Why is Dartmouth skipped

Colleges & Universities A-Z Dartmouth College
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I dont know I have been in Cali at UCLA this summer and have gotten nothing but "you went to Dartmouth, you must be smart", and this is coming from UCLA kids.

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<p>Slipper,</p>

<p>Let it go because it is not unusual. I have live in NYC my whole life and when my D told people she were attending Dartmouth , some gave her a look of "you poor thing" others said where is that? People are most familiar with their regional schools. </p>

<p>It does not take anything away from the school. There are many stellar colleges and universities on the west coast that if some one said they were attending Whitman, Evergreen or Reed, some one else would respond where's that?</p>

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<p>slipper:</p>

<p>sybbie is correct -- school knowledge is regional -- indeed, the vast majority of kids go to college within 250 miles of their home.</p>

<p>If I polled our HS non-seniors (~70% go to 4 yr colleges), I'd be willing to bet that the only schools they'd recognize on your list are for non-academic reasons:</p>

<p>Duke bcos -- Coach K (duh)
Princeton -- Gilmore Girls
Northwestern -- Big 10 sports on espn</p>

<p>The others would only be known if the kid had family members who were alums.</p>

<p>Nevertheless, employers and grad schools know full well the outstanding education these schools provide.</p>

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<p>Sybbie,</p>

<p>I think you misunderstand this thread. This thread isn't about why people in the middle of nowhere don't know Dartmouth, or its prestige relative to Penn; its why people apply to very similar schools to Dartmouth yet sometimes skip Dartmouth. I really dont understand how someone could apply to Amherst, Princeton, and Stanford and skip Dartmouth which is right in the middle of all of these in terms of size, student body, etc. I still havent figured it out and no one has really addressed this. My opinion is that its sort of out of the way on college trips. Clearly dartmouth doesnt have a huge problem - we attract 12000 applicants every year - but its interesting nonetheless. Personally I skipped it on my high school search - largely because of the greek system. Only after visiting did I realize it isnt nearly as exclusionary as at other schools.</p>

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<p>The daughter on Gilmore Girls goes to Yale I thought.</p>

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<p>dvc: you could be correct, I just picked it up from a freind's 8th grader, who now favors P-ton because they talked about it on the show, or so she said. Product placement marketing at it's best. :)</p>

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<p>Oh no, I think maybe your friend's 8th grader probably said "Everwood" and you got them mixed up. The girl on "Everwood" has been preparing to go to Princeton all her life.</p>

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I really dont understand how someone could apply to Amherst, Princeton, and Stanford and skip Dartmouth which is right in the middle of all of these in terms of size, student body, etc. My opinion is that its sort of out of the way on college trips.

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<p>While all of these schools have some overlapping qualities, a lot of times it often comes down to fit, personal choice, where a person feels they will be most comfortable etc. It could be a gut thing or any other subjective factor as it could have been raining on the day they came to visit. Coming from NYC, you know that you can get to Amherst on 91, so it is just a little bit further to Hanover.</p>

<p>As far as proximity we definitely live closer to Princeton than to Hanover, and D practically grew up on the campus of Columbia. My sister is a Columbia grad, and worked as a departmental director for many years. Our family still has a lot of good friends working at the university in both faculty and staff positions. She attended programs at Columbia from the time she was in J.H.S. until she graduated from high school. There was a time I would have bet the house that she would attend Columbia, but when she had to consider it as a choice senior year she said no way. It was a big shocker.</p>

<p>D was not remotely interested in Princeton despite her having an uncle on the faculty, cousins and friends who have graudated and are currently in attendance. She wanted to like Princeton but she just felt it did not click with her.</p>

<p>Stanford, she felt wasn't worth flying across country dispite the fact that one of her best friends is now there communing with the "Californian in his soul". </p>

<p>Williams acknowledges that it is about a 50/50 split when it comes to them losing students to Dartmouth or Amherst. Daughter was accepted to both Williams and Amherst othe absolutely great colleges where she would have gotten an excellent education. But ultimately chose Dartmouth. </p>

<p>She mentioned that if Dartmouth were to burn down the students would most likely be at Williams. Ultimtely for her she said it was something about the school that resonnated in her the first time she stepped foot on campus. She visited, came home and said this is the place.</p>

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<p>From another thread...</p>

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<p>Slipper,</p>

<p>Unlike Sybbie's daughter, I felt the same way your poster 'from-another-thread’ did about both Williams and Amherst (particularly Amherst); I didn’t like either of them and scratched them right off my list. As your poster said, "something about it just didn't click with me. But thanks anyway."</p>

<p>I was, however, seriously considering Swarthmore and Yale...even gave a light-passing thought to Brown. </p>

<p>Williams, Amherst, Duke and Northwestern (never even considered NW) went right off my collegiate radar (although, having visited the first three, I could see the appeal, particularly in the case of Williams and Duke…beautiful campuses…it just didn’t click).</p>

<p>My parents were pulling for Columbia (it’s very close to home) but I told them I would only consider attending its campus well into the future, at my funeral, for instance--something Columbia’s ghostly campus seemed more appropriate and suitable to at the time...that and a great education of course.</p>

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<p>I see things not clicking, I guess my point with all this is that the way college admissions are these days you can't assume you will get in anywhere. And pften you learn alot more through "days on campus" than at any other time. I just think its easy to say a school "doesnt click" without looking deeper. And if the schools is on the surface similar to others on your list, I think its worth applying because you never know where you will get in and having options is amazing.</p>

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<p>Slipper - I think I understand your perplexity. Dartmouth is similar enough to the colleges you named that you wonder why the kind of applicants who regulary list a multiple number of those schools (and hence demonstrate that they seem to find attractive the kind of school that Dartmouth also is) don't have Dartmouth on their radar screen. (I am not entirely sure they don't by the way). As others have observed, there definitely is a regional recognition issue. I grew up in the Western New York State and always knew what Dartmouth meant. I now live in the midwest and people are genuinely puzzled by my child's choice. One person, upon hearing that while she loved her school very very deeply, she was a little envious of the ability of so many of her friends to come home on a regular basis, earnestly offered that the local community college was really really good - maybe she should look into transferring there. That is how much Dartmouth registers for what it is around here (but, in fairness, I doubt any of the schools on your intial list would register with some of them other than Duke, because of basketball, and Northwestern because its in the Big Ten conference, as well as a mid-west academic heavy weight. Northwestern has long been offering bright students from middle-school on up the opportunity to take summer courses and even school -year correspondence courses, so its really made a big effort toward name and value recognition - Princeton does some of this as well - I don't think that Dartmouth has anything quite like that). </p>

<p>People seem either to really get what Dartmouth is and love or dislike that, or they have no clue whatsoever. People who are looking for the lac experience may completely over-look Dartmouth on the assumption that it provides the kind of larger university experience. [I don't know how it is that they are able to understand that schools like Brown and Princeton and Northwestern can offer a focused undergrad experience and not also Dartmouth.] It just seems like the kind of school you have to take a second look at before you see beyond what you expect to see and add it to your list. </p>

<p>I don't know what I am concluding here other than that, for much of the country, Dartmouth has insufficient recognition, and as you conclude, that is a shame because it might be a great fit for many students who are applying to comparable schools.</p>

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<p>I agree, Dartmouth's "hybrid" status seems to make it harder to classify. Even in USNEWS its debated whether Dartmouth should be a LAC or University. I personally feel it has the best of both worlds. I think for those who do dig deeper its special aspects really come out, its too bad people sometimes miss out on how great and unique a school it truly is.</p>

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<p>Funny, I was going to mention that hybrid, self identity issue too. Its hard to classify. and that makes it hard to compare - against which list should it go head to head with, because it comes out ranking a little differently depending upon which is its competition.</p>