As you may have heard, applications for the Class of 2018 are strikingly low. The news has reverberated far and wide as commentators — some qualified, and some less so — speculate about the 14 percent drop in applications. The administration, quick to put its spin on the situation, pointed to uncontrollable national demographic shifts as the cause. A College press release cited the smaller number of students applying to college to account for the change. The decline in applicants has coincided with recent negative publicity. This media coverage of Dartmouth, not demographic change, tuition or AP tests, has been the driving factor behind this shift.
The nationwide demographic shift, of course, would also cause a decline in applications to other Ivy League schools, which, except for the small decreases at Harvard University and Columbia University, has not been the case. In fact, the University of Pennsylvania even saw a 14 percent increase in applications.
Explanations for Dartmouth’s admissions issues run the gamut. An admissions office survey suggested that high tuition, concerns about the College’s social life and Dartmouth’s rural setting may have been factors. The Washington Post opined that the College’s decision to no longer accept AP credits led to this year’s dearth of applicants.
By the Washington Post’s estimation, Dartmouth’s decision to stop accepting AP credits for the Class of 2018 onwards merits “a prize this year for cluelessness in American higher education.” While a discussion of the merits and drawbacks of AP credits is perhaps necessary, arbitrarily pointing to this change in policy to explain the 14 percent decline holds little water. Many other colleges accept only select AP credits, yet they have not seen a great backlash. Once admitted, applicants may examine the College’s AP policy and determine the cost, which would not account for such a drop in risk-free, non-binding regular applications. Of all the determinants in choosing a college — campus, academic reputation, social life, affordability — AP scores alone are simply not significant enough to sway thousands of would-be applicants.
Similarly, suggesting that tuition hikes caused the decline does not stand up to scrutiny after considering the costs of other Ivies and higher education trends. Columbia, for instance, costs more than Dartmouth and only saw a 1.5 percent drop in applications. Meanwhile, the cost of college has steadily been on the climb. Another year’s increase is no surprise.
Moreover, since regular decision is non-binding, an applicant has nothing to lose and everything to gain by applying. If his or her financial aid package underwhelms, an admitted student could certainly turn down acceptance to Dartmouth, but cost alone cannot explain a 3,000-applicant drop. If tuition hikes were actually the issue, then it would most likely coincide with a decline in binding early decision applications, yet early decision applications saw a rise.
Other purported factors, like the rural setting, are nothing new and would not explain the drop.
Dartmouth’s reputation, however, has been sullied in recent years. The infamous Rolling Stone article came out in 2012, the Dimensions protests and backlash occurred in April 2013 and investigators from the federal Department of Education have visited the College as part of a Title IX investigation.
I do not wish to use this column as a space to make clichéd, divisive platitudes one way or another. I don’t want to accuse the Greek system of perpetuating a classist, racist, sexist, ableist, homophobic, heteronormative environment or pretend that we can bury our heads in the sand and ignore allegations about the Greek system. The phrase “Dartmouth has a problem” has become extremely divisive, but Dartmouth does have an objectively legitimate problem attracting applications.
Like it or not, the press coverage reflects Dartmouth. The College should heed this drop in applicants as a warning and take steps not to merely mobilize its PR campaign, but rather address genuine grievances that have warded people off. Whether or not the bad publicity is warranted, Dartmouth needs to change something, or else it risks becoming obsolete compared to its peer institutions. This is its wake-up call.
