Hi everyone. I wanted to get an estimate of whether I would be accepted into Dartmouth (or Cornell, UPenn, Princeton) with the following stats:
Academics:
1540 SAT (770 English, 770 Math)
1490 PSAT (I’m not sure how much this matters)
3.98 UW GPA
Top 5 rank (possibly #1, the final ranks don’t come out 'till school starts)
5 APs as of now (I’m taking 7 more as a senior)
5 on APUSH exam
5 on AP Calc exam
5 on AP Lang exam
3 on AP Comp Sci exam
Extracurriculars:
YouTube channel with 25K subscribers (currently monetized)
NHS / Science NHS
Academic Team (possibly President as a senior)
Math Team
TSA (Secretary)
Red Cross (70ish hours, ran clothing, blood, & food drives)
Volunteered at a local summer camp (about 80 hours)
Job at affiliated summer camp the following summer
Awards:
Eisenhower Award (affiliated with West Point)
National Merit of some form (results have yet to come out)
Your objective stat’s (test scores, GPA, rank and rigor) certainly put you in the running for all the schools listed. The highly selective schools you have listed get thousands of applications (multiples of the number they will admit) with those stats though, so it will come down to your essays, LoR’s and how you portray your EC’s (just providing a list without any significant national/international awards/recognition doesn’t tell us much). Do these more subjective aspects of your application portray a student that the AO feels will benefit the most from their institution and just as importantly will that applicant make the institution itself a better place for all.
Applying ED at Dartmouth likely gives you a boost. It won’t push a clear reject over the line, but I suspect it will nudge a borderline case over the top. Realize of course that you will be stuck with whatever financial aid Dartmouth (or any ED school) offers without an opportunity to possibly leverage other financial aid packages against it to receive a better one.
Thanks for giving your input! Here’s a little additional context for the clubs and essays:
The performances of the school clubs in competitions have generally not been exceptional (middle of the pack in robotics competitions for TSA, in math leagues for math team, etc). I’m not sure whether these ranks should be included as they aren’t particularly impressive. I’m concerned about my extracurriculars being a bit weak but I’m not sure what I can do to present them in the best light.
As for essays, I was considering one about the YouTube channel, as I feel it’s a good way to emphasize something that stands out. I’m still fairly unsure about whether I should become redundant about it though.
I don’t do chance me’s, but here are some comments for you…
You obviously have a competitive GPA (class rank) and SAT scores.
SAT subject tests? Dartmouth recommends reporting two - top students will submit them, so keep that in mind.
What about recommendations? You need 1 counselor and 2 teacher recs. Peer rec is highly recommended.
Presumably, you have no problem with finances.
Any hooks? URM, development, legacy, athlete or first gen?
With all that said, I can’t figure out what story you’re trying to tell with your application (ECs, course load, essays, etc). Without a good narrative, you can’t present a convincing argument that you will be a good fit at Dartmouth.
Also, regarding your comment about essays (presumably Common App), don’t forget that whatever you choose to write about needs to reinforce your overall story and needs to work together with the two Dartmouth supplemental essays. IMHO, it’s generally not a good idea to write an essay about something that is already well-documented in the rest of your application…but it really depends on the applicant and his/her narrative.
I’m set to take SAT II tests in a couple weeks (Math II and US History). As for letters of rec, I already have asked my teachers and I should be all set on those. I haven’t had a chance to get into the peer recs yet. I don’t really have any hooks unfortunately.
As far as the narrative is concerned, I’ll definitely have to flesh it out a little more. I’ve always held an interest in both math and the humanities and how they interact, so maybe I should focus a little more on that?
@beatlesfan0118 these schools are a crapshoot for most qualified applicants. Apply to the other top schools on your list RD as well as other slightly more attainable schools and I am sure something will work out.
@Penn95 Yeah, I guess so. I’m optimistic about my chances for my regular decision schools but no matter what I’ll make the best of it. Thanks for your words, it’s always nice to have support in this slightly stressful process!
