As admission officers, we read LOTS of essays.

With a personal statement and three short responses required of each Davidson applicant, our staff makes its way through at least 18,000 individual pieces of writing each year -- and we're not counting in that tally the supplemental essays, clippings from student newspapers, poems, journal entries, novellas, or write-ups of hard-nosed scientific research that get sent to us in droves.

From these thousands of examples of student writing, we get a sense for the greater world.  More specifically than that, however, we derive a sense for the personality of the future Davidson:

• What kinds of students are seeking admission to the college? 
• What are their hopes? 
• How do they see the world?
• What will they change about this community and the more global one?

What we read on a daily basis throughout the winter months is powerful.  And it deserves a wider audience than just the Davidson Admission Staff.

So, we got together and decided that we'd pick a medium and then share what we're reading.

Twice daily throughout January, February, and March we'll update this Google Map with a quotation, shared anonymously, from an actual applicant to Davidson College. No names, no addresses -- just initials, hometowns, and perspectives from a sampling of the essays we read every day.

We hope this project -- at the very least -- will help showcase the power of the Davidson applicant pool.