How should I email an admissions officer

Answered

Establishing demonstrated interest doesn't necessarily mean establishing personal contact with an admissions officer at your school of choice.

If you attended a college event in your home town where an Admissions Representative came to your area to recruit applicants and this person exchanged contact information with you or you had a conversation with them after the presentation, then I think it's okay to reach out to in an email and say "hi, Mr. or Ms. so and so, after your presentation/conversation I decided that Dartmouth is my first choice school and I will be applying ED next fall. i have specific question Greek life on campus. What percentage of Dartmouth students participate in Greek life? And is there an LGBTQIA social club with an active membership?" Or something to that effect. I think you would get a positive response if previous contact was already established.

So demonstrated interest would include the following:

1. Attending local Dartmouth college events in your town/city/state. Usually Dartmouth travels with a group of 5 or 6 other colleges like Princeton, Yale, Williams and visits private high schools or boarding schools. If you attend a large public HS with a good reputation and stats, then it's possible that a Dartmouth rep will come alone for a single visit to your school.

2. Signing up for Dartmouth mailing lists.

3. Visiting the Dartmouth campus and signing up for both the information session and the campus tour.

4. Making yourself available for interviews when you apply ED in the fall.

5. Curating a recommendation from someone who knows you as a peer who attends Dartmouth, perhaps someone from your community who is a little older.

6. Making sure you have a digital forensic footprint by opening all Dartmouth correspondences that come to your inbox.

7. If you have a particular interest in a Dartmouth program or college major like Environmental Science and want to know something specific about the coursework etc, then you can email a Dartmouth faculty who is associated with that department and ask your question. But it should not involve discussing how they can personally help you gain admissions to the college.

8. Attend any webinars online whenever they are available.

9. Follow Dartmouth on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook and if they have a TikTok account, that as well. And interact with the posts on social media.

10. Express your demonstrated interest in the supplemental "Why Dartmouth essay".

Demonstrated Interest would not include:

1. Emailing your college representative with a question(s) that can be answered by visiting the school’s website

2. Just signing up for the mailing list

3. Emailing your rep weekly, calling multiple times, having your parents call multiple times, etc.

4. Not completing “optional” supplemental essays

5. Contacting anyone on the admissions team to seek out a favor or cozy up to them.

My parting advice is don't get too wrapped up in 1 college. It might very well be your favorite but that doesn't mean you are good fit for Dartmouth because there are so many other factors to consider from their point of view. Therefore, it's best that you use your summer to immerse yourself into Dartmouth and see if you really love the place. I would figure out a way to visit the campus in person and talk to the students, admin.who are around, and townspeople. Walk the campus, sit in the library, eat your lunch on the lawn, go to the gift shop, walk around town, imagine yourself already a student there and see if this your perfect scenario.

When I was applying, I felt MIT was my number #1. I visited the campus, I went to the information session, I went on the tour, I ate at the student center. I toured the gym by myself. I watched youtube videos about East Campus and signed up for MITx class. I thought I would like it there and I would fit it. But after the summer, I realized that since I wasn't a STEM person or going to major in a STEM program but humanities, the academic culture wasn't a good fit for me. I knew that 40-50% of the student body belonged to frats or sororities and I wasn't interested in that. The more and more I researched MIT, and the high level of Freshman burn-out and Mental illness on campus, I realized that maybe I need to be in a bigger city with more culture, diversity and things to do outside of school right at my fingertips. So I'm going to Columbia U this fall in NYC and think that is a better vibe for me.

If Dartmouth ED doesn't work out, just make sure you have a solid list of colleges both reach, target, safety that you would genuinely be happy to attend.

Good luck.