<p>Hey everyone! I've been around this board for awhile, and I figured starting a thread like this would be helpful for getting info from actual Dartmouth students. Basically what I'm doing is opening up a thread for Prospies to ask questions about Dartmouth. I'll answer any question to the best of my ability (This can range from admissions to social life to hanover to whatever you can come up with) I also know we have several other current Dartmouth students lurking in these parts and you guys could definitely offer different insight than me alone. So ask away and I'll answer when I can! :)</p>
<p>Haha anyone? But perhaps I posted this at the wrong time of year. The spring is much more busy.</p>
<p>How dominant is the frat and drinking scene?</p>
<p>D-Plan: Good, Bad or Whatever?</p>
<p>How academically rigorous/quality of education from student’s perspective?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>The frat scene is definitely very prevalent, though there are definitely people who have a great experience at Dartmouth without ever setting foot within a greek house. While I’d like to say that there isn’t any pressure to drink, the fact is that in some spaces there is. But for the most part, you can definitely hang out in greek spaces and not drink and nobody will say anything. The greek scene is pretty open and accepting of all sorts, you just have to find your niche. That being said, there is a lot to be done outside of the greek scene. It might not be as “easy” to find “fun”, but it’s out there, as long as you’re willing to look and have less “traditional” Dartmouth fun. I know it’s where I and a lot of my friends turn on the weekends when a large portion of campus heads to frats.</p>
<p>The DPlan has its pluses and minuses. I would say overall it’s a good thing, as it allows you to go on multiple off-campus experiences, have an internship in a non-internship-dominated season (ie not summer) to get better insight into a company/industry than you might get in a stock summer internship. Sophomore summer is an opportunity to really bond with your class and forge new friendships that can hold through the rest of your time at Dartmouth. That being said, with the DPlan, you might not see your friends for six months, a year at a time, depending on where you go, when you’re on, and what they do, etc. Also, the calendar in itself doesn’t correspond with many other schools (Stanford, Northwestern, Chicago, others…) so oftentimes your breaks will not overlap well with friends from home.</p>
<p>I think I’ve gotten a top-notch education so far. It’s really hard to say how rigorous it is, considering it’s the only college I’ve been to. That being said, the professors here know what they’re talking about, and for the most part are here because they enjoy teaching as well as research. Any class you take, you will have ample opportunity to spend one-on-one time with your professor, and more times than not, your prof will be willing to go well beyond the call of duty in order to help you out.</p>
<p>I think rightnotleft hit that question pretty well. As a further note of the Frat scene. It’s not at all like what you would expect it would be going in. It really is extremely open, and shy a few places, there is not a whole lot of pressure to drink (many will even let you play pong with water if you so desire).</p>
<p>What do you guys think of the New Hampshire setting? What are some good/bad things about going to school in that state (or in Hanover in particular)?</p>
<p>Well Hanover is a blessing and a curse in many ways. So I’ll break it down</p>
<p>The Pros:
- Amazing nature setting. If you like to hike/ canoe/ whitewater/ ski/ snowboard insert nature activity here Dartmouth can’t be beat! We have the DOC and Ledyard Canoe club to name a few, and there’s always something to do outside.
- The tiny town of Hanover means you can get anywhere in it easily by walking. Downside to this is not much in Hanover to get to by walking :P. But we do have all the essentials, and a free bus service to westleb which has such luxuries as a Walmart and Chilie’s!
-Close-knight campus. As cliche as it might sound, the small campus really does promote unity. - No state sales tax. What you see is what you pay. Need I say more?
-Virtually no crime :).</p>
<p>The Cons:
-In the winter is gets cold…very, very cold. And snowy.
-We are far away from any big city. The closest is Boston, which is a good 2-3 hours away by bus.
-Hanover Police get bored and like to harass the occasional student.</p>
<p>Hope that helped some!</p>
<p>hi, what do you guys think are the best and worst things about Dartmouth?</p>
<p>How will you describe a Dartmouth stereotype?
Are most students sport-oriented?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>How often do Dartmouth kids do double majors?</p>
<p>What’s the writing program like?</p>
<p>thanks spunaugle for starting this thread - its very kind of you and much appreciated! As an international student, I really don’t know much about Dartmouth, so I have quite a few questions!</p>
<ul>
<li><p>What is the international presence at Dartmouth? Is it pretty diverse in terms of backgrounds, race or culture? </p></li>
<li><p>Is the location sometimes rather isolating? </p></li>
<li><p>What is the weather like? (I live on and am used to the beaches of Australia…)</p></li>
<li><p>What is Dartmouth’s humanities - particularly Political Science/Government/Social sciences like?</p></li>
</ul>
<p>thanks in advance! :)</p>
<p>New to CC…how do you start a thread, don’t have a START THREAD button here? </p>
<p>PS: Love the campus, been there mostly in spring/summer (live in FL, but use to live in Mass. and ski; plus uncle/family down the road in Keene).</p>
<p>getting subject tests done may be issue for me. June got cancelled due to testing center issue. Spring ACT score is 32 (34 math/36 reading).AP Scholar with distintion, with 5’s in AP Env. AP US Hist, and AR Art His; 4 in AP Engl). took calculus at college this summer, so I can take Math I, but not sure about a science, etc.</p>
<p>Had chemistry sophomore year, bio freshman year, environmental junior, and now physics senior year. Hard to do much studying trying to do all these applications.</p>
<p>Thanks for input. Thinking engineering/math, but not 100% sure. Not sure if females have any advantage there at Dartmouth.</p>
<p>Okay guys sorry I’ve let the questions build up but I’ve been quite busy! I’ll answer a few now and get to the rest later tonight :)</p>
<p>Alright I’ll address these questions all at once :)</p>
<p>Skibro: First of all see the list I provided above about setting, then consider the following</p>
<p>Pros:
-Great sense of community.
-Very open social scene, our frats are not like other schools
-small classes with profs that are genuinely interested in teaching undergrads (you have no clue how much of a difference that can make!)
- huge amounts of resources available for undergrads (hardly any grad students around, so undergrads have reign of the facilities and money!)
-Nice dorm rooms. Oh yes
-D-Plan gives amazing scheduling flexibility for internships and almost unparalleled study abroad opportunity (which is common place at Dartmouth, not something only a select few do)
-Real Ivy is Green… ;)</p>
<p>Cons:
-Isolated: if you need something big, you’ll probably have to wait.
- All the food is a la carte. This is a plus and minus, for a plus you always get what you’re in the mood for, and it’s very good quality. as a minus, it’s pretty overpriced and your dining account can drop fast
- If your not much into the frat scene it can seem a bit hard to find your social space. However, it is there! I’m a non-drinker on campus and still love it.
- There’s too many exciting things to do and not enough time! :P</p>
<p>Stheno: I will tell you the stereotype, but please keep in mind these are just that, stereotypes. Usually Dartmouth students are thought of as outdoorsy kids with a study hard party harder mindset, and one’s that throughly enjoy their beer. They are also seen as very laid back which to some translates to not being serious about academics (which in my experience is very far from the truth).
I would once again say this is simply a stereotype and holds little grasp on reality (though stereotypes do hold true to a certain degree in some circles of course).</p>
<p>Srrinth: Double majors seem to be fairly commonplace here. You won’t have to look too hard to find someone doing it, that being said, To double major at Dartmouth requires a certain degree of advanced planning as early as freshman year. To meet both major requirements and your distributives can be tricky. It is made much easier if you come in with AP/IB credits. As far as our writing program. I think it is excellent. All freshman are required to take a writing5/writing seminar sequence (unless you test out of writing 5 and then go straight to the seminar). The writing 5 and seminar classes are capped at about 18 students. Meaning you get very small classes and a lot of personal attention on your writing right from the start!</p>
<p>Alright found a bit more free time so here’s the rest :)</p>
<p>The sky lit up: I’ll answer your questions in corresponding bullets
- According to our stats from this years entering class, it is made up of about 8% international students. So while not huge, it is a significant presence on campus. Not only that, but the diversity of the campus is amazing. I can’t think of a demographic that I haven’t met at least one person of while here. You get people from all walks of life and places, and it makes a very interesting and stimulating learning environment.
- Our location is pretty isolated. But it has definite perks. See my response to Eiffel
- Haha our weather, well summer is amazing! And fall is chilly (usually in the 50’s and 60’s F) but with amazing color changes in the leaves! And winter… well there is a reason most students try to configure their D-plan to take 2 of their winters off… lol it’s cold, very, very cold. And there is tons of snow. But it’s survivable, and opens up all kinds of fun opportunities from the tradition of the giant snowball fight on the green the night of the first snow to sking (we own our own slope ) and sledding!
- Our humanities programs are incredibly strong. Government is one of our most popular majors and our programs are some of the best around. (we don’t earn our number one ranking for undergraduate teaching for nothing
)</p>
<p>collegesgirl: Welcome to CC! Great to have you in our community. To start a new thread there is a “New Thread” button right under the “CC hot topics” box on any forums page As far as chances, I’d encourage you to start a new thread about it here in the Dartmouth forum, but I’m going to reserve this thread just for questions about the college/experience and not admissions :).</p>
<p>Spunaugle, I’m a little confused - are you a member of the class of 2013?</p>
<p>Xanatos: I am, so I couldn’t answer all these questions on my own. My answers are most of a polyglot of my own experience and me asking some '10’s and '12’s the same questions. That’s also why I welcomed any other current students to answer, I’d love to see more experience than my own in answering questions :).</p>
<p>^ thanks for your answers to mine and other’s questions, very informative and helpful! :)</p>
<p>How much illegal drugs at Dartmouth?</p>
<p>Besides the DPlan, I’m really drawn to the study abroad opportunities at Dartmouth. But, is it as easy as everyone says to actually do it? Also, does anyone have any study abroad experiences they could share? Thanks. =)</p>
<p>I second lizdarcy’s question:) I am also interested in the study abroad opportunities at Dartmouth. Is it possible to study in three different countries? Or is it too much to do in the four years (and too expensive)?</p>