Luke Grayson
You are here
Oh you thought the work of getting into college was over? Now you have to choose!
Ahhhh, sweet bliss. You finally submitted your last application, your essays are all written, and you can finally hit the hay for some uncompromised sleep for the first time in months. The hard work is all over now, right? Essays were a rough time, sure, but now they're submitted? You just have to wait for the results to come back, whatever they are, and off you pop to college! Well if you are anything like I was a year ago when decisions were returned to me, this utopia of never thinking about college admissions ever again very quickly shattered into a million pieces. Not only was receiving denials hard, but then I had to actually decide WHERE I wanted to go; when you spent hours working on each application, that is a tough call to make.
The process gets us attached in unique ways to each of our choices as we spend hours trawling their websites for cool things to talk about in our essays, and honestly without even accounting for the anxiety induced by the long period between submission and decisions I think the bulk of stress for a lot of students can come from the period in which they must commit.

Yes I am a blogger at Dartmouth, but like anyone here at Dartmouth all I want is for you to succeed! I urge you when making decisions to take all voices out of your head other than your own. I urge you to picture yourself on campus at each institution. I urge you to research potential classes you want to take and profs you want to work with. Finally, I urge you to think about where you think you will feel most at home and comfortable.
For me this was of course Dartmouth. I found solace in the simultaneous busyness and yet quietness of living in a fairly remote college town. I could walk 15 minutes and be in a peaceful wooded clearing, and yet I could walk 5 and be right in the middle of the action! I found the work-hard play-hard atmosphere and laid-back attitude of the students to be refreshing, and the unique sense of community drew me in immediately.

The important thing here is that you remain true to yourself and your personal interests, and trust your gut and its decision-making! College is a great experience and a place of great personal growth, and wherever you go you will inevitably have an awesome time! One thing I can say though, is that choosing Dartmouth was a great decision and I'll never regret it.
Posts You Might Like
In one of my previous posts, I mentioned how I joined a sorority earlier this fall by going through the recruitment process. I've come a long way since then. In fact, I am living in my sorority house for my sophomore summer!
Dartmouth is not just a college. With world-renowned graduate schools, why would we choose to call ourselves a college instead of a university? The story behind that decision dates back to a significant Supreme Court ruling.
On a quiet spring Saturday in Hanover, I traded the usual campus buzz for Monet in the morning and archery in the afternoon—a reminder that Dartmouth weekends can be just as meaningful when they're slow, reflective, and a little unexpected.
During my sophomore spring quarter, I took on the challenge of four STEM courses, and while it has been intense, the unexpected connections across subjects and the joy of learning have made it one of my most rewarding academic experiences yet.
Hello finals week! As I close out a finals season, dive into my bag to see just what gets me through this time of the term!
My biggest recommendation during the college research process!
Read about the Sophomore Summer Soiree and how I got to witness the beginning of something that hopefully grows into a long-standing Dartmouth tradition!
Join Nandini '28 and me as we discuss her path to applying Early Decision as an international applicant from Singapore!
A week of festivities at the NCAA Skiing Championship.