Anonymous
Post 01/05/2026 22:27     Subject: Re:Help with least competitive of the three colleges: Duke, Brown, Dartmouth
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:DP- also with a child who will have a B+ or two in current junior year. So if you have a few B+ grades in academic subjects you should just not bother applying to top 20 schools unless you have an outstanding EC/hook/meet institutional prioririties? Is this because your cumulative gpa will be below a certain cutoff and they will toss your application out without looking at anything else ? Does this apply even if you have a standardized test score in their top 25%? Is there any way to make up for the B+ ? Thx for any insight !

What is approx class rank? Even if no official class rank, AOs have a sense. If not top 20% do not apply, unless possibly ED1 at Chicago if close to top 20% and 1550 and not Econ or oversubscribed major…


School doesn't rank and AO won't tell us. But we estimate about 15-25%


Did others in that range get into these schools last year? If not it's probably a little optimistic.


According to our school naviance, some got in below and others above her gpa. Unweighted gpa is about 3.95.
\

With 2 B+ and a few A-? How is that higher than a 3.93
Anonymous
Post 01/05/2026 22:01     Subject: Re:Help with least competitive of the three colleges: Duke, Brown, Dartmouth
Anonymous wrote:Are you high????

They are near impossible admits for everyone.

3-5% admit rates.

You can have perfect scores, tests and activities and still get rejected.


Haaaaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaaa

Reality will arrive next year.
Anonymous
Post 01/05/2026 22:00     Subject: Help with least competitive of the three colleges: Duke, Brown, Dartmouth
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I think if you don’t have a good test score, go with Duke TO.


Has a 35 ACT superscore. Is that strong enough to compensate for the B+'s?


No way.


It depends on the HS though. At our private, those B+ are fine at Brown, if a hard class or not in major.
Less so at Duke, unless hooked.


Not a chance at our very small private that regularly gets admits to all, 1-3 a year for each. Brown has highest stats at our private. Dartmouth tends to be hooked. Duke more all over the place.


Same with ours. Brown is high test score/As regardless of gender, many rejected even with straight As/35 ACT. Dartmouth lots of legacy at our school too. Duke is test optional unlike the other two and we see more variation.
Anonymous
Post 01/05/2026 21:54     Subject: Re:Help with least competitive of the three colleges: Duke, Brown, Dartmouth
Sweetie, we got only 1-2 kids into each of those with 2,000 Seniors in the county.

Ha! Good luck. Your kid will be very lucky to get into 1 of them.

Plenty of straight A rigorous privates and 35 ACTs get rejected from those schools.

Anonymous
Post 01/05/2026 21:52     Subject: Re:Help with least competitive of the three colleges: Duke, Brown, Dartmouth
Are you high????

They are near impossible admits for everyone.

3-5% admit rates.

You can have perfect scores, tests and activities and still get rejected.
Anonymous
Post 01/05/2026 21:49     Subject: Help with least competitive of the three colleges: Duke, Brown, Dartmouth
I think brown is the easiest of those three if you have a boy. But for any of them you need some kind of a spike/hook. Grades and high SATs are table stakes.
Anonymous
Post 01/05/2026 21:35     Subject: Re:Help with least competitive of the three colleges: Duke, Brown, Dartmouth
it always depends on who else is applying from your school that year. There are no hard quotas but in general colleges take around the same number each year. I.e. if they always take 1 from Brown (or Duke or Dartmouth) and 6 are applying it's unlikely that a kid with imperfect grades will be the one chosen.
Anonymous
Post 01/05/2026 21:34     Subject: Help with least competitive of the three colleges: Duke, Brown, Dartmouth
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Student has a couple B+ from rigorous private school, otherwise the rest are A's or A-'s. Which of the three colleges Duke, Brown, or Dartmouth will be most selective about the grades?


Ask the high school. If the grades make the student top 10%, and all courses are most rigorous, and that high school has 8-10% of the unhooked seniors class attend ivy+, you are in good shape. If 2% unhooked get in to ivy+ and those grades place the student outside the top 10%, no admission will happen without a huge hook(athletic recruit, questbridge)


They say 70% get a reach school. But reach doesn't mean Ivy+.
Anonymous
Post 01/05/2026 21:31     Subject: Help with least competitive of the three colleges: Duke, Brown, Dartmouth
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:do you not have naviance scattergrams? There's really no way for people on this board to guess at chances. My feeling is that Dartmouth is the easiest of the three. But it's a gut feeling. (I think Duke is hardest.)


naviance doesn't have much data since it's a small school. There has been no acceptances at Dartmouth RD. Not sure if that is because they dislike our school or that they have already admitted legacies and are done admitting from our school.


That is a red flag- especially if your school limits how many applications the students submit. What are the trends for Duke and Brown? Meet with your high school counselor and discuss.
Anonymous
Post 01/05/2026 21:19     Subject: Help with least competitive of the three colleges: Duke, Brown, Dartmouth
IT ALWAYS DEPENDS ON YOUR HIGH SCHOOL.

and how tight/good your application story is.
Anonymous
Post 01/05/2026 21:09     Subject: Help with least competitive of the three colleges: Duke, Brown, Dartmouth
Anonymous wrote:Student has a couple B+ from rigorous private school, otherwise the rest are A's or A-'s. Which of the three colleges Duke, Brown, or Dartmouth will be most selective about the grades?


Ask the high school. If the grades make the student top 10%, and all courses are most rigorous, and that high school has 8-10% of the unhooked seniors class attend ivy+, you are in good shape. If 2% unhooked get in to ivy+ and those grades place the student outside the top 10%, no admission will happen without a huge hook(athletic recruit, questbridge)
Anonymous
Post 01/05/2026 20:58     Subject: Help with least competitive of the three colleges: Duke, Brown, Dartmouth
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:do you not have naviance scattergrams? There's really no way for people on this board to guess at chances. My feeling is that Dartmouth is the easiest of the three. But it's a gut feeling. (I think Duke is hardest.)


naviance doesn't have much data since it's a small school. There has been no acceptances at Dartmouth RD. Not sure if that is because they dislike our school or that they have already admitted legacies and are done admitting from our school.

If there has been no acceptances at Dartmouth, it should not be on your list! Period. Don't ask me why.
Anonymous
Post 01/05/2026 20:54     Subject: Help with least competitive of the three colleges: Duke, Brown, Dartmouth
Anonymous wrote:do you not have naviance scattergrams? There's really no way for people on this board to guess at chances. My feeling is that Dartmouth is the easiest of the three. But it's a gut feeling. (I think Duke is hardest.)


naviance doesn't have much data since it's a small school. There has been no acceptances at Dartmouth RD. Not sure if that is because they dislike our school or that they have already admitted legacies and are done admitting from our school.
Anonymous
Post 01/05/2026 20:52     Subject: Help with least competitive of the three colleges: Duke, Brown, Dartmouth
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Mine did not get in with zero grades below A- so good luck


Same here. Zero grades below an A minus. 1550.
DC Big3. Did not get into Dartmouth, Duke or Brown. Outright denied at 2 of the 3.
Wasn't the only one with these stats who was denied from their class.


Brutal I feel for the kids.
Anonymous
Post 01/05/2026 20:50     Subject: Re:Help with least competitive of the three colleges: Duke, Brown, Dartmouth
Anonymous wrote:OP, please understand people posting about their schools, those students got in in-spite of their grades not because of them. They had an it factor in the whole package.


True