College Admissions Counseling Blog

You may be wondering why you should care if Dartmouth College wants to reconsider the way its trustees are elected. Dartmouth elects its trustees, the governing board of the college, in one of two ways. Members are elected by each other and by elections by alumni. The problem, at least for Dartmouth, is that the recent alumni elected trustees have not been the officially nominated candidates. Rather, they were elected by alumni who are critical of the administration of the college and the way it is being run. In an effort to control such criticism by trustees the administration is seeking a review of the way trustees are elected.

This is yet another example of one of the issues that a student may want to consider in deciding where to apply to college. If the administration of the college is not open to critical comments from its trustees, are they going to be willing to listen to criticism from its students? And remember that the trustees in question are alumni of Dartmouth, not some strangers unfamiliar with the culture of the college.

Issues like the one facing Dartmouth are faced by colleges all the time. You as a prospective student need to be aware of such issues to make an informed decision in the selection of where to apply. Like most other issues, there are no right or wrong answers to the search for the right college. But each student needs to consider issues like the one facing Dartmouth in their search for the right college for that student.