Over the past few days, five veterans visited Dartmouth through the first veteran fly-in program, a 24-hour admitted students session. After discussing about new ways to attract more veterans to the College, the Dartmouth Uniformed Service Alumni organization created the pilot program with the admissions office.
The program exposed the potential transfer students to various components of life at the College, like eating in town and meeting with professors.
The veterans, admitted to the College as transfer students, were notified of their acceptance on May 13 and have through May 27 to accept or decline the offer. A total of seven veterans were admitted this year, uniformed service alumni executive director Nathan Bruschi ’10 said.
Inspired by how the College accepts and retains Native American students, Bruschi and assistant director of admissions Will Corbett ’10 discussed how alumni could assist former College President James Wright’s work to encourage more veterans to transfer to the College, Bruschi said.
“If you want to be serious about breaking into a new group, you have to make it easier for them to come to the school,” he said.
The Native American Fly-In Program has taken place for more than 25 years and offers prospective students a four-day look at the College and its Native American community.
Bruschi said that getting veterans to visit campus and get a feel for the culture before making a decision could make a big difference in their decision to attend.
“Unless you’re visiting Dartmouth, you probably won’t find yourself up in Hanover,” he said. “We believe that if the students could just see Dartmouth, could see that the school really wants to get more veterans and could see how students are so friendly and [are] down to earth people, then they would want to come.”
Corbett said the turn-around time for accepted transfer applicants to make their decision is much shorter than the month given to first-year students, so Dartmouth must implement more initiatives that show what the school has to offer.
After arriving in Hanover on Tuesday, the veterans could meet with a dean, talk to professors or explore campus. They then got dinner in the Class of 1953 Commons with a current student before heading to Murphy’s for drinks and the Hanover Inn to sleep.
On Wednesday, prospective students ate breakfast in the dining hall with a current veteran on campus, met with financial aid officers and Dartmouth undergraduate veterans association faculty advisor Kent Yrchik-Shoemaker, attended class and finished the visit with a lunch at Market Table.
“I think they did a really good job of showing us what we can expect as a transfer student,” University of Connecticut student Matthew Menezes said
The visit’s activities, he said, were “nothing that doesn’t sell itself.”
Bruschi said he is passionate about working with veterans, and has experience mentoring service members, encouraging them to finish college. His passion, he said, stems from the fact that veterans are smart people doing unimaginable jobs.
“There is no difference between them and me,” he said. “And so I want to encourage them to go back to higher education and have these schools serve them now that they’ve served their country.”
As part of the partnership, Dartmouth Uniformed Service Alumni paid for veterans’ transportation costs, while the admissions office covered lodging and food. Bruschi said the admissions office and the Dartmouth Uniformed Service Alumni have worked to ensure there are no barriers for veterans in applying to the College and deciding whether to matriculate.
