Rains up during what he termed "the counterculture of the late '60s in San Francisco," the son of an addict mother and incarcerated father, who intentionally overdosed when he was released from prison. When his mother could not find heroin, he said she often locked him outside of the house, leaving him to sleep outside or at a friend's house.
Growing up, Rains said, he had no mentors. After his mother was murdered by her boyfriend when Rains was nine years old, he was put in a juvenile center alongside with orphans and "kids who had stabbed their own parents," before being placed with foster parents. Rains added that his experience in the juvenile center was "a real learning experience."
"[My foster parents] were alcoholics, so I learned self-sufficiency," he said. "I learned how to cook my own meals and take care of myself."
As soon as Rains turned 18 he joined the Navy without telling his foster parents and served from 1982 to 1989, working on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier doing pre- and post-flight inspections.
In one incident during his tour, Rains said, a pilot was getting out of an aircraft cockpit and did not hit the safety switch on his ejection seat. The pilot was thrown 400 feet into the air, Rains said, and fell ten feet away from where Rains was standing.
"It was the type of thing that, when you've think you seen the worst, it just keeps on coming," Rains said.
Because of his childhood experience with tragedy, Rains said he acted as somewhat of a counselor to the other people present who had difficulty coping.
During his time in the Navy, Rains said he became attracted to the "vernacular" used by educated service members. He once approached a pilot and asked, "How do you speak that way? Where did you learn that?"
The pilot told him he read a lot in college, so Rains used his extended periods of time at sea to build his vocabulary.
After leaving the Navy, Rains moved to Philadelphia where he met his wife and then to the New Haven, Conn. area. The Rainses operated a dog walking service, he said, and one of their clients was a teacher at Hopkins Preparatory School. The teacher recommended that, to "get a thorough understanding of literature," he should read Shakespeare.
"Shakespeare is reflective of my whole life, it is the center of western canon and the center of all of us," Rains said.
Approximately two years ago, while in Connecticut, Rains began to paint without any instruction. He had been an avid drawer as a child but stopped when his mother was murdered.
"There was like an ancestral voice that said to pick up a paintbrush, so I did," he said.
Painting led Rains to gallery owner Jon Moscartolo '63, who "became a father figure" to Rains.
"I told [Moscartolo] I wasn't formally educated and he asked me if I wanted to be," Rains said. "He introduced me to [Senior Assistant Director of Admissions Phil] Gover who told me about the American Indian program."
Once Rains learned of the College's Native American connection, he applied to Dartmouth because it felt like "the right fit," he said.
"When I came to visit the campus it was really overwhelming, but I knew it was right," he said.
Maria Laskaris, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid, said that in the first-year applicant pool there are a "very small number" of non-traditional age students, although statistics were not readily available. She added that more of these types of students appear in the transfer pool.
"When the transfer program was first begun at Dartmouth, 20 or so years ago, the idea was to increase the diversity of the student body by bringing together more students of non-traditional college age," she said.
Rains is one of five members of the Class of 2013 who are over 22 years old, Laskaris said.
When reviewing older applicants, the College assesses life experience in addition to academic record, she said.
"Over the course of a person's non-student life they have a lot of experiences, they've learned a great deal in so many different settings, so we really take into account that life experience," she said.
Laskaris said when looking over Rains' application, the admissions team thought Dartmouth would benefit from having Rains join the community.
"Thinking about his significant artistic talent, his life experiences, there were so many pieces of the application that struck us as so compelling," Laskaris said.
She added that the studio art department is "thrilled" to have a recognized artist like Rains take classes from the department.
Rains hopes to "gain traction and meet the academic challenges" presented by the Fall term, he said. He added that he has read "Mountains Beyond Mountains" and has gathered a good understanding of what College President Jim Yong Kim's objectives are for the Class of 2013 and for the Dartmouth community overall.
"I'm going to go in and work really hard," he said. "I'm not here to have fun; I'm here to work hard and make a difference."
Rains added that he will have an "open door policy" and is willing to talk to any students who have heard his story.
"I want to share with others who have had convoluted pasts," he said.
Rains is also working on an initiative called "dynamic decision making," which he envisions as a bulletin for parents and their children about making good value judgments. Rains plans to write letters to members of Congress and enlist entertainment moguls to push students of all ages to reevaluate how they make life choices.
"If someone is in town for a concert, I don't see why they can't stop at a high school and say how they made it, especially when young kids place emphasis on wealth," he said.
Rains, who will be living in Sachem Village with his wife while at the College, said he does not know if he will take a full course load yet, and will make that decision upon meeting with his academic advisor. He has, however, been placed in Writing 5, which he said he plans to complete.
As part of his financial aid package, Rains is required hold a job and hopes to find a position that will help him academically preferably in the library.
Rains said for him a Dartmouth degree will "be confirmation of a life's accomplishments."
"They say the shortest distance between two points is a straight line," he said. "I didn't take that line. Obviously its taken me this long to get to where I am, but all the obstacles made it rewarding."
Staff Writer Emily Goodell contributed to the reporting of this article.
