When I think back to my senior year of high school, when every college was clamoring for attention, I remember finding Dartmouth particularly attractive. Not only was it ranked number one for undergraduate teaching by U.S. News and World Report, but it also promised to give students a markedly different experience from comparable schools. When I attended an information session held at a local high school, the speakers extolled Dartmouth's study abroad programs, leaving me excited and hopeful. This feeling intensified when I toured campus for the first time. Smiling all the while, the tour guides gestured to the inclusive Greek houses and praised the volunteering community and club offerings. I remember thinking about how, if I were lucky enough to be accepted, I would throw myself into Dartmouth, volunteering and studying abroad as often as possible.
After the rigorous application process, with many long nights and anxiety, I thought my acceptance would finally allow me to appreciate all of the College's offerings without having to worry about proving myself. Of course, I expected classes to be challenging, but I was ready to take advantage of the life Dartmouth promised me. I thought my acceptance signaled the end of fighting to prove my worth; I thought it meant that I had deserved to become a member of the Dartmouth community.
However, these idealistic notions, entitled as they may be, were extinguished one by one through first and second-hand experiences with the reality of Dartmouth. One went out when I witnessed a friend's panic and dejection on the day she found out she that did not get into her preferred study abroad program. Now, as I am in the throes of the application process myself, I am acutely aware of the possibility of rejection. It is hard to face the fact that the hopes on which I chose Dartmouth may be dashed. The same goes for clubs and certain volunteering programs, which I never thought would be competitive.
I came to Dartmouth expecting it to deliver the promises it had made me. By the end of freshman year, I felt like a disappointed voter, watching my elected official shirk campaign promises. I had grown out of my own naivete and saw Dartmouth as I should have since the beginning. I should have known that the Greek system and study abroad opportunities were just that opportunities, not guarantees. However, I do not think I am the only one to make this mistake.
The way Dartmouth markets itself to prospective students veils the competitive nature of its programs. On the admissions website, for instance, Dartmouth appeals to students by saying, "If you can picture yourself participating in research as an undergraduate, studying abroad...Dartmouth...is right for you." I never thought that some students would only ever be able to "picture" those things.
The entitlement that some students on campus end up assuming is an indirect result from this sort of insincere marketing. Prospective students are told, in tours and brochures sent out by the College, that the composition of the "Dartmouth experience" is not limited to a classroom in Hanover. Rather, they are convinced that Dartmouth is an amalgamation of study abroad trips, volunteering and a communitarian ethos, which seemed to be code for Greek life. However, when these aspects are denied, it seems like you are somehow missing out on the very experience that is billed as the College's main selling point. It is not that you did not get to go on one study abroad or were denied from one group it is that your whole time at Dartmouth is being compromised.
The College should take steps to ensure that each student has ample opportunities to participate in the experience that works so well to attract students to the school. Student groups and the administration can do this by adding volunteering programs and expanding popular study abroad programs, especially for particularly large majors. There is no reason why the economics department, the most popular major, only sends six students to Keble College at the University of Oxford. Especially at a college that so heavily advertises study abroad opportunities, that level of competition is absurd.
