Don't give in to the gimmicks

When I came to Dartmouth on their accepted students weekend, I didn't go to a lot of their scheduled programs. Why? Because I wanted to get a feel for Dartmouth outside of that. I wanted to actually get to know more about the people I was going to go to school with. Therefore, I missed out on the open houses and the lecture series but I still had a lot of fun and I still wanted to go to Dartmouth.

I visited other schools during their accepted students weekend, and even though I had fun, it still wasn't as much fun as I had when I went to Dartmouth. However, I almost made the mistake of passing up on Dartmouth because another place seemed to have more options and seemed like it would be a better fit for me. Now having spent three years at Dartmouth, I can say without any reservations that I couldn't see myself anywhere else. Dartmouth isn't perfect but it is great in many different aspects.

Don't go to accepted students weekends thinking that the college is exactly how it is portrayed (unless its Dartmouth =D). Go in knowing that half of the weekend will be gimmicky and if you can, try to talk to people and truly find out what college life is like.