<p>Is it easy to make friends at Dartmouth- like not cliquey or anything? Are social events usually open and not all exclusive or anything?</p>
<p>There are very few exclusive social events - mostly greek and/or undergraduate society formals, where you need to be a member or be invited by one.</p>
<p>however, almost everything else on campus is open to the entire campus.</p>
<p>When you are a freshman, this is true. Once you get past freshman year, this changes drastically.</p>
<p>yes and no.</p>
<p>depends who you ask, and what your definition of “most” is.
are there a lot of exclusive events, yes.</p>
<p>are there a lot more INclusive events? also yes.</p>
<p>I was referring to the first part of his question.</p>
<p>sorry. my bad.</p>
<p>still, while it might be hardER to make friends, if you get involved in different things, you can still meet new people and make new friends, though most people have developed a circle of friends that can be hard to penetrate.</p>
<p>…This was by far the most muddled and unclear series of responses ever.</p>
<p>Being a freshman at Dartmouth (like being at any other college) is a completely new experience. Just be open, and social, and you’ll have no problem being friends. There’s no sense of elitism or exclusivity…ESP freshman year.</p>
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<p>WIN!!</p>
<p>haha.</p>
<p>Yeah, I had to reread everything thrice to get the gist of it. I was wondering what on earth Xanatos meant originally, now it’s clear. I’d agree - it’s very easy to make friends freshman year, much harder as an upperclassman. Most events are open to the whole campus, and the exclusive ones are ones you probably don’t want to go to anyway.</p>
<p>One thing about pledging at a Greek society is that you automatically make a bunch of new friends. (A senior described it to me last year as essentially orientation all over again.) If you remain unaffiliated, your social circle will be a lot smaller relative to your Greek friends (who also probably won’t hang out with you as much as you guys did freshman year).</p>
<p>But one nice thing about Dartmouth is that almost everyone has their niche. Even if you’re the most socially awkward person ever, you can’t go without making friends freshman year. I think it’s physically impossible. I know a guy who a lot of people find creepy and very awkward - even he found his own gang. As an upperclassman, you just mainly solidify the friends you got in freshman year, and occasionally make new ones as your friends/classes introduce you to new people. The number of friends you ultimately make will depend in some way on your personality and intro-/extravertedness, but it won’t be zero.</p>
<p>Read dcd’s posts in this thread:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/374961-dartmouth-vs-washu-15.html?[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/374961-dartmouth-vs-washu-15.html?</a></p>
<p>Obviously, everybody’s experiences are different. slipper will tell you that he made tons of friends despite coming in as a transfer. But there are certainly key moments in your Dartmouth career when making friends is optimal - orientation, DOC trips, pledging, and sophomore summer. If you don’t capitalize on those…then…well…</p>
<p>Hm, one somewhat unrelated point about dcd’s post - it’s my experience that the Dartmouth math department is actually pretty…not good, to be charitable. The profs are smart and able, no doubt about that, but judging from my experience, that of my friends, and the SA course reviews, the teaching is abysmal. So I’m not surprised dcd had a bad experience as a math major. I think at Dartmouth as a math major you often have to teach yourself, especially in the lower level classes.</p>
<p>^The thing is, you can’t reasonably have concepts from say, Real Analysis, sink in within the span of a 10-week term. These types of things are better off on a semester system (although, schools like Caltech have had incredible success with quarter terms. Of course, Caltech students are so much more hosed than Dartmouth students are…I don’t know if everyone would be in agreement of increasing the amount of work lol)</p>
<p>before orientation, I was really worried that I’d have trouble making friends…but it happened naturally. I think with most Dartmouth freshmen (due to DOC exposure), you start off hanging out with those DOC friends or roommate (cuz you guys are pretty much bound for a year), and then you just gradually branch out from there. Chances are–from what I’ve noticed you’ll ditch --your DOC group and roomie. I didn’t have trouble at all makin friends; I realized my initial fears–that my classmates would be waaaaay too intelligent or elitist for me to handle–were totally unfounded. In just a month or month and a half I found people whom I can joke around with and curse around with no worries.</p>
<p>sounds great ivygreeen…i just submitted my app!</p>