Dartmouth is my dream school and I'm busting my chops trying to get my grades up. What GPA do I need to be a strong contender? Does Dartmouth focus more on weighted or unweighted GPAs, and how much leeway do they give for rigorous course loads?
To be forthright, a strong contender for Dartmouth will typically have a GPA that is very close to 4.0 on an unweighted scale. However, Dartmouth, like many other Ivy League schools, does take the rigor of your course load into consideration. They're looking for students who challenge themselves, so a slightly lower GPA with a schedule full of APs, IBs, or honors courses may be viewed more favorably than a perfect GPA with less challenging coursework. That being said, the "leeway" is very slight, as the point of taking hard classes is to underscore your readiness for college-level work, and you need to do well in these classes for that to happen. Anything below a 3.7 is unlikely to get much traction.
As for weighted vs. unweighted GPA, while Dartmouth will consider your weighted GPA to understand the context of your school's specific curriculum, your unweighted GPA gives them a consistent baseline to compare all applicants. So aim high, and good luck!
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