<p>you have to admit....you're a catch ;) Anyhow, yes, finals are over, it feels good...</p>
<p>kelsey, glad to hear you made it back to cali okay- sorry about the essay. I've been absolutely DONE since Monday! woo hoo! Good luck with the essay. I'm actually in Baltimore until tomorrow, when I head back to Wyoming.....(blegh....wyoming)</p>
<p>apppro, xanatos, athena and kelsey,</p>
<p>which classes did you take this last term and would you recommend the classes/professors?</p>
<p>I was off campus this term. My freshman fall I took Govy 3 (American Political System) History 1 (US History to 1877) and Russian 1. I took English 5 in the winter. (You don't have a choice on that, unless you are exempt).</p>
<p>I would recommend getting your language done as early as possible. Govy 3 is tremendously easy. And if Wilder is teaching History 1, take it with him. Otherwise take something else.</p>
<p>Any specific departments you have questions about?</p>
<p>I took Gov 5 (international politics), Spanish 3, and English 5. My english 5 professor, Priscilla Sears, was the best professor I could have ever asked for. We have this thing on-line where we can look at reviews of professors, and I was looking at all my English 5 choices and picked her because nobody had anything bad to say about her. She was amazing! Our class of 16 people really loved her. So much so- that we actually all took her out to dinner on the last night of classes. </p>
<p>Gov 5 was really a pain in my rear- I came into it knowing it was supposed to be a lot of reading (about 150-200 pages a week)- and thought I would just play it like I did in high school and listen to the professor talk about the readings, rather than actually reading the material. BIG mistake. I think Professor Press is a good teacher for that, but...don't get yourself in a hole.</p>
<p>Athena is right- it's a good idea to look into languages right away because you need to pass out of a language of level '3.' I like Spanish, so I'm going to continue with it, but I could technically be done if I wanted to. </p>
<p>Is there any classes you'd particularly like to know about?</p>
<p>I took The Age of the Samurai for my freshman seminar (15 or so students), Spanish 9 (12 students), and Film Studies 1 (50 or so students). I had Steven Ericson for the samurai class, and I would definitely recommend him. He is an incredibly, incredibly nice man, not to mention a pretty nice grader. I had Ricardo Bardo for my Spanish 9 class, and at first I was incredibly intimidated because I hadn't taken Spanish since my junior year and didn't understand his Cuban accent for the first three classes or so, but I ended up really loving the class. He's extremely innovative with his assignments, and we ended up doing a lot of creative writing in lieu of essays. In class discussions about Spanish literature, etc., were also very engaging. But you definitely have to get used to him cold-calling you and having to analytically discuss a topic--in Spanish. That caught me a little off guard at first; it's not easy to think on your feet in another language. He did tend to be a little scatterred, and sometimes would forget what homework he had assigned us and then assign us more, so we didn't know how much we really had to do (either way, it was a lot). Overall, though, I enjoyed the class and would recommend him as a professor. I think he's new and we were the first class that had him, and he might be in some kind of trial period, so I don't know if he'll be back or not. For my film class I had Mark Williams, and I really loved the class and think he did a great job, but I know some students found his teaching methods frustrating sometimes. He LOVED the socratic method, so he'd never define terms for you, and instead ask "What do you think?" in response to your questions. He'd also say "maybe" or "how so?" to every point you made. It really did help you defend your arguments and think about things, but sometimes you just wanted something defined, and that's not his style. He wants the students to figure it out. I learned a LOT from the class, though, and though I was genuinely interested in film studies when I began (I got interested from an American Film Comedy class I took at Stanford summer college), now I'm even more so. Also, don't go into it thinking you're going to get to slack off and watch a bunch of movies, because the class is a good amount of work. Hope this helps...what departments are you interested in particularly?</p>
<p>What verbal sat score do you need to be exempt from the English 5 requirements? The Dartmouth website seems to make it a point not to say.</p>
<p>You need either a 770 on the verbal SAT, or 700+ on the verbal SAT and a 5 on the AP.</p>
<p>Nice! 1st semester freshman seminar here I come.</p>
<p>haha, congrats. Take the samurai one if they offer it next year, it's really interesting. There's a slim chance that they'll change the qualifications, that's probably why they didn't say on the website. There's also a rumor that they want to make everyone take English 5, but I don't think that'll happen because they'd need more teachers for it. Most likely it'll stay the same as this year.</p>
<p>The freshman writing program has just been recenty overhauled. I beleive that beginning with the class of 09, there will no longer be an exepmtion out of first year writing. All first year student will have to take english 5.</p>
<p>Oops! Sorry for giving you false hope, Scimmia. Sybbie is right. I should have known that, too, I write for the D...
"Pending a sizable donation, the College also hopes to be able to require English 5 of all students, eliminating the exemption that many now receive.</p>
<p>'Eventually -- sooner rather than later, we hope -- we'll have a very large input of money coming from a donor in order to expand the English 5 offerings, so that all first-year students take English 5,' Travis said."</p>
<p>Eh, no loss really. It's an easy grade, and it never hurts to get in some extra writing practice before the really serious papers.</p>
<p>Although my English 5 class was sort of a joke... my seminar was amazing. Race, Politics and Law with Doug Edlin (but he didn't get tenure and he left for Dickinson) :(</p>
<p>Thanks guys, </p>
<p>I'm most interested in classics, philosophy, chem and bio.....if you happen to know anything about those departments, I'd really be interested. Thanks!</p>
<p>I only took Classics 2 (Tragedy and Comedy of Greece and Rome). With Prof. Williamson. AVOID HER. Boring boring boring. The subject matter was interesting, but she is boring as hell.</p>
<p>My roommate has taken Phil 1, and she is pre-med, and she seems to like both. But my "areas of expertise" are history ,government, and women's studies.</p>
<p>Also, I will be working on housing for the 09s over the coming summer! ;) ;) So any housing questions you have, I can try my best to answer.</p>
<p>Eh that's alright. I don't mind taking it if everyone else has to too.</p>
<p>Ok, what are the best best dorms? And any info on bio classes (best professors, etc.)?</p>
<p>Yeah another bio here. I'm thinking about doing pre-med prereq, but majoring in French, history, or double with bio. What about calculus? I'm taking AP calc now, and will take the AP exam, but I don't feel overly prepared, not sure I even want to place out of the first calc class, are there study groups, etc, how much calculus is required for a bio major? ALso, anybody taken the Honors intro bio class, I heard it was tough?</p>
<p>Dear themindofayn,</p>
<p>Here is the link to the housing communities,</p>
<p>The majority of the freshmen will live in either the River or the Choates</p>
<p>You really don't have a lot of choice in first year housing other than
if you want to live in substance free housing
if you want a single
or applying for East wheelock</p>
<p>In my opinion the best dorms for freshmen:
1) Hitch**** (BEST location, mixed classes)
2) Gile (Equally good location in the Gold Coast)
3) Russell Sage (if you don't drink; it's substance free)
4) Richardson (Pretty big rooms)
5) Wheeler (Right across from the library; convenient in winter)
6) Fayers (Right behind Dartmouth Row... can be fun)
7) New Hampshire (Near the Hop/the gym)
8) Ripley/Woodward/Smith (behind the Fayers)
9) River (all freshmen)
10) Choates (all freshmen- better location, uglier rooms) Both all freshmen clusters are fun, though, just really small rooms.</p>
<p>I leave out EW because it really depends on the person. Some hate it, some love it.</p>
<p>Also, Sybbie, they don't guarantee a single freshman year unless you have a medical reason. Otherwise they don't guarantee such requests.</p>