<p>The truth is that they do want to want to diversify the college, but you also have to take into consideration that most of the URMs and “Whites” that post here are very small sample of actual applicants. Also, some of us aren’t very good SAT test takers and cant afford to pay $1000+ for tutoring. I believe that I have excelled academically, 5.0 W and 4.0 UW, I am highly involved both in sports(V.water polo) and clubs, and I got to explain why I did so poorly on my SATs yet got 5s on most of my AP tests.</p>
<p>The real question here is how do your extra curricular activities compare to everything else,as well as how the person has taken advantage of the resources available to them. We all know that Dartmouth and all the top colleges look at the overall person, not only scores, and pick the ones that are best suited for their school.</p>
<p>Charlie, I couldn’t agree more with you. I have a 34 ACT and a 3.9 unweighted/4.52 weighted GPA. My unweighted GPA is equal to another kid’s weighted GPA who got in, and I got deferred. That kid was a minority, and I’m white. I find it awfully strange that people with far inferior statistics are all getting accepted…coincidentally they are all minorities. I am sure there are plenty of minorities with very qualified backgrounds. I don’t understand how someone with a 1950 SAT can get in because of a sport. It just doesn’t make sense to me. Don’t get me wrong, I think it is great for those of you who go in. I just think Dartmouth should not be picking people based on the family you were born into. I definitely see it as a reverse form of discrimination.</p>
<p>They tout ideals about courage and loyalty. For christ’s sake, I work as a volunteer firefighter. I risk my life to save the lives of others. I made sure they got the picture and apparently that combined with my good scores arent quite good enough because I dont play a sport? They have sports so alumni will give money, but when the fail to accept legacy and alumni reccomendees, they lose money. Quite a odd one. Well Middlebury, here I come!</p>
<p>I totally understand where you are coming from, and it’s a shame they didn’t accept you.</p>
<p>I was also recommended by an alumni and current student so that probably helped me as well. Oh and by the way, I’m not one of the top players in my county or even state, so I know this wasn’t a major factor in their decision, the only ones affected by sports are the recruited atheletes</p>
<p>Shame on any of you for assuming Dartmouth accepted someone simply because he’s a minority. You don’t know that person’s story. You don’t know what he or she has gone through in order to earn a place at a school like Dartmouth. You never read his application. I know you are all looking for reasons why you either got deferred or denied, and “reverse discrimination” is convenient. But no one said only 2400s get in. No one promised 5.0s get in. No one said kids with influence always get in. They accept a range of scores and averages. They accept athletes for the football team who may not match your numbers. You knew that going in. Those were the rules. That makes for diversity. So leave those kids alone. Your posts are unworthy of your obvious intelligence.</p>
<p>Maybe (and this is the hard part) but maybe the answer lies in your own application? Look beyond the numbers and ask yourself if you really brought something unique to the table. Have you overcome genuine hardship, or taken risks? Did you demonstrate true creativity? Were your outside activities all over the place, or did you show a sustained commitment to a passion? Was you essay authentic and did it bring you alive, or was it overly processed and predictable? Was your community service really meaningful? Are you just another interchangeable, highly accomplished kid? </p>
<p>Charlie, you are indeed to be admired for your firefighting work, but you express a sense of entitlement that is very unattractive. I urge you not to present that side of you to Middlebury. </p>
<p>You may not feel this way now, and maybe it’s gonna be tough sharing this news at school, but it will all work out. Getting deferred or denied will turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to you in your very young lives. The Duke adcoms like to say that the biggest number of transfer applications they receive are from kids who applied ED. There’s a reason for that. </p>
<p>So, be kind to each other. Behave honorably. Take the news like the accomplished, confident, intelligent kids you know you are and look ahead to a great future.</p>
<p>I dont blame the kids. I blame the system for forcing things to be this way. And I feel no sense of entitlement, but i mean what are they looking for, I have put forward myself in dedication and stuck with things. I have what they ask for. But you know what, they have spoken and in their opinion I guess I am not good enough for them, so now I have found a place which I hope will value what every college should value: Strong academics, clear commitment, service, exceptional recommendations and essays, how the alumni (who know what a school is about) feel you will benefit the school and finally I really dont think that skin color should have anything to do with the applications, just remove the field. If thats not what my application showed dartmouth, so be it, but I think they are wrong.</p>
<p>Im not saying that they should not be accepted because of their ethnicity, but that should at NO point affect if they get in. The factors that directly control their life are what count, there are plenty of people from every ethnicity who feel hardship just as much as any other. I also think that if an alumni thinks a kid will contribute that that kid probably will, and it should be taken into consideration. I wasnt claiming that as a sense of entitlement but simply an example of the kind of thing that I think they should find considerable, if even at least for deferral. Whatever, what will be will be, and theres nothing to be done to change the decision.</p>
<p>While I might agree with you in theory, Mrs. Brosnan, Dartmouth most definitely seeks to enroll the URM, the first generation and American Indians. They say it very clearly in their literature and their information sessions. They also aggressively recruit those students. And I don’t mind their desire to be more diverse, but I don’t particularly support their newest effort for need-blind admissions to international students. Especially not with the president of Dartmouth, Wright, coming out today in conjunction with the college board in support of increasing the college graduation rate of US students because our students are quickly falling behind other countries. It would be my opinion that if they’d stop giving away our educations, the US would be better served all around.</p>
<p>But mostly… please stick your assessment of anyone else’s application elsewhere. How dare anyone assume that just because a student may have been raised amid privilege that they have never overcome genuine hardship or disappointment. Or worse, that they are not authentic. How mean. It is clear from everything Dartmouth puts out there that the URM is getting a bump BECAUSE of their diversity. And none of these kids are merely interchangeable. I find your response to any student who is clearly disappointed and has spent the last four years (if not more) working towards something only to see that fall away unnecessary and again, plain mean.</p>
<p>All of this said, I well understand the school is building a community in a class and the school depends on all kinds to make that happen and it would be one dysfunctional community if only stats were considered. But cut someone who is hurting just a little bit of slack and recognize that some of what they are saying is applicable but perhaps in their 17/18 year old way they are unable to be as PC as perhaps they should.</p>
<p>Charlie, you are every bit good enough for Dartmouth, or any other school you apply to. You can’t look at this as not being “good enough.” There isn’t a kid who’s posted tonight who couldn’t handle Dartmouth. The funny thing is, you are all the ones who are going to be accepted, regular decision, to Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Penn, Cornell, Amherst, Williams, Middlebury, Columbia, Barnard, and on and on and on.</p>
<p>Modadunn, You are what dartmouth needs. I place one word here: integrity. You quickly came to the defense of the students who are having a tough time and are being taken as if they are horrible kids for having an opinion. I mean isnt that what every college is about, being able to express opinion?</p>
<p>modadunn, I made no assumptions whatsoever. I simply suggested that kids take this opportunity to look at their applications anew and see how they might tweak them. And posters were ganging up on one particular person who, in good faith, posted his stats. I will not be stand silent for that.</p>
<p>Well charlie… I am 47 and have three kids. So I am a little old to help Dartmouth except thru my wallet. And well… Son was denied so we’ll be gathering his toys and going to play elsewhere. And you know what? Maybe he’ll look to Dartmouth for grad/med school.</p>
<p>There are lots of ways to say things. And as the adult, the above was not intended to be helpful as much as it was intended in that moment to put a kid in his place. And anyone will tell you, you do not tell a kid how he may have gone wrong when he is still raw from disappointment. and that’s assuming you even have a clue that he did go wrong. And that is a big assumption.</p>
<p>Oneking: I would not consider what I have stated racism at all. In fact I state it as quite the opposite, I think that colleges should not be able to factor in race when they make acceptances. That way your life experience and not what a checkbox says can define who you are. I have a friend who has a great grandfather from mexico, so he can claim hispanic routes, but he is no different from me. He checks the box not because he embraces his routes but because he knows that when a college looks at that he will get a boost. I wish that the college would see no difference between ethnicity, quite the opposite of racism.</p>
<p>^ If you recall, you posted on how they were accepted because of their skin colors. Don’t try to justify it later when your posts were obviously saying that between an exactly similar white and URM kid, the URM would likely get picked. It’s not like I’m an URM. I would benefit from having AA get cut, but in America right now, being white will give you more opportunities then being any other race.</p>
<p>and your friend just fell through the cracks of the race-divided world of admissions. How many people who can claim a Mexican grandfather, look causasian enough to get the social benefits, and are applying to colleges?</p>
<p>Um, you are reading it wrong. I am saying that it is true that that is why they are getting in THEY HAVE AN ADVANTAGE because of ethnicity. Everyone knows that, even the college counselors. What I am saying is that NO ONE should have that arbitrary and pointless advantage, and giving it is discriminatory to the people who could not be born in a diverse background. So, the way to discriminate against no one is to have no box for race!</p>
And well… Son was denied so we’ll be gathering his toys and going to play elsewhere. And you know what? Maybe he’ll look to Dartmouth for grad/med school.</p>