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The Class of 2005by Rollo Begley
Average SAT scores are in the middle of a slight decline, and accepted students are showing less interest in the sciences than in previous years, while interest in the social sciences has been steadily increasing. In addition, although the raw number of students given scholarships has increased, the percentage of students given scholarships has declined for the second straight year. One of the admittance demographics experiencing a large increase was legacies. The class of 05 includes 110 legacies, compared with 87 for the 04s, 82 for the 03s, and 92 for the 02s. According to Dean of Admissions Karl Furstenberg, students were attracted to Dartmouth because of its "amazing faculty and academic program" as well as its overseas programs, feeling of community, and its "generous financial aid program." They were concerned, he claims, with the lack of urban resources, the CFS system, and the use of alcohol.
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Tuesday,
May 1, was the deadline for accepted students to accept or turn down
their acceptances, and the preliminary results of the class of 2005
are somewhat alarming compared to the classes above them. While the
number of students who applied declined, the number of students
admitted has risen, bringing the acceptance rate up to nearly 23% from
last years rate of 21.4%. Countering that is the fact that a record
number of accepted students have chosen Dartmouth, meaning that
Dartmouth is not going to use its waitlist at all. Although the
results are preliminary at this point, of the 1180 students who have
chosen Dartmouth, 595 will be male and 585 will be female, making the
class of 05 more balanced than any of the three classes that will
be above it. The class is also noteworthy because it represents a
significant increase in foreign and Mid-Western students at the
expense of students from New England. Asian American and Native
American students both also experienced increases, but only two
students describing themselves as multi-racial are enrolling, a
significant decline.