Dartmouth's Ambassadors

The Admissions Tour Guides

A FUMBLE OF THE FOOT...a quick glance backward to check for obstacles. Ahhh, I'm in the clear. Walking backward with confidence separates the beginners from the veterans. But being nimble is only one attribute vital for leading tours for prospective applicants. The job of introducing Dartmouth has become a coveted, competitive honor.

Tour guides love talking about Dartmouth. Many of us enjoyed the tours when we first visited campus, and eagerly applied to be guides a year or two later. But not everyone is qualified for the corps. Prospective guides must possess healthy doses of poise and humor to deal with everything from being mooned by mischievous summer campers to being harassed by overeager parents demanding to know the guide's high school GPA or SAT scores.

But guiding tours, for me, is more than just selling the school and adding a student's perspective to the process; it's also a wonderful way to remember why I came to Dartmouth in the first place. Talking with parents and students about my Dartmouth experience reminds me why I'm here. And why I can wait to graduate.

Tour guides talk backward.