Every year, prospective students grace Dartmouth's campus during Dimensions weekend. And almost every year the weather uncharacteristically cooperates (thank you Sun God for turning around the forecast this year with your omnipotent mask and boom box). But year after year, the College blatantly excludes early decision members of the incoming class from its annual Spring bash. Notwithstanding that Dimensions should serve as an introduction to the College for all admitted students, including ED students in the event would encourage regular decision students who attend to matriculate and therefore is in the best interest of the College.
During this year's Dimensions weekend, the Admissions Office was cordial, but by no means welcoming, to ED students. While ED students weren't invited, they were allowed to attend as long as they made their own hosting arrangements. This is the equivalent of Molly's saying they will serve you only if you bring your food. While the Admissions Office certainly has the right idea in focusing on those admitted students who are deciding between multiple schools, it overlooks the benefits of having ED students on campus during the weekend.
As part of the Dimensions welcome show, I pretended to be a fake prospie who was a celebrity from the film Slumdog Millionaire. While keeping up this act I had the privilege of interacting with a variety of prospie "flocks." The majority of ED students that I encountered set aside time from their overwhelming schedules (they were running around from barbecues to ice cream socials to frat parties, so please take pity) to convince me to come to Dartmouth. In this way, the ED students served as ambassadors for the school.
I remember telling the friends I made in the class of 2014 before the Welcome Show that I was leaning towards continuing my exploding career in acting instead of going to college. Of course, I was only pulling their legs. But the ED '14s took the time to give me specific reasons on why I should come to Dartmouth.
Although ED students are not required to promote the school, the ones I met seemed to feel responsible for convincing other prospies to come. After all, these students have some incentive because they want their class to be as talented and diverse as possible. If ED students serve as ambassadors during Dimensions weekend is that the regular-decision students realize how passionate their fellow students are about Dartmouth. Everyone wants to be part of a school where their classmates genuinely appreciate everything around them. Simply by taking part in Dimensions and interacting with the prospies, ED students energized the regular decision students about Dartmouth.
When the Class of 2014 arrives on campus in the Fall, the regular decision students will certainly talk about Dimensions and will already be familiar with many aspects of campus life simply because they attended the second program. Dimensions serves as a major part of many students' Dartmouth Experience. For instance, I met some of my closest friends during Dimensions. By excluding a large segment of the freshmen class every year, the Admissions Office is inadvertently giving regular decision students an unfair advantage by excluding ED students from Dimensions. So in addition to the other benefits of inviting ED students to participate, the Admissions Office should take into account the greater purpose of Dimensions as an opportunity to meet people.
Dimensions provides the Dartmouth community with an opportunity to show prospective students all that is Dartmouth. It is an introduction to the place we call home. This is why we give so many enthusiastic performances, take part in the activities fair and even put on a thrilling welcome show. If the weekend truly is an introduction to the Dartmouth community, then all admitted students should be able to take part fully.
