<p>What are some cons of the D-Plan? </p>
<p>Is it true that we will be out of sync with just about every other college, meaning that we won't be able to meet friends during breaks?</p>
<p>Not necessarily. Your freshman schedule will be just like any other college student’s. After your sophomore year you will be required to stay for the summer. But that only means that you get to pick any other trimester throughout your time there to take off and get a job, get an internship, travel, or do whatever you want. Since other colleges will be on at this time, it is much easier to get jobs and internships. Also, sophomore summer is supposed to be a great experience, as it is just you and all of your class basically running the campus.</p>
<ol>
<li>It is nice to be done with tests before Winter and Spring break.</li>
<li>Spring break is out of sync with some public schools, but you end up meeting or traveling with friends you met at Dartmouth.</li>
</ol>
<p>One real con (IMHO) is that you’re constantly moving in and out of the next dorm room.</p>
<p>The biggest con of the D-Plan (as opposed to a typical college quarter system), is that classes are compacted. For example, in a typical college (quarter or semester), Frosh Chem (or Calc) is taught over the whole year of ~32 weeks; the only difference with a quarter system is one more final, but less midterms. At D, that same material in Frosh Chem is compacted into two quarters, or 20 weeks, which is even more compacted bcos the Winter quarter is only ~9.5 weeks long. Class compaction might not be a problem for most students, but if one gets behind (illness for example, or just stuck on a concept in Calc or Chem), it can be extremely difficult to catch up. Due to compaction, students at D take only three classes a quarter, as opposed to four courses under a typical quarter system.</p>
<p>About 20% of US colleges are on the quarter system, including Stanford and the Univ of Chicago.</p>
<p>
Ditto. The nice thing about the D-Plan’s flexibility, though, is that if you want to avoid unnecessary moves you mostly can.</p>
<p>My DS loves the compact quarter system so that’s in the eye of the beholder.</p>
<p>What Dartmouth students have told me the biggest disadvantage was for them is that there are terms they are on campus when their best pals are not. The flip side is that they do continue to make new friends and not stay in the freshmen year clique.</p>
<p>That said, on balance, all the Dartmouth grads I know, which is many as there is a huge number in my firm, think the D Plan was a tremendous overall advantage because of internships and foreign study opportunities.</p>