Two Really Bizarre and Possibly Dumb Questions

[journogirl05]

<p>Okay. Here it goes. I'm genuinely curious about this, so don't laugh at me. It's kind of a fun story, really....</p>

<p>Three weeks ago, I give my guidance counselor the school report portion of the Common App. He asks me where I'm applying. I tell him, "Dartmouth Early Decision." He said that in his thirty years as a guidance counselor for my school, NO ONE had EVER applied to Dartmouth, ED or RD. Now, most of the kids at my school go to KU, K-State, the JuCo, Mizzou, etc. We have maybe four or five people a year that go to an Ivy League or equivalent school, even on the level of Wash U/Northwestern/Georgetown/Rice/Emory. Most of them get the "big fish, little pond" syndrome, apply to HYPS, get rejected, and end up at KU. </p>

<p>I know that some top colleges may have a sort of "history" with certain schools, namely private schools and top publics. Does the fact that I'm apparently an anomaly at my school (or, namely, the fact that Dartmouth has most likely not dealt with my school in a loooong time) hurt my chances in any way, especially when I'm stacked against prep school kids, whose schools have had perennial contact with these adcoms?</p>

<p>Second question. I'm from Kansas. Feel free to spurt out any Oz jokes, I've heard them all. I live in eastern Kansas, so it's not as bad as it is out West. I know most applicants are probably from California, New England, or some major Midwestern city. I also know that schools like saying that they have students from "all 50 states." Will being a chick from Kansas applying ED have any weight whatsoever here? I'm confident that my scores and ECs and recs would be strong no matter where I was from, but does being a Sunflower State resident, a place where getting out of the state means going to Iowa U, mean anything? Surely it must stand out in a sea of CA/NJ/NY/MA. Or maybe not.</p>

<p>Told you they were bizarre and possibly dumb questions. :-D</p>

[willywonka]

<p>Being from Kansas will probably stand out as far as percentages of applicants go, but I would not imagine that there are so few applicants from the state that it would really lend any weight. You have to remember that this school is Ivy, and it's the 10th oldest school in the country (Dartmouth claims 9th, but don't believe it. It was started 20 years after the 9th oldest school in the country, Washington and Lee University, but claims 9th because W&L didn't start as a liberal arts college), so a good deal of the old-money or generally prestige-seeking people apply.</p>

<p>I wouldn't think too much about the high school thing, either. From the flurry of responses you made in this forum in the last few hours, journogirl, it's obvious that you're aware that you have a very strong application when stacked against any student in the country. It's all up to the mood of the adcoms now, but in all likelihood I'd say you'll be accepted for sure.</p>

[journogirl05]

<p>Thank you. I'm just having last minute jitters is all. Plus the time change is kind of turning me into an insomniac, sorry. </p>

<p>I was really more concerned about the fact that my high school never really sends very many people anywhere than I was about being from Kansas. And you didn't attempt an Oz joke. For shame. :-P</p>

[kimfuge]

<p>journo, have you vistied Dartmouth?</p>

[drownindreams]

<p>I know 3 people from Kansas already from the 08 Class.</p>

<p>Fear not.</p>

[sybbie719]

<p>Journalgirl,</p>

<p>I would not worry about it as my daughter was the first person in her school who applied to Dartmouth also. Hey someone has to be first. She is now a happy 08</p>

[journogirl05]

<p>Thank you!</p>

<p>Yes, I have been to Dartmouth. I go up there now whenever I see my grandparents in Vermont. I love it! Now I'm just waiting for my alumni interview.</p>

[apppro]

<p>Hey- The story on admissions in regards to states is this: They don't really care about the state representation as much as one might think. Or at least, that's what they say. I think they do like to have someone from each state. </p>

<p>You asked whether being from a school where they don't deal with people from there much is going to be a problem. </p>

<p>Answer: No. I came from a high school in Cheyenne, Wyoming where nobody had gone to Dartmouth in the history as I know it. In fact, there has only been one person from my city to go to Dartmouth in the last 10 years. And- I'm still here.</p>

[yourworld]

<p>My two cents: I think being from a underrepresented region does add to your chances. I wouldnt say its a deciding factor. If the rest of your application is competitive, you have a good chance. Second ,some schools ( I know of one other school) do black-list students of certain high-schools. To be fair I also don't have any evidence that Dart is such a school.</p>

[Kosuke]

<p>"some schools ( I know of one other school) do black-list students of certain high-schools"</p>

<p>what? why? do these schools that get blacklisted just suck that much? or students their arent really as good as they may appear? what?</p>

[drownindreams]

<p>"some schools ( I know of one other school) do black-list students of certain high-schools"</p>

<p>I have a VERY hard time believing this is anything but total BS. Any reputable institution realizes that talented students hail from all avenues. Perhaps this "black-list" you talk about pertains to schools which yield many applicants to the top schools (and thus it is much more difficult proportionally to gain admission), but I HIGHLY doubt there is actually a "list" which rejects all applicants solely on the basis of their high school.</p>

[Xanatos]

<p>I have a feeling that Harvard black-listed my school last year...the valedictorian in 2003 got into Harvard, but lied on the application concerning his disciplinary record. He finally managed to get into enough trouble that the Headmaster forbade him from giving his valedictory address. It turned into a big deal because that year our guest speaker was New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey, so it ended up getting into the front page of a couple of papers. Harvard found out about the whole fiasco over the summer and unaccepted him. Needless to say, no one from my school got into Harvard last year, and we have a history of sending at least a couple of kids there a year.</p>

[cangel]

<p>I can see scenarios where a GC and, by inference, the school, could get blacklisted over breaches of confidentiality and honor like Xanatos mentioned. These schools have way more applicants of almost all sorts than they need - how couild they trust the records of students from a school where disciplinary records weren't dealt with honestly. Think about a situation where the school has a very highly sought applicant, and the GC tells 3 different schools they are the student's number 1 pick - I can see some elaborate backpedalling by the GC at acceptance time in that instance.</p>

<p>What I don't think happens is that an applicant is overlooked only because they come from a mediocre or unknown school, or that there is a list of schools so academically "bad" that a student would be rejected just based on that fact. There are schools that give you a leg up, but they have their own problems of internal competition.</p>

[dcd]

<p>I have heard that being from an underrepresented state will help you more in ED than in RD.</p>

[sybbie719]

<p>I would not say that being from a underrepresentated state gives you an advantage is necessarily true because the class of 08 the largest number of students are from NY, CA, MA & NJ states like Delaware, Iowa, Mississippi, North Dakota, Oklahoma,and West Virginia have only one student represented from these states in the admitted class.</p>

<p>It could be a matter of the sheer volume of applicants, from the more represented states, but I am quite sure that there are also a number of applications from states where there is only one person in thefreshman class.</p>

[Random_person]

<p>I can't blame kids at your school for not applying to Dartmouth. There are a lack of people who have heard of it, sadly enough. I remember when this kid at my school was bragging about how she got into Dartmouth and I just nodded my head like an idiot, I had no wish to tell her I had no clue what it was. Maybe it's good you're the only one. Nobody to compare you to, y'know? You definitely have a good hook.</p>