Match Me: Male Dancer interested in Film, IB Program, 1560 SAT, Top 3% [UT resident, 3.94 GPA]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Demographics
Dartmouth Double Legacy from a competitive 3k student HS in Utah, USA. Born on East Coast. Male.
No cost constraints (thanks mom and dad)

Intended Major(s) (not fully sure what I want to major TBH)

  • Biomed, Film, &/or Dance Minor

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • UW GPA: 3.94 (B+ Q4 of Soph. yr in AP Math, otherwise all As)

  • W GPA: 4.4

  • Class Rank: Top 3%

  • SAT: 1560 (equivalent to 34-36 on ACT)

  • National Merit Finalist in PSAT

HS coursework

For those who don’t know the IB Program, it is an internationally standardized college prep program similar to AP but generally considered more difficult. Like AP it has exams but they are scored out of 7 instead of 5. “SL” is a 1 yr IB course and “HL” is 2 yrs. I got an IB Diploma similar to AP Scholar but more prestigious. (Not to brag, it just is)

- English: 2 yrs Hnrs, 2 yrs AP/IB Lit HL (5/5, 7/7)

- Math: Hnrs Sophmore math as Freshman, self studied Junior yr math over summer, took AP Precalc as Sophmore (4), IB AA SL as Junior (6/7), AP Stats as Senior (5/5)

- Science: Hnrs Bio & Chem, 2 yrs AP/IB Bio HL (5/5, 6/7)

- History and social studies: Hnrs Geo, APUSH as Sophmore (5/5), IB History 20th Century HL (7/7)

- Language other than English: Spanish 3, 4, & AP (3, not great at languages), and IB SL Spanish (5/7)

- Visual or performing arts: Advanced Photography, TV Production, TV Broadcasting (held school show + State Award), Intro to Woodworking, AP Studio Art (no AP test by request of teacher, but state and school awards), IB Dance HL (7/7), IB Film HL (7/7), Dance Company (2 years, co-president senior)

- Other academic courses: 7 Grad requirements taken through online/self-studied, took summer class in sound design at state college

Awards

  • State PTA Reflections Contest Winner in Photo and Film

  • 3 State Broadcasting Awards

  • Accepted to International Dance Conference as a USA Representative

  • Sterling Scholar in Dance (major state scholarship requiring service and demonstrated talent)

  • Best Of Show District Visual Art Award

  • National Merit Scholarship Quarterfinalist

  • IB Diploma Student

Extracurriculars

Dance:

  • Modern/Contemporary Dancer for 13 years, or 2350 hrs of serious dedication (excluding young classes)

  • Accepted to daCi International Conference 2024 to perform (represented USA, 40+ countries attending)

  • Accepted to Duke University’s American Dance Festival Pre-Professional Intensive (2 weeks)

  • Co-President of School Dance Company Sr. Year

  • Lead Role/s in 3 original dance/theater shows at prestigious state theatre, full house to 5600+ attendees per night (3 performances per night, 3-4 nights per show)

  • Employed as stage manager for University showing at International Peace Gardens

  • Trained in Aerial and Circus Arts Freshman Summer

Film/Running:

  • XC 4 yrs, Track 2 yrs (non-recruitable athlete)

  • XC Captain and Varsity Sr Year

  • Founder/President of 1000 Mile Club 2 yrs (encourages running and fundraises for San Quentin Prison inmates running program in California)

  • Co-Founder/Co-President of Film Club 2 yrs (made PSA’s for local community, produced sketch comedy PSA’s for school to connect with students, helped IB Film Students pursue excellence and brainstorm, and educated future film-makers through library program)

Work/Other:

  • Member of Adolescent Cognitive Brain Development Study (national initiative to study brain from ages 9-19, pays 10k across 10 yrs but must volunteer)

  • Worked summers on Grandparents’ Farm in New Hampshire ages 9-16

  • NHS 2 yrs (Key Club 1 yr)

  • Mountain Biking Team 1 yr

  • Repaired local trails to prevent erosion

  • Many Backpacking trips, love the outdoors, hiking, camping, skiing, climbing, and mountain biking

Essays/LORs/Other

Letters of Rec:

  • English Teacher who has known me since 7th grade and oversees NHS, very strong

  • Director of my Dance Company at State College who has known my since age 4, very strong

  • I know Alumni from Harvard, Princeton, Dartmouth, Amherst, NYU, and Princeton who would be happy to interview me or write a letter of rec. (Also know Duke staff)

Schools

(List of colleges by your initial chance estimate; designate if applying ED/EA/RD; if unsure, leave them unclassified)

(Not a fan of big schools)

Looking for suggestions on where to go based on my app and the colleges listed below: :point_down:

  • Assured: University of Utah, Utah State

  • Extremely Likely: ¯_(ツ)_/¯

  • Likely-ish: Vassar

  • Toss-up: Duke (Demonstrated Interest), CalArts, Carleton, NYU, Wesleyan, RISD

  • Lower Probability: Dartmouth (Double Legacy, Demonstrated Interest), Brown, TUFTS, UCBerkley, Amherst, Pomona, Julliard, Tulane

  • Low Probability: Stanford, Princeton, Yale, UChicago, Johns Hopkins, Columbia

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For starters, Duke and NYU are not a toss up for anybody. Put them in the reach category. And Vassar is not a likely.

Secondly, you listed yourself as a National Merit Finalist. Although you can probably presume you will be a NMSF and then a NMF based on your NMSQT score, none of this has been announced yet. So do NOT put these on your applications until they do happen.

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Maybe wait until you have a few acceptances in hand? Your list is pretty reach heavy.

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The good news is that Utah is a great safety - strong in sciences and dance, and the film major looks decent too.

What do you mean by “biomed” - are you considering preparing for med school? The specialty art schools would limit that option, although you could still do a post-bacc premed program later.

For competitive dance or film programs, your audition or portfolio is going to be a big factor… and at some of your schools it isn’t evident which you’d be pursuing. Are you applying to BFA programs in both dance and film, and figuring out in the spring which path to take? Would you give up the BFA path altogether for one of the elite-academic schools?

Have you considered Boston U? It has strong programs in both film and dance, as well as strong life sciences. It also offers an LA Semester that might appeal. It’s on the larger side but fewer than 20K undergrads, unlike NYU or Berkeley.

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You have a strong chance anywhere, because of applying from UT. Plus the U is a great safety for you. You want to save 400k? Alabama. You want to save >300k? UT. You wanna spend 400K? All the most highly selective Ivies and T20s.

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Yes, as an instate student don’t dismiss the potential advantages of applying for the Eccles scholarship cohort at the U. My D (also a dancer, though in ballet) won that scholarship and had a great time there. It’s also much more feasible than at most other universities to complete both a BFA and a BS/BA in four years.

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This isn’t a thing. You’ve also listed National Merit Finalist. I see on your other thread that you are entering your junior year. So you haven’t even taken the NMSQT test yet, so what you’ve listed is factually incorrect. Sorry, but I can help but wondering what else here is projected and not actual.

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Although what you’ve written describes a very strong candidate, this is still a very reach-heavy list. Below are my guesses as to what your chances would be at these schools based on the information provided. I left off specialty schools like Juilliard and RISD as I’m not familiar enough with them, but I’m guessing they would fall into the low probability category as well.

Extremely Likely (80-99+%)

  • U. of Utah
  • Utah State

Likely (60-79%)

Toss-Up (40-59%)

Lower Probability (20-39%)

  • Carleton
  • Vassar
  • Wesleyan

Low Probability (less than 20%)

  • NYU
  • Duke
  • Dartmouth
  • Brown
  • Tufts
  • Berkeley
  • Amherst
  • Pomona
  • Tulane (unless you ED, in which case it would be a likely)
  • Stanford
  • Princeton
  • Yale
  • UChicago
  • Johns Hopkins
  • Columbia

I know you said you’re not a fan of big schools, but the first school I thought of was Florida State since it has a good film program and its own circus.

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With your stated interests, these are some additional schools you may want to investigate that are likelier options than the majority of your first list:

Extremely Likely (80-99+%)

  • Drexel (PA ): About 14k undergrads

  • Ithaca (NY): About 4600 undergrads

  • Muhlenberg (PA ): About 1900 undergrads

  • U. of Kansas: About 19k undergrads

Likely (60-79%)

  • Chapman (CA): About 7900 undergrads

  • Fordham (NY): About 10k undergrads

  • Southern Methodist (TX): About 7100 undergrads

Toss-Up (40-59%)

  • Florida State: About 33k undergrads

  • Kenyon (OH): About 1900 undergrads

  • Loyola Marymount (CA): About 7300 undergrads

  • Skidmore (NY): About 2800 undergrads

Lower Probability (20-39%)

  • U. of Miami (FL): About 13k undergrads

Low Probability (less than 20%)

  • Emory (GA): About 7100 undergrads (and can take classes at other Atlanta-area schools like SCAD, Georgia Tech, Georgia State, and Morehouse…don’t underestimate Atlanta as a film center)
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The inclusion of Amherst College seems almost pro forma based on its small size and perhaps its perception as a Dartmouth back-up. But given the OP’s interest in the performing and visual arts, it’s always going to beg the question of what it is they are actually buying into - Amherst itself or the concept of cross-registration with one of the other members of the 5 College area (Smith, Mt Holyoke, UMass etc.?) It comes with its drawbacks.

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Temporarily closing for review

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