Visiting the Small Town Feel

After my first night in Connecticut, our final destination, we had a very smooth morning. Due to the fact that we had only one car the group to Dartmouth was smaller then expected. Connor, Henry, Brandon, Ms. Kronenburg, and I left Mr. Ramsey and Mr. Miranda at the hotel while we took a road trip. The drive from New Haven, Connecticut to Hanover, New Hampshire was three hours. 

We took the Magical Fun Bus, a self proclaimed car full of laughter and stories. Our grand combination of personalities made everything a thousand times more fun. At the beginning of the trip we stopped at the beloved location of Starbucks. After the caffeine kick we each took turns sleeping in the car. For some reason we were naturally on a rotation; no two students were ever sleeping at the same time. The only one of us who wasn’t cursed with an embarrassing picture of themselves sleeping was Henry, who only slept for five minutes. Luckily, being the sly girl that I am, I was able to make mine disappear.

Once finally reaching Dartmouth we saw the small town of Hanover. Unlike the two urban colleges we looked at the past two days there was little going on around the college. There was a cute town with a few stores and a very rural feel. Our tour guide was fabulous and the boys really connected with the campus. I am still a little unsure but definitely enjoyed some pieces of the Dartmouth culture. Guess I’m a city girl through and through.

In Hanover we had the amazing opportunity to meet with two Dartmouth alums, Peter Chau, who now does fundraising for the college, and an admissions officer by the name of Ariel Xue. We had a relaxed lunch with them and received tons of advice and insight on the admissions process. The best part was that all the information was applicable to all the college’s processes. They were both very nice and easy to talk to.

On the way back there was more sleeping in the car, mostly from Brandon, and lots of talk about personal statement topics. However, the highlight was Connor’s amazing rap for Ms. Kronenburg. He and Brandon came up with a rap to tell all the highlights of our wonderful trip. It was an amazing display of a talent I completely envied.

Once back at the hotel we got ready for yet another amazing dinner. There we met two Brown alums. Although we did not get the chance to visit the campus of Brown, their stories helped paint a picture of the atmosphere there at Brown. I sat next to Guy, a Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering double major. It was fascinating to here his story. He got into Brown by accident he claims and was the first in his family to attend college.

All of the dinners have prepared us for the elite campus of Yale. I can’t wait to start to feel at home there. Tomorrow we begin the Ivy Scholars program. I am very excited and can’t wait to bring back some amazing tales of challenge and success.