Students think of a "Dean" as a signature on a letter, someone like the Wizard of Oz: an idea more than a person. I'm emerging from behind my proverbial curtain to share insights informed by my actual experience: I was a first-generation college student, and need-based financial aid opened my door to opportunity. Not many students from my large high school went on to selective colleges, so advice was thin. I was largely on my own. My platform here helps me reach those of you in a similar place.

— Lee Coffin, Vice President and Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid

 

 

5 FEBRUARY 2024

 

6 JULY 2023

12 JANUARY 2022

Inside the Admissions Selection Committee

Ever wonder how admissions officers decide which applicants to invite to join the incoming class? Jacques Steinberg, who wrote a New York Times best-seller, "The Gatekeepers: Inside the Admissions Process of a Premier College," based on a year of reporting at Wesleyan two decades ago, spent a day behind the closed doors of Dartmouth's undergraduate admissions selection committee. In this encore episode from 2023, he and host Lee Coffin, Dartmouth's dean of admissions and financial aid, discuss what Steinberg saw and heard, as Coffin and colleagues considered, debated and voted on the applications of dozens of candidates for the Class of 2027. Among the factors the admissions officers weighed: the narratives, personal as well as academic, that emerged from the various components of the students' applications.

Inside the Admissions Selection Committee

A transcript is available for this episode.

 

First Hand with Dean Lee Coffin

In each issue of 3D, Dartmouth's undergraduate admissions magazine that celebrates our vibrant community framed by nature, Dean Coffin shares advice and insights on the admissions process.

Read 3D Magazine