Official 2005 - 2011 Decision Thread

pagEL60 · February 19, 2007, 9:22pm

yes…being black is probably the biggest boost you can get. Better than 2400 I suppose.

hellocello · March 8, 2007, 9:33am

ihDCPage - were you a House Page - do you attend Dartmouth now?

Joecool866 · March 22, 2007, 2:07am

Decision: ACCEPTED

Stats:

SAT: 2180 (790, 700, 690)
ACT: 32 (28, 34, 33, 36)
SAT IIs: 800 Math II, 730 Physics & Chemistry, 720 Korean, 710 US History
GPA: 4.0 UW, 4.40 W
Rank: School doesn’t rank, Top 5 / 433
AP Tests: 4 - Physics B, US History, Chemistry, Physics C: Mechanics; 5 - Calculus BC; Taking - Biology, Macroeconomics, US Govt & Pol, Comparative Gov, English Lit, English Lang

Essays: Excellent (Advice from Vassar Admissions Off)
Teacher Recs: Excellent (Physics teacher 3 years and Calculus teacher)
Counselor Rec: Excellent
Peer Rec: Best Friend at UCLA now who saw me get into accident and known for 7 years.
Hook (if any): 5 year high school student. Was in car accident, a coma, forfeited year of high school, went on to intern at hospital in neurology following accident about 6 months post trauma.
Location: San Francisco
State or Country: California
School Type: Public School of 1600
Ethnicity: Korean
Gender: Male
Intended Major: Pre-Med + Neuroscience
Major strength/weakness: Good grades, very social, well rounded

Extracurriculars: District Honor Jazz Band and Symphonic Band
Band President
Pep Band Leader
Numerous California Music Educators Association Awards for Solo Ensemble
Robotics Team and unofficial disciplinarian / project manager
Football Quarterback / Wide Receiver / Safety
Baseball Pitcher / Shortstop
Volunteer hours + intership at Kaiser Permanente (Hospital)

Summers: Summer school for 2 years of first year biology, health (mandatory in district), and psychology
Junior Statesman of America (JSA) at Stanford, took AP Comp Gov and Honors Speech Communication

Single parent, very little contact with father. No siblings or very many relatives. STOKED to get into Dartmouth as '11 and can’t wait until Dimensions from April 18 - 21 and meeting all ya’ll who got in and are thinking of attending. Still waiting on Harvard, Princeton, Duke, UPenn but Dartmouth is a top choice. Ain’t got the best test scores, nothing HUGE extracurricular wise but just an interest in everything and have no doubt that all recs and essay were excellent.

bernardolw · March 22, 2007, 3:05am

Did you apply early? Got a likely letter?

tuck6389 · March 29, 2007, 5:52pm

Decision: Accepted, and ecstatic

Stats:
SAT: 2270 (740 V 730 M 800 W)
SAT IIs: 720 Bio (E), 710 Math IIc, 740 Literature
ACT: Did not take
GPA: 4.0 UW/ 4.519 W
Rank: 1/323
Other stats: AP Bio- 5, AP US History- 4, AP Latin Lit- 4, AP Stats- 4, AP Psych- 5, AP English Lit-5

Subjective:
Essays: according to my guidance counselor, “excellent, but not stellar. well, maybe stellar, but not something i would whip out and use as an example for future applicants.”
Teacher Recs: “stellar”
Counselor Rec: “stellar”
Hook (if any): i have noooo idea

Location/Person:
State or Country: VA
School Type: public
Ethnicity: white
Gender: female
Intended Major: government
major strength/weakness: being a southern girl probably helped(?), i am 2nd in the state in LD debate, started a club at my school to combat its socioeconomic dichotomy, play in the orchestra (probably the best in the state), do a lot of community service, NHS officer, etc. a weakness is my standardized test scores.

Other Factors: nope.

GO DARTMOUTH '11! To all who were waitlisted, I hope you go wherever you want to next year. To all who were rejected, again, I hope you have an amazing college experience.

AAAAHHHHHHHHHH

lablondie · March 29, 2007, 5:58pm

Decision: Accepted

Stats:[ul]
[] SAT: 2250; 800M, 750CR, 700W
[] SAT IIs: 730 Math1, 730 US History
[] GPA: 4.195w 3.96UW
[] Rank: 6/322
[] Other stats:
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[] Essays: somewhat entertaining
[] Teacher Recs: pretty good
[] Counselor Rec: pretty good
[] Hook (if any): none
[/ul]Location/Person:[ul]
[] State or Country: Minnesota
[] School Type: Public
[] Ethnicity: white
[] Gender: female
[] Intended Major: not a clue
[li] major strength/weakness:[/li][/ul]Other Factors: none?

arbiter213 · March 29, 2007, 6:29pm

Decision: Rejected

Stats:[ul]
[] SAT: 800 CR/ 710 M/ 800 WR
[] SAT Iis: 790 Bio, 790 US History, 780 Literature, 710 Math IC
[] ACT: N/A
[] GPA: 3.8
[] Rank: Doesn’t Rank. Second decile
[] Other stats: 9 AP’s (Independent Study of Comparative politics)
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[] Essays: I think outstanding- I spent 4 months working on them, and my guidance counselor concurs
[] Teacher Recs: Should be truly excellent- My history teacher and my computer science teacher (I assistant taught a class for the computer science teacher and will be working with him this summer).
[] Counselor Rec: Should have been very good, particularly talking about my honesty and character.
[] Hook (if any):
[/ul]Location/Person:[ul]
[] State or Country: Westchester, NY
[] School Type: Outstanding Public
[] Ethnicity: White
[] Gender: Male
[/ul]Other Factors:[ul]
[] Extracurriculars: Model UN for 4 years with various awards, VP jr, President sr. Started a fencing club (have been fencing for 8 years), helped start and now am president of Film club, On academic challenge team (which has gone to nationals for the past 6 or more years, won a couple years back), Staff writer for a political journal at school, computer science club for 3 years, Internship with a leading web consulting firm over the summer, some other stuff, nothing else notable though.
[] Why I think I was accepted/rejected/waitlisted: Low GPA/ “class rank”
[*] Other thoughts: This sucks pretty bad [/ul]

yanimated · March 29, 2007, 7:59pm

Decision: ACCEPTED!!!

Stats:[ul]
[] SAT: 770M | 710CR | 690W
[] SAT IIs: Pretty terrible–630MathII | 770Chinese | 660USHist | 670Lit
[] GPA: 3.8 UW
[] Rank: 66 out of 400+ UW (Note: However, I take the hardest classes available and am told that if the rankings are weighted, I would be much much higher.
[] Other stats: Advanced Placement-- 5 CalcAB | 4’s in USHist, EuroHist, EnglishLang
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[] Essays: Pretty good I think. I wrote about how I became interested in Arabic language & culture and how it connects with my Chinese heritage (it does, trust me). I thought of the idea and wrote the essay about a week before the deadline.
[] Teacher Recs: One was good–lots of personal anecdotes. The other one was pretty shoddy–the guy also turned it in about a month late.
[] Counselor Rec: Good, but not great. It’s about 100 seniors to a counselor, so it couldn’t have been any better.
[] Hook (if any): My extra-curricular activities: I’m taking Arabic lessons, fluent in Chinese, started a school.
[/ul]Location/Person:[ul]
[] State or Country: Washington State.
[] School Type: Magnet, somewhat inner-city school. Sends A LOT of people to top-tier schools.
[] Ethnicity: Chinese
[] Gender: Female
[] Intended Major: Economics, Arabic, Chinese, or International Relations
[li] Major strength/weakness: Extra-curricular activities were definitely my strength. My weakness would definitely be my SAT scores & GPA.[/li][/ul]Other Factors:
I definitely put a lot of “me” into my application. I focused on the stuff that’d make me stand out the most (Arabic, Chinese, business) and showed my passion and involvement in them.

My extra-curricular activities:

-Editor of school magazine.
-Captain of debate team.
-Founded a Chinese language & dance school in 2005. (200+ students, 2 locations currently)
-Former regional treasurer in Key Club.
-Taking Arabic language (outside of school).
-Heavily involved in Chinese ethnic, folk, & traditional dance.
-Founder & President of Arabic club at school.
-Cellist.
-Involved in a youth leadership organization.

I am proof that you don’t have to have great SAT scores to get into great schools :D.
Congratulations to everyone! I really hope I get to go here.

Jackaroo · March 29, 2007, 8:07pm

Decision: Accepted!!! (Likely Letter)

Stats:[ul]
[] SAT: 2330 (800M, 730 CR, 800 W)
[] SAT IIs: 800 Math 2, 800 Chem, Bio
[] GPA: 4.0/4.67
[] Rank: 4/500
[] Other stats:
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[] Essays: Good
[] Teacher Recs: Amazing, “best ever”
[] Counselor Rec: Good, kind of impersonal though
[] Hook (if any): none
[/ul]Location/Person:[ul]
[] State or Country: CA
[] School Type: Large Public
[] Ethnicity: White
[] Gender: Male
[] Intended Major: Chemistry, Biology
[li] major strength/weakness: High SATs, grades, amazing recs[/li][/ul]Other Factors: No hooks. I was very surprised to get in and am in love with Dartmouth. Hopefully I can find some way to come up with $50,000 a year or I’ll have to turn down Harvard and Dartmouth. But congratulations every one!

Edwardz · March 29, 2007, 8:31pm

Decision: ACCEPTED!

Stats:[ul]
[] SAT: 760M, 750V, 720W
[] SAT IIs: 800 Math IIC, 780 Chem, 750 Bio, 780 Math IC, 710 USH
[] GPA: 97.5
[] Rank: None
[] Other stats: 5s on Psychology, USH, Euro, Physics B, 3 on English Language
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[] Essays: I thought my essays sucked hard. oO
[] Teacher Recs: Didn’t see 'em. According to an outside source that knows the teachers that wrote them, they should be very good
[] Counselor Rec: See above
[] Hook (if any): Absolutely none. No state/national anything.
[/ul]Location/Person:[ul]
[] State or Country: NY
[] School Type: Public
[] Ethnicity: Asian
[] Gender: M
[] Intended Major: Sciences
[li] major strength/weakness: My interview was absolutely horrible. The best thing I could come up with to why I wanted to go was the location. oO[/li][/ul]Other Factors:

-President of Astronomy Club -Science Program at Columbia U
-Work -Volunteering -Research, but I didn’t take it very far…couldn’t find a mentor
-Mathletes

-I was rejected from Cornell. >_<! But life is good.

jdub27 · March 29, 2007, 8:52pm

accepted!! (from ed deferral, so you know it feels good)

most likely going, got into swarthmore, haverford, carleton and bowdoin recently too… waitlisted at penn, rejected at brown…

stats later (it’ll be a real booster to those who don’t think their SATs are up to snuff)

ProcrastiNate · March 29, 2007, 10:00pm

congrats class of '11!

might take a couple classes with some of you (i’ll be a senior at the local high school next yr)

Grain · March 29, 2007, 10:47pm

Decision: ACCEPTED

Stats:

SAT: 2350 (CR 750, M 800, W 800)
SAT IIs: World History 740, Math Level II 780, Chemistry 800
‘O’ Level: 12A1 1A2 (A1 is equivalent to A, A2 = A-)
Rank: 1/230

Subjective:

Essays: Risky, but good
Teacher Recs: Great
Counselor Rec: Great
Peer Rec: Great
Hook (if any): I’m a drama king.

Location/Person:

State or Country: Malaysia
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Chinese
Gender: Male
Intended Major: Mathematics
major strength/weakness: No Idea
Other Factors: No idea

123orange · March 29, 2007, 10:55pm

Decision: Accepted

Objective:[ul]
[] Deferred EA? NO
[] SAT I (breakdown): CR 770 M800 W700
[] ACT: N/A
[] SAT II: 3 800s too lazy to type…
[] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): ~3.9 or 4
[] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A
[] AP (place score in parenthesis): 3 5s
[] IB (place score in parenthesis):
[] Senior Year Course Load: 4 AP, 1 Honor
[] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): nothing really
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): nothing special… too lazy to type
[] Job/Work Experience: babysitting, tutoring
[] Volunteer/Community service: ~300 hours
[] Summer Activities: harvard summer school, volunteering in hospital, volunteering in children’s program
[] Essays: they made me!! They were probably good, but I’m a non-native speaker.
[] Teacher Recommendation: Now I bet they were great
[] Counselor Rec: wonderful, she is so nice
[] Additional Rec: good, they def. wished my best
[] Interview: didn’t get one
[/ul]Other[ul]
[] State (if domestic applicant): New England
[] School Type: competitive public
[] Ethnicity: Asian
[] Gender: female
[] Income Bracket: not poor
[] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): I probably had some, considering I got in.
[/ul]Reflection[ul]
[] Strengths: Ahh I don’t really know, but I guess there were something they liked about me.
[] Weaknesses: not many AP/Honors classes compared with other applicants from my school. nothing spectacular in EC.
[] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I don’t know. I think I was very lucky to have so many people who were willing to help me. I’m so surprised. Now I have to choose between 2 great schools, Cornell and Dartmouth.
[/ul]General Comments: Good luck to everyone who got waitlisted. For those who got rejected, there are other schools and other things to look forward to. I hope you will get over the rejection soon. For everyone who was accepted, congrats! We made it!

ramses88 · March 29, 2007, 11:15pm

ACCEPTED (likely letter)

3.6 GPA UW/4.24 WEIGHTED (a couple C’s on transcript, downward grade trend)
top 15%ish class rank
33 ACT
9 AP tests, average 4.44, national ap scholar
Recs: “Best in Career”
Essays: really good
EC’s: objectively speaking among the most impressive list i have seen for anyone applying anywhere, i think it’s my grades that kept me out of HYPS (not that I wanted them in the first place)

here’s to everyone who thinks grades are the end-all-be-all of college admissions…pwned

hanolulu · March 30, 2007, 1:15am

Decision: Accepted!

Stats:[ul]
[] SAT: 770 M, 740 CR, 750 W (first time)
[] SAT IIs: 800 Lit, 770 Miic
[] GPA: 4.0 UW, 4.9-something W
[] Rank: unranked, top 1%
[] Other stats:
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[] Essays: Good? I really liked my common app essay
[] Teacher Recs: Great, I think. My peer rec wasn’t great at all because the original person forgot, so I had another friend step in last minute.
[] Counselor Rec: Vague, we got a new counselor this year
[] Hook (if any): Wide range of ECs, lots of leadership, 2 summer science research programs… I don’t think any of those things are true hooks though.
[/ul]Location/Person:[ul]
[] State or Country: FL
[] School Type: Public, IB school
[] Ethnicity: Chinese
[] Gender: Female
[] Intended Major: Undecided
[li] major strength/weakness: [/li][/ul]Other Factors:

I think I lucked out. But I’m glad! Congrats to fellow acceptees, and my condolences to those who didn’t get in.

rahonavis75 · March 30, 2007, 12:53pm

Decision: Accepted! (regular decision)

Stats:

<pre><code>* SAT: 790 M,800 CR, 740 W

SAT IIs: 800 Physics, 790 Chemistry, 760 Math Level 2, 680 Math 1
GPA: 3.97 weighted (highest in my class)
Rank: 3/132
Other stats: '1’s in CAPE Mathematics and Physics (both units), A in GCE
A Level Chemistry, ‘a’ in AS Level General Paper. Six '1’s at
CXC ‘O’ Levels, an ‘a’ in AS Level Mathematics and a
‘B’ in GCE ‘O’ Level Computer Studies. (‘1’ is the highest
grade attainable at CXC or CAPE). Received an Additional
National Scholarship in the Science grouping (competitive
national schol based on CAPE and GCE ‘A’ Level results)
</code></pre>

Subjective:

<pre><code>* Essays: Extremely well written, but unusal. In essence I wrote about
meeting the girl of my dreams and how that changed me,
though there’s more to it than that.

Teacher Recs: One was decent, the other was really good. My peer
rec wasn’t as good as it could have been, but it was
serviceable.
Counselor Rec: Decent as well.
Hook (if any): I’m from Trinidad, so I’m all up in my Caribbean
third-world-ness. Also my SAT essay (if they read it)
demonstrated my spontaneity and awesomeness (I sang
Phantom of the Opera impromptu at a nightclub for
a halloween costume contest and won a crap-load of
money) Self-taught singer and guitarist.
.
</code></pre>

Location/Person:

<pre><code>* State or Country: Trinidad

School Type: Public, all-boys secondary school (most schools down here
are single-sex.)
Ethnicity: Mixed descent (mainly Black and White)
Gender: Male
Intended Major: Undecided
major strength/weakness: Lack of official involvement in anything.
Most of my activities were self-supervised and
self-initiated. Also, I started most of them in
the last 2 years of school or after I graduated
(I’m currently taking a year off)
</code></pre>

Other Factors:

I’m a self-employed math tutor here working out of home (taking private after-school lessons in multiple subjects is the norm here for most students, as the school system is lackluster at the least - I took several hours of lessons in most of my subjects at great cost to my family while I was in school). That’s about it. I think my essays (common app and SAT) are what sealed the deal for me. They were really good.

rahonavis75 · March 30, 2007, 1:14pm

Oh, my common app essay was TWICE OVER THE WORD LIMIT. So for those of you out there who are afraid of going over limit, don’t be, once the essay’s better for it. Mine would have been butchered if I had to trim it down to only 500 words.

Vendetta_1 · March 30, 2007, 4:31pm

Decision: Accepted

Yoshi729 · March 30, 2007, 4:56pm

Decision: Accepted

Stats:[ul]
[] Fee Waiver Used?: No
[] SAT I (by section): 2330 (780 M, 770 Cr, 780 W)
[] SAT IIs: 800 on Math IIC and Chemistry; 720 on US History
[] GPA, Weighted and Unweighted: 99.120 and 101.230
[] Rank: Salutatorian
[] ACT: Not applicable
[] APs (including this year’s): AP Biology (4); AP Chemistry; AP US History (4); AP Calculus BC (5); AP Euro History (5); AP Physics C Mech/EM; AP English Language/Literature; AP German
[] IBs (including this year’s: Underfunded public school so no IBs
[] Senior Yr Courseload: AP English Lang/Lit, AP Chem, AP Physics, AP German
[] Number of Apps from Your School: Either three or four
[] Other stats (Awards, etc.):
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[] ECs listed on app: Microbiology research, Science Olympiad (Captain), Mock Trial (Lead Attorney), Community Service, and State science fair competitions (attended national science competitions; president of school’s chapter)
[] Job/Work Experience: A part time job at the local supermarket
[] Essays (subject and responses): I: My life in binary; II: Death of my grandfather and discovering Ayn Rand
[] Teacher Recs: Both were absolutely excellent
[] Counselor Rec: Glowing, she knew me since fifth grade
[] Interview (feel, interviewer and general location): Nope, I wish I had gotten one though. I need a second perspective on Dartmouth.
[] Hook (TASP, RSI, Research, etc.): My microbiology research was featured in multiple national journals
[/ul]Location/Person:[ul]
[] State or Country: PA
[] School Type, Average Stats of School (if available): Underfunded public school (median SAT 1201/2400)
[] Ethnicity: Asian-american
[] Gender: Male
[] Income Bracket: < 60,000
[] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Single parent household and first generation? They are hooks?
[] Strengths: Publications in journals
[] Weaknesses: No consideration to the supplement. God it was awful
[li] Why you think you were accepted: If I knew I would tell you, but I don’t. I was actually expecting that little envelope. [/li][/ul]Other Factors:
General Comments/Congratulations/Venting/Commiserations,etc: I was completely shocked! Absolutely shocked! Congratulations to everyone who was accepted, it was a difficult applicant pool.

Official 2005 - 2011 Decision Thread

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