Transfer chance?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Dartmouth College
1

<p>Hey guys, I know RD decisions haven't even been given out yet, but I'm already a nervous wreck so I figured y'all could help me out...here goes. Attempting a transfer from UW-Madison with a History major</p>

<p>[ b]Stats:[ /b][ list]
[ *] SAT I (by section): M:770, CR:730, W:710
[ *] SAT IIs: Math II: 780, US Hist: 710
[ *] ACT: N/A
[ *] APs: Calc BC-4 (AB subscore-4), Stats-5, Eng Lang/Lit-both 5's, APUSH-3, Compsci AB-2, Chem-5
[ *] IBs: N/A
[ *] HS GPA: 3.9 W (Don't know UW, this was the weakest point. Yea the GPA sucks, but I'm hoping that at least a difficult courseload would compensate somewhat)
[ *] College GPA: 3.4 (explained below in counselor rec, also we're graded on +/-)
[ *] Rank (HS): top 19%
[ *] Other stats: National Merit Semifinalist, UIL writing team qualifier, qualified for a for-credit internship with UBS senior year, AP Scholar thing, some other stuff...
[ /list][ b]Subjective:[ /b][ list]
[ *] ECs listed on app: Policy Debate (3rd @ UIL State, got a debate rec from the coach at Dartmouth), Taekwondo (1st degree black belt), Art (took art classes for 9 years at private art school, got recommendation from my art teacher sent, designed a logo for South Asian Society @ Rice), Amnesty Intl. (participant in Human Rights/Guantanamo Bay demonstration), High School Summer Scholars program at Wash U. (took two college economics classes, A's in both of them--sent the transcript to Dartmouth)
[ *] Job/Work Experience: Research assistant for a PhD student working on a National Science Foundation funded sociology project here at the sociology department at Madison (got this guy to send a rec also), For Credit Internship with a Vice President of Investments at UBS during HS (got her to send a rec as well; both these recs were pretty sweet)
[ *] Essays (subject and responses): wrote about desire to debate for Dartmouth, and compatibility with the strong focus on interdisciplinary courses--I wrote and rewrote this essay for 2 months straight so I think it's pretty good.
[ *] Instructor Recs: Both really good, one was from my sociology professor with whom I am doing independent research this semester (after taking an honors course with him last sem), and the other was from a history professor that I took an honors class with last semester
[ *] Counselor Rec: Normally this wouldn't even be sent because this is handled by the registrar here at Madison, who knows none of the students, but I had met with the History department adviser several times last semester, and he wrote me a rec about how I took an extremely hard courseload this semester (two 400 level classes and a poli sci 600 level class) because I like this stuff so much cause of debate. This also explains why my GPA is kinda low--I'm in the honors program, and have taken some pretty hard classes (3 honors courses, one is a 400 level sociology, Calc III, the aforementioned poli sci 600 level class, independent study with intent to publish something in a journal)
[ *] Applied on: 2/25
[ *] Hook (if any): I tried to express as much as possible that I want to debate for Dartmouth, idk if this is considered a hook or not...
[ /list][ b]Location/Person:[ /b][ list]
[ *] State or Country: originally Houston, TX, but now Madison, WI
[ *] School Type, Average Stats of School (if available): Public School (both cases). Madison is a huge research university though.
[ *] Ethnicity: India represent.
[ *] Gender: M</p>

<p>I know this is an extremely long winded post, but because of my grades I've really been freaking out about this and would appreciate any input. Thanks in advance guys :)</p>

2

<p>bump for great justice??</p>

3

<p>This is going to sound harsh, but your college GPA is going to kill you. For transfers they are looking for students who aren’t being challenged at their current schools and thus want a place where they can get added rigor. They will see your GPA and, even accepting that you took a very hard course load, they will probably think that you are being adequately challenged at your current school. Thus, they will probably decide that there is no need for you to switch to a different school since you are being challenged where you are now. I’m not even trying to say that your college GPA is bad, because its not. Nevertheless, the fact is that in the case of transfers adcoms want to see students who have hit their ceiling in their current academic environment and they will probably not think that in your case. Sorry.</p>

4

<p>well ****…thanks for the comment i guess :confused: the idea i was going for is that Dartmouth has more interdisciplinary options than my school, and a debate team which mine doesn’t, so do you think that would make a difference?</p>

5

<p>I doubt it. D has lots of debaters already. I’m afraid that what Xanatos says makes a lot of sense.</p>

<p>If UW Madison doesn’t have debate–which seems odd to me–why not START a debate club?</p>

6

<p>I am applying with a similar GPA and a lower HS GPA… Lower SAT scores, too :slight_smile: Show them you belong there.</p>