<p>Alright, so Dartmouth is my dream school. I submitted my application at the beginning of October, but since then I've decided to include some extra material. </p>
<p>I have already sent in some supplementary material explaining an awkward dip in my grades sophomore year as well as an additional essay detailing why I would like to major in English.</p>
<p>However, I have recently received a new award (regional), been published in my local newspaper and my adviser for a nonprofit I work at wrote me an outstanding letter of rec.</p>
<p>If I sent all of these to Dartmouth...would they think I'm psycho? Would they think I'm annoying? or would they think I'm just interested in their school and wish to provide them with the necessary information to evaluate my application. </p>
<p>I really hope its the latter... any thoughts? I'm an anxious senior!!</p>
<p>The “thicker the file” thing is BS in my experience. </p>
<p>Yes, you have to be somewhat judicious, but the most successful applicants I know sent four recs, not two. This is particularly key for public school students who are unlikely to be the beneficiaries of the individual attention lavished on private school applicants by their college admissions staff.</p>
<p>I would send a 1-page letter affirming your interest in D, briefly but accurately describing your award,and your publication. (Assuming that this is NEW information.) If you had inadequate space to describe your ECs on the Common App, you might consider sending a 1-page resume instead, with a brief cover note reiterating your love for D. Unless you have already sent in 4 recs, send in the latest one–especially since it sounds as if it describes a part of your life that is not included in you school recs.</p>
<p>I feel as though I have chosen the information I want to send very carefully – all of it is either previously unseen in my application or highlights a part of my application I feel wasn’t accurately described (the newspaper article isn’t just a clipping, its a full article on a business I started with a fellow peer, something that was just mentioned briefly in my application. The rec letter [I have only sent the the required recs prior] is from an adviser of a nonprofit I work very very closely with, also just briefly mentioned in my app).</p>
<p>The same adcom agrees with you Consolation, he says 4 recs.</p>
<p>I do think you need to be careful. I roll my eyes at what some students hand me as an alumni interviewer for my alma mater, I can only imagine what they’ve sent the school.</p>
<p>When my DS applied to Dartmouth, he sent in 3 recs and a very detailed activity sheet in addition to the Common App, and that was it. Granted he went to one of those private schools with pushy counselors.</p>