Committee chair Wylie Collins ’83 extended a general welcome to all members and then introduced new members. Congratulations were offered up to the admissions team, which had just completed the Class of 2014 admissions effort in yet another year of record applications to Dartmouth College.

The spring Alumni Council meeting each year is accompanied by a high level of interest among alumni regarding admissions results and trends. In response, dean of admissions Maria Laskaris ’84 and director of recruitment and communication Dan Parish ’89 provided the committee with a very thorough and impressive summary of the results for the Class of 2014. Highlights include:

  • Applications to Dartmouth continue to increase, with a 3.6 percent growth rate from 2013 to 2014, and a 35 percent growth rate from 2010 to 2014;
  • The overall yield has also increased, from 48 percent for the Class of 2013 to 53.6 percent for the Class of 2014. Early-decision admits increased from 401 to 460. The regular-decision yield also increased, from 36.9 percent to 41.1 percent;
  • A five-year class comparison was presented in which the Class of 2010 was compared to the Class of 2014 with respect to geography, diversity, gender and academic credentials.

Maria and Dan also discussed recruiting initiatives, including both on-campus and online programs, highlighting the effectiveness and importance of encouraging students that have been accepted to Dartmouth to visit Hanover during their decision-making process as they evaluate the merits of becoming a Dartmouth student. (We all agreed there are many such merits!) Dan also discussed the increased focus on several online initiatives that have proven to be effective, and will continue to be a focus of the admissions team in its recruiting efforts.

There was a brief discussion about the continued importance of ensuring that the Enrollment and Admissions Committee takes the lead in recruiting and retaining alumni interview volunteers. In the interest of time, we agreed to spend more time on this topic in the fall as interviews get underway. Dan informed us that there were 10,768 alumni interviews for the Class of 2014, representing 57 percent of all applications. This is the highest number of interviews ever. Given the dramatic growth rate of applications, the committee’s focus on strengthening the alumni interview network will be critical. We discussed briefly the merits of refining the system to more closely monitor the number of individual interviewers contributing to the effort (in addition to number of interviews).

We briefly reviewed potential additional areas the committee can add value going forward. Wylie encouraged the committee to select very specific topics and metrics in its review of where the committee can be most helpful to the admissions team. Members of the committee agreed that the yield issue is perhaps one that the committee should study further, to see if alumni and, more specifically, the committee can further assist the Dartmouth admissions team on this important initiative.

Wylie thanked the committee for the opportunity to serve as chair and offered to continue to help the committee and admissions team in the future. Danielle Dyer ’81, ’89Tu, will chair the committee and Tee Lotson ’82 will be the vice chair in 2010-11.