About 500 high school seniors descended on Hanover this week to decide whether they want to spend the next four years at Dartmouth.
The students, who have been accepted to the Class of 2000, said they came to the College to learn more about it.
"I'd already visited the College before prospectives' week," said Sarah Yadeta, a prospective from Scarborough, Maine. "I came because I wanted to learn more about the daily life and wanted to stay in a dorm. I also wanted to meet more people and get to know the College better."
"I came for prospectives' week because I wouldn't be able to decide to attend a school without visiting it first," said Ramy Abu-Khalil, a prospective from Los Angeles, Calif. "My older brother is a student here, and he says a lot of great things, and I really wanted to see what made it such a great place for him."
Many of the prospectives said Dartmouth is the kind of place they are looking for."I'm really looking for a school that is academically strong and has a lot of extracurricular activities to offer," said Katherine Young, a prospective from Braintree, Mass.. "I also want a school that has a broad spectrum of students attending.
"Ideally, I'm looking for a school that has a balanced intellectual and social atmosphere," said Jerry Ruiz, a prospective from Brownsville, Texas.
Domingo Martinez, a prospective from Aiken S.C., said that he is looking for a wide range of facilities.
"I want to see theaters, libraries and a lot of cultural events," Martinez said.
Why Dartmouth?
"I was attracted to the College when some of my older sister's friends went to medical school here, and all they said were good things," said Jodie Votara, a prospective from Fargo, N.D..
For others, the College's location gave it its appeal.
"I really wanted to get far away from my home in Texas," Ruiz said.
Martinez said he was looking for a college located outside of the South.
"I've always lived in the South, and I really wanted to get away. I like the fact that Dartmouth is a good northern school," he said.
For Michelle Olson, a prospective from Missoula, Mont., interest in the College was something almost inherent from birth.
"I was born here in Mary Hitchcock," Olson said. "My mother was a student here when I was born, so I'd heard of the College since I was young."
Many prospectives agree familiarity breeds attachment; the more they learn about the College, the more prospectives like it.
Alfonso Ballesteros, a prospective from San Antonio, Texas, said he likes the fact that Dartmouth students have a liberal arts education.
"You don't have to stick with simply one course area," Ballesteros said. "You're free to float around and take all sorts of courses, and you know that you will still come away with something."
Sean Padgett, a prospective from Groton, Mass., said he really likes the students at Dartmouth.
"Everyone seems exceptionally happy to be here," Padgett said. "Everyone here gives rave reviews of their school, whereas students at other colleges seem to be more disgruntled about their college experiences."
Some students like the College because it is so unlike their homes.
"I really like where the College is located," said Willeah Cato, a student from Columbia, Md.. "I can always go to graduate school in the city, and I'd rather not be surrounded by concrete all the time."
For others, the campus's setting is most appealing.
"I think the architecture is really nice," Ruiz said. "I'm not really used to the quaint New England type of architecture, and I find it aesthetically pleasing."
Abu-Khalil said he likes the fact that the majority of the campus was centered around the Green.
"It's not hard to find your way around," he said.
Not everything is coming up roses
Not all the prospectives find Dartmouth 100 percent appealing.
"I was really disappointed with the fact that there are only 12 practice rooms in the music department," Ruiz said. "I really think they need to do some renovation and expansion to make more rooms available."
Some prospectives found the campus organizations they hoped to join to weak.
"It doesn't seem like the cultural groups here are strong enough and vocal enough," Martinez said. "That's something that I'm really looking for."
Still others thought some organizations might be too strong.
"One of the negatives about the College is that there's too much of an emphasis on fraternities," said Ronnie Tamale, a prospect from San Diego, Calif.. "I think the frat system segregates people into groups, and I don't like that policy."
Kevin Livelli, a prospect from Teaneck, N.J., said he had heard a lot of rumors about drinking at Dartmouth.
"I was rather disappointed that I wasn't here on the weekend to see the activities and assess how bad the problem is for myself," said
Some students were less than enthusiastic about the College's location.
"I'm not really sure that there's enough stuff to do around here," Yadeta said. "The only things that seem to have been going on for the past two days are the activities that the admissions office organized for us."
A tough decision awaits
Prospectives are still agonizing about the imminent choice they must make between colleges.
"Coming and visiting the College has made the decision even more difficult for me," Olson said. "Before I'd visited, I didn't really know how much I'd like it here."
"I really think that I'm going to come here," said Kenny Reyes, a prospect from Camden, N.J.. "I really want to get away from the inner-city where I've grown up, and Dartmouth can certainly provide that atmosphere."
Some students will have to choose between Dartmouth's reputation and the comfort of home.
"The other college that I'm considering is much closer to home, and I have to weigh the conveniences of living in a place where I'm comfortable or coming to a place where I will be academically challenged," said Christina Luera, a prospective from Pasco, Wash..
Prospectives said they are also considering Amherst, Brown, Cornell, Duke, Haverford, Middlebury, Pomona, Princeton, Seattle University, Stanford, the University of California -- Los Angeles, the University of Pennsylvania, Wellesley, Williams and Yale.
The College is keeping prospectives busy
Dozens of prospectives wandered around campus with Dartmouth Co-Op shopping bags, visiting the places they think might become important to them.
The College organized numerous activities to occupy prospectives, including a faculty dinner, departmental open houses and a party in Collis. In their free time, however, students have done whatever they wish.
Several students visited the Dartmouth Co-Op to purchase Dartmouth merchandise. Others were of a more academic bent.
"I had to bring some work with me from high school," Olson said. "I went to Baker and looked up information for my history paper and wrote out notecards.
"The environment was extremely conducive to work, and I felt really comfortable there," he said.
Olson was not the only student impressed by Baker Library.
"I was extremely impressed when I went and looked at the Orozco mural in the Reserve Corridor," Ruiz said.
Most prospectives said their visits have made them more likely to attend Dartmouth.
"I liked the fact that they didn't give us name tags," Cato said. "It meant that most people couldn't tell the difference between me and an actual Dartmouth student, and because of that no one was feeding me lines that they thought a prospective wanted to hear."
"This trip has really influenced my opinion of Dartmouth," Cato said. "You can't really tell what a college is like from the pictures they put in a brochure. Anyone can take a good picture if they really want to."
The week has showed some students it is easy to fit in at Dartmouth.
"Just visiting, meeting people, and attending classes has made me feel like I belong here," Votara said. "If I hadn't come for prospective's week, I wouldn't have known how I'd fit in."
"We feel that this week has gone fabulously well except for the weather, and that hasn't seemed to dampen anyone's spirits," Dean of Admissions Karl Furstenberg said.
"The nature of the visitors' questions has changed from those of three to five years ago," Furstenberg said. "We're really happy to see that the questions are now more academically oriented and balanced."
