How is my schedule for Dartmouth ED and other T20s/30s?

Applying to College
,
1

I know that no matter what Dartmouth ED is difficult and classes are not the only thing that is taken into account. However, I know that course rigor is important and I’m curious about how my schedule is for applying Dartmouth ED. I am currently a Junior and have a 4.0 UW.

Notes:

I go to a private school in the D.C. area. You are not able to take any AP classes Freshman Year and only 1 Sophomore Year.

You are required to take Honors Chemistry, Physics, Biology, and English I/II before their respective AP class.

Honors are considered still very difficult at my school (I know some schools “honors” is just the name of the class but this is not the case for my school).

Also note that for math some people are a year ahead (taking algebra II Freshman Year), however, this was decided in elementary school and I was not chosen (I’m just at normal level).

Below each year I put the number of honors/APs I took versus the ones available.

Freshman

Human geography (no AP offered)
Art (required to take to graduate)
Spanish III
Honors Geometry
Honors English I
Honors Bio

Advanced taken 3/4 (I did not take honors Spanish because I was already a year ahead and felt the difference is negligible. I also took Spanish all 4 years)

Sophomore

Spanish IV
AP World
Honors Algebra II
Honors Chem
Honors English II
Trimester electives (only option available)

Advanced taken 4/5 (Same thing with Spanish)

Junior

Spanish V
APUSH
Pre Calc
AP Chem
AP Micro (year long)
AP Lang

Advanced taken 4/6 (Same thing with Spanish, I did not take honors precalc because I would have done really bad and knew that I did not want to take BC Calc.)

Senior

Honors Latin American Studies (Spanish - highest level at school)
AP Macro (year long)
AP Calc AB
Honors physics
AP literature
AP Bio

Advanced taken 6/6

Total APs (planned): 9
Total Honors (planned): 8

Questions:

Looking at my schedule, given my restrictions, how is it for Dartmouth ED and other T20s?

Also, for next year, would you recommend I take AP Spanish or Honors Latin American Studies, which is the highest Spanish class at my school, however, I never took AP Spanish and does AP look a lot better? Or is the difference not that big?

2

Your schedule is fine bcuz that’s all your school allows.

Your math is not behind. Calc AB is ahead. Your teachers, not you, should have determined AB or BC.

I wonder if your schedule is too rigorous but you are in it now.

I’d continue with language. What do you mean Latin American Studies is the highest class ?

Rigor is one component of admission and I think you’re fine.

Given you are at a private school, what does the counselor say ?

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3

Latin American Studies is the highest Spanish class at my school. I can take it next year or I could take AP Spanish (which I could have taken this year but chose to take Spanish V).

I was asking if it was fine to not take the AP and just take the honors version (which is still very challenging).

I plan to meet with my counselor later this month to discuss more. Thanks for the advice!

4

My only comment is there a history course vs AP Macro. My kids HS highly encouraged 4 years of history (can be 2 different semester courses) for students looking at the highly rejective colleges. Maybe your Spanish course covers both language and history ?

Your counselor should be helpful and can give you an idea of past admits to the reach and target schools on your list and how your schedule compares plus to your peers too.

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5

Ask your counselor whether they will mark that you chose the “most demanding” schedule and if you are “one of the top few encountered in my career” for academic achievement on the counselor’s school report. If the answer is no, ask what changes to your schedule would get them to mark those selections, if that is possible.

If your high school is an elite one with significant admissions and matriculations to highly selective colleges, then it probably has a dedicated college counseling staff that can assist you better than anyone here.

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[quote=“collegequestioner, post:1, topic:3684644, full:true”]
I know that no matter what Dartmouth ED is difficult

Looking at my schedule, given my restrictions, how is it for Dartmouth ED and other T20s? [/quote]

You’ve only mentioned Dartmouth and other unspecified T20s. And you’ve gotten good feedback on this thread for that match. As you say, no matter what Dartmouth and the rest are difficult admits, so I thought you might be interested in this list of “schools similar to Dartmouth” from The Koppelman Group:

Kenyon College
Bowdoin College
Middlebury College
Bucknell University
Williams College
Vanderbilt University
Colby College
Carleton College

You can read the full article here:

7

Based on the information you gave us it looks fine to me, but I agree about asking your counselor.

8

It looks like you covered all the foundational subjects well with your advanced coursework. Latin American Studies does not sound like a Spanish “language” class, but you can always clarify that in your additional info section on the Common App.