Friends, the Bitch-Goddess Winter has come to Hanover once again, heralding, as always, hibernation, seasonal depression, passing out in snow drifts, the eating of cute endangered polar bears, and the initiation into the College community of a fresh batch of Dartmouth students. These benificiaries of Dartmouth’s early acceptance program, however, are still pulsating with the vitality that accompanies healthy livers and the energetic, productive lifestyles they were presumably forced to live in order to attain that Golden Ticket: an Early Decision acceptance letter (with Dean Furstenberg in the Willy Wonka role).

Yes, the first ‘09s are here, brimming with optimism about Dartmouth life, the social scene, the fraternity system, the social scene, and even – gasp! - academics. We at TDI sort of like to consider them to be people too, rather than objects of intoxicated heckling, rapid-consumption challenges, and hazing with Grey Goose and a plastic ninja sword . So without further ado, let’s take a first look at our future friends and pong partners.

According to another campus publication that concerns itself with “news” and “facts,” 33.6% of the ED applications were admitted into the class of 2009, with an admirable 39% of them graduating first or second in their high school classes and scoring a mean of 1430 on the SAT. Of these 397 admittees, 397 will matriculate, should they not murder anyone in the interim. 123 will participate in varsity athletics. 57 will join the TDI staff. Two will live in my current room (sorry about the carpet stains). And four deigned to tell TDI about their life stories, their ambitions, and their perceptions of Dartmouth.

These 4 heroes of journalistic research, hailing from Massachusetts to Alabama, applied because of “the people, community, atmosphere, the professor-student relationships,” and because “I heard everyone is so psyched to be there,” said Kathryn Fay ’09 of Wellesley Hills, MA. “The campus was incredibly gorgeous, and I'd heard nothing but praise from the graduates of my school who had gone off to Dartmouth. It had the top-notch academics I wanted in a school combined with a great social scen and a real feeling of community,” Elizabeth Brown in Maine wrote, “The location was perfect, and Hanover reminded me of my hometown.”

For Jessica Schuster ’09, of Brookville, Long Island, it was “Blitzmail, the skiing, the relaxed student body, the D-Plan (traveling sounds cool), the very liberal-arts atmosphere, and the Winter Carnival” that appealed to her. “Oh yeah, and the academics. I heard those are okay too.” Two other students added, “I knew it was what I was looking for,” and “It simply felt right.”

The perceptions of Dartmouth similarly varied amongst the applicants. Kathryn expressed nervousness at competing with “such crazy smart people,” while Jessica characterized the student body as “outdoorsy and preppy and homogeneous.” Ben Mandel ’09, from Connecticut, expects students to range from “the studious image to the notorious Animal House” image. Most expressed guarded enthusiasm about the frat scene and acknowledged the alleged preponderance of alcohol on campus. A ’09 from Alabama who wished to remain anonymous echoed others in citing the outdoorsy nature of Dartmouth as a positive: “I’ve heard the most about the DOC and really look forward to the pre-freshman trip.”

But this is the standard story, repeated by each successive class of Dartmouthians to be. More importantly, what are the members of the next Worst Class Ever like, SAT scores aside? Some were the prototypical well-rounded-student types, dabbling in interests diverse as swimming, XC, sailing, tennis, animal shelter volunteering, piano playing, peer work, teaching a sex/drugs/alcohol class, tutoring kids, lifeguarding, hiking, camping (all Kathryn), ice hockey, NHS, classics (Elizabeth), debate, piano (again), crew, philosophy, Russian, “her own radio show” (Jessica), marching band, and quiz bowl.

Clearly, they are a multitalented bunch, whether like the Alabama applicant, who went to a religious high school in a town with “not much to do” and who “never even intended to visit Dartmouth,” or like Jessica, who attended the prestigious Phillips Academy in Andover, MA, and who “chose Dartmouth because it reminds her of high school.” Incidentally, Jessica, whose school sends four to eight students to Dartmouth each year and whose parents are alumni, seemed better informed about Dartmouth than the other applicants (and myself, actually). She opined on such venerated institutions as Blitzmail (“awesome”), the town and gown (Hanover “might be a little too quiet”), sophomore summer (“What’s up with that?”), the River and Choates (“They’re like, in Canada”), the Salty Dog Rag (“kind of sketchy”), and Dartmouth in general (“kickass”).

While all the lucky candidates responded with shock and elation, 2/3 of the applicants now return to the tortuous and bittersweet game that is the admissions process, to join us or other colleges in the Regular round. Elizabeth was one such applicant, rejected despite her 1450 SAT score, high SAT IIs, top 10% GPA, and essay on why she applied to Dartmouth - despite her legacy advantage at Harvard. “It hurts to put your whole life on paper and have someone tell you that you're not even worth a second look. It was the first time most of my friends had seen me cry. Since then, I've pretty much moved on, but I'm still a little bit bitter about the whole thing, I guess. I still think that I would have been very happy at Dartmouth, and that I could have made them proud. I haven't completely given up the dream—maybe I'll transfer.”

So, to current and forthcoming Dartmouth students, remember just how lucky you were a month ago, a year ago, four years ago. Condolences to the would-have-beens and should-have-beens, and congratulations to the class of 2009. I look forward to studying with you, raging with you, and hitting on you next fall.