I’m so thankful to be accepted by these two schools and I wanted to start somewhere haha! I know a lot of Cornell because as of now it’s my first choice, however, I don’t want to throw out a Dartmouth opportunity until I completely assess the pro’s and cons of each.
I’m going to be on a pre med track but i don’t want to specifically study biology. I love the location of both but can anyone provide any other insight about pre med at Dartmouth vs. Cornell. I know both are rigorous but i heard cornell is very stressful on pre meds. Thanks!!
@CCSenioritis Cornell is much larger and also has way more grade deflation. This is especially bad if you are pre-med since you need as high a GPA as possible and as much as individual mentoring, attention as possible. I feel at Cornell it will be much more of a grind as a pre med due to the factors mentioned. I would personally go with Dartmouth. Also I can’t think of any reason to choose Cornell over Dartmouth.
@CCSenioritis I can’t speak to the pre-med rigour but I will mention that Cornell and Dartmouth run their classes very differently. When you attend Dimensions I’m sure they will talk about the D-Plan which is Dartmouth’s flexible enrollment plan. The College doesn’t work on a typical semester based system but rather 10 week terms.
As a generalization for Freshmen year you would begin classes in mid-September and break at Thanksgiving. You would remain off until after New Year’s then attend until mid-March at which point there is roughly a 2 week Spring Break. After break you’re back in classes until the first week of June. If I remember correctly you live rather far away from Dartmouth. If for some reason you are unable to travel home during the breaks unlike many schools Dartmouth does run interim housing so you would have a place to live.
To recap Freshmen year you attend Fall, Winter and Spring terms but not Summer. Beginning Sophomore year you will choose which of the 4 terms to attend. You are required to take one term off each academic year. As an example my daughter is submitting her D-Plan for 2016-2017. She will be attending Fall, Winter and Summer. What you do with your off term is up to you. Study abroad, internships or just take time off to do nothing are all acceptable to the College.
One of the things my daughter liked about Dartmouth was this flexibility. She is planning on studying abroad and doing research with one of her professors during her off terms.
The D-Plan is a unique feature of Dartmouth but it certainly isn’t every students “cup of tea”. As you are balancing the pros and cons of Cornell and Dartmouth make certain to work this into your equation. Are you at your best following a two semester system or would the 4 term system work for you? The classes are important but how those classes are taught/scheduled will shape your college experience. :-B