Would love the group to estimate my child’s chances of being admitted to Dartmouth in 2025 (strongly considering applying ED):
US citizen
Type of high school: public high school with an IB program
Other special factors: currently has a sibling at Dartmouth (undergrad)
Intended Major(s): possibly Psychology and / or Neuroscience, but really undecided
Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0
Weighted HS GPA: 4.5
Class Rank: ~15 out of ~375
SAT Scores: 1520 super score; 790 RW, 730 Math
HS coursework: IB Diploma Progamme Candidate, plus AP Calc BC, AP Spanish
Extracurriculars: multiple areas of focus: athletics (4-year varsity athlete) and music; multiple leadership positions; multiple years of volunteering at a hospital
Essays/LORs/Other: good essays, assume there will be strong LORs
It is very difficult to chance unhooked kids at schools like Dartmouth. Your child has great stats, and is definitely a competitive applicant, but the school is a reach for every student and rejection is more likely than acceptance. What your child can do is to make sure their application presents an interesting, cohesive narrative that shows who they are. That is important because once an applicant passes the academic threshold (and I believe your child does) they are looking at different things.
I agree, this kid appears to be academically qualified for Dartmouth and therefore it is worth a shot. I do not believe Dartmouth applies legacy status to siblings, however.
Thank you, both. My child is trying to decide whether to cram for one more SAT to try to increase the math score. The super score seems to be right in the middle of the range of accepted applicants (from back when they were reporting on this stuff, pre-2020). I really appreciate the advice re: a cohesive narrative. I think that might be the better area to focus on.
I would welcome others’ thoughts on the stats as well, particularly if someone has specific insight / anecdotes re: Dartmouth and students with similar test scores, academics, etc.
OP is comparing to median scores pre-TO (I think).
OP, I think current SAT will “meet standard” and they will quickly move on to other parts. Short of a 1600, any score is probably doing the exact same.
Having said that, the score is a little unbalanced. I think as long as it makes sense with the rest its fine but if "very strong in STEM’ is part of the story, it may give pause. IMO, if we are strictly considering scores, you want the individual section scores to be within range, not just the total.
Yes, this is my concern. The 2027 Class Profile says SAT Math scores were “Mid 50% range: 730-790,” so my student is at the lower cutoff of that range. Does that point to strong reasoning for a last push for one more sitting for the SAT? Being a strong STEM student is not really part of the narrative for my student, though they are strong in mathematics and enjoy it. But there is no particular interest in pursuing an engineering degree.
Clearly your child is a very strong student, and has done very well in high school. He or she is academically qualified to do well at Dartmouth.
The problem is that so are the large majority of other applicants to Dartmouth College, and to the other highly ranked universities in the US.
Dartmouth, at least according to a quick Google search, has an overall acceptance rate just over 6% and an ED acceptance rate of 17%. This ED acceptance rate, as I understand it, includes recruited athletes. The Ivy League is after all an athletic league. Dartmouth is small compared to other Ivy League schools, but at least the last time that I checked was actually quite good at some sports such as football. I think that they must have recruited athletes in the ED accepted group even if they do not have athletic scholarships. You mentioned that your child is a varsity athlete, which is a good EC, but I am assuming that they are not being actively recruited for a sport (which would change the odds if they were).
Putting this all together I do not think that it is worth it for a student to go all that far out of their way to try to maximize their chances for something that probably will not happen. As such for example I would not retake a 1520 SAT score (which is already superb) just for the purpose of applying to Dartmouth.
I did notice among the ECs: “multiple years of volunteering at a hospital”. If medical school is a realistic possibility, then you should budget for a full 8 years of university where the last 4 will most likely be quite expensive.
I am a big believer in the approach recommended in the “applying sideways” blog on the MIT admissions web site. As I understand it, the point is for each student to do what is right for them, and do it very well. Then just figure that things will work out one way or another (although not necessarily at MIT or Dartmouth). This is what my family has done, and it has worked out well for us – including admissions to some very good universities and very good graduate programs (although none of us applied to Dartmouth).
And I think that your child is likely to do very well regardless of where they end up attending university. Just may sure that they look for a good fit, apply to safeties, and if applicable pay attention to the budget.
I know I am going about this differently from everyone else. Though, to be fair, I agree with what has been said. I am just sharing what my actual thought process is/was with my kids and how we have gone about it.
1- let’s establish that an additional test is not in anyway a financial burden. So why not? They had no problem sitting for a test on an otherwise free Saturday.
2- I felt June was the latest we wanted to drag this to. You want to take it again? Sure! After that it is what it is.
3- how much effort was put into the previous tests? Do you have a reason to believe they would to much better in the next test? How much can you gain in the 3 weeks before the next test? One of my kids retook the test because the score, although very good, was inconsistent with all the official practice tests they had done. The new very high score was more in line.
4- this score will not disqualify her. What does she want to do?
If the student feels like they can do a lot better, and it would bother them not to get admitted some places with that thought in mind, then giving it another shot may be fine.
That said, rationally it is unlikely to be an efficient use of time and energy.
In some ways, you as a parent hold the answer to this question, since you have already managed to help get another child into that school (and congratulations!) How do the stats/EC’s/etc. of your older child compare to your current HS student? Do you think there was some other factor in the former application that your current student may not have this time?
This is kind of why I’m asking. My other child’s super score was 1560 (790 RW, 770 Math, I think). That child is an exceptional tester, a fast processor with a talent for memorization. Same academic record. Maybe slightly higher profile leadership roles but less volunteering. I recently re-read their essays and they were better than I’d remembered. That said, when that child was accepted, we were shocked. We allow our kids one Ivy application, Regular Decision, and really see it as a lottery ticket. We hadn’t visited any Ivy League schools. I really didn’t think they had an actual shot at it. It was a bit of a scramble to figure out how to make it work.
Now that we’ve had some experience with the school, I think that Dartmouth would be a strong fit for my current high school senior. But while we live in a well-educated part of the country, we aren’t in an environment that sends a lot of kids to Ivy League schools so I just don’t have a lot of data points re: successful applications.
I don’t think you should be shocked. You have amazing kids and they are doing extremely well. Something in the application mixture worked just right the last time and there is probably a good chance that it will work again, maybe in a slightly different way. People generalize the “Ivies”, but Dartmouth has its particular niche and priorities and they clearly align with your family’s, somehow. Good luck with everything
I think the data points change from year to year - not the academic ones (meaning excellent rigor/top grades/high test score) - but the other things. If your senior is a great fit, hopefully Dartmouth will see that (having a child there already doesn’t hurt). If they don’t, it won’t be anything your child is lacking - it is just that the odds say admission is really unlikely. That goes the same for any school where 90%+ of applicants are rejected.
