Robert Frost 1896

Mode of exit: Dropped out to help his mother teach school Career: Poet

Notable achievement: Only California native ever to understand New England

Quote: "Something there is that doesn't love a wall."

Born in San Francisco, Frost arrived in Hanover on an $80 scholarship. He left before the school year was out, explaining later, "I was more interested in education than anybody at the College at the time." On the other hand, he remembered the campus rowdiness fondly. Dartmouth hired the poet in 1943 to teach classes three days a week, and made him the first person ever to receive two honorary degrees from the College. Strangely, there is no record in the archives of Frost's ever having matriculated.