The shift away from on-campus interviewing has occurred at all Ivy League schools save Yale University. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, Amherst College and Williams College have also ended their on-campus interviewing programs, said Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Karl Furstenberg.
As prospective applicants for the Class of 2012 begin the college search process in the upcoming months, the admissions office is shifting its resources to accommodate a larger number of visitors.
"Our plan is to ... provide them with more contact with Dartmouth undergraduates, one of our greatest assets in generating strong interest in the College," Furstenberg said.
In addition to expanding the number of group information sessions and tours offered this summer, the admissions office will hold "Student Forums" daily at noon. This new program will allow two undergraduate senior interns to meet with small groups of prospective students to discuss academic and extracurricular life at Dartmouth without an admissions officer present.
"Offering a wider range of student perspectives with these forums will be a really great thing," Deborah Wassel '07, a senior interviewer for the admissions office, said. "Sometimes in a personal interview you don't get a good connection with someone because you might be interested in different things."
Wassel added that the more low-key setting of these forums will allow students to concentrate on getting to know Dartmouth during their visit instead of trying to impress their interviewer.
Yuki Kondo-Shah '07, another senior interviewer for the admissions office, is also pleased with the switch to student group forums.
"I personally think that the new senior intern position has a lot more independence and responsibility, and I would love to re-apply and work as a senior intern next year," Kondo-Shah said.
In order to more efficiently utilize staff time and increase the number of group information sessions offered by 30 percent, individual on-campus interviews will be eliminated.
"We have experienced a dramatic increase in the number of admissions visitors to campus," Furstenberg said. "Last year, during the summer and fall, more than 21,000 visitors came through the admissions office."
Of those visitors, only 1,500 prospective students had individual interviews in 2006. Such interviews diverted significant amounts of time and resources away from group information sessions, which averaged almost 80 visitors in the summer, Furstenberg added.
"It no longer makes sense to have a single staff member spending one hour with a single interviewee, when group sessions are getting more crowded and less personal," he said.
Off-campus alumni interviews will continue to be offered to prospective students.
Beyond simplifying the application process for students, the new single interview system will allow for greater equity in the admissions process.
According to Wassel, the majority of students coming to campus for interviews were more affluent students from the northeast with the means and the time to travel to campus.
"We weren't really reaching some of the communities that we wanted to reach out to," Wassel said. "I think this is a really positive change; it sort of evens the playing field a little more."
