Dartmouth '78s

Comments of the Class Prez at the 78LSC Dedication Luncheon

2011-11-29T08:29:00.000-08:00

I would like to address four constituent groups in the next few minutes.

First, President Kim. I thank you for your vision, leadership and commitment to Dartmouth. Having watched your inauguration online and having seen you speak several times in Hanover and once in Seattle, I think you have already proven to be a worthy prime number member of the Wheelock Succession …and we ‘78s know how important prime number presidents are to Dartmouth. In your short tenure you have grasped the two core values of Dartmouth – an unwavering commitment to undergraduate education and respect for the strong sense of community that this place engenders amongst its students, faculty and alumni. That you have grasped these so quickly is even more more remarkable given that you were educated in the backwaters of Providence and Cambridge. You as physician and I as a biochemistry major both know that if I were to cut you today, the combination of oxygen and an iron based compound hemoglobin would cause you to bleed, HEAVEN FORBID…CRIMSON. But I also have no doubt that, whenever you tenure at Dartmouth ends, and I hope that day is a long time in the future, you will, like the rest of us here, BLEED GREEN.

Now, speaking of Bleeding Green, let me turn to my classmates and adopted classmate that have already been recognized earlier for your significant gifts that brought forth the marvelous LSC. I too wish to acknowledge you for your leadership, your passion and your commitment to Dartmouth. For you have converted your talents and accomplishments into a fabulous legacy. And I also wish to thank your spouses, for no philanthropic gift of such scope could or should be made unless in true partnership with a supportive spouse. So, thank you ladies for respecting the passion and commitment your spouses have for their alma mater. But what impresses me most as I stand here today, is not just the passion, commitment and leadership demonstrated by you gentlemen…it’s your generosity. And by generosity, I do not mean the size of the checks written, sizeable though they have been. By generosity I mean that you have given all of your classmates a chance to be part of and recognized as members of this very special class. To me, it’s akin to the “Gift of Grace” if you’ll pardon reference to Christian theology. For you generously and graciously have invited us in on this wonderful gift. But whether we have participated or not, you were willing to stand together unselfishly, to link arms and put the Class of 1978 across the building’s façade. This gift generously acknowledges any 78 now and forever more. Thank you very much.

Next, let me also extend my thanks to the other members of our class who have supported the 78LSC. You, perhaps like myself, with more modest bank accounts and balance sheets, have nevertheless demonstrated the same passion and commitment to Dartmouth. You have acknowledged that Dartmouth meant something to you then and means something to you today. And you have supported this capital project because you believe that being a member of the Dartmouth community and a member of the Class of 1978 is important…and that having our class name on a building may be a gift freely offered by our most significant donors but cognizant that “from whom much is given, much is to be expected.” For, as Mike Jacobson wrote recently, once a ’78 always a ’78. You have answered the call and you have tangibly recognized that it is a privilege to be part of the Dartmouth community and the Class of ’78. Thank you for joining hands and making the 78LSC a reality for students of today and decades to come.

Finally, I wish to address those classmates that have not yet given to the LSC. And here I’d like to offer two anecdotes from personal experience. First, when I sat in front of Baker Library just over three short years ago at our 30^th and heard that our class was donating the funds for the 1978 LSC, well my eyebrows shot up like a Harvard grads GPA at his first post-graduate cocktail party. For I know the development game. Afterall, I began learning it here at the feet of the masters as a class agent our first five years out. It meant that several major donors had been solicited and that probably two-thirds of the goal had been secured already. And my next thought was, ‘gee, my ability to move the needle here is non-existent….should I even bother?” I suspect some of you may have felt this way too. But this brings me to my second story. Just over ten years ago, I led a capital campaign for my small 125 member Presbyterian church in Seattle. We had a centennial coming in 2006 and in 2000 I championed and led a five year capital campaign. Taking a page from the Dartmouth Development playbook, I went out in advance and met with roughly ten families that I thought might be significant donors. With commitments in hand by August 2001, we publicly announced a half million dollar campaign. Mind you, this was post tech bubble and then of course, 9/11 occurred. But we went ahead and announced the campaign to the congregation in late September. Shortly thereafter, I received a letter from a woman in our church who had suffered a series of strokes and other ailments in middle age. She was on disability and of modest means. Her letter, scrawled on blue lined note paper, said that she would like to do more but that all she could afford was $5 a month over the five year period. Well, I’m here to tell you ladies and gentlemen that that gift brought me to my knees. I will always remember it as the most significant gift of the campaign. You see, she wanted to be recognized as a member of the community because it meant something to her. So, my reluctant classmates, contrary to common wisdom, when it comes to the 1978 Life Science Center, SIZE DOES NOT MATTER. What matters is that you have a chance to be member of our special community.

Now let me conclude with the following story. At the recent Class Officer’s Weekend, the unspoken rule is to refer to class leaders as being from ‘the great class of blah blah blah.” It reminds me of political nominating conventions. “The chair recognizes the delegation from the great state of Wyoming or Delaware.” So much political theater that cheapens the word GREAT. So, from now on, I will ask and encourage my fellow class officers to ask to be introduced as from the ‘ACCOMPLISHED AND GENEROUS CLASS OF 1978.” Finally, let’s not let this new Class of 1978 Life Science Center be the culmination of our efforts, let it not be the swan song of our dedication to Dartmouth, the final chapter. Rather, let it be another milestone, a broader platform upon which to build, for we, as a class, have much more to ACCOMPLISH and an even greater legacy of GENEROSITY to convey to this place and institution that we love.

Reaching Out to the "Distant & Disaffected"

2011-05-30T09:33:00.000-07:00

When I accepted the role as Class President (by request and not by nomination or popular vote), I said that my main goal was to build camaraderie and community within our class. I especially want to reach out to the "distant and disaffected," the people for whom Dartmouth wasn't the best time and place in their lives, or for whom the place has been a very distant memory. I believe that, now in our mid-fifties, we have perhaps ten to fifteen years to reclaim folks who never felt they were truly part of our class or community. We have begun this process with our first in what I hope is an annual effort known as 78th Night - bringing classmates together in cities of sufficient concentration to have mini-reunions. By and large, our first effort was very successful with over 12 events planned and executed. But there is much more we can do.

Which brings me to another idea but one that may be controversial. As I look at the data of our class, its reunion attendance, its rates of annual giving, etc. one thing becomes clear. There are three important groups that are under-represented: black women, black men, and women in general. So I ask - is there any way we can recover, reclaim and reach out to these members of our community? Perhaps its too late. Yet, I feel compelled to try.

My initial thought is to begin with the women of our class, regardless of race. If we're truthful with ourselves, Dartmouth was a very difficult place for young women from 1974 to 1978. Should the majority (~750 men) publicly acknowledge and apologize to the minority? Some will say that no public apology is called for, or that such an exercise is condescending. You might argue that "it was to be expected when you have 18-22 year old, testosterone-charged, alcohol-fueled males that bought into the 'tradition' of an all-male Dartmouth." But now, I would ask the men, particularly those with daughters - "would you have wanted your daughter to experience that Dartmouth of the mid-seventies?"

I propose that we have a panel discussion at our upcoming mini-reunion in November 2011. We could call it "Coeducation: Then and Now." Panelists could include male and female '78s with a like number of current undergraduates. But while comparing and contrasting Dartmouth and the sexes some thirty odd years later, we might also debate the merits of 'corporate apologies' and whether it would mean something to the 'distant and disaffected.' I frankly do not know if this would help, but I welcome the debate and would move ahead with the majority opinion if it were possible to discern a majority opinion. And by this I don't mean just the men. I mean the entire community. If women '78s would feel better or vindicated by such an apology, then I would be willing to offer one. But in this instance, it seems that a majority of both sub-groups (women and men) must concur with the verdict, otherwise its a futile and meaningless charade.

I want to hear from you, either through comments to this post, via Facebook, or a direct email. Let the discussion begin, but whatever the outcome, may we have the wisdom and maturity to be inclusive or more inclusive than we were or have been. Peace.

Grading the Performance of Dartmouth Admissions Office - 2011

2011-04-25T21:07:00.000-07:00

How would you judge the performance of Dartmouth's Admissions Office over the last few years? I've been thinking about this question for quite some time but today I read the May/June issue of the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine and specifically, the interview with Maria Laskaris '84 Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid. While the article "Nuanced Decisions" covered many points relating to the challenges of perusing 22,000 applications for the 2,000 plus acceptances the College typically provides, my question remains - if you were President Kim, how would you grade your Admissions team on their performance? In an era where demand for slots dramatically exceeds the supply, should we even care? From a managerial standpoint, its a fascinating question. From a practical standpoint, perhaps less so. What are the parameters upon which Admissions should be measured, especially when inundated with 22,000 applicants, and of which 85-90% are certainly qualified according to Laskaris. Cost per application processed? Four year retention rate for admitted student (in other words, how many drop out or transfer)? Class giving at the 5, 10 and 25 year reunion? I frankly don't know what the right metric or metrics might be. But if Laskaris is right in that 90% of applicants are capable members of the Dartmouth community, she'd do just as well to throw all the applications into the air and randomly pick every tenth one. Of course, this approach ignores the need to fill the 225 slots for athletes needed for various varsity sports. So let's be sure that athletes get first dibs on admissions (as she implies). The balance of the class selection process still could be random. So we support diversity? Do we give enough preference to legacies? And what of those legacies that aren't admitted? Has the College ever studied the impact on alumni giving? (I bet they have but will never publish the study).

What say you, folks? Anyone got some brilliant ideas or responses to this dilemma? Or should we just say that in an age when the supply of qualified applicants greatly exceeds the supply of slots, why worry? Just give an gold star to Maria and the entire team and wait for next year's flood of common apps to clog the hard drives in the Admissions Office. Inquiring minds want to know!

Is Dartmouth Worth It?

2011-04-11T15:40:00.000-07:00

This is but the first of many questions I wish to raise with you my fellow D78s. It refers to today's Dartmouth not ours of the mid-70s. But first some background.

I am a D78 and a Darden MBA 82. My wife is Princeton79 and Vanderbilt Law 82. We have two sons, one about to graduate from WashU-StLouis and the other a freshman at Tufts (who applied ED to Dartmouth and was rejected both early and late). They drank our Koolaid - go to the best school possible. I enjoyed the college shopping process with my guys (more on this in another post). We pay full retail rates for both and will have spent $400,000 or more before its all over. Now I ask - is this price tag worth it?

I had copies of my tuition bills which my dad saved and passed along to me. My parents spent just about $24,000 for my four years at Dartmouth. When I came out, my first job in Nashville TN in commercial banking paid just under $10,000 (Crime and commercial banking - neither pay!) annually or 41% of my total education bill. Some of you probably did better.

Today, parents at Dartmouth or any other prestigious school can now expect to pay somewhere between $220,000 and $240,000 not including travel from the west coast and such. A web search on average starting salaries for college grads in 2010 yielded a figure of $43,000 per year or 22% (43/200, 200 being my approximation for the four year retail cost from '06-'10). So I ask you - is it worth it?

Yes, I will be the first to admit that my rough data extraction doesn't account for the heavy predilection for Wall St investment banking, consulting or engineering salaries which Ivy grads probably grab in greater percentages. And yes, the economy has been awful for the past three years and unable to absorb recent college grads. But is the higher education model broken? Like healthcare, can a predominantly service business with highly qualified labor costs, continue to be sustained?

One last anecdote. I recently went to a Princeton alumni function where their president Shirley Tilghman spoke. Like any confident Dartmouth grad, I asked the question - is a Princeton education worth it? Dr. Tilghman gave a nice five minute response that ultimately offered up two tidbits. First, she said that had studies showing that their graduates get a return on their investment within seven years. [I didn't challenge this and would like to see the study.] And second, the average tuition paid per student at Princeton was $17,000 per year. It wasn't until later that I realized - 'Damn, and we're paying full retail' What kind of deal is that? So, let me leave you with other questions that this topic invites.
For people like us that are well enough to pay full retail, is this a good investment?
Can higher education continue to use this model with prices routinely rising higher than the CPI?
If its true that tuition doesn't cover full operating costs, then endowments become even more critical. So alums get hit up for annual contributions. Is this sustainable?
Looking forward to your comments....Dave

The Purpose of 78th Night 2011

2011-02-19T11:07:00.000-08:00

Dear Loyal Reader (that would be you Hunt):

We are in the midst of planning a series of 78th Night events around the country - and in Paris if Anne Bagamery can find the three or so classmates on the Continent. Next week, Barbara Southwell is co-hosting the first event in the DC area. We have one scheduled here in Seattle on March 12th and then several during the week of March 14th (NYC, LA, SF and others). The main purpose behind these events is simply to bring classmates together to renew old friendships and build new ones. With most of us in the 54 plus/minus age, we have reached an age where maturity (finally) is matched by enough self-confidence to go out and meet new people without the one-upsmanship that characterized our early post-graduate years. Some of us are empty-nesters, others are close behind, so we are now less committed to weekend soccer/hockey/skiing/swimming/band events for our kids and capable of seeking new outlets for our intellectual and emotional lives. I encourage all classmates to attend an event in your area if possible. Stepping up to help co-host would be even better. It's a short but simple project, one that allows us to reach out and touch people we haven't seen or didn't even know in Hanover back in the day. I guarantee that those classmates that pick up this challenge will be pleasantly surprised at who they might meet and the friendships that will develop. Now is the time. We have probably one last decade where we are reasonably malleable and willing to put ourselves out before we become truly crusty, curmudgeonly old folk set in our ways and less capable of making new friendships. My hope is that 78th Night 2011 is just the first in an annual series that will strengthen the bonds of friendship in our class as we begin that inexorable march toward the twilight of our careers. Enjoy!

#9 You Are Not Bullet Proof

2011-01-13T13:59:00.000-08:00

I don’t expect you to understand this admonishment but let me put it down for the record. YOU ARE NOT BULLET PROOF. YOU ARE NOT IMMORTAL. Alas, the brain of the young adult, particularly males, is not fully hard-wired to accept these facts. In fact, the young adult brain seems, if anything, to be hard-wired for taking amusing risks for overindulging in alcohol, drugs, sex and fast food – all of which if consumed to excess will probably kill you.

Yes, college is a time for extending your boundaries, pressing the limits, exploring new things. This often leads to wild pranks, crazy parties (Toga, toga, toga!!!) and strange behaviors. A lot of this can be alcohol or drug induced. Strangely, there is often the understated competition to out drink one’s peers to prove who is more manly. While mainly a testosterone induced phenomenon, this has been known to occur in women though with much less frequency.

Allow this child of the 70’s a chance to provide some context. In my day, the drinking age was eighteen. Casual drug use was fairly widespread. The Pill had been available for a decade and pre-marital sex was practiced by many. Not everyone did these things but they weren’t exactly frowned upon either. Indeed, there was a general feeling of tolerance if not active and wholehearted participation. But since those days, society got smarter. Drinking ages were returned to twenty-one and there has been plenty of public press about the dangers of drunk driving. Beginning the in early 1980’s with the emergence of HIV and AIDS, society has tried to dial back the headlong rush into pre-marital sex. My impression is that you and your peers have by and large gotten these important messages imbued into your subconscious, albeit without uniform acceptance or commitment. When we parents say the world is a scarier place, perhaps it’s because these threats that didn’t exist in our day. It may be that we’re more invested in you as our children than we’d care to admit. Regardless of the cause, the most important thing is that you are not immortal. The decisions you make when you’re on your own in college are your responsibility. Actions have consequences and if you’re not careful, bad stuff can happen. Be careful.

There are many other potentially important life lessons, but let me leave you with these. You many not agree with or appreciate my ‘words of wisdom’ but I hope that reading this will make you think just a bit more about the years ahead. You have great talent, great spirit and great potential, but always, always be willing to listen to your elders, and do so with an open mind. We may surprise you – occasionally.

#8 Commit to Life-Long Exercise

2011-01-13T13:57:00.001-08:00

You know how I feel about exercise. Let me address this briefly from two perspectives – intellectual and physical/emotional. Taking the rational approach first, I think it unnecessary to review all the literature which demonstrates that people, who stay fit, manage their weight and remain active live longer and with fewer health problems than those who don’t. The popular press has been trumpeting American society’s growing obesity problem. My own opinion is that we are in a multi-generational transition from physical labor to so-called ‘knowledge workers.’ What was a combined agrarian/industrial economy at the beginning of the twentieth century evolved quickly into a white collar, service economy within a century. The consequences have been more sedentary lives with much less physical labor during the work day. Even knowledge work will lead to mental fatigue at the end of the day. It therefore becomes easy for people to come home and veg-out in front of TV or the internet. But carving out a little time each day for physical exercise will enhance your prospects for a healthier life.

As to the physical/emotional rationale, I could cite such things as the ‘runner’s high’ a known fact that steady sustained exercise releases beta-endorphins that are known to create feelings of good will in the brain. Exercise is known to reduce the negative effects of depression. Other studies show that people that look fit and trim have a decided advantage in job interviews. But ultimately it gets down to feeling good about yourself. Regular exercise does that and more.

I am confident that any college bound student aspiring to play or participate in an intercollegiate sport gets the idea of exercise and conditioning. But what amazed me most about our tours to various colleges over the summer was that nearly all of them made a point of showing off the exercise facilities open to all members of the college, not just the varsity athletes. And students were using them!!! Though our present day health club culture may have transferred to the collegiate level, and that your classmates are simply emulating their parents, there is much to be said for sustaining exercise and conditioning well beyond your college years. I hope you will embrace this philosophy as your mother and I have.

#7 Commit to Life-Long Learning

2011-01-13T13:56:00.001-08:00

Lifelong learning. Perhaps this phrase already resonates with you. Or perhaps, if you are like I was, you viewed school and college as a step on the way, a phase, a necessary evil, something to be endured so that you could get out in the ‘real world’ and earn a living. I am here to tell you that this model for life is flat out wrong. It’s true that you are tracking toward college and perhaps even on to graduate school. But that is not where knowledge ends. You won’t learn everything there is to know by age 22 or 26 or even 36. But you will have the tools and hopefully the interests to continue broadening your horizons even as you commit to a particular career or profession.

College can be enlightening, enthralling, intimidating and all at once. Arriving on campus and picking up the course guide as a freshman may cause you to marvel at all the great courses offered at your college or university. If you are a passionate learner, you may find yourself wishing you could stay in college forever and take every class. One of my dorm mates voiced that very opinion one evening over dinner in our freshman year. While he didn’t stick around to accomplish the goal, the sentiment was real and we all understood it. There were some 750 classes offered in the Course Guide and to graduate we needed a minimum of 33. I managed to take 35 classes and therefore participated in less than 5% of what my school offered. Your experience will likely be the same. Even the courses you select may leave you feeling like drinking from the proverbial fire hose. Acknowledge this and move ahead fully aware that you’ve got an entire life with which to keep learning. The most fun and interesting people you will meet in life will be committed lifelong learners.

#6 Get to Know (at least) One Professor Very Well

2011-01-13T13:55:00.000-08:00

One of my biggest regrets from my college experience was not getting to know a professor really well. The fault was my own, but some context might be helpful. I entered college committed to majoring in a life science and was a stated pre-med. I took all the courses but never truly had the ‘fire in the belly’ that many of my peers had and consequently when they were getting A’s and B+’s I was getting B’s or B-‘s. Sadly for me, I was too cool to ‘suck up’ to the chemistry or biology professors. Because being pre-med was popular in my era, I didn’t want to be seen as a ‘brown-noser.’ So when it came time to apply to medical school and graduate school, who could I turn to? No one. Frankly, my grades didn’t merit selection to any medical school and perhaps a sterling recommendation from a science prof might not have helped. But I didn’t have anyone to turn to because I had never reached out myself. Don’t make this mistake.

If you Follow Your Passion, I am confident that you will find a subject or a major that has at least one professor that ‘lights you up’. Don’t be afraid to approach him or her and visit during office hours. While seeking out help with a particular assignment or project might be a reasonable entrée, it might be better simply to approach the professor and see if you can volunteer in her/his lab, or grade papers, or help with their research. Trust me on this one, they want to interact with you as much as you do with them. The joy in teaching is getting young people to light up and become passionate learners in their chosen field. It won’t take much of an effort and it will be well rewarded. Before you know it, you’ll be invited out to lunch or over for dinner or asked to accompany him on a foreign trip. It will be an enriching experience and quite probably lead to a long-term friendship.

#5 Study in Groups

2011-01-13T11:30:00.001-08:00

Study in Groups

I recommended earlier that you Go Big and perhaps reach for one of those prestigious Ivy League degrees. Perhaps that kind of school seems ultra-competitive and certainly the admissions process will be extremely competitive with only 10% to 15% acceptance rates. But once you get there or a similarly selective college, throw away those competitive urges and consider this strange piece of advice – find other members in particular courses or classes to study with. This suggestion may work best in scientific or technical courses, but it has applicability across the entire spectrum of college classes. Based upon the college recruiting process and the myriad of tours and information sessions, most colleges appear to be offering one or more course of study where group work is a requirement. Collaboration is a critical life lesson. And you can turn it to your advantage if you are willing to seek out other members in the same course of study and ask to review lecture notes, or prepare for tests or quizzes.

Let me offer a personal example. I was pre-med in college and majoring in biochemistry. Sophomores were required to take organic chemistry, a two term course that was deemed the weeding out obstacle for many less than committed pre-med students. My first term, I did my own studying just as I always had but it was a struggle and I managed to earn a C+. In the second term, I began working with some guys on my hall. We would prep for quizzes and tests by working problems together or at least testing one another. This much more collaborative approach proved beneficial and I improved my grade to a B. Unfortunately, I did not do this more often in college or my GPA would have been higher.

No matter what college or university you select, future success will require collaboration. Traditionally, participation in team sports provided some small measure of learning how to work together in a group with a common goal or purpose. Though team sports continue to fulfill that role today, there are many great athletes, whose strengths and interests are oriented to sports like golf, tennis, skiing or running. Academically speaking, many fine graduate business and law schools encourage group study and collaborative projects. My point is to encourage you to think about this as an undergraduate. Accelerate the process from being a graduate school endeavor to a college endeavor. In doing so you will learn or strengthen skills like team building, cooperation, conflict resolution. You might just make some of the most meaningful and rewarding life-long friendships that arise under conditions of shared stress and challenge. And if you Go Big and get admitted to a topflight college or university, the people in your class will have amazing skills and interests that can only enrich your life. So seek out a study group if the subject or class warrants it. You will not be disappointed.

#4 Explore the World - Study Abroad

2011-01-13T11:29:00.001-08:00

Explore the World – Study Abroad

Nearly all colleges and universities offer foreign studies or semesters abroad. They can be for language immersion, arts and culture, history, sociology, and even the sciences and engineering. Regardless of your major or field of interest, take advantage of this at least once during your collegiate career. These programs, regardless of the subject matter, will be amongst the most memorable times of your life. The chance to live abroad for a semester or summer will give you insights that merely visiting on a two week vacation never will. Besides, this is the time of your life when you are most flexible and capable of experiencing new things that come from foreign travel and experiences. If you go with students from your own school, the depth of friendships and relationships that can be built goes well beyond your own campus. It will also afford you the chance to get to know one or two professors extremely well which could come in handy when graduate school applications loom on the horizon.

Going abroad doesn’t necessarily require studying a foreign language, though we Americans are generally awful at speaking another tongue. Even if the world language continues to be English, you will gain a competitive advantage in the job market someday by having a facility for another language. But even a term abroad somewhere in the UK will give you a feel for another culture. This too will have great value and impact on your life and career. It’s different enough over there to show you that the USA is not the only place in the world. Far from it.

I heard (but cannot confirm) a statistic that only 15% of American citizens have passports. If this is true, be one of the 15%. In his recent book “The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century,” Thomas Friedman describes a world increasingly driven by globalization and the emergence of powerful middle classes in China and India. Both these regions place a very high value on education and will soon be competing with the US and other western powers for economic dominance in the coming century. You’d better get out there and see what they are up to or you risk being left behind.

#3 Follow Your Passions

2011-01-13T11:28:00.001-08:00

Follow Your Passions

Without exception, colleges will demand that students determine an area of focus often termed a ‘major.’ Many students will think about majors in terms of careers or something that will set them up for graduate programs or professional schooling – medicine, law or business. Pre-meds will focus on the life sciences, pre-lawyers will gravitate toward political science or economics, and so on. That’s what I did and I’m not sure I made the right move.

Instead, I suggest that you follow your passion, regardless of where it might lead from a career perspective. Even if its religion or philosophy or some other esoteric subject that doesn’t have an obvious career path attached to it, be willing to risk it and follow that path. Of course, these statements assume that if you are passionate about a topic, you will excel at it. If you are not willing to excel at it, then a “passion” is not much more than a hobby. Not that hobbies are bad, but a passionate commitment to learning about a particular subject will shine through on your college transcript.

Let me offer one proviso here. If you find that you have more than one passion – one being in a highly technical area and one in the arts, then I would recommend that you pursue the technical subject matter. Research the job market and you will find that technical degrees or people with highly technical training out earn their peers with interests in the arts and humanities. If this seems unfair to those of you with interests in drama, fine arts or literature, I am sorry. But society currently values technical training with higher paying jobs.

This plug for technical studies over humanities (again, if your passions for both are nearly equivalent) also plays to an expected dearth of American born science and engineering graduates in the coming decades. No less that the National Academy of Sciences predicts that shortfalls in such graduates are likely to hamstring the US economy in the years ahead, particularly relative to China and India, the emerging Asian superpowers. If the scale for you is balanced between science and humanities, lean toward science.

#2 Go Big

2011-01-13T11:27:00.001-08:00

Go Big

This simple phrase means to dream BIG dreams and get out there and pursue them. From a college selection perspective it might mean that you should really reach for a school that will push your boundaries and limits beyond what you think you are capable of today. It might mean selecting a major that you know will demand more work, energy and commitment than one that might mean skating by. It could apply to sports or other extracurricular activities. Do you want to make the varsity boat as a freshman? Do you want to compete at the highest levels possible? Are you willing to put in the time and effort to do so? Big dreams demand big commitments.

At your age, there really is no such thing as failure. To this point in your life, you may have had moments where you really worked hard at school or sports or band, but for most kids, life has not yet been terribly demanding. Only a select few of your colleagues has developed that all encompassing desire to be ‘tops in the class’ or captain of the team. But now is a great time to really dream big dreams and go for it. If you apply to an Ivy League school or any other highly selective place (assuming you have the basic fundamental skills and academic achievements to warrant this) and don’t get in, it’s not the end of the world. After all, there has been no research support showing that Ivy Leaguers out-earn or out-perform their peers from ‘lesser’ institutions five years or more from graduation. Though such data call into question the value of an Ivy League degree, there may be intangibles to the Ivy or near-Ivy experience that you will enjoy later in life. Are you motivated by thinking about making a mark in a class where nearly all the other students have scores and skills as good or better than yours? Another way to look at this is applying the old saw “big fish, little pond or little fish, big pond.” Which would you rather be? A shining star where the competition is limited, or an also-ran where highly motivated people apply themselves in seemingly inhuman ways. Now is the time to Go Big, Reach for the Stars and all the other clichés that encourage one to dream and reach. For as Yoda indicated to young Skywalker when he promised to try and use the Force to levitate objects:

YODA: No! Try not. Do. Or do not. There is no try.

Many have tried to parse this statement from a pop culture movie, but I believe that the writers were emphasizing that commitment to Big Dreams and goals is essential to success. Do. Or do not. There is no try.

Are there conflicts between Know Thyself and Go Big? Perhaps, but these conflicts are for you to decide upon. College will be your time to make decisions for yourself, decide what, when, where and how to study, sleep, eat and socialize. Are you willing to Go Big? Or will you reach a point later in life when you look back and say “if only I had committed myself more to the goal of……whatever you could have imagined for yourself. Better to have aimed high and fallen short than to never have aimed at all.

#1 Know Thyself

2011-01-13T11:26:00.000-08:00

Know Thyself

This is first on my list and may be the most challenging. Young adults, with rare exceptions, have a limited or constrained life experience. But young people that rate highly on self-awareness – knowing one’s likes and dislikes, understanding how you might best fit into a college community, how you prefer to spend your free time, understanding your threshold for hard work – will have an advantage in the college selection process. You will be asked in most cases to articulate why you are interested in a particular school or program. If you are not completely certain why that institution appeals to you, the admissions officers will spot that quickly and easily – with understandable consequences.

One current example I have seen comes from several high schoolers from Seattle who profess to want to be in an urban environment for college. They think that Seattle is a major city and therefore they will only be happy in a similar environment. Let me assure you that Seattle is not a major city like Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco or Los Angeles. Seattle is mainly a very pleasant sub-urban environment with mostly detached, albeit high density, single family homes in nice neighborhoods with access to parks and greenspaces that are not readily found in other major urban centers.

Similarly, very few high school kids have taken advantage of what a city like Seattle offers. Unless parents have taken them to cultural, arts and sporting events, all of which are pretty pricey, especially for a college student with limited discretionary funds, it’s not clear to me that Seattle kids really understand what a big urban setting is truly like. Unquestionably, urban located colleges will have great energy and a myriad of choices for dining, nightlife and social outlets. But big city schools have drawbacks as well. Security must be tighter. Cars are typically not a great thing to have due to higher costs for parking and insurance. And city schools by their very nature may lead to a large percentage of your classmates and potential friends filtering away on any given evening. Hence, some of the most enjoyable aspects of college such as camaraderie and the chance to build lifelong friendships can be impeded in urban schools. While this is not absolutely true, recognize that it can and does happen.

Knowing your self and your interests, especially for a college community, demands more reflection and insight than simple knee-jerk responses about location, school size, character and such. One suggestion might be to test your own self-concepts with friends at high school. Ask them to describe yourself and what type of environment they see you most comfortable with. You might be surprised by the responses. Even if you are not surprised, having more than one person’s opinion can help solidify your own beliefs about the right college setting for your personality and character. Whatever the case, please think long and hard about the type of person you are and the kind of environment you want for a college experience. While changes are always possible, and some portion of the freshman class will transfer after their first or even second year, such moves often mean more time, more money and more aggravation to earn a bachelor’s degree.

Advice for the College Bound HS Senior

2011-01-13T11:24:00.000-08:00

Dear D78 Classmates,
Welcome to the first of hopefully many installments on a blog i plan to develop covering issues related to our lives as Dartmouth grads some 32 years down the road. My first installment will begin with a portion of an essay I wrote over four years ago when our older son was beginning what I affectionately call the "college shopping process." You may be well beyond this stage, but for some, perhaps my words will inspire your own thoughts on what and how to convey to your child. I welcome your feedback on this or any of my posts. Bear in mind that I wrote this for a 17 year old boy who promptly blew it off as "too long" reinforcing that in this internet age, anything longer than a paragraph taxes their attention spans.

Indulge my fantasies just this once and let me believe that you will read this summary of nine things I think are worthy of personal consideration and reflection as you enter the process of determining the first big step in your life and your own road to independence. When I was a college freshman, I recall the Dean of Students telling us at matriculation that the next four years would be a time of going from a state of dependence to one of independence. Those thoughts resonated with me then and still do today. The time period from age eighteen or nineteen to twenty-two represents that threshold period that moves you to the point of being (nearly) independent. Hopefully, by the time you complete your college education you will have marketable job skills, the freedom to make your own decisions, and the obligation to accept responsibility for your decisions.

Below, I list nine themes that I think you should seriously contemplate as you prepare for your journey toward independence. Some of them apply directly to the college selection process. Others relate to the college experience. The remaining ones represent values that I believe most strongly in throughout your entire life. These long-lasting values are not to be ignored, indeed, getting an early start during your formative years of emerging independence would be admirable. In other words, it’s never too soon to get started. The themes are:

Know Thyself
Go Big
Follow your Passion(s)
Explore the World – Study Abroad
Study in Groups
Commit to Lifelong Exercise
Commit to Lifelong Learning
Give Back to Your Community
You Are Not Bullet-Proof