After many students voiced concerns this week over wording in the steering committee recommendations report stating that Dartmouth fails to attract desirable "high-ability" students, senior College administrators attempted to cut off murmurs that the College is unhappy with the current student body.
The report says some "high-ability" students, admitted early to the Class of 2003, who had higher mean SAT scores than Dartmouth's total average, decided to matriculate elsewhere. For the steering committee, this finding raised concerns about Dartmouth's social life -- a factor mentioned in interviews with these admitted applicants.
The report goes on to say that "had they chosen to attend Dartmouth, these students might well have represented the top tier of their class in terms of academic achievement."
Senior College administrators told The Dartmouth yesterday they regretted what they called misconceptions originating from the use of that term -- "high-ability" -- and denied reports that the administration is unhappy with the current student body and wants to change its composition.
Clarifying the use of the term "high-ability," Dean of Admissions Karl Fustenberg said it is a College Board term, adding SAT scores are only one measure of true "high-ability."
"The use of the term 'high-ability' in many respects is unfortunate," Dean of the College James Larimore also said.
Larimore said Dartmouth receives some of the most talented and brightest high school students from around the world, adding "from my own experience I know Dartmouth has more than 4,000 'high-ability' students."
Although senior College officials said they are happy with the current student composition, they feel Dartmouth must always strive to become a richer, more diverse institution.
Quoting College President James Wright's inaugural address, Trustee Susan Dentzer '77, co-chair of the committee, said the College can never be happy with the status-quo. She said Dartmouth should make ethnically diverse and international students feel more comfortable about being students here.
Furstenberg reiterated similar concerns. Giving an example of misconceptions that exist about Dartmouth, he said the common perception among some high school seniors from Hong Kong, where he was recruiting last year, was that Dartmouth was "a place where everyone drinks a lot and hangs out at fraternities."
According to Furstenberg, creating other recreational facilities, raising the standards of the Coed Fraternity Sorority system and instituting a more balanced social and residential system will make Dartmouth more attractive to a broader student population.
Furstenberg said Dartmouth does reasonably well competing with the other schools in the Ivy League for the best students. However, he said Dartmouth would like to do even better.
College officials hope strengthening the Dartmouth experience by implementing the recommendations will increase the yield and help prevent admitted students from matriculating elsewhere.
"We want to make it desirable for them to come here," Dentzer said, adding, "but that doesn't mean we are unhappy with the current student body."
