D Plan...and some other stuff

Colleges and Universities A-Z Dartmouth College
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<p>I'm a prospect for the class of '12 and i really like the way Dartmouth seems (have yet to visit). One of the only things that nags at the back of my mind about Dartmouth is the D plan they have in place. How does the D plan affect the overall planning of your life in relation to things outside of Dartmouth. And do your relationships with high school friends deteriorate because of the D plan. I read on one of these posts that living off campus with a group of friends during your sophomore summer term is one of the greatest experiences and that sounds really exciting but I'm just a little nervous about the rest of my life and how the D plan would affect it.</p>

<p>And one other little thing because I haven't really gotten around to looking it up (probably won't until end of July either) is whether Dartmouth uses the common app with a supplement or if it has its own application.</p>

<p>And hows the ultimate frisbee club team?</p>

2

<p>intern ship during winter term? or study abroad in new zealand? sounds better than a hanover winter! it might be a bit of a headache to pack and store things for the off term, but i think the benefits are wonderful. not as much comptetition for a winter internship as a summer internship. sophomore summer is rumored to be delightful. maybe the hardest would be relationships with your dartmouth friends that don't have the same off term?</p>

3

<p>Yes, common app with supp.</p>

4

<p>supp is pretty painless though. Like "5 words to describe you"</p>

5

<p>
[quote]
it might be a bit of a headache to pack and store things for the off term

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</p>

<p>I think this is where a little parent nagging comes in:) The $$ difference between controlled storage and off -campus storage (hanover true value is huge!!). The first year D wa the friend of the friendless where she and 4 friends stored their stuff over the summer freshman year off campus and the bill was over $500.</p>

<p>Over sophomore summer she lived in the sorority house. She and friends who stayed in the house stored stuff in the basement (which she said is huge) fall (fsp) and winter (internship) junior year so it did not cost anything. This summer her stuff is in controlled storage near her housing for the fall (cost about $70).</p>

<p>
[quote]
maybe the hardest would be relationships with your dartmouth friends that don't have the same off term?

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</p>

<p>You would be suprised how the kids end up working all of this out. Somer examples: When D did her FSP in the fall term, many of her friends were based in europe. They used ryan air and theother really cheap air carrier, and met up with each other in france, london and copenhagen to hang out for long weekends.
In addition, it seemed like our house was stop over central as when most of them were coming back to JFK, they stayed over for a night or 2 and the kids all hung out. One of her friends was completing a internship in NYC and we hosted the friend the last couple of weeks. </p>

<p>During the winter term when a lot of them were off, they came up for winter carnival, and all met in Boston to celebrate the 21st birthday of one of the friends.</p>

<p>Some of the students who had internships in NYC gave a goodbye NYC party when it was time to return home at the end of the term and a bunch of them got together then.</p>

<p>The internet and cell phones definitely make the world smaller.</p>

<p>
[quote]
I read on one of these posts that living off campus with a group of friends during your sophomore summer term is one of the greatest experiences and that sounds really exciting but I'm just a little nervous about the rest of my life and how the D plan would affect it.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>"living off campus" for most of the students is within walking distance to campus so they really are not that far away. One of the great things about sophomore summer is that you are on campus with your class. D had friends who studied abroad spring sophomore year, came back for sophomore summer and left again in the fall.</p>

<p>logistically, I think the D plan is hardest on athlethes because they have to juggle everything around training/playing for their sport. But even then, they manage to work it out (it seems to just take a little more planning regarding classes).</p>

6

<p>As for Ultimate:
check this out: <a href="http://www.dartmouth.edu/%7Eultimate/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.dartmouth.edu/~ultimate/&lt;/a>
(women not too up to date, but they made it to the championship in Columbus this year, as in past years)</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=348996&highlight=ultimate+frisbee%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=348996&highlight=ultimate+frisbee&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

7

<p>
[quote]
And do your relationships with high school friends deteriorate because of the D plan.

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</p>

<p>Its not the D Plan per se, that affects HS relations, but the academic quarter system which is a month off of a semester system. Approx. 20% of four-year colleges are on a quarter system, with classes starting end of Sep and going thru mid-June. In contrast, most semester systems start late August and finish mid-May; even Harvard is changing to this more traditional calendar. </p>

<p>btw: IMO, most kids make this ~4 week calendar differential to be bigger than it is. The simple fact is that most HS relationships will deteriorate anyway as you make new college friends!</p>

<p>Visit Hanover and if you like what you see, go for it. Good luck.</p>