Dartblog

When I arrived at Yale Law, Dean Wellington introduced the class to itself by describing the varied, colorful backgrounds of many of its members. He limited himself to our achievements in life, those things that we had accomplished by virtue of initiative and hard work. What a group it was.

Today at the Geisel School of Medicine, race, class, gender, geography, and a nod to education make up the salient points that the Director of Admissions wishes to emphasize about the incoming class — to the exclusion of all else. Too bad. One would think that Director Welch would wish to stimulate the faculty with a description of the fun they willl have with their multi-talented and worldly students, rather than just pat himself on the back for hewing to the shallow diversity line of the modern academy.

From: Geisel_Faculty Mail List
[mailto:GEISEL_FACULTY@LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU] On Behalf Of Geisel Administration
Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2012 5:53 PM
To: GEISEL_FACULTY@LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU
Subject: 2012 Entering Class Autobiographies

To: Geisel School Faculty
From: Andrew G. Welch, Director of Admissions
Re: 2012 Entering Class Autobiographies

Attached are the autobiographies written by our new first-year students.

This year’s class was selected by the admissions committee from an applicant pool of over 5,200 individuals. They are a particularly diverse class—57% are women, more than 20% identified themselves in their application materials as “disadvantaged,” and 17% are in the first generation of their family to graduate from college.

The racial/ethnic self-identity of 11% of the class includes “Hispanic, Latino, or of Spanish origin,” 8% “Black or African American,” and 5% “American Indian or Alaskan Native.” The students come from 28 U.S. states, and eight countries, including the People’s Republic of China [2], Bulgaria, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Romania, Singapore, and Zimbabwe. Fifty-four undergraduate institutions are represented (Dartmouth first at 13 students, followed by Amherst [6], Johns Hopkins [4], and Middlebury [4]).

I hope you enjoy working with them!