This article is featured in the 2025 Commencement & Reunions special issue.
Dartmouth is missing out on one of its greatest opportunities in recent history. In a time of crisis for higher education, Dartmouth has the unique ability to open its doors wider and welcome transfer students, particularly from community colleges. As a top university with relative stability — thanks to the leadership of College President Sian Leah Beilock — we must capitalize on the moment.
Last year, we admitted just 12 transfer students from over 700 applicants – a miniscule 1.6% acceptance rate that makes our already-competitive first year admissions look generous by comparison. Meanwhile, each year more than 15,000 community college students nationwide with GPAs of 3.7 or higher fail to transfer to four-year institutions.
This is both a strategic misstep and a waste of extraordinary talent. Though community college applicants constitute only a portion of the transfer pool, they best exemplify its unique value: students who have demonstrated not only academic talent but resilience, maturity and real-world perspective. They are disproportionately first-generation, low-income and from underrepresented backgrounds. Following the Supreme Court’s Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard University decision curtailing race-conscious admissions, expanding transfer admissions — particularly by recruiting community college students — remains one of our most powerful tools available for building genuine diversity.
Some might worry that welcoming more transfer students could somehow dilute the “Dartmouth experience,” with students arriving part of the way through college struggling to find community. But Dartmouth already excels at integrating students who aren’t here for four years. In the 2024-25 academic year, we welcomed 41 dual-degree students who come to Dartmouth for two non-consecutive years. These students thrive in everything from dance groups to Greek life — all while navigating disruptive schedules. If these students can thrive, surely so can transfer students matriculating for two or three consecutive years.
Dartmouth would not be alone in taking this path. Peer institutions like Northwestern University, Cornell University and Columbia University all welcome significant numbers of transfers, adding diverse life experiences without compromising academic standards or campus culture.
But Dartmouth is uniquely positioned to lead. Under College President Sian Leah Beilock’s leadership, the College has avoided much of the political and legal turmoil engulfing our peers. While campus protests elsewhere have threatened to stifle dialogue and restrict access to campus spaces, Beilock and her administration managed to preserve both freedom of expression and everyday student life, striking a rare balance between order and open conversation. Initiatives like Dartmouth Dialogues help foster engagement across viewpoints, providing structure for honest discussion.
Most notably, while peer institutions such as Harvard and Columbia face federal investigations, canceled grants and even revoked student visas, Dartmouth has largely avoided such fallout. Beilock’s administration has maintained institutional independence by declining to engage in divisive external politics. She chose not to sign the American Association of Colleges and Universities’ open letter and introduced a policy of institutional restraint. The result: our international students face no unique obstacles, like they do at peer schools, and Dartmouth is the only Ivy League school not under investigation by the Department of Education for antisemitism.
Of course, President Beilock’s leadership has not been without detractors; some within our community worry that institutional restraint risks inaction. But it is precisely this measured approach that allows Dartmouth to take bold steps — such as expanding transfer admissions — that other institutions, mired in controversy, cannot. In a national climate marked by disruption, her steady hand has allowed Dartmouth to offer something rare in higher education today: stability, consistency and continuity. For transfer students seeking both rigorous academics and a stable college experience amid nationwide disruptions, this is the “Dartmouth difference” you should consider.
The solution doesn’t require dramatic change. Doubling the transfer class to 24 students would be a modest but meaningful start, maintaining our standards while embracing lost talent and preserving Dartmouth’s unique identity.
The real question isn’t whether Dartmouth can afford to expand transfer admissions, but whether we can afford not to. Leading in higher education means more than protecting free speech and civil campus life; it also means ensuring that our gates remain open to those whose educational journeys began farther from Hanover.
The moment is right, the need is clear and the benefits are undeniable. It’s time Dartmouth opened its doors a little wider.
Oren Poleshuck-Kinel is a member of the Class of 2026. Opinion articles represent the views of their author(s), which are not necessarily those of The Dartmouth.
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