<p>So I've been at Dartmouth for a term now and I keep thinking back to how rough the admissions process was. If anyone's interested in Dartmouth and wants to know more about the academic or social climate, I'd love to give any info that I can.</p>
<p>Good luck with your apps!</p>
<p>How much course load do you have compared to HS?
What’s the best thing you can do to be accepted to a school like Dartmouth? (in terms of anything)
Looking forward to your answers :D</p>
<p>chi225 - Classes at Dartmouth are definitely challenging but it’s not difficult to get good grades if you manage your time wisely. Since our terms are shorter there’s less time to go over material but people generally only take 3 classes so it balances out. It’s also very easy to get support if you’re struggling because the college is so undergraduate-focused. </p>
<p>I’m not an admissions officer so I couldn’t say there’s a single thing you could do. But something that’s really under-valued for college admissions in general is the essay. Dartmouth doesn’t have a supplement so you need to make sure that your common app essay is well written and unique. Almost everyone who applies has high test scores and well rounded ECs, so you have to try to stand out.</p>
<p>Well I’m less in the “applying” phase and more in the “please please please admit me” phase but still I’d love some answers.
I’ve read about the D-Plan, and if I recall correctly, everyone is required to remain on campus during the fall, winter and spring terms of their freshmen year. Some of my first-year friends at Dartmouth, however, came home during winter and stayed during summer. Just curious how that works :D</p>
<p>jackdaw - That’s correct. You’re required to be on campus your first three terms, no exceptions. You might be confusing coming home during freshman winter with our winter interim, which is always at least 6 weeks. They may have stayed during the summer to do research or to take classes in preparation for an off-term sophomore year. Hope this helps!</p>
<p>Hi collegebound! My son and I are waiting on pins and needles for the decisions, or at least an email that tells the actual decision date and time! Thanks for answering questions! Your comment about the essay was very helpful to us. His essay was troublesome in the beginning, but the end result turned out quite well, so I sincerely hope it will help him stand out. 
After decisions, I’m sure I will be loaded with questions (well, depending on how the decision goes…) I will ask you this- did you have other schools you also would be happy with in mind? And did you have the apps ready to go?</p>
<p>Collegebound thank you for starting this thread! I have a pretty simple question: do you have free time? I’m hoping to attend Dartmouth and major in computer science with a minor in mathematics. I’m sure Dartmouth is a very difficult school to succeed at.</p>
<p>Well, I’m not the OP, but I also just got done with Freshmen fall so I’ve got some info. </p>
<p>my3gr8boyz- I was definitely considering other schools as well and had several options I think I would have been happy with. As far as applications, I applied to all of my schools RD, so I kind of worked on them all simultaneously, so I guess yes I did. Howeever, I knew very little about Dartmouth when I applied and had no real intention of even going until I visited in the spring, so I was really up in the air. Had I had more confidence on what school I wanted to attend, I may have done things a little different (I applied to 20 some odd schools, less quantity more quality)</p>
<p>ekim33- I would say there is plenty of free time if your’e good at time management. Time management is a MUST at Dartmouth, as I learned the hard way. Fortunately for me I managed to come out with good grades this term, but my bad time management skills ended up causing me to drop a class. But, as long as you study effectively and don’t let yourself get behind, you’ll have plenty of free time at Dartmouth :). Also, Dartmouth’s Computer Science Department is awesome!</p>