<p>yeah i guess…
it gives a more comprehensive understanding
well there is one thing that i don’t like about dartmouth
–its location… it’s so freaking cold there hehe
other than that i love the school</p>
<p>Haha I applied to a school in Montreal, so I’m not TOO scared of the cold =P</p>
<p>I totally agree with the person that said to find a EC that you love and then you will find many like-minded people. Freshmen floors tend to bond too, but I would say that in mainstream housing, that bond still has a strong association to drinking. I mean, if you’re totally inept in social situations, it will be harder to make friends… but if you’ve made it this far in life with friends, it’s not like Dartmouth will be different.
I’m a '13 and I love Dartmouth, but it’s not even close to perfect. You should really have an overnight visit and decide for yourself whether or not it’s the school for you. I’ll be honest - I don’t like Dartmouth as much as I thought I would, but I think that my expectations were also too high.
I know plenty of people that are unhappy with Dartmouth, yet generally speaking they enjoy themselves on a day-to-day basis. I wouldn’t say that it’s socially unacceptable to talk about Dartmouth in a negative way, but just realize that most people that go here, from all backgrounds and all lifestyles, love it. Who says you’re the exception to the rule?</p>
<p>Lightzout, I just wanted to answer your question about how minorities are treated within the frat scene. Even though I have many problems with the school, I have found that the Greek system is very accepting of minorities. As a minority, I’ve never felt uncomfortable because of my race. In fact, one of things I do like is that the frat scene is accepting of race and sexual orientation. There are minority brothers and gay brothers as well. In addition ,everyone, even non-affiliates, are welcome in each house. </p>
<p>I will say that there is a lot self-segregation campus. Honestly, I don’t understand why, but it does exist. That being said, I don’t feel it’s because the fraternities make minorities feel unwelcome, at least not intentionally.</p>
<p>I’ve probably felt more uncomfortable in certain situations for being a girl more than anything else.</p>
<p>Man there seems to be a lot of problems at Dartmouth but aren’t there a lot of problems at other schools too?</p>
<p>thegeezer: Yes, there are. I’d say some of the problems Dartmouth encounters are broader problems with higher education all together. Some of the more Dartmouth-specific problems are just interchanged with other school-specific problems elsewhere. Long story short, every place has it’s problems. But every place also has big selling points. Despite my personal problems at the school, I love it here, and would enthusiastically recommend it to anyone else. While there are a few here that do not feel that way, I would recommend trying to find their place here, or consider transferring, not every school is a perfect fit for every person, but I would hate for a vocal minority of students to convince you that Dartmouth is a terrible place, because I feel quite the contrary. If nothing else visit us and give it a chance :).</p>
<p>girlforever101, thanks for answering my question. I was just wondering because i’ve heard that at many fraternities, particularly in the south, minorities are not that welcomed.</p>
<p>Thank you for posting this, BFK. You describe in your original post how it’s taboo to say bad things about Dartmouth, and obviously the negative response you have received on this thread just proves that point even more. I’m glad to see a negative review of Dartmouth. Everything I heard and read about it makes it seem perfect but obviously, I know it can’t really be like that. It makes me wonder what’s really going on, what the disgruntled students are disgruntled about, and how the people who aren’t “ra-ra Dartmouth” feel about their school. I think it’s really great that you posted this trying to give applicants another perspective. We really CAN’T find this negative information anywhere and honestly, if people decide not to go to Dartmouth because of your post (without verifying it on their own) they probably don’t belong there anyway.</p>
<p>Thank you for the insight! As a 2014 applicant, I appreciate it. I’m finding this thread and the “are women sometimes degraded thread” very interesting.</p>
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<p>The negative response isn’t because it was a negative thread – it’s the manner in which the comments were made. </p>
<p>I find that this thread is a little more informative than the “degraded women” one. There are a few sharp voices on that thread that tilt the social scene to be something it’s not. Just because there aren’t a lot of negative reviews about Dartmouth doesn’t mean that you should trust the ones that are negative just because it gives a balanced view.</p>
<p>I haven’t gone to the school long, but I can tell you that I have never experienced the things that some posters on that thread talk about. If they feel that way, great, but I feel that there’s lots of exaggeration going on there. </p>
<p>I feel completely comfortable going into basements with friends, whether female, male, or both… and I’ve never felt “degraded.” Many are honestly too busy with their group of friends to give a **** about making you feel weird. Basements are a place to hang out and get a drink, but if you’re not into that… you can get creative and find things to do.</p>
<p>Once you find a group of friends, it becomes easier to do something that’s not frat-related. Many upperclassmen will tell you that they raged a lot their freshman year and got over it. Many also still rage… it’s all in with whom you associate and that’s your choice. </p>
<p>Sorry for the long post, but it’s just frustrating sometimes to see someone have an extreme opinion about a topic just because they’ve had a bad experience and proceed to make generalizations. Just because you and your friend felt strange in a basement one night or maybe an attractive guy disagreed with your point in class does not make the guys here jerks. You can’t really generalize the Dartmouth student body, so please stop trying to.</p>
<p>Dartmouth has an incredibly high retention rate, which means the proof is in the pudding. It’s a great school and President Kim is moving the school onto an even higher level, internationally.</p>
<p>It would be a mistake to judge the school on a few personal opinions. Look at U.S. News & World Report which identifies Dartmouth as offering the best undergraduate education in the U.S. - bar none. Better than Harvard (the students are rioting there right now because of budget cuts); better than Princeton and Yale. Dartmouth students are universally recognized as happy. Of course, there are outliers in every group.</p>
<p>Update: my classes this term are much better and much more challenging. I never said Dartmouth wasn’t a good school academically, only that my classes last term were somewhat disappointing. Academically, this is a great institution, and ultimately, that’s why I’m here, so I’ll stick around for the time being.</p>
<p>Besides that, other people have worded my initial argument much better than I can. I realize I made generalizations and beat around the bush without providing detailed explanations, but I’m glad my comments provided an initial starting block for others to voice their opinions. When I chose Dartmouth, I failed to fully appreciate the fact that I’d actually be living here. I thought “College apps are done, high school’s almost over, I got into Dartmouth, ***** it, I’ll go there, why the hell not? I hear great things about it even if I didn’t like Dimensions. And Vanderbilt was a blast, but people scoff at me when I say I can’t decide between the two. Go to Ivy League, how could you turn that down? everyone says. At dimensions people look at me funny when I say I’m deciding between here and Vandy. Even a Vandy professor tells my dad: “Dartmouth is very prestigious.” Though he’s never actually been. so I start to believe that there’s something really great I’m not getting. But I’ll get it…right?” Unfortunately for me, I was dead wrong.</p>
<p>BFK’s absolutely entitled to offer an alternative opinion. Often the negative reviews are more valuable than the positive ones.</p>
<p>nope… we are 100% perfect… (BFK is just secretly trying to weed out all the applicants who don’t truely have faith in how perfect Dartmouth is)</p>
<p>BFK’s last post is a perfect example of why a college shouldn’t be picked on name or reputation alone, but rather through deciding if it is a good fit or not. Dartmouth is clearly a wonderful place, but maybe not for him, and that was evident during Dimensions and his visit to Vanderbilt.</p>
<p>^^I agree. No school, no matter how perfect, is a good fit for everyone who happens to qualify for admission. If BFK’s first post had been along the lines of “I made the wrong choice. I thought Dartmouth was going to be ABC but instead I got XYZ. I’m going to transfer to the school I should have chosen” It would have been a valuable alternative perspective. But instead he flat out states “Do yourselves a favor and do NOT come to Dartmouth next year.” He wrongly assumes that because he hates it that nobody will be happy there and everybody should stay away. He’s making the same sort of sweeping one-size-fits-all statements about the place that got him to choose a bad fit in the first place - except the other way around.</p>
<p>Really, it’s a shame.</p>
<p>BFK, have you blitzed Ledyard about outdoor programs? They seem to blitz about weekly about outdoor stuff.</p>