<p>Can I still get in if I'm in the top 20% of my class and I magically can get into the top 10% by senior year. I am currently a junior and I know that my rank is going to change because I going to make sure of it also my sister just graduated from Dartmouth in 2011. So that's an advantage. I also play tennis and im in a lot of extra curriculars-girl scouts, key club, debate, volunteer at hospital, etc... and I'm working for gold award. I have yet to find out if I made national merit, but I have a pretty decent SAT score of right now-2120
Also I'm in ap classes and have done well on ap exams...</p>
<p>What was your GPA at the end of your Junior year? How can you jump +10 percentage points in ranking unless you foresee some “Sybil-esque” disaster befalling your classmates?</p>
<p>Anything is possible, but frankly it doesn’t seem too likely, based on what you’ve said. Have you put together a list of schools that share some of the things you like about D, but are matches and safeties for you?</p>
<p>Are you way overestimating your own ability to affect your class rank? Class rank is based not only on what you accomplish, but also on what everybody else in the class accomplishes.</p>
<p>Presumably, many of those kids in the top decile of your class also want to attend selective colleges and universities, and they will also be busting their backsides to make themselves attractive to elite institutions. If you start out behind them, doing your best won’t be enough to enable you to overtake them. You’ll have to do better than they do, but if they’re taking a truckload of APs and getting A’s, then you don’t have any way to do significantly better.</p>
<p>Unless, as T26E4 suggests, some catastrophe befalls your classmates. (I imagine Dartmouthgirl saying to her classmates, in a Sopranos-like voice, “That’s a real nice GPA you got here. It’d be a shame if something was to happen to it…”)</p>
<p>I’m a junior right now but i have no idea what my gpa will be at the end. Hopefully good enough. But why would rank matter. Sat and grades and what you do outside of school matters…right?</p>
<p>Out of the 34% of people that get accepted to dartmouth ED, 9% are salutatorians, the rest of the majority are valedictorians. just to give you an idea of how much class rank matters…</p>
<p>Um, Dartmouthgirl, you brought up class rank in the first place! (“Can I still get in if I’m in the top 20% of my class and I magically can get into the top 10% by senior year[?]”) But since you did, take a look at Dartmouth’s Common Data Set (<a href=“http://www.dartmouth.edu/~oir/pdfs/cds2010_2011_final.pdf[/url]”>This Page Has Moved).</p>
<p>Look at item C7, on p. 8. Dartmouth itself lists class rank as “very important” in admissions.</p>
<p>And look at item C10, on p. 11. I don’t know where mandypandy got her information about salutatorians and valedictorians, but according to the Common Data Set, 90% of enrolled freshmen whose high schools reported class rank were in the top decile of their graduating class.</p>
<p>Think as a college admissions officer would think. Maybe this would be a good exercise for you as you continue your journey towards your self-improvement.</p>
<p>BTW: Above I said “Sybil-esque”. I should have said “Carrie-esque” LOL</p>
<p>ok, you really need to chill out.
i don’t think you understand what i have to live up to. my dad is a grad of mit and my sister a grad of dartmouth. my sister alone told me that i will be able to get in with my ap scores and sat and if achieve national merit i will be fine. what im worried about is that she might be saying that just to cheer me up because that’s how she rolls.</p>
<p>Becoming snippy when you ask for opinions and hear something other than what you were hoping for is not an attractive quality. Rank doesn’t matter as much if your school doesn’t rank. Yours apparently does.</p>
<p>So what other schools have you identified that share things you like about D that are matches and safeties for you? You might get into D. You might not. It is wise to be prepared so that you have choices in April.</p>
<p>Unless you significantly improve your attitude, grades and SAT scores, your chance of admission to Dartmouth is not good. It is largely irrelevant that your sister graduated from D.</p>
<p>Take heart though, there are many excellent schools that are a match for you. i would work first on your attitude. Unless it changes, it will sink you everywhere.</p>
<p>Dartmouth does not use AP scores for admissions purposes. AP scores are used for placement, credit once a student is already admitted. You do not even have to disclose your AP scores on your application. You do not have to disclose them once accepted, unless you are looking to get credit.</p>
<p>OP Let’s say you end up exactly at the 10th percent of your school. That fact alone says there’s a dozen or more people, who at first glance, are academically more proficient than you – in your high school alone.</p>
<p>Not that rank is everything but I think you’ve not objectively looked at the situation. Why do you think Dartmouth has such as miniscule admit rate? Because tons of kids like you apply – and there are limited spots. Viable applicants need super academics (which you may or may not have – as someone already said, AP scores aren’t considered) and something else that grabs the admissions committee on how you’ll be a contributing member to Dartmouth. Your seeming singular fixation on this one institution shows either a lack of understanding of the opportunities available, a denial of your real chances or worse case, a lack of imagination as to what your future can real bring.</p>
<p>“I need to get in” What you need is to get into a great college that you’ll be happy.</p>
<p>I hope you do great in your Dartmouth application. But I’d hazard to guess your chances are less than one in twenty.</p>
<p>With that in mind, you should be preparing a broad list of schools alongside Dartmouth, were you can envision yourself thriving. Good luck to you.</p>
<p>Do you think there’s a possibility that I could still get into University of Texas? But in my mind I clearly thought that I would be able to get in with my psat/sat score and ap scores as well. I also thought that rank was just one part and not a large factor. I just hope that I will be able to get onto the waiting list at least. :/</p>
<p>For ED, the choices are admit, deny or defer to the RD round. Should you be deferred to the RD round, keep in mind the following:</p>
<p>Dartmouth deferrs roughly 10% of the early decision pool. However, Dartmouth is very upfront with the fact that only 5 to 10 percent of the candidates deferred in the ED round are picked up during RD.</p>
<p>Isn’t admission to UT heavily dependent on being in the top 10% of your class? Not a Texan, so I don’t know exactly how that works. </p>
<p>Re Telluride, if you are talking about TASP, yes, it is my understanding that it is a highly prestigious program, and having it on your resume would probably be a plus almost anywhere. </p>
<p>Have you considered looking at Bowdoin, Colby, Middlebury, Colgate, Hamilton, Williams, and other schools that D applicants often like? Not that these are safeties, either…</p>