The College extended its early decision application deadline from Nov. 1 to Nov. 7 for students affected by last week's East Coast snow storm, according to Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Maria Laskaris. Dartmouth is one of at least 74 colleges and universities that postponed their deadlines, according to the National Association for College Admission Counseling website.
The extension was granted for "applicants living or going to school in areas impacted by power outages" caused by the weekend storm, according to a statement on the Admissions Office's website.
"The storm knocked out power to homes and schools across the Northeast on the weekend that many students were probably hoping to put the final touches on their personal statements," Laskaris said in an email to The Dartmouth.
The storm left 2.2 million homes without power, Reuters reported.
Dartmouth's extension is the longest among Ivy League schools. Yale University extended its early action deadline from Nov. 1 to Nov. 2, and Cornell University extended its early decision deadline to Nov. 3, according to the NACAC. Harvard University extended its early action deadline to Nov. 4, and the University of Pennsylvania extended its early decision deadline to Nov. 4, The Harvard Crimson and The Daily Pennsylvanian reported. Princeton University extended its early action deadline to Nov. 5, according to the university's website.
Kate Bullion of Millis, Mass., said she submitted her early decision application to Dartmouth on Sunday evening after a full day without power.
"It was definitely a little nerve-wracking," she said. "I started freaking out and looking for friends' houses that would have power."
Bullion said she heard about the new deadline on Monday night, but if she had heard about the extension before submitting her application, she might have taken one more day to "triple check" her application.
Some applicants, however, said they chose not to take advantage of the extension.
A male early decision applicant, who wished to remain anonymous so as not to impact the relations between Dartmouth and his high school, said he heard about the deadline's extension Tuesday afternoon through an email from his school's college counselor. He nevertheless decided to submit his application Tuesday night because his town had not been affected by the power outage.
"The more I looked at the Dartmouth announcement's language, it felt as if I was taking an unfair advantage," he said. "I talked to my parents, and we decided it would probably look better if I submitted it Tuesday night, so that's what we did."
Power outages also affected the ability of guidance counselors and teachers at northeastern high schools to submit academic materials, Laskaris said.
The Ethical Culture Fieldston School in Riverdale, N.Y., was closed Monday, a day on which the college counseling office would have submitted recommendations and transcripts for early decision or early action applications, according to Harry Dawe, a Fieldston college counselor.
"The things we would have done on Monday, we had to do on Tuesday, which was still within Nov. 1, but it was pretty tight," he said. "We just worked a bit harder, quicker."
Although he submitted his Dartmouth application Sunday morning, a male high school senior who wished to remain anonymous due to his pending application said he felt "pretty lucky" that he did not lose power.
"Just thinking of the anxiety produced by having the deadline looming over your head, and having the additional anxiety over the power gone, must have freaked out so many families and kids applying," he said. "To give them that leeway and sort of relax the entire process, that was really admirable of Dartmouth."
The student said that had he not already submitted his application, he would have appreciated an official message from Dartmouth confirming the extension.
"Rumors freak me out," he said. "The Is it actually true?' extra fear would have been pretty horrible."
Penn notified applicants who had not yet clicked "send" of the deadline extension through an email via the Common Application website, The Pennsylvanian reported.
