Think back to the moment when you signed the enrollment agreement form confirming your decision to come to Dartmouth.
I can almost guarantee that, as we signed the next four years of our life away to the College on the Hill, many of us were thinking the same thing: Thank the SAT gods, I will never again have to fill out another Common Application.
But, if you think that doing your college applications was a huge pain in your proverbial ass, try having to do it two years in a row.
I'm talking, of course, about transfer students: those select few who took a minor detour on their road to Dartmouth.
If you're one of those people who is convinced that your senior year of high school was the most competitive admissions year of them all, try this statistic on for size: According to the Office of Institutional Research, Dartmouth's transfer student acceptance rate for fall 2008 was about 6 percent not exactly a picnic.
Still, while their journey to Hanover may not have been the smoothest nor the most direct many transfer students interviewed by The Dartmouth this week said that the Big Green has been well worth the wait.
"[I wasn't] completely satisfied with how things were [at Tulane]," Natalie Young '10, who transferred to Dartmouth from Tulane University after her freshman year. "[Transferring] required a lot of work, but I'm the kind of person that, if there are opportunities out there and I'm not sure if I want to take them, I'd rather do what I can to get that opportunity for myself than not."
Ping Khuan Sim '11 similarly said he felt limited by the class offerings and opportunities for students at his previous school, Carleton College.
"Towards the end of sophomore year, I realized I wanted to go to business school or [do] investment banking, and I didn't feel that Carleton was preparing me very well," he said. "I felt I exhausted all the classes I wanted to take by sophomore year. There was nothing really new to explore anymore."
Many of these transfer students told The Dartmouth that, even once they knew they needed a change of pace, the hurdle between deciding to leave and sharing that sentiment with others loomed large.
"What was hard was not the college application process itself but telling people you were transferring," Sean Schultz '12, a transfer from Amherst College, said. "[There is a] social stigma attached to even contemplating leaving your school. My roommate doesn't even know I transferred."
Claire Hunter '12, who transferred to Dartmouth from the University of Sydney, agreed.
"I only told one or two of my really close friends," she said. "And when I told [them] I was moving to New Hampshire, they'd be like, What the hell?'"
Many of these students said that, upon arrival, their excitement about all that Dartmouth had to offer alleviated any lingering doubt.
"I was expecting that it would be somewhere where people worked hard and partied hard because that was the representation I got from other people, and I really do think that that matches up with my experience," Young said.
Sim said he was pleasantly surprised by Dartmouth's comfortable learning environment.
"I was afraid that I couldn't cope academically," he said. "But I realized that everyone is just really cool about studying and passing ideas along, and no particular student is ever dominating the class discussion. Everyone is keen on learning, and learning together."
Still, some students said that the College could do a better job at welcoming and integrating its transfer students.
"They make us do trips, which is great, but beyond that I feel like I have more '13 friends," Schultz said. "And [all the transfers] are in Butterfield [residence hall]. It's nice because they're trying to create a community of transfer students, but in terms of integration it's not that helpful."
Despite these obstacles, however, these students each said they have quickly become enamored with certain aspects of the College's distinct culture.
"[I love] how rooted the traditions are, like Homecoming and DOC Trips," Sim said. "These are some things you just cannot take away from Dartmouth."
"Blitz," said Snowy Liu '11, a transfer from McGill University. "If I don't get blitzes for two hours I suffer from blitz withdrawal."
Even in their abbreviated time at the College, many of these transfer students said they have found themselves fully indoctrinated into the Dartmouth bubble.
"Everyone else loves it, and people want you to love it as much as they do," Hunter said. "I haven't felt that way at any other place I've been to in my whole life."
