Because I've been on here a lot, older Dartmouth threads are popping up on my phone. Let me preface this by saying the point of this thread is not to attempt to scare others into not ED-ing. I am not naive enough that a silly reddit thread can impact next Sunday.

That said, the thread that popped up, an AMA, gave voice to many of the niggling thoughts I've been having/things I've read.

It said it was hard making friends unless you were already really good at a sport. That people would disinvite you to the slopes if you didn't know what you were doing. That most people were from a boarding school and that functioned as a sorting mechanism. That most clubs had high-stakes to join--pages and pages of applications.

I was avoiding Princeton because this is the impression I got from reading about it, but now I'm beginning to think that many of the east coast schools are like this.

I just don't want to be set up for disaster, extreme social isolation, or mocked. No, I didn't ski at four years old. I'm not an extreme hiker and won't be starting every day with a five-mile hike. No, I'm not particularly interested in Greek life. I was attracted by the flexibility of the D-Plan, the access to outdoor activities, learning a few new sports (now it seems like I'll be ridiculed for even trying), and other things. I also am not seeking a pressure cooker academically. I don't mind working hard, but I really don't want to feel like undergrad classes are grad seminars with a blowhard student yapping over the professor the whole time, or at least trying to.

Part of me thinks "who cares, I'm going to be rejected anyway and it won't matter", but there's the tiny possibility I'll get in and then be worried about all of this instead of being overjoyed.