Dartmouth Psychology

I’m a senior applying to Dartmouth Fall 2018. I plan on majoring in psychology and would like to know from alumni or existing students how the psych program is in the college. Are the opportunities at par with other universities of the same calibre? Are there sufficient research opportunities and internships for an undergrad student?

I don’t, in any way, want to discourage you from applying to Dartmouth. However, you should be aware that the psychology department has experienced some recent scandals, and you might want to investigate those to be sure you feel comfortable with the resolution of the problems that occurred. Also, as you research those, remember that “adjacent” majors such as anthropology, sociology, and neuroscience have strong offerings as well.

How hard is neuroscience at Dartmouth? How well does the school prepare you for things such as the MCAT or other means of higher education?

@NorCalTootsie : Has there actually been a “resolution”? The administration seems to have been studiously silent, even after announcing a while back that a decision was imminent.

I haven’t heard anything definitive yet.

@krisp13, since Dartmouth has a med school, I suspect the pre-med prep is very good.

Dartblog just posted about the psychology department. http://www.dartblog.com/data/2018/06/013867.php

^^ B-) Right after my prior post here, I asked Joe if he’d heard anything. There’s not even scuttlebutt it seems: just three professors twisting in the wind. Whatever they did or did not do, I can’t say that I’m impressed with the handling of the situation by the Dartmouth administration. Then again, that’s par for the course.

one down: Heatherton “retires”

https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2018/06/15/dartmouth-professor-accused-misconduct-retires

Googling “Todd Heatherton” yields a number of reports on this. I favor this one http://www.thedartmouth.com/article/2018/06/heatherton-retires-following-sexual-misconduct-allegations with its link to the letter from a group of grad students in the department.

And today on Whalen resigning: http://www.thedartmouth.com/article/2018/06/whalen-resigns-amidst-review-for-alleged-sexual-misconduct

Two down, one to go. Don’t like how Dartmouth has handled it either, some similarities to U Rochester underwhelming response in their brain/cog science dept. This has been on our radar as D19 is considering these two schools, and PBS/cog sci would be possible majors. Serious brain drain in these areas at both schools and it takes at least one year to hire a permanent replacement.

It’s extremely difficult to fire a tenured faculty member, so unfortunately, these things take time. A college has to follow its rules/regs that have been approved.

But yes, serious brain drain at The College.

fwiw: my D interviewed for their PhD program a couple of years back. Found one of them an a$$ when drunk as a skunk during the recruiting dinner.

And now Whalen is gone: http://www.dartblog.com/data/2018/06/013897.php

That sounds consistent with what Heatherton acknowledged in his resignation letter.

FWIW, parties other than the D administration have chosen to closely control the information flow.

And the third psych professor under investigation just resigned.

Wow. Between Dartmouth PBS and Rochester BCS departments, there have been many discussions with D19, as both these schools are on her list and these departments represent possible majors for her. Obviously these behaviors exist in the real world so it’s good to prepare her and have these frank discussions, but not sure it makes sense to send her into known hornets nests either.

I have to believe that PBS has been completely cleaned up so no more ‘hornets nest’. Just the opposite, IMO. Three tenured faculty members terminated is a huge blow to the College’s teaching, until they can be replaced.

Yes, hopefully the bad apples in PBS are all out, but the department is weakened certainly in the short term and there really is no way to know how deeply this pattern of behavior is ingrained. There will be a transition time as it typically takes a minimum of one year to hire permanent replacements. Further, the research projects of the 3 fired profs have likely been terminated, and the undergrad and grad students on those studies/projects have lost those positions and the publication potential that went along with it. And temp professors aren’t going to start much in the way of research either. All in all, it will take multiple years for PBS to rebound.