<p>i heard that dartmouth looks at candidates differently than do other ivies...</p>
<p>Well, I don't know exactly what you're alluding to, but one thing I've heard time and again is that Dartmouth is very numbers oriented, meaning they put more weight on grades, class rank, and SATs than many other schools.</p>
<p>i heard just the opposite. lol, like they care more about your character, morals, etc</p>
<p>i think they like all of the above- and social friendly happy people.</p>
<p>I'm not sure why people think that Dartmouth puts a lot of weight on SATs, etc. I think that's what people assume when they see that Dartmouth has the highest SAT scores after HYP in the ivies. I believe Dartmouth is actually a lot more selective than most realize. In terms of acceptance rate, Dartmouth is only after HYP and Columbia in terms of selectivity.</p>
<p>The reason for the swap in position with Columbia is because Columbia applicants are not nearly as self-selecting an applicant pool as Dartmouth's applicants. Almost every school in the country has a high amount of applicants from the surrounding areas and Columbia's surrounding area is by far the most populous. (I'm from the area, and trust me, EVERYONE applies to Columbia)</p>
<p>I definitely agree that Dartmouth's system for admissions is much different from others, possibly because of the peer recommendation. This allows for a greater weight placed on personality, etc. Because of this, I have seen a lot of anomalies among the few friends who I have discussed college admissions with. (It's only socially acceptable to talk about this type of stuff during orientation small talk, i.e. What made you choose Dartmouth/Where were you deciding between?).</p>
<p>Among the 11 people who live in my section of my dorm hall, 3 were ED, 3 chose Dartmouth over at least one 'more prestigious' school (Stanford, Princeton after getting off the waitlist, Yale, MIT), 3 chose Dartmouth over 'similar' schools (Columbia, Brown, Penn, Duke, Williams, Amherst), and 2 had multiple 'surprising' rejections/waitlists (Cornell, WashU, NYU, Tufts), and Dartmouth for me was the best school I applied to.</p>
<p>This random selection of students (too small to be conclusive, though) had about an even proportion in all different levels of selective schools. Also, it is important to note that the two people who had multiple odd rejections/waitlists have really outgoing/funny personalities (and also happen to be over-represented minorities: Chinese and Indian). I really think that the peer recommendation causes a lot of odd acceptance patterns in Dartmouth students.</p>
<p>Another funny story is that one girl on my hall swapped peer recs with a friend (very common for friends to write for eachother). This girl's friend was ED and she was RD. Her friend got deferred then rejected, and she got in RD. Other friend is now at Harvard.</p>
<p>It's all a crazy process, but I really do trust that admissions is not feeding you bullcrap when they tout their holistic admissions process. I have seen the class that the new Dean of Admissions has created, and I am quite impressed.</p>
<p>What does this mean for you?
Pick a friend who will write your peer-rec that won't just say you are <em>so</em> smart. Also, pick teachers who know you personally as opposed to those who are most impressed by your intelligence.</p>
<p>But still with all that "character" talk, if you get a 2400, Dartmouth will beg you to come.</p>
<p>what about a 36 on the ACT?</p>
<p>Hmmm, sneamia does that mean if you have a truly great score, they'll want you to join?</p>
<p>I'm not so sure... I remember someone writing on here that they were applying as a '12 and didn't get in with a 2400. I think the higher emphasis on SAT scores might also come from the fact that I have found those who get high SAT scores to be a lot more clever/interesting/'street smart' as opposed to those who have high GPAs because they work really hard. I would definitely think that most people I have met here are really intelligent, but not book worms.</p>
<p>I really HOPE dartmouth has a distinctive way of accepting students. And by distinctive I mean truly holistic. I know brown claims to do a holistic review of prospective students as well, and that's where I'm applying ED. My essay is very risky and not academic or ec-related, so I hope my personality shows more than anything else. ugh college admissions are stressful when you have lower grades than other applicants.</p>
<p>does anyone know if dartmouth superscores?</p>
<p>i think it does</p>
<p>Judging from personal experience, it most certainly does.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I'm not so sure... I remember someone writing on here that they were applying as a '12 and didn't get in with a 2400. I think the higher emphasis on SAT scores might also come from the fact that I have found those who get high SAT scores to be a lot more clever/interesting/'street smart' as opposed to those who have high GPAs because they work really hard. I would definitely think that most people I have met here are really intelligent, but not book worms.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>That's nice and all, but there's this girl from my school with a 2400 who would fit the "book worm" category quite comfortably. Her friend showed me the peer rec she wrote, and it was basically trashing her entirely. Needless to say, the girl got a likely letter.</p>
<p>Sneamia, do you know if the peer eval can be faxed instead of mailing - ill have to pay for it myself.</p>
<p>Everyone I've spoken to in Admissions says that they look at your application holistically. Plus, 3 people read your application so it isn't just one person making a decision.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Sneamia, do you know if the peer eval can be faxed instead of mailing - ill have to pay for it myself.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I don't know, sorry. That is something you should ask the admissions office about.</p>
<p>yeah. from what i've read, pretty much no admissions office plugs your application into a formula. they're very holistic. they judge it as a whole instead of dividing it into parts</p>
<p>I think it was my 1560 SAT got me into Dartmouth two years ago. (Waitlisted or Rejected at every other Ivy).
It's impossible to prove whether my 'personality' got me in to Dartmouth or not.
I was actually lacking in terms of extra-curriculars.
I wouldn't say that Dartmouth cares that much about numbers though.
I know some high-numbers people who were rejected by Dartmouth RD.</p>
<p>I ve heard that Dartmouth look not only for your grades but for your personality and the way you are going to fit in.</p>