Hullo,
I am a freshman at my states online college (Wisconsin), and was wondering if it is worth even applying to Dartmouth. It had been my dream school ever since my sister got in, and when I visited for her graduation, I was taken away by the school. I am going to UW Madison next semester, on a scholarship I won last year for poetry. I took ten classes on an eight class schedule, and I broke down in the final stretch. While not failing any classes, my waitlist from Dartmouth suddenly turned into a ‘nope’, which happens when you mess up at such a level. All my stats before then were very good, I was averaging 3.8-4.0 for most of my semesters until then. But my GPA in senior year dropped to around a 3.5, 4.2 weighted. My ACT was 31, I am a minority, I was the head of NHS and an academic club (economics) and won awards for it, I tutored a foreign language for adults, and I volunteered around 500-600 hours (which isn’t much, I know). I did not have time to take my SAT II’s because of the schedule I made for myself. I want to get a degree in econ, BS, and Dartmouth is the school I want to do it at. I visited their mosque and prayer room, their libraries, and met with many people. I myself am considered ‘preppy’ by friends and family alike. I have visited Madison many times, and while I do like it’s city aesthetic, it just doesn’t compare to Dartmouth’s natural beauty, nor its emphasis on cooperation. My sister will only write a recommendation if I get a 4.0 this semester and a 4.0 on my midterms next semester, and seeing as I do have a 4.0 currently, it might be safe to suppose I will be fine. I am currently working and paying for school myself, as my parents A: Do not want to pay for me and B: Do not pay for college for my siblings either. Basically, self studying and work occupy most of my days. Do I sound like a plausible candidate? Or will I get flat out rejected? Thank’s for the input.