answering questions about dartmouth

<p>Congrats to ED people! Since college confidential has given me a lot, I'll be answering any questions about Dartmouth (I'm a freshman at dartmouth) . I'm going go set up a cap on the first 10 questions, after that I can't guarantee to answer more.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Location: Is Dartmouth more “isolated”?
Are there venues, shopping, etc. around? (Since it’s Hanover I think you have to drive to get to those places, right?)</p></li>
<li><p>Is the greek life reputation true? That most people drink/are members of frats/ party?</p></li>
<li><p>How useful is the quarter system to you? How useful has it been to your peers/friends?</p></li>
</ol>

<p>thank you!</p>

<p>Thanks for answering questions! I was just admitted ED, I received aid but less than I thought, do you know if its worth it to try to ask for more, wouldn’t want to sound ungrateful. Also, how do you lke living in the dorms, whats that like? Finally, how difficult are the classes? </p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>I just submitted my RD application, so I still have a while to wait haha. Thanks for doing this though, it’s awesome that you’re coming back to help us anxious seniors.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>I’ve heard that Dartmouth has a reputation for being a really warm, friendly place. Thoughts?</p></li>
<li><p>How stressful and competitive are the academics at Dartmouth? Within itself, I mean. It’s one of the top schools in the country, obviously academics aren’t a cakewalk haha.</p></li>
<li><p>From what you know, would you choose Dartmouth over say, Yale/Columbia/Princeton?</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Again, thanks!</p>

<p>I’ll take a crack at answering some of these.</p>

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<p>Yeah, it’s pretty rural, but Hanover is a nice town. There are some fairly upscale shopping and dining options in the area.</p>

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<p>Yeah, it’s pretty true. Greek life is a huge presence on campus, but fortunately, it’s very inclusive. You can pledge dry (no drinking) if you want to, but you should be comfortable around alcohol if you want to be a part of mainstream social life here.</p>

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<p>Very useful in terms of getting internships. Friend of mine who is a sophomore received an internship at a top bulge bracket bank (Goldman Sachs/Morgan Stanley) for the winter. Very rare to see sophomores at these banks, but he is a smart dude.</p>

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<p>Yeah, I like the people. They’re my friends, so I’m happy that the admissions office selected people who are pretty cool.</p>

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<p>Not competitive or stressful at all, if you ask me. I’ve never encountered a class that curves people down, and that’s the kind of system responsible for inducing unhealthy competition.</p>

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<p>I didn’t apply to Columbia, but I did choose it over Yale and Princeton. I really like the social scene (Greek life), and wanted a change of pace in scenery (from a big city - think Houston, Dallas, Atlanta - in the South). In terms of academic rigor, they’re all about the same, and they’re pretty similar in terms of job placement too. For what I want to do (finance), I think Dartmouth is superior to the other two. Our alumni are super loyal, and are willing to go the extra mile to pull you in (how my friend got his Goldman/Morgan offer). The recruiting is top notch too - and very underrated. You’ll always hear people say things like, “Oh, X firm only recruits at Harvard/Wharton,” but they often also recruit at Dartmouth. An example is Blackstone…they recruit here for M&A, Restructuring, and PE, all of which are some of the most competitive jobs for a recent grad to obtain in finance.</p>

<p>^i’d agree with most of these</p>

<p>however, I dont see any evidence that the quarter system has any significant advantage for securing internships</p>

<p>also, </p>

<ol>
<li>I’ve heard that Dartmouth has a reputation for being a really warm, friendly place. Thoughts?</li>
</ol>

<p>You’ll meet friendly people, but like everywhere else not everyone will want to actually be your friend. also often the fraternities are like a jungle, and you have to fight off people to avoid being cockblocked haha</p>

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<p>That would be because you have only completed 1 term at Dartmouth.</p>

<p>^^Yeah, I was gonna say. The D plan is a pretty big advantage. Over Sophomore Summer there’s on campus recruiting specifically for internships when you’re off during Junior year. I know one office I worked in specifically looks for Dartmouth students, because they’ve had a good experience working with them before. No connection with any people in the office to Dartmouth; they just starting recruiting from Dartmouth for during the year interns because we’re off then, and because of that they now have a great relationship recruiting from Dartmouth.</p>

<p>I’m not even going to touch the "also often the fraternities are like a jungle, and you have to fight off people to avoid being cockblocked haha " Fight off people for a drink, absolutely. But for a girl? I’m pretty sure if she was interested, the presence of the 100 other people in the basement wouldn’t have mattered.</p>