I am a parent of a current Dartmouth junior. Congratulations on your son’s acceptance. We have 3 kids. We are not wealthy and Dartmouth was definitely a stretch for us. However, we are so glad he was accepted and we found ways to pay for his education. He received a nearly full-ride merit based scholarship at a T50 school but had his heart set on Dartmouth and we found a way to make it work.
Our son loves Dartmouth. He is majoring in a non-STEM field and intends to go to medical school. He has been able to do a foreign study, take advantage of the Dartmouth Plan, and build close and meaningful relationships with his Professors and friends. He has been able to do top-level research with Professors who deeply care about him - there are no graduate students in his field of study. He tells Dartmouth’s med school acceptance stats are nearly 90% for Dartmouth students and alumni who apply to Med School. He will be doing an internship this summer that pays him nearly $25K - we are definitely making him contribute some of that to his education! I feel confident he will have lots options even if he decides to not pursue graduate school which was important to my us. It’s unfortunate, but he tells me that many potential employers - including his internship employer - only recruit at Dartmouth or other comparable Ivy-type schools.
I contrast this to his best friend from high school. He went to the large flagship school in our state system here. Very similar high school grades and he is highly motivated. He is majoring in biology pre-med and it was brutal. Large weed-out classes, over-competitive students, and Professors who were more concerned about their graduate students. After two years of middling pre-med grades, he dropped out of the pre-med track and is still figuring out what to do with his intended biology major. He wasn’t able to do any foreign study and is unhappy with his college choice.
This is our personal experience. There are many college success stories everywhere. However, if your son has a chance to attend Dartmouth and wants to attend, I would find a way to make it work. It is so hard to get in and the experience has been so great for our son.
We are so happy with our son’s decision and would make this decision again in a heartbeat.
Good luck to all students in their college choices. As one of the posters said, Things will be OK for the kids.
Thank you so much for sharing your son’s experience. My child has their heart set on Dartmouth, but I am slightly concerned about the long dark winters. I lived in New England for many years, so I am familiar with the weather there. But I am wondering if my child who grew up in the South will cope with the lack of sunlight and cold. Dartmouth is known to be outdoorsy, but do the students get to be outdoors if it’s not summer? Does it lead to any sadness depression etc? Thanks for any insights!
It was definitely an adjustment (our son had only been skiing once in High School), but he got used to it. The COVID years were strange, so i’ll speak to his most recent Winter term. He picked his hard classes to do over winter term since he knew he would be mostly indoors. Students find a way to do outdoor things – his friend from Maine took him snowshoeing near campus and Dartmouth has it’s own Ski Slope where the college runs a bus service and offers discounted lift-tickets and equipment. There are lots of students from sunny climes in the US and Internationally so he feels like we’re all in it together. My son tells me that the worst time is actually not snow season but after the snow melts as spring starts (students call this the mud season). As you know, it does get dark early during the winter months, but my son tells me the fallen snow keeps things bright during the day when the sun is out. He also told me one of his favorite times is studying in Baker Library through the large windows and seeing the snow fall outside.
I can’t speak to depression or sadness. My son (even though at times he is frustrated by winter and misses the sunny climes of our home) says he really appreciates living in an area with 4 seasons and now really appreciates the coming of spring.
Thank you for the detailed response! I personally loved New England, the four seasons and the winter - the good and bad - I dealt with it all and have beautiful memories.
Picking hard classes in winter is a good idea! It looks like the daylight savings is now permanent, so that will bring an extra hour of sunlight to the incoming class, that should help.
I’ve lived in Hanover and the surrounding area for more than 20 years. Fall is a wonderful time in this part of New England, and the students are visibly outdoors in large numbers pretty much through holiday break in December. January and February can indeed be cold and snowy, though they really weren’t this year. Students still find the traditional ways to have fun outside (Winter Carnival). As the other posted mentioned, mud season can be frustrating - it’s warming up and you want to be outside, but the quads, fields, and trails can be sloppy.
Lol, me too. Did you submit a LOCI? I never did so was wondering if that was why. Or do you think they are overenrolled and just sent that out to everyone? Seems early to be so definitive so either they aren’t offering spots or they are trimming down the waitlist. Did anyone who is waitlisted NOT receive an email telling them they will not be offered a spot?
yea according to an admitted student on reddit, "We are writing to let you know that the wait list is closed, and the Class of 2027 is confirmed. Applicants on the wait list were notified today that the wait list is now closed. No one was admitted off of the wait list this year due to a successfully high yield. The demographics and details for the Class of 2027 will be announced and shared upon their matriculation in the fall.”
from the dean of admissions