<p>Is the big green a real stickler for super high standardized testing scores? </p>
<p>I got a 30 on the last ACT and will be writing again tomorow. I am confident that I can improve my score, but I can’t help but wonder what if I bomb.</p>
<p>The rest of my application is outstanding, but I’m not a recruit or legacy. Do you think I have a chance?</p>
<p>wow, how do you expect us to know of your chances when all you tell us is your 30 ACT score? good luck though</p>
<p><em>shrug</em> I was asking if a 30 would be bad enough to make admission impossible. As I said, the rest of the application is great. Recommendations are superb (I have an example if you want to see) My essay is very well written and conveys who I am without trying to sell myself. It’s too long, but truncating it shouldn’t be very difficult. My ec’s are strong and well-rounded. I’m a member of mensa and my class president. I’m either 1, 2, or 3 in a class of 150. My awards section is decent… It includes the citizenship award, a very prestigious ‘most skilled programmer’ award, and some awards for the canadian math and programming competitions held by waterloo university.</p>
<p>You have to understand that standardized test scores are only one aspect of your application, and one that colleges don’t even use to determine final acceptance lists. A strong score on the SATs or ACTs will keep you in the running, but it won’t get you in. Conversely, scores that are slightly lower might not look as amazing, but they definitely won’t automatically ruin your chances. Either way, a 30 on the ACT certainly isn’t “horrible.” Judging from the rest of your accomplishments, you will definitely be a strong applicant and you will definitely be in the running for Dartmouth, and that’s just about as much as certainty as you can have at an Ivy or other top 25 school.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. I was hoping it would be something like what a former frosh admissions officer at stanford said about the sat.</p>
<p>"On the subject of SAT scores, he added: ‘I always viewed them the way a drunk uses a light post: more for support than illumination.’ "</p>
<p>Hopefully cya next year!</p>
<p>Dartmouth is very interested in your “differentiating” qualities… EC’s, recs, outside talents… I can definitely see their selection based on these things in the class of '08. Do your best and be thorough on your application, and hopefully things will sort out in your favor. A 30 is not going to keep you out!</p>
<p>hey, for darthmouth, is a 1340 anywhere close to the range of darthmouth’s accepted students?</p>
<p>sat908, a score of 1340 is equivalent to my 30 act…apparently we’re both still in the acceptable range, but we’ll need to work damn hard on the rest of our applications</p>
<p>hey, hypoxia…we’ve been workign hard for 4 years…iwe should have no problem workin hard for another couple of months, especially if its gonna get us into darthmouth…my friend was tellign me about some essay critiquing service, so i might send my essays there…but i dont even know the name of it, so i’ll find that out later…maybe it’ll help</p>
<p>true enough…
are you applying ED? If so, hopefully you’ll have enough time before the deadline. You might also want to buy the book “Essays that Worked: 50 Essays that Helped Students Get into the Nation’s Top Colleges” It is, of course, not meant for plagerism, but it tells you what is good about every essay. It also includes an ‘interview’ with an admission officer. It’s really great.
As for myself, I’m applying ED. I’m going to be at dartmouth next week actually. I’m just hoping that I can get an on-campus interview. I emailed them early last week, but I fear it’s not enough of an advanced warning. Especially as they haven’t written back to me yet. Fie! Oh well.
Good luck with your essay =]</p>
<p>tell me how D is! unfortunately i cannot visit because i live overseas.</p>
<p>Hypoxia - if I were you, I’d call to arrange an on-campus interview.</p>
<p>A 1340/30 would not have gotten you into Dartmouth from my kid’s high schools in the last 4 years. For non urm/athlete/legacy the average was about 1500.</p>
<p>the average was a 1500? seems a little high to be “average”…did your kid go to dartmouth?</p>
<p>Note she said for a non urm/athlete/legacy. The overall average is like a 1417 or something like that.</p>
<p>Yes, so chose Dartmouth. And Xanatos is correct, when the average is 1417, those not URMs/atheltes/legacies mostly score much higher. And Dartmouth has about 15% urms and tons of legacies and athletes.</p>
<p>Just look at the Dartmouth ED post, and look at the stats of those who are applying Dartmouth ED. Most of them have 1600.</p>
<p>And some of them might get rejected, too, even with a 1600. And there might be some amazingly gifted oboe player with a 1350 that’ll get in because the symphony’s short or something, you never know. It’s just hard to quantify this type of stuff. My highest SAT score was a 1500, but I really, really, really played up my journalism, my appreciation of film, my violin experience, etc. I sent a copy of my newspaper and an adviser rec, and my teacher recs were from my strong areas of study (government and history). Based on all that, if I knew that the only reason I got in was because of my 1500, I’d have a sour taste in my mouth.</p>