holding pattern until next month. Preparing all the items for RD apps to the nine or so colleges that will be sent out before the end of the year. He is certainly not counting his chickens until they are running around in the back yard.</p>