May 17–19, 2018
Chair Ben Schwartz ’06 opened the meeting with a welcome and a preview of the meeting. Lee Coffin, vice provost for enrollment and dean of admissions and financial aid, discussed the state of admissions at the College.
Coffin offered insight on what he has learned and observed over the course of his first two years in his role. Coffin was struck that 92 percent of admitted students noted excellence in teaching as the most important factor in their college search, with access to faculty being a close second. Knowing this, the admissions team has worked hard to change the Dartmouth narrative it is sharing. Coffin has reimagined on-campus admissions events such as open houses and the Dimensions yield programs so that faculty are front and center. The impact of these events has been tremendous. More and more admitted students are saying that Dartmouth was their first choice, as demonstrated by the exceptional yield of around 61 percent for the second year running.
Coffin shared that the Class of 2022 is fully enrolled and is on target to be the right size of approximately 1,150 students. He affirmed that the wait list will not be used for the second year in a row and the admit rate was the lowest in the history of the College at 8.7 percent. Finally, Coffin discussed the financial aid goals that are part of The Call to Lead campaign. He explained that the replacement of loans in financial aid packages is a critical part of Dartmouth’s commitment to middle income students (loan replacement is already happening for low income students). He also shared his excitement about the restoration of need-blind admissions for international students.
Meg Lysy ’99, director of the Admissions Ambassador Program, followed Coffin and provided a brief overview of the accomplishments of the interviewing program this year. She shared that the overall number of alumni interviewers has grown to 6,500 and these volunteers submitted just over 15,000 interview reports.
Nicole Moser ’89 was elected as the next vice chair of the committee.