My first week at Dartmouth, my friends and I decided to go try our luck on the fraternity scene that we had heard so much about. We bounced around from house to house because after all, variety is the spice of life. By the luck of the draw, one of my friends, a freshman member of the varsity golf team, and I decided that the two of us would go in alone and be the first to test the unknown waters. Our strategy: I would pose as his golf recruit. The logic behind this was that the brother at the door would automatically let us in, because who wants a recruit to have a bad time? Despite being armed with my old high school ID and insisting that if not let in, I was going to sign with Princeton the next day, it was an early and uneventful night. The brother wished me well in my college search and explained to me the all too familiar rule of no freshman in fraternities.
Besides pointing out one of many of the social headaches of being a freshman at Dartmouth, this story raises an interesting point: Is it to the school's benefit to have freshman hosting recruits during fall term?
One of the obvious disadvantages to this is the fact that, technically, we are not allowed in fraternities, where most recruits want to go. Don't get me wrong, I have been to many fraternities and seen other freshman and their recruits there, but frequently it is a huge hassle to even get in. Is this the impression we want to give?
Last weekend, I was out with some freshman girls, who play a varsity sport, and their recruits and we encountered similar problems. Via an "in" that will remain nameless, I got in a certain fraternity and was planning on meeting these girls inside, but they failed to show up. After about five minutes, I walked back towards the door and saw one of the girls explaining the situation to the brother at the door.
Although the girls eventually did get in through a window, the bottom line is that at a time when we were supposed to be showing off our school, we looked badly; I really don't know how psyched these recruits were to break into a party.
An additional disadvantage to freshman being hosts in the fall is that we know nothing. I remember some of my friends having recruits as early as the first week, a time when we knew less than nothing. We would be walking around passing buildings and monuments and these kids would ask us questions about them. While these were certainly not tough questions, I had few answers.
In retrospect it would have been nice to say, "Oh, that's Baker Tower, it's the Library and the signature building of the campus." Instead, these kids got, "Oh that's just some building with a clock, don't worry about it." Not only did freshman not really know the campus that well early on, but we did not know an abundance of people either. Not to say that I know the masses now, but as few students as I know now, I knew even less the first week. It would be really nice to hear a host say, "Oh, you're interested in music, too? One of my best friends plays the accordion. We'll probably see her tonight and I'll introduce you." It is not that hard to get your recruit some beer and a party, if they are into that, but to show them a truly informative and unbridled night of revelry is a different story all together.
I am certain that when I am an upperclassman it will be equally as fabulous and I will have a better knowledge of the campus and it's students. It would make more sense to give the recruits to upperclassmen, who don't live in the constant state of confusion that most freshman do.
However, the advantage I can see to hosting during freshman fall is that it does give an accurate look at your first term at Dartmouth is like. If the recruit comes here, he/she will have to deal with not getting in some fraternities in the fall, not knowing anyone, and living in a state of chaos to some degree. These are all elements of Dartmouth, for better or worse, that all students here need to deal with.
The whole point of the recruiting process is for the benefit of the school and the athlete; a freshman hosting an athlete in the fall does not benefit either. The recruit may not get an accurate picture of Dartmouth because the freshman, who has been here under a month, cannot answer his/her questions or provide access to the social scene. As a result of the visit, Dartmouth may lose the recruit to another school, where the athlete has a better time and can get a better idea of what going there is like.
I believe freshman should host during the rest of the year, just not in the fall. The perspective and the freshman are a year apart in school and thus, are comfortable socially. By having a host who was fully immersed into the community, the recruit could actually have full access to all that Dartmouth offers. The official visit of an athlete to Dartmouth is so important that it is wisest to give freshman a term to settle in before they have to sell a college that is just as new to us as it is to the recruits.
