Dartmouth Families
Have Family, Will Travel
August 2006
David and Betsy Willis P'08 never imagined they would live overseas. But thanks to David's job with ExxonMobil, the Willises and their children, Ashley and Neil '08, have lived in five different countries. Needless to say, choosing a college from a foreign posting required a lot of research and travel planning. The Willises spent two summer vacations touring college campuses, first for Ashley, a 2006 graduate of Davidson College, and then for Neil '08.
Betsy and David currently live in Almaty, where he is the president of ExxonMobil Kazakhstan. With a population of 1,185,900, Almaty is Kazakhstan's largest city. We spoke with Betsy in early June.
We've lived in Norway, western Canada, Newfoundland, and Indonesia. Kazakhstan is Dave's sixth out-of-country assignment. So Neil has gone to six different schools. We live in Almaty, which is close to the Chinese border. We have a great view of the mountains in the morning. But once the coal starts burning and people start driving their cars with leaded fuel, we can't see the mountains by lunchtime. I'm in an international women's club, although most of the members are people who speak English as a second language. And I'm learning some German because the best grocery store in town is German. I was a little surprised that I had to buy a German phrase book to shop in Kazakhstan, a Russian-speaking country, but there are people and businesses from all over the world in Almaty. Dave and I never planned to live abroad. But all the travel and living in foreign countries has been interesting and it's been educational for the kids.
Neil graduated from high school in Jakarta, Indonesia, where we lived at that time. Neil first saw Dartmouth when Ashley was touring colleges. He became even more interested in Dartmouth after reading the Fiske college guide. When he came back for a visit a few summers later, the sophomores were on campus. He got to see what school was really like with the students around. He was impressed that the professors he met were friendly and approachable. He loved the campus. Neil also visited Williams, Yale, Princeton, Duke, and a number of other schools on the East Coast. But it's kind of like choosing a mate; there's one school that's right for you and for him it was Dartmouth.
Neil is going to Oxford this winter to study economics. He's an economics major and physics minor. He appreciates the educational opportunities at Dartmouth and is taking advantage of many of them. He had an internship last term in New York City with a hedge fund, and got to audit a class at Tuck. That's another one of those little pluses that's available to students at Dartmouth. We were expecting a lot from Dartmouth and we feel like we're getting what we pay for.
The thing that has surprised me about Dartmouth is that Neil has been able to participate in two sports, have fun, and keep his grades up. As a mother, that's a big relief!
Families who live overseas are often concerned with finding a college that's close to family. Dartmouth has a host family program for foreign students and students whose families live overseas. It's nice for students who can't easily get home to have a place they can go for a home-cooked meal or just to relax and hang out.
If you would like to lead an outreach effort for Dartmouth parents, either in the United States or abroad, please contact Heidi Anderson.
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