Dartmouth and Flying Turkeys

Andrew, Peter, Frank, John, Erin, Kathleen, Erinn and
I at the entrance of campus

Road Warrior

Today we had the opportunity to visit Dartmouth in Hanover, New Hampshire. It was a great school to visit after touring the campuses of MIT and Boston University yesterday in the bustling metropolis of Boston. The students were really able to grasp the more suburban and relaxed feel the minute we arrived. This is truly what I love to see while I am here with the students. I can see firsthand how they are making decisions in their minds about where they feel they would “fit-in,” what they like, and what they don’t like. I enjoy hearing them ask various questions to the tour guides and admissions officers to help them continue with this very crucial process as they begin to imagine themselves on these very campuses. I truly began seeing this process in all five of our Brown 1 cohort today and that makes me happy. They are consciously making these decisions and are figuring what makes them tick and what will make them thrive at a particular school.

With that being said, Dartmouth is a much smaller school than Boston University but this gives the students and professors time to truly get to know one another. Our tour guide in the morning, Elyse, said that she and her classmates are invited to dinner at her professors’ houses frequently. She has also babysat for them! The quarters are 10 weeks long and there are three quarters a year. Roughly 64% of the student population chooses to study abroad at some point during their time at Dartmouth. This is something that definitely has sparked the interest of our cohort. I know Frank would like to study Spanish abroad and Erin has also expressed interest in studying abroad at some point in her college career.

We had the honor of seeing Peter Chau, a graduate of Pinole Valley High School and Dartmouth. Peter is currently pursuing law school. John Beck, assistant director of admissions, was also able to join us for lunch today. The students asked both Peter and John questions about the application process, what Admin. Officers are looking for and specific questions about the personal essays. After lunch, we had our own private tour of the campus!

It has been another jam-packed day and we have Yale and Wesleyan tomorrow. Until next time!

By the way, we saw a flying turkey (we actually aren't sure exactly what kind of bird it was) this morning on our drive to New Hampshire. It came out of nowhere and we were all laughing hysterically. What a fun group of young men and women!