<p>For some of you it has been a long run since you have submitted your common application and today is the day.</p>
<p>Please know that no matter what the final out come of your application is, whether it is an admit, a deny or a waitlist, that ** you** are the same amazing person that you were before you starting checking your status on the various college websites. If a person is known by the company s/he keeps, you gave been in the company of some equally amazing group of students across the country for schools where there are simply too few seats.</p>
<p>For some of you, you think that the decsion will be life changing (and for some of you it will be, especially if you are the first person in your family to attend college this is the first step in breaking the cycle), but those of us who have lived a few more days will tell you that the only thing that is life changing is you. We remember the day that you were born, your first day of kindergarten, middle school, high school. We remember clutching our chest as you took drivers ed and how you went through your own personal metamorphosis. For us the life changing part is that many of you will be leaving our homes and starting your first foray into adulthood. We'll cry, some of us will worry too much but we all have confidence in the brilliant young men and women that we raised. As Charlotte the spider told Wilbur the pig, to protect her egg sack because it was her best work, take heart in knowing that you are our best work.</p>
<p>I have every confidence that you will all end up someplace amazing whether it is Dartmouth, the honors program at your state U or some place in between. If you don't believe me, ask Ajay who waited and waited for Dartmouth only to be denied. The other day he received not 1 but 2 great acceptances and has decided to enroll at Colgate as a Benton Scholar. This is just proof that no matter where you attend, your gift will make room for you.</p>
<p>So I end this post thanking you for allowing me to share this wild and crazy ride with you. I wish each and everyone of you all of the best. Some of you will have an amazing experience in Hanover and some of you will have an equally or even better experience some where else because it is true that college is what you make of it.</p>
<p>So from one of Dartmouth's favorite alums, Theodor Seuss Geisel who was more forward thinking than he probably knew, I leave you with his words...</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You're on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go.</p>
<p>You'll look up and down streets. Look 'em over with care.
About some you will say, "I don't choose to go there."
With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet,
you're too smart to go down any not-so-good street.</p>
<p>On and on you will hike
and I know you'll hike far
and face up to your problems
whatever they are.</p>
<p>You'll get mixed up, of course,
as you already know.
You'll get mixed up
with many strange birds as you go.
So be sure when you step.
Step with care and great tact
and remember that Life's
a Great Balancing Act.
Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.
And never mix up your right foot with your left.</p>
<p>And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3 / 4 percent guaranteed.)</p>
<p>KID, YOU'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!</p>
<p>So...
be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,
you're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So...get on your way!</p>
<p>***</p>