<p>Hi, I'm planning to apply early decision to Dartmouth, but I'm not sure if I should retake my ACT. I took in June and got a 33, which I'm very happy with. I figure my time would be better spent on my app and essay than retaking it, and I don't know if scoring a 34 or 35 would make that much of a difference.</p>
<p>List your stats if you wish. If you have wonderful stats then ACT aren't that important...</p>
<p>I think it's wise to concentrate on writing essays and hounding teachers for evaluations. Scores only get you so far (and yours will get you far).</p>
<p>I was thinking along the lines with tmk256--scores, even nearly perfect ones, won't necessarily get you into a place like Dartmouth. I think once you have the numbers, then the admissions reps really get into reading your file and finding out whether you can contribute to their college.</p>
<p>Other stats:
White Male (yes, another one)
Top 3 Public High School in California (95% four year school matriculation)
GPA: 3.95 uw (not sure weighted, school doesnt rank)
SAT: 2210 ACT: 33
SATII: US Hist-780, MathIIC-Oct '05, Lit(maybe)-Oct '05
AP's: Chemistry, US History, Biology, Calc AB, English
(School offers around 9 AP's, 3 being Art and Music since we only have around 850 kids)</p>
<p>EC's: *Mock Trial (Lead Defense Attorney, team has been to state in 4/5 past years and placed in top 10, except last year...damn)
*Youth Court (Peer justice program) (Youth Attorney)
*School Football
*Club Rugby (stopped after 10th grade)
*Employed at Law Offices
*Volunteered at Orphange in Honduras
*Taken Rhetoric and Law classes at Georgetown
*Economics (micro, macro) class at UC Berkeley</p>
<p>Oh, and Community Service Projects in Europe (part of this int'l program)</p>
<p>I don't know what the average ACT is at Dartmouth, but unless you have exceptional, national level ECs, or another real hook, you'll want to be clearly above the average/median.</p>
<p>The average act for Dartmouth is 30, with a range of 27-33, so I'm in the 75th percentile at least.
Suze, I was thinking about retaking the SAT, especially to get my math up above 750, but I still have to take 1 or 2 more SAT II's. Would it be possible to retake the SAT I in Oct, then take SAT II's in November and rush scores?</p>
<p>I honestly don't know if that works for ED. But if the 33 is 75%, unless you think you'll just blow it out of the water, you're probably in pretty good shape. Maybe the effort is best spent crafting a superb app.</p>
<p>The Dartmouth website says as long as you complete all testing by the November SAT date, then rush scores, they'll accept you early app. But, from what I've read on the website, if they don't get your scores soon enough they'll be most likely to defer you.
My SAT score analysis thing (whatever it's called) said I got 4 wrong in each section (3 of my wrong answers in math were level 3 difficulty...I always make stupid mistakes). I think it'd be a waste of time and counter-productive to prep for the SAT or ACT, along with SAT II's, and college essays. I think I'm going to just concentrate on my apps and SAT II's. Thanks for your input though.</p>