| Not only is CC not at all representative of anything, this has (only?) been posted here on the Dartmouth site! People who have chosen other schools are probably no longer coming here.
I have just come from our state's Robert Byrd All-State Scholars ceremony. Both of our high school's honorees were admitted to Dartmouth. (Both received likely letters.) Neither one has chosen Dartmouth. One is going to U. of Rochester; the other to Brown. (I've been told the Brown-Dartmouth split for shared admits is 61%-39%.) Both could not let go of their concerns about the frat-and-alcohol-dominated social scene in Hanover, despite the reassurances of current D students who went to our high school. In addition, three of my son's backpacking buddies also got into D. Two are going, but the other chose Carleton over D (and my son chose Brown, as I already said, over D, Williams and Carleton).
At the bottom of his Dartmouth "I'm not coming" form, my son wrote "This has been the hardest decision of my entire life." There were tears in his eyes as he filled out the form. In addition, my husband and I wrote the Dean of Admissions and our contact in the office a long explanatory email (on which we copied Dean Pfister, after reading his April 30 opinion column in The Dartmouth). I don't know what I think about my son's decision, other than that he had two great choices and that he had that fabled gut feeling about Brown's fit for him, something definitely to be honored. Nevertheless, I am sad for Dartmouth that it has this issue to contend with. (A self-perpetuating problem, someone called it, because it can often become a deciding factor -- in both directions.)
(slipper1234, if you are reading this, you're inbox is full.) |