Wylie Collins '83 (Chair)  •  Danielle Dyer '89Tu (Vice Chair)  •  Steve Adnopoz '78  •  Rick Allen '75
Cary Boyd '07 •  Michael Carter '77  •  Cathy Coster '83  •  Jeffrey Dahlman '70  •  Thomas Daniels '82
Mark Davis '81  •  Alan Epstein '47 •  Annette Gordon-Reed '81  •  Bonnie Henderson '89,  '93DMS
Thad King '73  •  Ellie Loughlin '89  •  Michael Miller '74 •  Chris Nice '75  •  Deb Owens '91
Kimberley Sanderson-Hutfilz '96  •  Trina Santry '80, '87Tu  •  Jeffrey Solomon '91  •  Melissa Steffens '89
Antonio Valla '05  • Colleen Wearn '06 •  Peter Webster '71  •  Stan West '78  •  Hoyt Zia  '75

The Committee on Enrollment and Admissions assists the Office of Admissions in organizing alumni/alumnae enrollment volunteers and interviewers throughout the United States and the world. The committee also serves as a sounding board for the Admissions and Financial Aid Offices on issues of broader concern, such as general admissions and financial aid practices and nationwide trends. The committee consists of members of the Alumni Council and an Associate Director of Admissions (Committee Secretary). 

Report from the 198th Alumni Council, May 14–16, 2009:  

Report of the Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid:  Expanding upon her presentation to the full council earlier in the day, Dean Maria Laskaris '84 reported that it was the most competitive year yet. With 18,132 applicants for the class of 2013, the acceptance rate was only 12 percent. Yield remains consistent with prior years at about 50 percent, apparently unaffected by several peer schools dropping early admissions programs and the uncertainty of the economy. Outreach programs such as “Dimensions” and “Discover Dartmouth” clearly are having a positive impact on matriculation rates. The class will be 51 percent female. The student body is more diverse than ever. SAT and ACT scores were as high as or higher than for past admitted students. Legacies continue to be admitted at a higher rate, although the majority is still denied admission. Following suggestions from the committee last year, Dean Laskaris sent personal letters to the alumni parents of denied and wait-listed candidates. This year the Admissions Office has been able to go to the wait list and offer admission to approximately 70 more candidates, including some legacies.

Alumni Recruiting and Outreach:  I-Track continues to improve and facilitate the alumni interview process. With greater numbers of applications, the interview reports become more significant and useful to the admissions officers as they distinguish among thousands of excellent candidates. Several alumni groups are focused on recruiting low-income students to apply to Dartmouth. Stan West '78 described a program in the Los Angeles area.  Mats Lemberger '06 has been working with some members of the committee to develop better resources for alumni interviewers. The Admissions Office Web site is being updated and should be completed by fall, when the next admissions season begins. Given the budget cuts that the Admissions Office must implement, the role of alumni in outreach activities is critical.

 
Leadership: Wylie Collins '83 will chair the committee for 2009–10. Danielle Dyer '81 will be the vice chair. Daniel Parish '84, director of admissions recruitment and communications, continues to serve as the Office of Admissions liaison to the committee.

Action Items:  The committee will continue to work with the Admissions Office to recruit and train alumni interviewers from the classes, clubs, and affiliated groups. The committee will be preparing and distributing to clubs and district enrollment directors an outline of how to work with the Admissions Office to develop candidate lists, find venues, and invite low-income students in their area to learn more about Dartmouth. Local follow-up and support for visiting programs such as “Dimensions” will be the key to making such outreach efforts successful.

Report from the 197th Alumni Council, December 4–6, 2008:

Admissions Office Recruiting and Outreach:  Admissions officers traveled extensively this fall to meet guidance counselors and prospective applicants. Efforts were made to focus on underrepresented groups, including bringing talented students to Hanover to visit the College. The financial aid initiatives of 2007 are having a positive impact on recruiting economically disadvantaged candidates. The population of African American students at Dartmouth compares favorably to our peers. While Dartmouth has lagged in Asian American applicants, dramatic progress has been made over the past decade. There was a significant rise in the number of female applicants for early decision, and they comprise the majority of the pool. College budget cuts in light of the current economy, however, will challenge the Admission Office's resources to continue these efforts. 

Alumni Recruiting and Outreach:  Most alumni support of the admissions process is led by the district enrollment directors and local clubs. Admissions officers made an effort to meet with alumni during their fall travel to conduct workshops on admissions and interviewing. They are also working with Alumni Relations to find other ways to conduct admissions workshops. The interviewer Web site is being updated. 

Committee Action Items:  Alumni can best support the Admissions Office by conducting candidate interviews and follow-up communications, including delivering T-shirts to accepted candidates and hosting receptions. For 2009, the committee intends to:

• Work with Admissions to develop new alumni interviewer training tools
• Work with classes to recruit and train interviewers
• Work with affiliated groups to recruit and train interviewers
• Design a program for clubs to promote applications and visits to Hanover by economically disadvantaged candidates

Report from the 196th Alumni Council, May 15-17, 2008:  Called to order by the chair, Cindy Shannon '76, the meeting began with a report on the Class of 2012 by Maria Laskaris '84, dean of admissions and financial aid. Maria addressed the impact of the financial aid initiative, including recognition by the College that, even as it provides significant help to low-income families, middle income ($75,000-150,000) families are struggling to afford Dartmouth. Maria reported that suggestions made at the previous committee meeting to be especially careful when communicating denials to legacy applicants had been taken into consideration.

Dan Parish, director of recruitment and outreach, provided excellent written materials and a verbal summary of efforts by admissions officers to reach out to potential applicants from under-represented groups. These efforts included visits to nontraditional sites such as community organizations and many visits to Native American schools.

Committee member John Moscarino '82 described the Hudson Scholars program, funded by a group of alumni from the Los Angeles area. This program covers the costs of travel to the Dimensions Weekend for the top admitted students from the Los Angeles area. The committee discussed ways this program could be adapted and replicated to help recruit and retain other highly desirable students.

The committee discussed the urgent need to recruit more enrollment volunteers since on-campus interviews are no longer offered. Ideas for doing so include: leveraging the workplace, outreach to young alumni and affiliated groups, and the possibility of using MySpace/Facebook to spark participation.

Current vice chair Dennis Ryan '81 has assumed the role of chair.

Report from the 195th Alumni Council,November 29–December 1, 2007:

The meeting was called to order by Chair Cindy Shannon '76 who welcomed new members and Admission Office staff. Maria Laskaris '84, the dean of Admissions and Financial Aid, then gave a preliminary report on early decision applications for the Class of 2012. Highlights were as follows.

• The number of early admission applicants is at its highest ever, at 1,432 (up from 1,285 last year). This suggests that Dartmouth has not been affected adversely by Harvard's and Yale's decision to abandon early decision. Maria suggested that, because Dartmouth's ED option is binding, only students for whom Dartmouth is the clear first choice apply. Clearly, Dartmouth is the first choice of many superb students.
• Among the ED pool were 137 legacies. Approximately 10 to 12 percent of the ED pool is composed of recruited athletes.

Maria Laskaris and President Jim Wright are committed to retaining a healthy percentage of admissions slots for regular admission applicants.Unlike some of its peers, Dartmouth will not admit more than approximately 37 percent of the class via ED.

• The number of Native American students applying ED is up to 28 (from 19 last year).The committee was heartened to see that events of last year had not caused this number to decline.
• The College and the committee are committed to increasing the number of qualified African American and Latino students applying to Dartmouth. We are not satisfied with those numbers (31 and 46, respectively, in this year's ED pool).
• The Admissions Office has worked hard to help students from families and schools unfamiliar with the ED process to be prepared to apply to Dartmouth ED if that is the student's choice. This involves communicating early with students about the need to take challenging courses, to take standardized tests early and to have considered the college options during junior and early senior year.
• Suggestions were made to admissions staff as to how to reach out more sensitively to legacy applicants and their parents when the student is denied. These suggestions (personal letter and phone calls, etc) were warmly received. In addition, the committee learned about the procedures already in place to handle this emotional situation.
• Discussion and action ideas:
• Since on-campus interviews are no longer offered, the role of alumni interviews is even more important.
• The committee and the Admissions Office need to work together to correct any misunderstanding regarding the role of the alumni interview. The purpose of an interviewer's report is not to enhance the student's chance of admission but to be the “eyes and ears” of the Admissions Office by providing a sense of the student as a person. In this way, the interviewer's report provides invaluable insight not available from the other documents in a student's file.
• Recruiting new interviewers is important, both to meet the need and as a means of connecting alumni to the college. Ideas:
• Leverage the workplace: Dartmouth employers should encourage their new graduate hires to do interviews.
• Reach out to younger classes; encourage articles in class newsletters, etc.
• Include DEDs at club/class officer weekends in Hanover, to develop the personal relationships that facilitate recruitment.
• Utilize Facebook to spread the call to interviewing.
• We want and need more interviewers who are people of color. Barriers to involvement reported by some alums from affiliated groups were discussed how to respond to these experiences and concerns will be an agenda item for our next meeting.
• The need to provide better and more training for interviewers was discussed. The Admissions Office will look into developing a brief (7-minute) training DVD that can be mailed to new interviewers.
• The question was raised as to whether the Form 6 needs to be redesigned in order to better elicit the “personal snapshot” information desired by the Admissions Office. Some councilors felt the current form encourages a quantitative ranking approach.

After a lively and open discussion on these and other issues, the meeting was adjourned.

Report from the 194th Alumni Council, May 17–19, 2007:  Committee Chair Douglas Tyson '81, welcomed new members, past members, and visitors to the meeting and invited those who attended Thursday's programs to comment on the content, format, and relevance of those programs. Summaries of Thursday's student-alumni discussion groups and “dine-arounds” (which were greatly appreciated by those in attendance) led to an extended discussion of the campus climate for students from under-represented backgrounds and the impact of Dartmouth's history, location, and other factors on the environment for all students, faculty, and staff at the College.

Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Karl Furstenberg ‘67a shared news of the appointment of Maria Laskaris '84 as the new dean of admissions and financial aid (effective July 1, 2007).Karl also reported on the results for the Class of 2011, which was selected from the largest applicant pool in the history of the College and which will be the College's most diverse entering class. Other class highlights reported to the committee included a rise in number of legacies enrolling this year and record numbers of international students applying to and enrolling at the College. With yield among admitted students higher for this class than in the recent past, the Admissions Office was not able to admit any students from the waiting list for the Class of 2011.Karl shared news of the progress of Dartmouth's Electronic Student Records Management Project (the “paperless review” process), which should be ready in time for the selection process for the Class of 2012.

Karl thanked the committee for their support during his time as dean and noted how important the Alumni Council and the committee had been to his transition to Dartmouth.Committee members thanked Karl for his work and presented him with a piece of New Hampshire granite (sort of) dug right out of the ground in Hanover and signed by the members of the committee.

Senior Associate Director of Admissions Dan Parish '89 shared a report on the activities of enrollment volunteers; Dennis Ryan '81 was elected vice chair of the committee; committee members recognized the work of Douglas Tyson '81 as chair; Douglas adjourned the meeting.