With an acceptance rate of 44 percent, the selection of trip leaders for this year's Dartmouth Outing Club First-Year Trips was more competitive than in either of the previous two years. Of the 598 students that applied, 260 were selected to be trip leaders and 80 students were put on a waiting list.
First-Year Trips Director John Shellito '07 said that this year's applicant pool was strong and the selection process was extremely tough.
"There were a lot of very qualified applicants," he said. "It was really heartbreaking to see the people who we couldn't take. Even the wait-list pool was phenomenal."
Several changes were made to this year's application process, the most significant being that the applications were read without applicant names by the selection committee, which was comprised of 25 students affiliated with the program. In previous years, names were visible on the applications for the reason that sometimes students are stronger than their application, Shellito said, citing established trip leaders as an example.
"Some of our previous trip leaders didn't have the top-tier applications because in their minds, they weren't expecting that it would be a name-blind application process," he said.
According to Shellito, this year's change was made to prevent any bias and make the selection process more objective. All applications were read at least three times and a grader was instructed to skip the application if he or she recognized the applicant by their responses.
Shellito said that while the committee did not break the applications down by activity, he did notice that some groups were more prominent in the applicant pool than others. These groups included the Psi Upsilon fraternity, Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, the ultimate frisbee team, Outdoor Leadership Experience and DREAM.
As in the past, there were significantly more women applicants than men. Shellito said that the rejection pool is made up of two-thirds of women and one-third men.
The Class of 2008 had the greatest number of selected trip leaders with 94, followed by the Class of 2009 with 84 and the Class of 2010 with 76. Shellito said that this unequal distribution was unique to this year and was most likely a result of the name-blind application process. He said that many of the rejected freshmen did not have the appropriate motivation to lead a trip.
"Some of the '10s that we rejected gave off the idea that they weren't in it for the responsibility as much as reliving their experience that is so fresh in their minds," he said.
Another change to this year's application was the addition of an optional peer review that asked why the applicant would make a good trip leader. Shellito said that the peer review was a success but also made the selection process more difficult.
"I think that it did help in getting another perspective than just having to take people at face value," he said. "This provided another opinion. We never docked anyone for not having the recommendation."
Shellito said that in his mind, some of the questions on the application were more influential than others. He said that the "give and return" question that asked what applicants could give to the program and what they expected to take away, for example, was very important.
"We're not looking for people who want to relive their trip," he said. "We are looking for people who really care about the freshmen and starting them out on the right foot."
Emily Yen '10, a member of SHEBA, On Tap and the Ledyard Canoe Club, will be leading Section G's whitewater kayaking trip this September. She said that she thinks her variety of interests helped her stand out in the applicant pool.
"I think maybe I was selected because I emphasized that I had a huge range of interests," she said. "You don't find very many dancers who are also interested in kayaking and like to draw."
Shellito said that he knows that the process has flaws and that they will continue to work to fix them.
"It's not a perfect process," he said. "Sometimes we don't understand the way someone is conveying their ideas, so we don't fully appreciate what is in the application."
