<p>GPA: 5.1/5.0 (highest= 6.0/5.0) (dramatic upward trend in grades from sophomore year)
Rank: Top 10% I think
Scores: ACT: 35
SAT I: 2210 (may retake)
SAT II: 760 and 790
APs: AP Euro- 4
(Will have Calc AB, USH, and Lang/Comp by next year, as well as an all AP senior year)</p>
<p>I'm not worried about my recommendations; I'm considered to be a strong student by my teachers. English and History are my best subjects and Math and Science would be where I'm weaker. </p>
<p>Intended Major: History (Middle Eastern focus)</p>
<p>Extracurriculars:
Heavily involved in organization focused on empowering youth leaders (here and abroad- especially focused on the Middle East)
Fencing- 6 years
Online Newspaper Editor in Chief
Varsity Speech Team- 3 years
National Dance Company Performer- 11 years
National Honors Society/ Spanish National Honor Society
Peer Leadership/Peer Jury/Conflict Resolution Leader/Ethics Education Organizer- 3 years
Junior Charity Board Secretary - 4 years</p>
<p>Work experience:
Secretary at a medical office - 2010 Summer
Corporate Intern- 2011 Summer</p>
<p>Summer experience:
Very prestigious, unique summer experiences related to Middle East- Summer 2010
Continuation of work in 2010 (in the Middle East)- Summer 2011 </p>
<p>The most unique thing about me would be my summer experiences involving and in the Middle East, but I'm really worried about my low frosh/soph GPA killing my chances. Dartmouth is my dream school; I really hope I can end up there somehow. I'm also interested in Georgetown, NU, Vandy, and maybe Cornell, but I'm definitely applying to some 'clear admit schools,' don't worry!</p>
<p>Okay, you obviously have an extremely powerful application that can pretty much get you into anywhere, and I do really love the middle eastern focus/interesting, its cool.</p>
<p>But i have one problem… you say you have been on the “varsity speech team for 3 years” now note I am not entirely sure of any of your speech team activity, but here is what I have to say about that…</p>
<p>I come from a school up here in Illinois we take speech very serious up here. I log about 8-10 hours every week from speech and I have a true passion for the activity, I have been going to summer camps and attempted to make middle school speech programs in my area, point of the story is i love and breath speech.</p>
<p>But now, I spend alot of time practicing and this cuts into me pretty much not being involved in any activities that occur on my practice days, which hinders me from doing things like charity club, fencing and the schools newspaper. </p>
<p>Now what I am trying to get at is, even at any day of the week you will get accepted over me, I took one activity and stuck with it and really tried to make something out of it, devote alot of time, develop qualities that will help me later in life</p>
<p>I feel like you just throw speech in there, whereas you may not have such an intensiviness to it like me, you just have a sort of <em>here just gonna put this on my college app too</em> your college is great, it really is and I do not mean any disrespect, but sometimes I wish colleges looked more at what you focus on and thrive on, versus a list of xyz look at all this stuff I did…</p>
<p>im not sure if you get me, but … yeah.</p>
<p>Veteran: Ummmm…okay. I think you might have a little pent-up frustration. I wouldn’t take it out on yankidoodle. </p>
<p>Yankidoodle- You have a very solid shot, but like almost any candidate, its not a sure thing. The good news is Dartmouth doesn’t heavily weight 9th grade, so your GPA issues are helped. I probably wouldn’t send your SAT unless you get over a 2350. I think it actually hurts you at a 2210 vs. the 35ACT. </p>
<p>Otherwise good luck. Get great grades first semester and get as much EC leadership as you can. You’re in the game, good luck!</p>
<p>Slipper did you even read what I said?
I didn’t try to come across as angry but I rather I wanted to make a point about whether colleges preferred to be focused on certain activities versus spread out over a thousand activities and not as much as focus</p>
<p>At no point was I taking any anger on yankidoodle, actually, on multiple occasions I complimented her achievements :)</p>
<p>Wow haha I’m actually so surprised that people responded! Thanks for your input guys! Veteran, Speech actually is one of my larger commitments during the school year I would say. During season I spend around 6 hours a week with my 2 events and, as you know, the offseason requires a lot of work with drafting, revising, blocking etc. I really hope it doesn’t look like I just threw the activity on my app. The activity itself is an extracurricular I got involved with for fun with and it has had a huge impact on my self confidence over the years. I haven’t participated in the State series (Regionals, Sectionals, State), but hopefully I’ll be able to my senior year- it’s a major goal of mine. That’s cool that you’re so involved- are you from DGS or another one of the big powerhouses on the IL circuit? I do RS and Oratory, what about you? </p>
<p>Slipper- I think I’ll do that if SAT score doesn’t dramatically improve next fall, thanks for the idea! Also, in terms of GPA, the average that feeds into Dartmouth from my is a full .4 higher than my current value :\ That’s why I’m so concerned. It really was my 10th grade marks that did me in; I really hope the direction I’ve found since then can get me onto the waitlist. It was really uplifting to see your support, thank you so much! I was anticipating either no responses or something along the lines of “what are you thinking, good joke.” I know GPA is incredibly important to a school like Dartmouth, but here’s hoping that the improvements I’ve made will help!</p>
<p>yay yankee thank you for your very polite response. I didn’t know you were from Illinois haha. No i’m not from DGS, I am from a northern suburb school that is not very big, but me and my friend do very well. I specialize in prose/poetry. 
go radio! I used to do it.</p>