<p>can any explain to me why dartmouth accepts people with low gpas than compared to other ivy leagues besides athletics. appreciate anytime you give!</p>
<p>Because of the other factors the admissions dept takes into account. Athletics, leadership positions, real-world and job experiences, volunteering, ability to communicate, and other unique items they can bring to the table.</p>
<p>If Dartmouth only cared about GPAs, they would just put everyone's GPA in a spreadsheet, sort highest to lowest, then just accept the top thousand plus, and the application process would take a few days. But when you do that, you don't get a diverse, well-rounded, functional class of young adults.</p>
<p>In addition all GPAs are not created equally. </p>
<p>I am quite sure that a 4.0 GPA from New Trier, Stuyvesant, TJ and similar schools is not equivalent to the same 4.0 GPA at podunk H.S. (no offense to those who attend podunk). This is why each school requires a profileso that each student is evaluated in context of how well they took advantage of the opportunities offered at *their*school.</p>
<p>^Exactly. To me, being in the top 20% of those specific highly regarded high schools that sybbie mentions is more impressive than being top 5% at your average American high school. However, I've always felt the latter has a better chance at admissions because colleges like Dartmouth don't want 25 people from Stuy or New Trier in their class.</p>
<p>However, I wasn't aware that the GPA of incoming students at Dartmouth was any lower than Columbia, Brown, Cornell, Penn.</p>
<p>Is there really a podunk hs? I always thought that was a fictional place that simply meant it held no relevance or clout. ex: Podunk, Iowa. That would be in the middle of two cornfields in the middle of nowhere.</p>