Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
jbjbq The way these college presentations work is that there are usually things parents
want to hear and then there are things that students want to hear, and oftentimes there
s a big wall in between them. So I m going to give you the best of both worlds. Parents
first, students second. So what do parents want to hear? In general parents like to hear
about facts and figures like how big the student body is, what the student faculty ratio is,
how many books are in the library. Whatever. But before we get to those numbers, we ask
a broader question And that is why to go to college at all ? Below are some possible answers
people might tell you, everything from finding yourself to finding a job. But it all comes
down to the point that College is an investment. Specifically you are paying in capital (money
and foregone opportunity cost) in order to invest in your human capital; we can judge
the prudence of this investment by looking at the payouts. Some of you probably think
that I m talking about money. And I just want to say that there is certainly a lot more
to this investment than money. However future earnings are pretty freaking important. A
study was done looking at the median salaries for graduates of various schools. The study
found that Dartmouth graduate had the highest mid-career salary of any university in the
country with a median of $129,000. Other ivy league schools were included on the table,
who cares about second place? And so you might be asking me Why? Why Nathan are Dartmouth
alumni so very very rich? And my parent answer to that parent question is in the strength
of our alumni connections. When I was a columnist for The Dartmouth, the college s daily s newspaper
I wrote this op-ed. See there s my name. I think my mom still has it on our fridge. And
what I ve come to understand is that Dartmouth is able to create a strong and united campus
community by offering shared, collective experiences. When you come to campus the first time, you
ll all go out on Freshmen trips hiking, canoeing, painting, climbing, kayaking, and walking
Dartmouth s vast and pristine New Hampshire land holdings. You ll all eat at Collis or
in Food Court, swim in the river, ski at the skyway, and hang out on Webster Ave. At a
place like Columbia or NYU, students vanish into the sprawling metropolis to lead lives
completely different from those who they sit next to in class. But at Dartmouth by being
trapped on the inside as it were, we build up a huge sense of community and solidarity
not only with our own class, but with every other. And while I won t say that our alumni
hire every Dartmouth man who sends a resume their way, when the look upon those younger
faces, they often see a bit of themselves, that Dartmouth spirit, that Dartmouth family
resemblance. So Parents, what your son or daughter is going to get is membership into
one of the greatest business and social clubs in the United States. We re loyal, we re friendly,
and we re everywhere. We take care of our own, and we can t wait to meet you. That s
the end of the presentation for parents. This is what I d tell students. For some ungodly
reason, this third-tier magazine has been assigned the task of issuing the comprehensive
and definitive ranking of all colleges in the United States. Why that job went to a
magazine as pedestrian as US News and world report, is beyond my understanding. But it
is the hell we all live in. If you re like me, you re probably interested the most in
these two numbers: the college s rank and, to a lesser extent, the admissions rate. Our
admissions rate for you, the class of 2015 is actually 9.7%, what our rank will be in
the next edition, who knows? Some of you plan to make you college decision on these numbers
alone. If you re in this room god help you. Basing your decision on where you want to
spend the next four years of your life where you basically will turn into the person you
re meant to be on three digits can only lead to disaster. Robert Kennedy is a hero of mine
and he said a quote I like to use a lot. In this quote he was talking about the GNP the
gross national product but what he said could equally apply to college rankings. He said
"Yet the [college s rank] does not allow for the health of our [students], the quality
of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry
or the strength of our [relationships]; the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity
of our [honor principle]. It measures neither our wit nor our courage; neither our wisdom
nor our learning; neither our compassion nor our devotion to our [college]; it measures
everything, in short, except that which makes [college] life worthwhile And it tells us
everything about Dartmouth except why we are proud [to be Dartmouth Students]." To the
right is Webster Hall, the home of Dartmouth Special collection library. By the way, Dartmouth
has some of Shakespeare s original portfolios and as a student you can just walk up to the
desk and ask to hold it. To the left is Daniel Webster, class of 1801, the legendary U.S.
Senator and Secretary of State has the supreme honor of defending his alma mater in the landmark
Supreme Court case Dartmouth v. Woodward. In that case the state of New Hampshire was
trying to revoke Dartmouth s royal charter effectively killing the college. In his passionate
defense of his alma mater, Webster brought chief justice John Marshall to tears telling
me. it is sir as I have said a small college and yet there are those of us who love it.
If a hardened U.S. senator could break down defending Dartmouth, I can make an effort
too. And so for the rest of this presentation, I m going to tell you why I love Dartmouth.
You don t need to recognize this man, but his name is James Wright and he was 16th president
of Dartmouth College. Wright was president when I was a freshman I remember the very
first thing he ever said to me. He s well over 6 feet tall, and has a voice somewhere
between James Earl Jones and god. I had just moved into my dorm, gotten close with my roommates,
and was filled with all this emotion when Wright took the stage and simply said Welcome
home. And from that moment until the present day, that s exactly where I ve been. Home.
If someone were to ask me what I love about Dartmouth, I might talk about the way no matter
what direction you approach Hanover, the first thing you see rising out of the forest and
surrounding mountains is the white face of baker tower. I d talk about the feeling I
get in the pit of my chest when at six PM I hear the bells toll the song of the alma
mater. d talk about how almost all of campus turns out for the homecoming football game,
not to cheer on the players, but to rally the freshmen to rush the field at half time
and get chased around by security. I might talk about how comfortable it is to study
in Sanborn House or how they serve tea everyday at 4pm. I might talk about how warm it is
on the balcony in the winter and how easy it is to fall asleep in those chairs. d talk
about my favorite study spot-- in the periodicals room Or I d talk about the pleasure in finding
new ones. d talk about the breathtaking view from baker tower Or the sight of sun beams
passing though tree branches in summer, and how snow weighs them down in winter. d talk
about how I got to meet Barack Obama and all the other candidates as they came through
for the presidential primaries, And I d talk about how my primary vote for Hillary Clinton
was worth several thousand times more than a vote anywhere else. d talk about the sight
of dogs on the green in summer Or the sight of squirrels in the snow in winter. d talk
about how the D plan gave me the time go on exchange to Oxford in the Spring, work in
Washington in the Summer, and learn Spanish in Barcelona in the fall d talk about this
guy, Economics Professor Mier Kohn. Don t let that smile fool you, he s the hardest,
most grizzled professor in the department. I took his finance class over sophomore summer,
and it effectively ruined any chance I had at having fun outside. I studied for 30 hours
a week, suffered through every exam, got a sub-par grade, and you know what? It was worth
it. I made strong lasting friends out of my study group, I was challenged every day by
the professor would not accept *** answers, and I had the satisfaction that comes with
things not easily earned. I might talk about pretty the leaves are in fall or how the delicious
cookies the cookies are in the pavilion I might talk about the 40,000 acres of land
Dartmouth owns (making it the largest landowner in the state), and how Dartmouth students
take advantage in experiencing the beauty every inch has to offer. I might talk about
our traditions running around the bonfire, building mammoth snow sculptures, partying
in the spring, and fieldstock in the summer and how they link my class to all the ones
who came before d talk about the world class professors we have who spend as much time
teaching actual students as they do doing research. As an aside, my cousins went to
Princeton. They enrolled in a class taught by Maya Angelou, and you know what, she taught
the first day, and TAs did the rest. That hasn t happened at my Dartmouth. At my Dartmouth,
the professors are always available to talk to out of class, they take pains to ensure
you understand the subject, they invite you into their homes, and they become the friends
you want them to be. But I d probably choose the people. The down to earth men and women,
who work hard in class and play hard in life. Who regard their peers as their sisters and
their brothers. Who don t take themselves to seriously, but go on to enact serious changes
in the world. And I d talk about how I think of all these things every time I look down
at my graduation ring and years from now, when I return to Dartmouth and cross the green
at 6pm just as the bell tower begins to chime the alma mater, I ll smile to myself and know
that I m home. Thank you. This has been an updated recording of a speech delivered in
May of 2010 during a debate of the Dartmouth Political union, Moderated by Maryam Zafer
class of 2012, 5th speaker of the DPU. The script was written and delivered by myself,
Nathan Bruschi class of 2010, 1st President of the DPU. Photography credits to the staff
of the Dartmouth Ageis Yearbook and myself. To learn more about the DPU, please go to
dpu.hostcell.net/ Thank you Mr Nathan Bruschi Normal Nathan Bruschi Microsoft Word 10.1
Thank you Mr Title Microsoft Word Document NB6W Word.Document.8