Chance Me - SCEA Yale or ED Dartmouth - Social Sciences and Humanities, 3.7 GPA, 1570 SAT

Chance Me / Match Me
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  • Asian-American female student, US citizen. High school Class of 2025. State: NJ. Competitive public high school.

GPA: 4.33/5.0 weighted, 3.7/4.0 unweighted. Strong grades in humanities subjects; rigorous across all subjects; slightly lower grades in STEM subjects with upward trend (see description below)

Intended major(s): Ethics, Politics, and Economics (EPE) + Humanities @ Yale; Government/Economics + Creative Writing @ Dartmouth Coursework (school): AP US History, AP Chinese, AP Seminar, AP Research, AP US Government & Politics, AP Physics, AP Precalculus, AP Language & Composition, AP Literature & Composition, AP Calculus AB, AP Statistics, AP Economics, AP European History, AP French. Honors Geometry (freshman year), Honors Algebra II (sophomore year), Honors Precalculus (junior year), Honors French (freshman-junior year).

Coursework (dual enrollment): Harvard politics class; Yale financial markets class. Test Scores: 1570 SAT, full score PSAT, AP US History, AP Chinese, AP Seminar - 5 (still waiting on all other AP scores) Taking all APs and 2 honors classes. One C+ in sophomore year (honors math) and two B-’s in Physics + math this year (junior year - had ACL injury/surgery, 10-month recovery process) but with upward trend. Also explained in counselor recommendation letter highlighting resilience, determination, etc.

Awards: International 3rd Place in Law Essay competition; John Locke Institute Essay Competition International Finalist; Princeton Legal Journal International Essay Competition recognition for stellar legal scholarship; Guinness World Record Holder for volunteer-relevant service; 3x Scholastic Art & Writing Awards National Medalist (Gold + Silver in Personal Essay, Silver in Poetry); NYTimes writing awards (national); Jefferson Award for Public Service (highest recognition for volunteering in state) from state governor; YVOTE Youth in Democracy Essay Scholarship Winner (1 of 3 winners out of 70,000 students in NJ counties), National Merit Semifinalist (possible finalist/scholar - haven’t heard formally yet); numerous publications (both with registered ISBN numbers and online); Gold President’s Service Award; many other regional/state/local writing awards; tennis state champion teams; state awards for piano

Activities (School): Founder/President of Linguistics Club (grew membership by 250%), Co-Editor-in-Chief of school newspaper, Co-President of French Club, Host - planned, coordinated, and hosted guest speaker event with teachers/administrators/school board featuring former Oxford University economics professor for 50+ students, Mock Trial Team Manager + Competitor, NHS, French Honor Society, Physics Club, Chemistry League

Activities (Extracurricular) + Impact: Founder/President of Women in STEM (WiSTEM) global organization’s state chapter for linguistics (impacted 1,500+ girls and spearheaded partnerships with Amazon, Facebook, MIT, Yale, Dartmouth, etc); WiSTEM Global Ambassador serving 3,400+ girls worldwide; Founder of my own writing website with writing advice/resources, literary + general blog, and publications (5,000+ readers worldwide); Executive officer in two volunteer organizations - increased membership and hours served by 1000% and raised $10,000 for charity projects; piano and tennis for 14 years (state/local awards for both); Host - organized/hosted my state’s largest Lunar New Year celebration for 1,000+ guests representing 7 townships; attended selective History, Politics, and Law summer program; concurrent enrollment during junior year in Harvard University’s undergraduate course “Justice” (A on final exam)

Work/Internships: Lead Intern for my area’s regional chamber of commerce; research intern with top university Econ professor focusing on IP law and international economics; French tutor for younger students

Additional info: Asian female student at competitive public high school with parents who both went to college. Tore ACL in tennis and had surgery with 10-month-recovery process. Linguistics is not really relevant to my intended major - it is simply my own interest. Passionate and innately curious (demonstrated in rec letters) and strong essay writing skills. Thank you!!

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  • Very strong interest in Yale (#1 school), and a predicted very strong “why Yale” essay. Similarly (though less) strong interest in Dartmouth.
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Class rank: not officially reported, but counselor said I’m in the top ~15%.

If you have any advice/insights for other Ivies, Stanford, or liberal arts schools, I would really appreciate it as well. Thank you so much!!!

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Yale EA is restrictive, so if you apply EA to Yale, you are not supposed to apply ED anywhere that notifies on or before January 1, or EA to any US private school that notifies on or before January 1, according to https://admissions.yale.edu/single-choice-early-action . Dartmouth ED notifies by mid-December, according to Apply to Dartmouth , so you are not supposed to apply ED to Dartmouth if you apply EA to Yale.

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This is very good, even for Yale or Dartmouth. Your ECs look good to me, but I have trouble comparing ECs from different students.

These are low for Yale and Dartmouth (and Stanford).

I would put all of these as somewhere between reaches and high reaches. You definitely need to make sure that you apply to safeties.

Do you have any budget restriction at all? Can your parents afford $400,000 for a bachelor’s degree without taking on any debt? If not, have you or your parents run the NPCs?

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Based on your academic interests, you may benefit from researchimg colleges with an available major in public policy, which typically relies on the fields of political science, economics and philosophy for a foundation. This site offers some suggestions across colleges of various types and selectivity levels:

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What are the commonalities from Yale and Dartmouth - as that’s, to me, an odd 1-2.

Every student is different but based on the #s you’re not going to get into Yale or Dartmouth. But as I said every student is different.

Yale - 4.5% got in last year. 96% were in the top 10% of the class (maybe the rest are athletes or in private schools??? I don’t know). Your test is strong and your awards are great - but they “consider” the test - so according to Yale, it’s not of critical importance.

Dartmouth - 94% are in the top 10% of the class - and 6% got in.

You don’t give a budget - are there any financial constraints or issues?
Again, you never know - but given your major, there will be lots of good schools for you.

Certainly apply for these but also look at schools like Rochester, Richmond and William & Mary as matches and College of Charleston a safety. They have a Politics, Philosphy and Law concentration in the Poli Sci major and you might qualify to be a Charleston Fellow, which is a subset of Honors. Pitt might be a good fit for you too as a safety and Rhodes College for a LAC.

I say reach for Yale and Dartmouth - although that seems an odd 1-2.

But do not do not do not forget the most important college on your list - the one you can afford, assure you can get into - and of course that you’d love!!

Having a budget is the first step though - can youf parents afford $400K for four years of school?

Best of luck.

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You don’t need us to tell you your reaches are reaches for everyone.
However, since you’re applying for Humanities, your Bs in early math honors classes and in Physics show you’re willing to challenge yourself to the best of your abilities; in addition, the fact you persevered and were willing to try both AP Precalculus and AP Calculus but didn’t get a B will be factored in favorably. Finally, your AP scores and SAT score will show that your school has a rigorous grading policy, as there are very few schools where a B in Algebra2 would correlate to a 700+ SAT math.
Your ECs are impressive, cohesive, clearly personal, and exactly what Yale (or Dartmouth or any top college) wants to see. So, in my opinion, you have a definite shot.
Now, you need to choose between Yale and Dartmouth because you obviously can’t apply to both Early. Based on what you say about yourself, I imagine Yale is indeed more your vibe. If REA doesn’t work, will you consider ED2 elsewhere or will you go all in at the usual suspects in the RD rounds?
Based on the NPC, are your parents ok with costs?
Finally, you MUST find 2 safeties (30-50% acceptance, solid honors college, affordable) and at least 3 colleges with 25-30% acceptance rate - I would pick a women’s college for one of those (perhaps look into Scripps in addition to 7Sisters?) to combine strength of academics&alumna network and relative acceptance rates compared to other highly ranked colleges.

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It seems you are focused on Ivies, and there might be better choices out there, given your stated interests. How about Tufts or Georgetown? Are you in an environment that prioritizes prestige, or do you need the generous aid that some Ivies give?

Your original post made me feel tired! I would just be careful in presenting yourself so that all your activities come off as genuinely driven by interest, not by a desire to impress admissions. You have a lot of accomplishments in a lot of different areas and have done a lot of competitions. This may be your school culture- competitive!

Apply where you want to apply but I hope you will not focus on “dream schools” and will put some effort into schools that are the best fit for your personally. If you are interested in politics, schools in DC might be of interest. Also check out the “little Ivies” (you can google), and the Colleges that Change Lives website.

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Do this NOW. You already have your reaches. Find 2 sure things that you like that are affordable.

Then decide which reach to apply to early…Yale SCRE or Dartmouth ED. You can’t do both.

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This caught my eye. Yale sounds like your number one choice. In my opinion, students should apply REA to the college that is their number one choice…because usually they can only do ONE of these early applications (exceptions noted above).

If Yale is truly your number one choice AND the costs are affordable to your family, then you have your answer about SCEA at Yale vs ED at Dartmouth.

Both are excellent colleges, and where I live, there IS often overlap between these two schools despite their differences in location and size. For what you wish to study, both are fine universities.

I agree that some consideration should be given to DC schools given your interests. I was surprised that Georgetown (another reach) was not one of your choices.

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You cannot apply REA to Yale and ED to Dartmouth.

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Since this is partly a chances topic, the OP may be inquiring as to her odds of admission at Yale SCEA or Dartmouth ED.

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They are both reaches for just about all applicants.

And for a REA or ED school…it’s my opinion it should be your top choice bar none (and affordable)

I will say, the nice thing about SCEA and REA is that they are not binding acceptances if accepted …so this applicant can still apply RD to Dartmouth and other schools. Then make a decision about matriculation in the spring.

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We’re in that area where we can afford it, but it would take a pretty big chunk out of our savings…so I’m not completely sure but I know if I did get in we would put together whatever we could. Thanks so much for your answer!!

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I’m aware - I was just asking about the chances for either since picking which one to go for in the early round is what I’m puzzling over right now :slight_smile:

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Thank you so much!! And yes, Georgetown is definitely in my top choices! It’s just that unfortunately Georgetown also does restrictive early action so I can’t apply there in the early round too, because I would still choose Yale/Dartmouth above it.

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Thank you for the advice! I have a lot of other target/safeties on my list; I was just curious about which one would be better to apply to in the early round :slight_smile: I’m applying EA to a lot of state schools regardless, like Rutgers.

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Given the unpredictable nature of college admissions, I don’t think colleges with 30-50% acceptance rates can be considered safeties for anyone. Yes, OP has a very strong profile, but a true safety should have a much higher acceptance rate. Just my opinion of course.

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We’re in that area where we can afford it, but it would take a pretty big chunk out of our savings…so I’m not completely sure but I know if I did get in we would put together whatever we could. Thanks so much for your answer!!