I know my chances are slim but....

Colleges and Universities A-Z Dartmouth College
1

<p>could you just evaluate any chance (or lack thereof) that I have of being admitted?
I applied ED. </p>

<p>GPA: freshman and sophomore year- UW 3.8 W 4.1
junior year- UW 4.0 W 4.5 </p>

<p>SAT: 2100 (superscored)
cr- 720
w- 730
m- 650</p>

<p>*SAT II's
Literature- 650
U.S. History- 640 (retaking)</p>

<p>Rank: ~1/280 </p>

<p>Extra Curriculars:
President and Founder of the Young Democrats Club
Vice President of the Diversity Club
Literary Magazine Staff (and contributor)
Newspaper Book Review Columnist
varsity tennis team (9,10,11)
volunteer all the time at church
volunteer at the library twice a week (10 hrs. a week approx)
College Misericordia Diversity Camp
I'm also heavily involved in the Obama campaign.
I organized a voter registration drive at my school. </p>

<p>Awards and Achievments: (pretty weak)
AP scholar
2nd place in a poetry slam (sophomore year)
honorable mention in a poetry slam (junior year)
ambassador for change (it went along with the diversity camp thing)
member of the national honor society
High Honor roll (every quarter freshman and sophomore year)
Principal's Honor roll (every quarter junior year)</p>

<p>Summer Activities:
volunteering at the library
I also took 2 college courses at wilkes univeristy:
Pschology (I got a 4.0)
Governments of the World (4.0 as well)</p>

<p>Course load- I took two out of the three AP's that my school offers, pretty much the "hardest" courseload I could... even thought it's not that difficult. I won't list freshman and sophomore. </p>

<p>Junior year:
U.S. history
spanish IV
academic english III
AP European history
Algebra III and trig
chemistry</p>

<p>Senior year:
AP Spanish
Physics
Economics
Shakespeare and the Novel (I took on an extra elective)
Pre-Calc (dual enrollment)
Calc I (dual enrollment, next semester)
Composition 101 (dual enrollment)
American Lit (dual enrollment, next semester)</p>

<p>AP grades:
euro- 3
us- 3
gov't and politics- 4
Not so great, but two I self studied for. </p>

<p>Essay: creative and well written.
Recs: Very positive, but let's just say neither of my teachers are the most eloquent writers. I also have an extra rec from a political science professor I had in the summer.</p>

<p>ALSO, I just had an interview with a local alumnus. She actually sent me the rec she wrote up and it was very complimentary. I'm not sure how much this matters, considering how competative the school is, but I thought it was worth mentioning.</p>

2

<p>Your standardized test scores are probably too low.
While your EC's seem a bit above average, I don't know whether it is sufficient to get you in. I think it is unlikely.</p>

3

<p>1370 M+CR.....650 math. EC's not impressive. personally I think test scores matter a lot during ED...ur SAT, SAT 2's, and AP scores will all communicate to Penn that you aren't academically qualified. you're up against kids with straight 5's, 2300+, and all SAT 2's above 750.</p>

4

<p>by Penn, ChoklitRain definitely means Dartmouth lol. all's good... anyway, you're clearly an amazing student, and colleges somewhere will be fighting over you. But Dartmouth has kids fighting over it extensively; it's really tough. That said, with higher test scores, you'd have a much better chance.</p>

5

<p>Yeah I figured he meant Dartmouth haha....
I realize that it's a huge reach. I did ED just because I love New Hamsphire and I've been going up there for years. Financially, I couldn't do ED to my top choice (Bates) because I didn't think they would give me the aid that I need.</p>

6

<p>^ lol, i thought i was in the Penn forum for some reason. my point in my earlier post was that something needs to "pop" to the adcoms. it could be a set of rough circumstances, a stunning EC achievement, or nasty test scores. a high gpa is basically expected.</p>

7

<p>haha that's okay. I wanted my hook to be political involvement in my school and community (not the most creative achievement, but it's what I put most of my time into). I focused on election organzing, doing voter registration drives at my school, young D's, and stuff like that. I don't have anything above and beyond by ivy league standards. I thought it was worth a shot though. </p>

<p>I forgot to mention this in my post. I'm not even sure it really matters, but my school rarely sends grads to top schools (we sent two to Penn last year.. kind of a fluke year). I have the second highest SAT score at my school and we send most of our top students to Penn State. I've had to do a lot on my own, like self-studying for AP's (which noone else from my school has ever done), taking college classes in the summer, and starting clubs. Nothing was handed to me. If this isn't relevent, just disregard this completely. Just thought I'd mention it...</p>

8

<p>Claire, that's definitely relevant, and your extracurriculars definitely show leadership and organizational skills. But in terms of standardized testing, I kinda feel like you would have done a lot better in a better high school.</p>

9

<p>I feel kind of jipped... haha. Especially with the AP's. I feel like noone tells us anything at my school. I am on top of things and I didn't even know about subject tests until late in my junior year. I didn't even know about the SAT until late in my sophomore year. No one told me you could self study for AP's. I found out on my own and quickly had to study for 2 in one month. I started with a 158 on my PSAT and worked my way up from there. I battled with my guidance department to let me take an extra elective and college classes in the summer. It's definately been an uphill battle for me... </p>

<p>Sorry for the rant... I guess I'm just bitter. I understand the competativeness of the situation and that colleges probably won't know the extenuating circumstances.</p>

10

<p>They're often very understanding of people who have had limited resources. They know that some people have been working with private SAT tutors for a while. They will be impressed that you went above and beyond what you were given. You're class rank will also be a significant factor, and that is obviously very strong. Good luck!</p>

11

<p>why did you apply ed to dartmouth over bates? did you think that in the event of a dartmouth acceptance you would get more $$$ than bates</p>

12

<p>My dad met with the financial people at Dartmouth and they did seem to indicate that I would get the aid I need. I guess I shouldn't have said Bates is my "top choice," honestly Dartmouth is my dream school and ultimately is my first choice. I didn't think Bates would offer me the money I need also. It's more of a realistic choice for me and that's why I considered applying ED because I thought I might actually have a shot. It just wasn't practical.</p>

13

<p>Claire -- Dartmouth looks at applicants within the context of the opportunities given to them. If you strike them as an outstanding applicant in that way, it may make up for your test scores... although they aren't too bad. Obviously, it would help if you had a tangible hook.. but don't count yourself as out of the game. If I had to guess, I think that they would defer you to RD.
Have you ever thought of Bowdoin College? I see that you are looking at Bates.. I live in Maine.. and I can tell you that a lot of people that care a lot about politics/government apply to those two schools (at least from here.. idk about out-of-state) Think about that.. and maybe GWU? Anyway, I admire you for all the effort you've put into your education. That's awesome.</p>

14

<p>I got an overal 86 percentile on the ssats and my gpa is a 3.75 and im in all honors and only in 9th grade and my interviews went excellent do you think i have a good chance at making choate, deerfield, and hotchkiss?</p>

15

<p>Thanks for your responde coteee.
I have considered Bowdoin and I actually visited in the summer. I loved the campus, but I originally wasn't going to apply because I didn't want to add another reach school (at the time my SAT score and rank were lower). I'll consider it though. It's a beautiful school.</p>

16

<p>Claire,</p>

<p>You are a strong applicant despite your lower than the median math SAT score. You are the likely valedictorian of your school which is a big plus at Dartmouth and you appear to have taken full advantage of all the opportunities presented to you. </p>

<p>I'd remain hopeful as I think the adcom will find much to like in your application. </p>

<p>BalletGirl</p>

17

<p>thankyou balletgirl. </p>

<p>can someone tell me what the median scores are for all three sections? obviously the middle 50 is high 600's to high 700's, but is there an average score for each section?</p>

18

<p>Median SAT scores are about 725 across the board; there is no mean score posted.</p>

19

<p>Okay thanks.</p>

20

<p>Claire, Bowdoin also has better FA than Bates...something to consider.</p>