Committee chair Rob Kugler ’67 introduced dean of admissions and financial aid Maria Laskaris ’84, who gave an informative update on admissions that generated many excellent questions. One question of note among the group related to Dean Laskaris’ indication that the majority of admitted students who choose to not enroll in Dartmouth cite the presence of a strong fraternity/sorority system as decreasing their interest in enrolling at Dartmouth. The committee was very concerned about the administration’s response to this data, which has now been present for two consecutive years. Dean Laskaris shared that various offices and areas around the College are aware of this trend, including the Board of Trustees, President Folt, Dean Johnson, and others, and continue to factor this information into ongoing discussions, including the strategic planning process.

Following the dean’s presentation, a very brief discussion on last year’s new initiative, the Yield Project, took place. Although the goal of the project, which was to contact applicants last year who had received “likely” letters from the College to encourage them to accept the offer, was admirable, the results did not show a large impact when compared to students not contacted through the pilot. Consequently, the committee decided to table the project for the time being. The next discussion, led by Dean Laskaris, focused on the values and characteristics of incoming students that admissions utilizes in the application review process. The committee was asked to comment on the attributes, offer new ideas, and discuss how and where the admissions office can look to learn about these qualities in applicants.

This led to a presentation by vice chair Lisa Cloitre ’94 Tu’02 of a new initiative regarding the creation of interviewer training modules that will be created in collaboration with the Admissions Office. Everyone felt there were opportunities around improving the training and delivery of such training for alumni interviewers. With the endorsement of the committee, Cloitre will form a small subcommittee to explore new options for training such as videos, podcasts, and webinars. Cloitre will report their findings and suggestions during the May 2013 meeting, with the goal of implementing new tools for the Class of 2017 cycle.