Over 40 percent of Hanover High School students who applied to Dartmouth over the past four years were accepted, according to the school's guidance department, a figure more than double the College's 17-percent overall acceptance rate. Dean of Admissions Karl Furstenberg calls this trend a natural effect of growing up near Dartmouth.
"Hanover students get to know Dartmouth very well because they live here, know current Dartmouth students, have family members who work at the College, take courses at Dartmouth and use facilities such as the library," Furstenberg said in an e-mail. "Given this intimate knowledge, it is not surprising that Hanover students compare other colleges they are considering to Dartmouth -- of course, we do very well in those comparisons."
A total of 36 Hanover High graduates have been admitted to Dartmouth since 2003. While this number may not set any records -- New York's Stuyvesant High School has enrolled around 20 students per Dartmouth class in recent years -- it represents a proportion of students well above the overall acceptance rate reported by the College.
John McCracking, the director of the guidance department at Hanover High, attributes the high acceptance rate to a combination of factors ranging from the school's academically rigorous college preparatory program to past successes of Hanover High graduates at Dartmouth.
"I think that Dartmouth knows our high school and the quality of education students get here," McCracking said. "The kids learn to think critically -- they come out of here with good analytical and thinking skills."
Faculty and staff connections also play significant roles, according to Hanover High graduates.
"Everyone pretty much has a connection to Dartmouth just because Dartmouth has an overall pretty big influence in Hanover itself," said Hanover High graduate Shen Zhao '07.
In fact, for the Classes of 2007 and 2010 , the only two classes for which The Dartmouth could obtain specific information, about 75 percent of the enrolled students have a family member on staff with the College.
Still, several students cautioned that Hanover High students' connections do not mean automatic acceptance to Dartmouth.
"It is not that they don't deserve to be at Dartmouth, it is just that they know a lot of people already," said Sherwin Yeo '10, who also graduated from Hanover High.
Other students stressed that while connections to the College might be important, the ability for academically talented Hanover High students to take classes at Dartmouth may play the biggest role in the admissions process.
"A lot of seniors from Hanover High take Dartmouth classes while they are in high school, and that number has definitely gotten much higher," said Hanover High graduate Sarah Freihofer '10.
"If the [admissions] committee looks at the transcript and sees that [students] have taken Dartmouth classes, it certainly helps."
Furstenberg ultimately believes that local students often select Dartmouth because of their familiarity with the college, not in spite of it.
"Because of the in-depth knowledge of Dartmouth, many local students select Dartmouth even though it is 'in their backyard,'" he said.
