<p>Dartmouth is really a longshot for me but I am going to apply just for the heck of it. One question first: does D require an interview? If not, does going for an interview help significantly?</p>
<p>Stats:
-white (damn) male (damn) at strong private college prep school in MN
-GPA 3.88 UW all AP classes
-just took the ACT for the first time, waiting for scores, all said and done I hope to be in the 33-34 range</p>
<p>ECs</p>
<p>-football 4 years
-track 4 years
-volunteer corps 4 years (300 hours of service)
-math league 4 years
-I might found a marketing club
-started a book drive program for a hospital, very successful
-peer ministry next year as senior (only open to seniors, possible leadership?)
-only student in my grade selected to go to this leadership forum thing</p>
<p>Yeah...so...what are my chances? I'm interested because my friend got in (after being waitlisted) and she had a very good GPA but not much leadership and a 32 ACT.</p>
<p>The interview is not required, and I think recently I saw a post that claimed only 50% of Dartmouth applicants get them. It will not significantly help you either; it’s just a way for them to get to know you outside of the application.</p>
<p>GPA is looking a little iffy but it’s not a killer in any way. What’s your rank? And are you being recruited for any of your sports?</p>
<p>I’m not sure how many Dartmouth alumni are in MN, so you may not get one. I know at least where I am in New York, most kids who apply get an interview because there are so many alumni in the area.</p>
<p>I don’t see your GPA as a problem, depending on where it places you in your class. (I’m assuming that it is some kind of an A?) Minnesota is a plus. It sounds as if you have a “most rigorous” schedule. Your other stats will be important. A 34 ACT would be very helpful. Your ECs are a too vague to assess from this description.</p>
<p>No, an interview is not required. Generally the rule of thumb is that a bad interview can’t hurt you (the adcom realizes some people’s personalities don’t mesh), but a good interview can help you. </p>
<p>I agree, I don’t think your GPA is bad at all. And yes, a 34 ACT would be very helpful! You have a strong shot, I don’t think it is that big of a reach for you by any means. </p>
<p>I disagree here, though: </p>
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<p>For many school it is, but not for Dartmouth. Their CDS reports that state residency is not taken into consideration in the admissions process.</p>
<p>My dream school is Notre Dame and I would be thrilled if I got in there. I decided i would apply to at least 1 Ivy (and i hate the name of Cornell…eww) and Dartmouth seemed like a nice place to apply. I don’t have either the pure genius or legacy status to get into Harvard/Yale/Columbia/Princeton, Cornell just isn’t for me, Brown either, so that left me with Dartmouth or Penn and I think I’ll apply to both. Not much shame in getting denied from an Ivy. </p>
<p>Still, I’m working hard and keeping my hopes up. Thanks for all the comments guys.</p>
<p>gpa is great…rounding it to 3.9 and especially since you are an athlete. Apply to University of Michigan or Northwestern (they might pick you). You have a good slot and you should try aiming high so you won’t regret in the past. A lot of us get discouraged by the daily nerd because he/she has a much rigorous course, but in reality if you are able to show your passion for sports or something you’re really interested in; you have a wonderful chance. You’ve worked hard for that ACT score (if it comes around the 30 range); now the next step is seeing where your future lies (that’s up to you and urge you to annoy your teachers to the end for great recs; just be nice though). =)</p>
<p>They have a very holistic application process, and are more liberal arts like than most top universities. They care about much more than just stats (although high stats are important).</p>
<p>So if I want to go into business, I know D does not offer an undergraduate business degree. Will business grad schools (ivies) look favorably on say an econ degree/major from Dartmouth?</p>
<p>Since most of the most selective undergraduate schools offer an econ major and not a business major, I think you need have no worries about top B schools looking askance at an econ major. (A better question would probably be do the top B schools look askance at undergraduate business majors from lesser schools.)</p>
<p>D likes legacies, but mostly–or perhaps only–if you apply ED. (For example, I know a kid who was accepted at H & P and waitlisted at D RD who was a double legacy. ) It is not uncommon for schools to consider legacy only in the ED/EA round. Yale is another that only considers legacy if you apply SCEA.</p>
<p>^Are you sure? I’ve heard that at Duke, they routinely defer legacies ED because they already know they have their interest so they have no incentive to accept these students early. I figured the same would hold true at Dartmouth.</p>
<p>I’m sure about Yale. I’m sure about the results of the kid(s) I know.</p>
<p>I very, very much doubt the Duke story. The best way to alienate alums, lose a strong applicant, and decrease your yield is to slap strong legacy candidates in the face during the ED round. A weak legacy who they are fairly sure is not going to get into any peer school is another matter.</p>
<p>^^I know nothing about how Duke (or Dartmouth) handles legacies, but some selective schools are not afraid to “slap strong legacy candidates in the face” during the early round. Last year D2 was a strong* legacy early applicant to Stanford, and they deferred and ultimately rejected her.</p>
<p>*“Strong” in her case was 4.9/4.0 W/UW, 1/~700, 34 ACT, 2210 SAT, many APs, and strong music ECs. Not perfect but certainly strong.</p>
<p>I’m not talking about rejecting strong legacy candidates. What I am talking about is the idea suggested in a prior post that they would deliberately defer a legacy whom they intended to accept in the RD round because they would assume that the legacy was devoted to Duke and would come anyway.</p>
<p>I think it likely that a significant percentage of such candidates would also have applied to other peer schools, and even reachier schools, and that they would get into one or more of them and go there instead.</p>
<p>It doesn’t make any sense to have a policy of taking strong legacy candidates for granted in such a way. That’s all.</p>