My chance at dartmouth

Colleges and Universities A-Z Dartmouth College
1

<p>Hey everyone. I am a junior in high school from Illinois looking at some pretty selective schools for college. I recently visited dartmouth over my spring break (the school was in session) and it was instantly one of my top choices. Not only were we lucky enough to get there on a brilliant day (70s everyone on the Green), but I just loved how enthusiastic everyone was about the school. One guy we passed was jogging, and he asked us if we were looking at the school. My dad asked if he was a graduate student and he replied that he had graduated 5 years ago but just could not get away. This enthusiasm as well as other things was one of the key things that drew me toward Dartmouth. Anyways, I was hoping to get some feedback from Dartmouth students/graduates based on your knowledge and own experiences. Thanks very much</p>

<p>My College Application</p>

<p>Male, White, from Suburb in Illinois
Go to a very large public school (2700 students) ranked as one of the top 5 public schools in the state year after year. </p>

<p>My GPA weighted is 5.93, not sure what it is unweighted, but I am ranked 5/691
I have yet to take the SAT, but my PSAT was 224, so I will be a National Merit semi finalist (and hopefully a finalist as well). </p>

<p>I recently took an in school ACT (state mandatory) and got a 34. My reading and english subscores were 35, and math and science were both 33. I am signed up to retake it in June and hope to raise my math and science scores (which I consider to be my strongest subjects).</p>

<p>I took the SAT II in chemistry, math II, and US history and received scores of 730,770,740</p>

<p>My Course Load The Past Four Years</p>

<p>8th grade- (taken at high school for credit)
Geometry Honors</p>

<p>9th
Algebra II Trigonometry Honors
English I Honors
World History Honors
Biology Honors
German I Honors</p>

<p>10th
Accounting honors
German II honors
Pre-Calculus Honors
English II Honors
Chemistry Honors</p>

<p>11th
Physics Honors
AP Calculus BC
AP US History
AP Language and Composition
German III Honors
Latin I Honors</p>

<p>12th ( scheduled)
AP Chemistry
German IV Honors (independent study AP test)
Latin II Honors
AP Literature and Composition
AP Statistics
AP Microeconomics (semester course)
AP Government and Politics (semester course)</p>

<p>Thus far I have received A's in all of the courses I have enrolled in with the exception of first semester calculus which I earned a B.</p>

<p>Athletics:</p>

<p>2 Years Varsity Swim Team. 5 x conference champion, and set 2 conference records.
1 Year Baseball- played for the freshman team
2 Year Varsity Cross Country- Scholar Athlete and Conference All Academic. Time of 16:40 for 3 miles (first season)
3 Year Varsity Track and Field- times of 4:47 for mile, 2:07 for 800 meters. Been injured almost all of my running career including this track season. I will hopefully be able to really dominate my cross country time this fall, as I know I am good enough to compete for all DIII and a good amount of DI schools. I spoke to the coaches who understood I had been injured and was making the transition from swimming to running. Because I am an "undeveloped talent" as they call me, I have much higher recruiting stock than someone who had been running say, 3 years would. I have been running for about a total of 1.25 years. (3 years track and 2 years cross country was including the upcoming 2 seasons that I will compete in).</p>

<p>In addition, our captains for cross country will be named this summer and there is a pretty good chance I will be chosen as one.</p>

<p>Also I compete for the Mideast Team Elite, a national elite triathlon team, one of the strongest teams in the nation. </p>

<p>Extra Stuff</p>

<p>2x AATG finalist. This is the German National competition. Scored 92,95 respectively on my last two national exams.
1x Latin National competition "gold medalist" 95%
1x Latin State finalist. 165/180 qualifier to state meet with superior honors.</p>

<p>Won American Legion Boy's State Scholarship for the summer of 2009. Will represent my school at Eastern Illinois University as one of two representatives.</p>

<p>Volunteer Work/Work:
4 year Peer Juror for the Downers Grove Peer Jury. Named a Senior Juror.
3 year Youth flag football coach for the community house.
Also worked as the scorekeeper and field setter for the community house.
5 year Umpire for the little league. One of the Senior Umpires.
Working downtown this summer at a lawfirm, and worked maintenance (gardening etc.) the last three years at an expensive country club (not one my family could even dream of joining lol.)
I also worked for a year as a short order chef at a restaurant in town.</p>

<p>Other Hobbies/Activities.
I have been in habitat for humanity all 4 years of high school, though il be honest, I do not do much for the club and would probably just as well leave it off my resume.</p>

<p>Sports writing. Write sports articles online for different sites. Have published over 100 articles with over 200,000 views. Full time writer on a few sites (<a href="http://www.thesportingtruth.com,www.sportsguysblog.com"&gt;www.thesportingtruth.com,www.sportsguysblog.com&lt;/a>, Fantasy Football Maniaxs: Your daily guide to victory!) but publish my work on numerous other sites. A few of my articles have appeared on "big name sites" such as sporting news, CBS Sports, USA Today, and Fox Sports, which is pretty cool.</p>

<p>My essays should be very strong. I prize my writing and have done very well in the writing sides of all my english classes, as both my parents have Phds in English Literature and really started me off on the right path when I was in elementary school. If anyone wants to critique this topic that would be appreciated, but basically what my essay (the one I am writing now) is about is becoming a runner. More specifically, however, it is about how different my track coach was from any of the other coaches I had had previously in other sports, and how his ability to be fair and make everyone on the team, not just the fastest guys feel included, has shaped me as an individual. This is actually a 100% true essay, but if it sounds cliche or corny in any way please let me know. My letters of recs should also be strong, one is from my German teacher who I have had for 3+ years and will have next year, and the other is from my english teacher who really likes having me in class (or at least she gives off that impression).</p>

<p>Thank You Very Much! I look forward to reading your responses.</p>

2

<p>the sat IIs were predicted in this and i forgot to change them. it was 730 chem, 720 us history, 800 math II</p>

3

<p>Statwise, you have a very good chance. All you need are strong recs and essays. If you have those, then I’d say I would be surprised if you didn’t get in, and would only be able to blame the crapshoot-nature of ivy admissions.
As for the essay – the topic does sound a little cliche, but if it can be written in a way that’s not, I would recommend sticking with the topic you feel most comfortable and honest with.
Best of luck and I hope you’ll be joining us next year! :)</p>

<p>[edit] if you really like Dartmouth and if financial aid issue is not that great big of a burden to your family, ED is a good option.</p>

4

<p>What suburb are you from?</p>

5

<p>Wow, people like you are ridiculous. I agree with lifetime, your resume is definitely good enough for Dartmouth, but the essay topic does sound cheesy. But then again, if both your parents have PhD’s in writing, they can probably give you much better advice than I can. Good Luck!
PS: Are you a good enough athlete to be recruited? You mentioned it, but I would definitely see if it is a real possibility. It would definitely improve your chances for admission (not that your chances are too bad as it is)</p>

6

<p>Im from Hinsdale. Thanks everyone I appreciate it. I am a good athlete, probably could get helped from dartmouth’s coach (their program isnt very strong distance running). I will probably change my essay, that is just one we had to write in class. Could anyone else chance me?</p>

7

<p>Wow, I am from Oak Park. Good luck with Dartmouth!</p>

8

<p>my dad lives there! and i have a couple good running friends (sophmores mostly) who go to OPRF</p>

9

<p>wow man
you shouldnt even be having to ask this question, colleges will be drooling all over your app. you can actually go to anywhere you want to based off all of this info you provided. im also a swimmer and varsity captain of my schools team and im gonna try to win best swimmer at states next season. from massachusetts</p>