Filed under: College, College Admissions, College Students, Financial Aid, High School, SAT, Tuition, University, scholarships
Dartmouth College just announced that out of an applicant pool of 18,130 hopefuls, they’ve admitted 2,134 for the incoming class of 2013. Dartmouth’s admissions battle plan is to admit students based solely on academic achievement, which means it’s a “fully need-blind admissions process.” The college admits the best of the best, and then figures out with the students afterward the financial aid package they’ll be requiring.
“The academic credentials of admitted students are very strong, particularly in the number of students ranked in the top 10 percent of their class as well as students ranked first in their class,” said Maria Laskaris, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid.
Of those who were ranked by their secondary schools, 95 percent of students admitted were in the top 10 percent of their secondary school’s graduating class, including 42.5 percent who were valedictorians and 10.8 percent who were salutatorians. The mean SAT scores for students admitted this year are: 729 Verbal, 733 Math and 732 Writing.
Dartmouth strengthened its financial aid program last year, offering free tuition for students who come from families with annual incomes at or below $75,000. Dartmouth has a need-blind admissions policy, accepting students, both domestic and international, regardless of ability to pay. Once admitted, the College meets 100 percent of the student’s demonstrated need for all four years through a combination of scholarships and campus employment.
Fairly impressive. I’m a big proponent of looking at a given student’s whole picture when deciding whether or not to admit them to a school; I always want the kid from the family that can’t possibly afford to pay for admissions coaching and SAT prep courses to get into a great school anyway, just because they want it and they’ve done the best with what they have and will work their ass off once they’re admitted.
That being said, I also have to confess that I’m impressed with Dartmouth for not shying away from students who may require an extreme amount of financial help. They want the best, they clearly get them, and they’re not afraid to pay for the privilege. Did I mention that there are no loans involved? It’s all scholarships and campus employment.
Posted by Alexa Harrington
image credit: jon gilbert fox for the ny times
Impressive – a total commitment on excellence regardless of the student’s financial background.
Comment by Johanne 04.02.09 @ 2:50 amThanks Alexa – I just saw D’s homepage change a few days ago regarding their admitted students because a colleagues son was accepted there. U Chicago is another college that totally understands the financial needs of students going to an Ivy-ish school. I totally respect these colleges decisions to accept the idea that if a student works hard enough to get into their colleges, income shouldn’t be the deciding factor of whether or not they’ll attend. Bravo Dartmouth.
Comment by Paul 04.02.09 @ 7:00 am[...] Like Dartmouth College, Amherst also has a need-blind admissions policy. Don’t they have enough good karma built up? [...]
Pingback by Educated Nation--College Admissions Panels Using Their Powers For Good | Educated Nation | Higher Education Blog 04.09.09 @ 1:19 pmThis is absolutely unremarkable, and deserves little praise if any. A truly impressive admissions policy would OF COURSE never turn folks away because of need; rather, they’d take into consideration the myriad disparities and inequities within this society, creating NEED SENSITIVE admissions. A white straight able-bodied rich kid getting a 4.0 (because he doesn’t need a job to support his family) and exceptional test scores (because his parents enrolled him in expensive test prep classes) should never be accepted before someone who has overcome much more adversity to produce the “same” academic record.
Pretending that inequities don’t exist – under a “need-blind” system, does nothing to rectify the huge advantages that some populations hold, and it doesn’t serve disadvantaged populations – it just stops screwing them so badly. Ultimately, though they ignorantly and proudly claim otherwise in their self-supporting press releases, by not taking structural inequalities into consideration, schools like Dartmouth are not accepting the very best pool of students possible…but instead a disproportionately privileged group.
Comment by Dan 04.22.09 @ 1:46 amWhile I completely agree that this kind of need-blind admissions policy is just a small measure in the face of enormous inequity, I disagree that it is meaningless and merely self serving publicity.
As I understand it, Dartmouth has both a need-blind and no-loan policy for students whose families make under $75k/yr which they only calculate after the decision to accept. At least this means that that decision wasn’t influenced by how much the school would have to shell out to cover the student. So, yes, lower income students still have many more obstacles than wealthy ones to achieving Dartmouth’s required level of academic qualifications for acceptance. But, the way it’s being done in this case (need-blind and no-loan) is not discriminatory against the lower income applicants and removes the cost barrier of attendance for those students after admission allowing them to actually go.
The so called elite schools in the US had record low admission rates in 2008 largely due to surging application levels. Dartmouth had the highest level of acceptance among them, at 13%, a full four points higher than any other Ivy league school. With this kind of competition, I think it’s a good sign that they and others are moving in this direction.
Larger scale, dramatic action is absolutely necessary but this is significant and valuable. Recognize them and then demand more.
Comment by Jason 04.22.09 @ 10:44 pm