Even though Dartmouth attracts some of the best young people in the country and is rated by US News as the No. 1 institution for undergraduate teaching, the College has a communications problem. I hope to help fix it.
One piece of evidence is that when a student is accepted at both Dartmouth and any other Ivy League school, we lose the overwhelming number to every one but Cornell.
Why? Part of it is the “Animal House” image that doesn’t even apply any longer to the fraternity, Alpha Delta, that the movie depicted. There’s a good story-- that’s not being told—about AD’s transformation into house with a high GPA and a good record of service.
President Jim Kim is in the process of enlisting Dartmouth’s fraternities to work on their image and the College’s and they are responding.
Moreover—and I learned this in conversations with students—the College is not enlisting its very enthusiastic undergraduates to communicate with candidates for admission.
We need to tell our story better. We need to tell the world how much our students love Dartmouth—and how successful they are in the world when they graduate. I’ve been in the communications field for 50 years and will strive to help our world-renowned new president spread the word about Dartmouth’s greatness.
