I heard Dartmouth is a good school...

Colleges & Universities Dartmouth College
1

<p>…but is it good enough for me?</p>

<p>Haha JUST KIDDING (please don’t flame me)!</p>

<p>I’m a junior right now at a very competitive public school. So far I’m thinking about applying next year as an environmental studies major.</p>

<p>[Academics]
GPA: 3.96
WGPA: 4.75
No rank
Courseload: 5 college prep courses, 9 honors, 8 AP, 2 at Princeton University, 1 independent study on environmental studies; skipped 2 years of math, 1 year of programming, 1 year of chemistry, and 1 year of music theory; exhausted all bio courses at my school, so I’m taking 200-level classes with Princeton students next year –> hardest courseload in my grade</p>

<p>[Test scores]
SAT M: 800
SAT CR: 720
SAT W: 720
SAT II Bio: 800
SAT II Chem: 800
SAT II Math 2: 800
AP’s sophomore year: Computer Science A 5; self-studied Biology 5 and Environmental Science 4
AP’s junior year: Calculus AB, Chemistry, English Language; self-studying Human Geography, Psychology, Statistics</p>

<p>[Primary extracurriculars and TERMINAL officer positions]
Environmental Club - President (and founder)
Debate League - President
Tutoring Society - President
Amnesty International - Vice President
Model United Nations - Vice President</p>

<p>[Secondary extracurriculars]
French National Honor Society
Science Club
Soccer</p>

<p>[Recognitions]
USA Biology Olympiad semifinalist (top 500 in the nation)
NJ Science League qualification and certificates
NJ Governor’s School on the Environment nominee, finalist, then the program was canceled
AIME qualifier (115 AMC 12)
Shore Bowl quarterfinalist and team captain
NJ Scholars Program (humanities focus) nominee, finalist, scholar
Princeton University Moot Court Tournament seventh place team/quarterfinalist
Colonial Valley Conference fourth place team
Varsity Policy and Lincoln-Douglas debate teams
JPMorgan Chase Lincoln-Douglas Tournament Award
AP Scholar last year, hopefully National AP Scholar this year
…And some other small stuff</p>

<p>[Summer activities]
2003 - travel in Europe and Asia
2004 - skipped 2 courses
2005 - skipped 1 course, worked as a tutor
2006 - NJ Scholars Program, Environmental Management course through Harvard SSP, JSA symposium on leadership and politics, maybe getting a job and/or a course or two at the local CC if possible</p>

<p>I’ve explored the fields of biology and public policy throughout high school, and they overlap nicely in the field of environmental studies, which I plan to major in in college.</p>

<p>What do you guys think of my chances? Thanks in advance for any comments. :)</p>

2

<p>as a student accepted into the class of 2010…i think community college would be a better match for you.</p>

<p>i’m obviously kidding, after reviewing your epic stats you look like an excellent candidate with very very high hopes of admission. just make sure you don’t become over confident because admission can never be guaranteed. i noticed you play soccer…if you take that seriously it can totally help with ivy admissions…recruits make up a huge portion of ED seats. also get cracking on your essays…great stats with sucky essays and reccs can ruin your chances easily. best of luck, if Dartmouth doesn’t work out i’m sure you’ll still end up in a great place.</p>

3

<p>gosh, if you ED, you’re in man. I have much worse stats than you do, and I still got in. Hella stats, bowing down. Yes, it is never guaranteed, work on your essay and you should have a strong shot at dartmouth. I mean, the school can fill up its class with perfect scorers, but they dont, they look for a diversified group of students, who can contribute to the overall quality of education here. Make yourself unique. Apparently, the bright well rounded kids nowadays don’t fare as well as the unique ones at elite schools. Make sure you stand out from the group</p>

4

<p>It’s iffy - don’t be surprised by a rejection with those types of stats. </p>

<p>jk</p>

<p>You’re 99% in unless your essays suck or you get a bad rec. Congratulations, you are awesome.</p>

5

<p>The sarcasm on CC drives me crazy. Some guy (unwittingly) convinced me my test scores weren’t good enough for Michigan.</p>

<p>Btw I’m appyling RD.</p>

6

<p>my stats indicated that i was 100% unqualified to be a Dartmouth student.</p>

<p>i got in on the fact that i was more or less recruited by the debate coach.</p>

7

<p>Oo wow how did that happen?</p>

<p>(I don’t think I’m nearly that good, though…)</p>

8

<p>i do policy debate on the national circuit.</p>

<p>i have 3 bids this year, was top 10 speaker at a few TOC bid tournaments, and i’m heading to the toc later on this month. I sent a few emails to the debate coach at Dartmouth (Ken Strange) and had my high school coach write a letter of recommendation to him as well. I sent him my record and told him that i’m going to be interested in debating for dartmouth if i got in.</p>

<p>Things were kind of quiet until the harvard tournament. when we got another bid at harvard (and beat some big-name teams along the way) i started hearing back from dartmouth, berkeley, u of m, and northwestern (harvard still didn’t want me haha).</p>

<p>but yeah, i spent all of high school on debate. my gpa’s in the ****ter because i spent all the time i should have spent on school on debate, and i was always travelling. guess it paid off though.</p>

9

<p>Yeah, I guess it did. :rolleyes: Congratulations!</p>

<p>I’m not that great at debate though, and we don’t compete in the national circuit. I got my club to be a NFL chapter a couple months ago, though!</p>

10

<p>i’d say with decent, unpretentious, honest essays, you’re in almost guaranteed for ed. rd, i don’t know, next year admissions is projected to get even tougher, but you definitely have a better shot than most; i’d project somewhere around the 80% ballpark. my stats are comparable and i got in rd with a likely this year</p>

<p>also, don’t laundry-list your ecs–make sure you prioritize and perhaps write a paragraph or two about the top 2-3 ecs.</p>

<p>a 3.96gpa at a no-ranked school is perfectly fine…i wouldn’t exactly call 4.0 - 0.04 “in the ****ter”</p>

<p>also definitely emphasize the synergy between pub policy and bio and how you fit in env sci, and relate debate to good pub policy etc.</p>