I Want to Go to Dartmouth College?
Asked by softball_sistaI am going to be a Sophomore I have a 4.3 GPA and have all A's I play tennis, softball, and am in choir I am in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes club, California Scholarship Federation, Yacht Club, and next year I am planning on joining the Garden Club and the American Red Cross Club I want to do everything I can to get into my dream college and stay on track My father is a High School counselor so he helps me understand what I need to do to get into college, but I'm so confused about what to do- What do they look for? What personal qualities do colleges like? How do I get scholarships? help please... PS- i want to be an Ophthalmologist about the GPA- at my school, 4.0 means all A's, and if it is higher, you have honors classes or AP I had honors English and Biology About Dartmouth- I have researched it and it seems to be an amazing school. I'm not about labels, I wasn't even considering Ivy League until I saw what Dartmouth had to offer and about scholarships, I am a minority [if half counts]- My father is African American and my mother is Caucasian
Favorite Answer
Answered by yngwiescruggs
Personally, I think you're getting way ahead of yourself thinking about a specific college this early (do they really have a program you are interested in?). Your grades (maybe), your interests (definitely), and you yourself will go through a lot of changes or at least development over the next 3 years, so I wouldn't be worrying too much about engineering myself into the perfect applicant to any school. Enjoy your HS time and as long as you work hard, all doors will remain open to you. They did for me. I got into Dartmouth 4 years ago but didn't accept--I applied on a whim at the last minute. I think with any place that is selective, there's a certain amount of luck involved. I wanted to be a biomedical engineer (now I am), and Dartmouth just wasn't as good as the place I ended up going, even though they are namey as an institution, obviously. I wasn't quite the grade of "resume builder" that it seems that you are, and it didn't hurt me. I'd say rather than doing everything (which if you enjoy everything you do, that's great), sometimes it is better both for you and for your admissions chances to just do a few things really well, or at least to make sure that you prioritize one or two of the extra-curriculars that you do. Lines on your resume will make your application weaker if there's no substance to them. I also got my laid-back personality across in my essay, and I think being a good writer is important. I wrote mine about Mr. Rogers, who was himself a Dartmouth man originally. I also think it's ironic that your title is about getting into a lofty reputation Ivy League school and it's a declarative sentence with a question mark... I'm Ron Burgundy? To answer your questions specifically: What do they look for?: Who the hell knows... they are probably looking for you to be smart first of all (you have that covered) and probably passionate about something besides school. Maybe you're really super passionate about all those things you listed, or maybe that's just everything you do and you really prefer one of them. What personal qualities do colleges like?: I think this is a weird question, because you are not going to "fake" your personal qualities on an application. Just be yourself. They will be able to tell when they read your writing samples if you are a fake, if you're boring, or if you're interesting and/or funny and/or creative and/or a genius. How do I get scholarships?: HA! Good luck with that. If you're rich, expect to get boned pretty bad financially if you go there. No merit-based aid as I'm sure you know. If you're not looooooooooaded, then you'll probably get quite a bit of grant money (in addition to a lot of loans of course) offered to you. They send you what they'll give you before you have to decide whether to accept their offer. Cross your fingers. Also, there's almost no outside scholarships that are really going to help put a dent in that $40k or whatever it is these days unless you just totally shoot the moon. If your family is not well off financially, it will still probably be affordable, but you will have to take loans. Also, I just can't believe someone said "Do good on the ACT." It's "do WELL" and that's the kind of stuff on the ACT anyway. I do agree you should maybe study for those tests, but honestly you should be able to do fine on those tests. The only way you should "cram" for those tests is if you're an English major or something and you hate math, then learn the SAT math from a math or engineering person. Just cover your weaknesses, but DON'T sacrifice your life in HS to get a 1400 to a 1600 or a 33 to a 35, the truth is that it really doesn't matter that much, and of all the factors that go into admissions, SAT/ACT are not weighted very high as long as they know you're not a drooling moron. (and you aren't, obviously)
Personally, I think you're getting way ahead of yourself thinking about a specific college this early (do they really have a program you are interested in?). Your grades (maybe), your interests (definitely), and you yourself will go through a lot of changes or at least development over the next 3 years, so I wouldn't be worrying too much about engineering myself into the perfect applicant to any school. Enjoy your HS time and as long as you work hard, all doors will remain open to you. They did for me. I got into Dartmouth 4 years ago but didn't accept--I applied on a whim at the last minute. I think with any place that is selective, there's a certain amount of luck involved. I wanted to be a biomedical engineer (now I am), and Dartmouth just wasn't as good as the place I ended up going, even though they are namey as an institution, obviously. I wasn't quite the grade of "resume builder" that it seems that you are, and it didn't hurt me. I'd say rather than doing everything (which if you enjoy everything you do, that's great), sometimes it is better both for you and for your admissions chances to just do a few things really well, or at least to make sure that you prioritize one or two of the extra-curriculars that you do. Lines on your resume will make your application weaker if there's no substance to them. I also got my laid-back personality across in my essay, and I think being a good writer is important. I wrote mine about Mr. Rogers, who was himself a Dartmouth man originally. I also think it's ironic that your title is about getting into a lofty reputation Ivy League school and it's a declarative sentence with a question mark... I'm Ron Burgundy? To answer your questions specifically: What do they look for?: Who the hell knows... they are probably looking for you to be smart first of all (you have that covered) and probably passionate about something besides school. Maybe you're really super passionate about all those things you listed, or maybe that's just everything you do and you really prefer one of them. What personal qualities do colleges like?: I think this is a weird question, because you are not going to "fake" your personal qualities on an application. Just be yourself. They will be able to tell when they read your writing samples if you are a fake, if you're boring, or if you're interesting and/or funny and/or creative and/or a genius. How do I get scholarships?: HA! Good luck with that. If you're rich, expect to get boned pretty bad financially if you go there. No merit-based aid as I'm sure you know. If you're not looooooooooaded, then you'll probably get quite a bit of grant money (in addition to a lot of loans of course) offered to you. They send you what they'll give you before you have to decide whether to accept their offer. Cross your fingers. Also, there's almost no outside scholarships that are really going to help put a dent in that $40k or whatever it is these days unless you just totally shoot the moon. If your family is not well off financially, it will still probably be affordable, but you will have to take loans. Also, I just can't believe someone said "Do good on the ACT." It's "do WELL" and that's the kind of stuff on the ACT anyway. I do agree you should maybe study for those tests, but honestly you should be able to do fine on those tests. The only way you should "cram" for those tests is if you're an English major or something and you hate math, then learn the SAT math from a math or engineering person. Just cover your weaknesses, but DON'T sacrifice your life in HS to get a 1400 to a 1600 or a 33 to a 35, the truth is that it really doesn't matter that much, and of all the factors that go into admissions, SAT/ACT are not weighted very high as long as they know you're not a drooling moron. (and you aren't, obviously)
