<p>I’m another 2013 student.</p>
<p>Just to try to qualm some fears about that isolated feeling.</p>
<p>About 10-15 min. away by car, there is a Walmart, JCPenny, Sears, Kohl’s, Taco Bell, Subway, KFC, Big Kmart.</p>
<p>There is a CVS in Hanover and other small stores that should satisfy daily needs.</p>
<p>Languages are typically grade-boosters at every college, and Dartmouth is no exception – a whole lot easier than O-chem or econometrics. Drill is just a little extra oral practice on your feet.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot,Spunaugle! :-)</p>
<p>bluebayou, I would venture to guess that it depends which languages one is studying and at what level.</p>
<p>This thread is awesome, thank you to spunagle and rightnotleft</p>
<p>I was wondering how hectic things get with the D-Plan with midterms and finals seeming to come up one after the other in quick succession. Is there time to just take a breather?</p>
<p>Also, how is housing affected by the D-Plan? It seems like with everyone coming and going, there must be some sort of shuffle.</p>
<p>If you have any experience with it, what is substance-free housing like?</p>
<p>Also, if anyone has any experience, what’s the golf course like? (not that this should affect my decision, but I’m an avid golfer and would love to know what the course is like/greens fees/how far from campus it is).</p>
<p>Thanks again guys!</p>
<p>Hi,
Some people have said that its hard to meet/keep friends because of the Dplan. Have you felt that to be true at all?</p>
<p>Also, if you’re someone who isn’t into drinking/partying, do you think that you would feel isolated from the student body? I’ve read that there are tons of other activities to do, but would someone like me have trouble finding a meaningful niche?
Thanks!</p>
<p>DPlan … is probably a great reason to MEET new people, since there might be a time when a large portion of your core group of friends is off campus, while you are there. I don’t buy the “keeping” friends argument … pretty much everywhere people go they’ll have the internet and/or a phone, so … I don’t think it’s that hard to maintain a friendship that is a strong/good one. That being said, you can go six months to a year sometimes without seeing your friends/significant others/etc and that can be hard for some people.</p>
<p>Also, terms go by pretty quickly. Here we are, not even three weeks into term, and midterms are coming up. It’s hard to take a middle-of-term breather, but you find that most people do after each wave of exams, if only for a day or two … and really that’s all you need. Most profs are somewhat understanding and schedule exams before big weekends (hopefully…) so that you can blow off steam and enjoy the festivities.</p>
<p>Housing … is affected in that if you’re not on campus … you don’t get to hold a room, obviously. Since freshmen and seniors are on campus all three terms, they keep their rooms through the year. Sophomores and Juniors pick their rooms in the fall if they’re on in the fall, and keep them as long as they’re on campus. When coming back to campus, students just fill out an online form requesting housing and are assigned an empty room/bed based on that.</p>
<p>Substance-free housing can be very variable, depending on the kids who live there. Some are ambivalent about being in a sub-free or not sub-free floor/building, others are adamant about it. That being said, the halls are usually lively with a sense of unity among the floor, as residents tend to go out less often than others (not saying they don’t go out though). It’s generally a space that’s a bit quieter. I enjoyed the time I spent living in sub-free.</p>
<p>Your opinion on the golf course will depend on your prior experiences. It’s a pretty decent place, pretty hilly, but pretty straightforward as well. I enjoy it there. Greens fees are $30 for students, but you can get a student membership for something like $300 for unlimited golf during your sophomore summer, not sure if you can get it during other terms. The course is about a 10-15 minute walk from campus (like 2 minutes in a car), and is also an awesome place for stargazing, sledding, and snowball fights. check it out online</p>
<p>[Hanover</a> Country Club](<a href=“http://www.dartmouth.edu/~hccweb]Hanover”>http://www.dartmouth.edu/~hccweb)</p>
<p>If you’re not into drinking or partying … you can totally find your own social niche. While it’s true that a majority of the student body might engage in these activities, there is definitely a strong faction of kids who do not and find their fun in other ways. I know several people who don’t drink and love dartmouth. I know several people who have busy, fulfilling, and unbelievably happy lives and have never set foot in a fraternity. And there are also tons of people who thought they’d never be into the party/frat/drinking scene who end up loving it and becoming leaders in their greek organizations.</p>
<p>I hope that answered a few questions … I guess I should study now…</p>
<p>Hi,</p>
<p>Do you feel that Dartmouth has a competitive atmosphere, or is it more laid back?</p>
<p>I’ve read that some of the ivies tend to be more competitive, while a school like stanford is more laid back.</p>
<p>Thanks for answering all of our questions!</p>
<p>definitely laid back.</p>
<p>the atmosphere is very cooperative, not competitive. this becomes more and more obvious the longer you’re here.</p>
<p>People at Columbia won’t share notes if you miss a class. I know of at least one Ivy where it’s common for other students to rip pages out of books so their classmates can’t use them for reference in the same class. Dartmouth’s pretty much the exact opposite.</p>
<p>They got it. I’ve heard alot of people here say they “compete with [themselves] not others” And the academic atmosphere of Dartmouth really reflects that philosophy. People will strive to do their best, but they want you to do your best as well.</p>
<p>what can be said about international students at D?</p>
<p>If i did bad in my AP courses in school, but got 5’s on all my exams, would dartmouth still look at me?</p>
<p>Hey Alessrz!</p>
<p>If you would like to email a 1st year international student to get her 1st hand opinion and experiences send me an email at <a href=“mailto:mc13@dartmouth.edu”>mc13@dartmouth.edu</a> and I’ll be happy to put you two in contact!</p>
<p>@ iwantyale:We really look at your application as a whole so there is no one deciding factor. However, I will admit that in general, like most schools, your transcript/ grades tend to be valued more than standardized testing.</p>
<p>Mason Cole
Dartmouth Web-Guide</p>
<p>Hey, so I pretty much love Dartmouth (as everyone on this board probably does), but I was wondering, how politically conservative is Dartmouth? Everyone says it’s the most conservative ivy-- but how much so?</p>
<p>I’d say I’m fairly liberal, but more towards the moderate liberal side. Would I fit in?
I know I could probably find a niche somewhere, but would it be easy to fit in? How politically active are people? (I know it’s not Berkeley or anything, but do people protest or advocate more liberal causes?)</p>
<p>I’ll be fairly critical of international students at Dartmouth – I think a great deal of unintentional self-segregation takes place. The United World Colleges alumni stick together. Those who live at East Wheelock stick together. The lack of integration between international student orientation events and regular orientation my freshman year meant you had to choose, and most internationals naturally chose to go for the international events. The balance is heavily tilted towards mixing with other foreign students. This is wonderful, but I don’t think you get the most out of being at Dartmouth by doing this, and I think the administration and International Students Association have been trying to rectify this by integrating international events more into the regular orientation schedule.</p>
<p>Having said that, if you don’t end up self-segregating, I think you get the best of both worlds as an international student. Dartmouth’s a great place. Discrimination is non-existent, if that’s what you’re worried about.</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>On the issue of politics, Dartmouth is very liberal and/or apathetic. There are two vocal fringe groups – one of right-wingers who mostly write for the Dartmouth Review and have thus garnered Dartmouth its conservative reputation, and one of activist leftists who organize the occasional rally against…whatever. A lot of students get involved with the Rockefeller Center, which focuses on political and policy issues, but they’re a bit of a strange bunch. More than a few are the political/policy equivalent of investment banking careerists.</p>
<p>Institutionally Dartmouth leans on the conservative side, even though its staff and students are overwhelmingly liberal. We were rather behind on co-education, and our Greek scene has a number of problems (some overrated, some underrated). A fringe segment of alumni and students still have issues with co-education and some modifications to our institutions. But it’s not something I’d worry about unless you really want an activist campus.</p>
<p>I am a huge politics and public policy guy and really enjoy it here. There is, as at many colleges, a tendency to be liberal by default or apathetic but that definitely doesn’t mean there aren’t more involved students. Political groups on campus meet regularly and speaking personally as a member of the College Democrats I know we have and are currently:</p>
<p>Phone banked on Gay Marriage (Specifically, Proposition 1 that would take away Marriage Equality in MA)
Hosting a conference of the NH College Democrats
Volunteering for Habit for Humanity
Phone banked for a local race in neighboring Manchester, NH
Had a freshman vs freshman debate with the College Republicans
Pushing legislation in the NH legislature to get a bill passed that would allow under aged drinkers to call for help (particularly in medical emergencies) with out risk of being arrested</p>
<p>And I am sure that the College Republicans have also been quite active. Protesting on campus doesn’t seem to be quite big here (especially because the administration is usually pretty progressive) but will of course occasionally happen. (There was one group that recently protested the President’s Office because they wanted Dartmouth to do more to be eco-friendly. It was kinda funny since it was just a small group of students who couldn’t arrange a meeting anytime soon to discuss the issue. So the “protest” consisted of basically just waiting (or I guess you could spin it as demanding for a meeting) for President Kim to get out of a meeting and then having an extremely cordial conversation. There were a lot of smiles and handshakes… not quite a typical “protest”)</p>
<p>Now I have to speak out about the Rockefeller Center. Even as a freshman I have already become quite involved there and would heavily disagree with the “strange bunch” label. Almost every day of the week they host discussion groups on different topics. One discussion groups are focuses on law, another on just politics, another one dedicated to just freshmen, ect. While all of them have different broader focuses, they typically do revolve around Public Policy and Politics. The discussions tend to be pretty interesting with the only problem being that the participants do tend to mostly be liberal. (It is so much more fun to yell at a conservative than bring up minor differences in opinion) While you do find people there who are “political/policy equivalent of investment banking careerists” there are always some people at these forums who are just interested in the topic. Having people who are really involved in politics and public policy also allows for a lot of key points of discussion not to be ignored and at least in my case I am already starting to learn how to streamline and critically examine my own arguments.</p>
<p>Also there are a lot of opportunities for internships though the Rockefeller Center. And while you do have to apply for some and go though some paperwork as a whole I think the process is a lot more streamlined than at other schools.</p>
<p>Hi,
I have a question, my son is a freshman at a little Ivy and wants to transfer to Dartmouth for next year. He has A’s and B’s and will get good teacher recs… any thoughts? Would appreciate advice.</p>
<p>Hmm… to be honest I don’t know all that much about the transfer process. I do know a fair number of transfer students here, but I also know our transfer acceptance rate isn’t very kind either (somewhere around 6 or 7%.) About the only advice I can offer is not to let any data be discouraging and if he really wants to, to go for it.</p>
<p>So i won’t answer any specific question but i’ll offer a perspective that might answer some of the questions being asked here. I graduated from dartmouth in 08, i was a humanities major, i was in a frat, and i was on a sports team.</p>
<p>What you need to know about the D plan is that it was originally introduced to help deal with the housing crunch on campus. It has stuck around because there is still a housing crunch. It was relieved of a good deal of pressure when they built the dorms along the tuck mall, but a housing crunch still exists. Having said all that, i personally really liked the D plan. The reality of having the year split in 4 (including the summer) makes it easier to go on a study abroad program because you won’t be away for an entire semester.<br>
For the athletes on campus the D plan will be somewhat restricted, since you have to be on campus for your season and often have to be on campus for an offseason of training. This restriction makes it so that you’ll see the majority of your friends most of the time (most athletes are good friends with the rest of their team).</p>
<p>Of course for the non-athletes the story is a little different. It is possible that your two or three best friends are all gone for a term, which will suck, but i promise you that you will have other circles of friends that will then develop into closer friends. The problem of not seeing people due to the D plan is largely overstated. I wouldn’t worry about it too much.</p>
<p>Meeting people at dartmouth is no different from meeting people from anywhere else. People that have similar backgrounds and views and ideas are going to become closer than people who are strikingly different. This is the natural way of things, but for those of us who strive to meet people with different views/backgrounds/perspectives Dartmouth certain provides the opportunity for that to happen. Of course this will be true of any liberal minded university that seeks to accept a diverse student body.</p>
<p>Drinking:
Make no mistake about it, Dartmouth’s campus does a lot of drinking. But know this; every university campus (save for maybe the religious ones) do a lot of drinking. On a sliding scale you might find Dartmouth towards the end of heavier drinking but the difference is negligible. In terms of absolute drinking Dartmouth compares with other universities, certainly with the other ivies and is not noticeably worse than them. </p>
<p>The reason why Dartmouth is seen as being a heavier drinking school is because its in Hanover. Hanover is a tiny town and it is far from a major city. This is not to say that there is nothing in Hanover and the surrounding area. If you include West Lebanon, which by 2nd year most people have regular access to through friends with cars, you have pretty much anything you could need in terms of stores (unless you’re into high fashion) and restaurants. I can’t think of a kind of restaurant that isn’t in the immediate area; theres indian food, chinese, pizza joints, italian, a hibachi grill, standard american fare, french, really high end dining and really cheap dining. There might not be an ethiopian restaurant now that i think of it. </p>
<p>I digress, back to the issue of drinking, because the town is small and the number of cultural activities is less than you’d find in a large city, the drinking activities get more attention because relative to what else there is the drinking seems rampant. You must know, that Dartmouth goes out of its way to provide cultural activities mainly through performances offered at the Hop. I personally went to very few of them because i was satisfied with playing my sport, doing work, hanging out at my frat, and watching movies with friends. But they are there and students do go.</p>
<p>Also important is that while the number of cultural activities might suffer as compared to a school in a larger city, the diversity of the activities is just as great as any other place. Theres every sort of concert, jazz, classical, kinds of music i’ve never heard of, large popular bands (brought in by programming board), small indy bands (brought in by friday night rock) and everything in between. Theres also a whole bunch of plays, from professional to student productions. </p>
<p>notice that i have not said that what you get at Dartmouth is the same kind of culture you’ll get in NYC, and if you love NYC then you’re likely better off at Columbia. But what Dartmouth doesn’t have in cultural activities it makes up for in outdoor activities. Being in the middle of nowhere makes it the ideal place to do anything outdoors; biking, canoeing, mountain climbing, plain old hiking, cabin camping, regular camping, organic farming (dartmouth has its own farm), skiing (dartmouth has its own ski hill), skating/outdoor hockey (you can play on occum pond that freezes over in the winter).</p>
<p>So yes, Dartmouth kids drink hard, but no harder than most other college campuses. Its just being in the middle of nowhere people have skewed opinions of the degree to which it takes place. The one benefit is that unless you join a frat, all your drinking will take place for free. Which is a huge money saver compared to city drinking, where itll cost you 5-6 a beer.</p>
<p>i can’t promise i’ll stop by here again but feel free to ask me to clarify in the off chance that i do.</p>