Strange acceptance

Colleges and Universities A-Z Dartmouth College
1

<p>I don't get this.</p>

<p>Okay, I got to the most prestigious parochial school in the area.</p>

<p>My friend, a senior, applied and was accepted to Dartmouth ED.</p>

<p>These are his stats..
GPA: 97.5%
Rank: Top 3%
SAT: 1420</p>

<p>Also, he was only in about 3 or 4 clubs at school, with no leadership positions in any of them, plus he was on the volleyball team (but is mediocre).</p>

<p>He was the only one from my school to apply ED to Dartmouth.</p>

<p>Then, about twenty other kids applied to Dartmouth RD, many with better stats.. One had a 98% GPA, 1500 SAT, EditorInChief of Yearbook, Captain of Debate, and won lots of awards for both, and he was rejected.
So was everyone else except for the valedictorian.</p>

<p>So my question..
How did this kid get in?</p>

<p>Was it because he was the only one who applied to Dartmouth from an elite Catholic school? Was Dartmouth trying to nab him Early because of his impressive grades/scores?</p>

<p>I ask this because I'm in about the same boat as him.. 97% GPA (showing an upward trend.. (Do freshman year grades really matter? I went from a 95F to 97S to 98J)), 1450(/1600) SAT, top 5%, and I have three leadership positions at school. I want to apply ED to Brown.
So sometimes, I say to myself that I have no chance, with so many other higher ranking kids at my school.
But if I apply ED to Brown, will they try to grab me early on, which seems to be what happened with this kid?</p>

<p>Appreciate any advice/thoughts.</p>

2

<p>Go 4 it! Give yourself a chance because you never know ;)</p>

3

<p>Haha. Thanks, I think I will.</p>

<p>I know Brown is a bit more selective, but I love it to death.</p>

<p>I wonder if maybe the prestige of my HS (although Idk how Brown would really know about that) helps students from my school to get in ED to colleges if each applicant is the only one from my school applying Early to any particular college.</p>

<p>I have no information at all about this other kid, but I heard him talking to the dean outside of my locker a few months ago and he said he was accepted EA to Yale.
Perplexing..</p>

4

<p>I would say if you're even close to considering applying somewhere ED, to go for it. You will at least double your chances.</p>

5

<p>I don't think you friends acceptance was strange. There is an advantage in applying ED as the pool overall is a smaller pool of studnets. </p>

<p>He hedged his bets in terms of being the only one from your school applying ED, not having the ability to compare packages (and using those comparisons in a financial review) where if had he applied RD he would have been evaluated not only against the pool of everyone in your school but an overall pool that was more than 4 times larger than the ED pool. He applied, took advantage of the opportunity it and it worked for him.</p>

<p>Keep in mind that if mind that ED is also a financial commitment. I would recommend first speaking with your family regarding how much they are willing to pay/borrow for your education (there were many complaints this year about students feeling that they are not able to attend their "dream school" during both the ED/RD cycles due to an parents not wanting to take on the debt or finding out that they would be full freight paying students). Know what the terms demonstrated need means- the school not you/your parents determine what your need is.</p>

<p>IF you have worked out the money part with your parents as $40K+ is a lot of money and the 2 of you understand that you are committing to attend if admitted, then toss your hat in the ring as all you have to lose is the application fee </p>

<p>I would also recommend carefully reading and understandin the FA policy and package componets at your school you are interested in appying to as policies vary from school to school.</p>

6

<p>also suggest you post on the Brown board (if you haven't already) and seek out ED candidates that received finaid -- ask 'em if Brown came up with a 'fair' finaid offer under ED (fair meaning matching their policies of grant $$ vs. self-help).</p>

7

<p>If Brown is where you really want to go, feel free to apply ED, but know that in my experience (or at least, at my high school) Brown didn't seem to favor ED over RD at all. Out of 40 Brown applicants, 9 applied ED and they were all deferred and subsequently rejected or waitlisted--not a single accepted ED, whereas they took four RDs--and the ED candidates were not weak (and certainly not all of them). Some schools value ED application more than others--I think UPenn, for instance, values it more than, say, Brown, if my high school is an indicator.</p>

8

<p>according to USNews, Brown's ED acceptance rate was 29% vs. 15% for RD. Nearly 40% of class is taken in the ED round....</p>

9

<p>The difference with your high school though.. You had 9 ED applicants. If I were applying to Brown ED from my high school I'd most likely be the only one.. Usually there aren't even 9 applicant to Brown total. With 9 applicants from your school alone in the ED, it's not too surprising that they deferred them all (based solely on that fact.. Obviously I know nothing about them.) I think colleges try not to accept lots of kids from the same high school, cause just logically.. Why would a college want that?
As for Brown not favoring ED applications as much as other schools, I never heard that before, so I don't really think one high school class is enough to make that statement accurate.</p>