<p>I am VERY interested in going to Dartmouth, and have a few majors that I am considering. First is mathematics (to become an actuary), second in Computer science, and third is engineering. How are all these programs at Dartmouth. Are they strong, reputable programs? Thanks.</p>
<p>While I don’t have any solid evidence, I really doubt it. Dartmouth seems to be pretty bad for science/engineering in general. Most of my classmates interested in those fields didn’t even bother applying.</p>
<p>I don’t post often on here, but my son is an Engineering Physics major and has been extremely happy with his education. Dartmouth obviously has a strong grad school in engineering and has great facilities. As a liberal arts college, the education differs from that to be had at a more research oriented university, so that might not be to everyone’s liking. But if you are interested in opportunities to live and learn with friends who may have a wide variety of interests, Dartmouth is a fabulous place. </p>
<p>And the personal involvement with faculty has been wonderful. He has been involved with research since sophomore year. Also did a great term abroad.
Bryceman, I encourage you to visit again before deciding.</p>
<p>chessloser lists himself as a 17-year-old, so I would disregard his advice and expertise on the caliber of Dartmouth’s engineering program.</p>
<p>Dartmouth’s math, engineering and science programs are all solid (and I went to Princeton). </p>
<p>I’ve seen way too many successful graduates of Dartmouth’s engineering school to even hint it wasn’t reputable (it’s not like all those kids with 2200 SAT scores chose Dartmouth as their safety school).</p>
<p>A week ago, I met with a guy with a Dartmouth BSE and MSE. He’s a senior executive with a $900-million manufacturer, and seems to have done alright for himself.</p>
<p>I believe BASIC was developed at Dartmouth:</p>
<p>[Dartmouth</a> Computer Science](<a href=“http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/about.php]Dartmouth”>http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/about.php)</p>
<p>The incoming president is a noted math scholar/professor. You might even end up taking a class from him.</p>
<p>My understanding of Dartmouth Engineering is that it focused on providing a top-notch learning experience for undergraduates to develop in them a solid engineering framework, an agile mind and a breadth of knowledge in the liberal arts to enable them to pursue a wide variety of technical and non-technical career fields. Dartmouth is not focused on developing deep technical knowledge, but rather the ability to think well. So their graduates do well in grad school and also in employers who seek their agile mind and are willing to invest in developing them further. So Dartmouth does not compete against Georgia Tech or MIT because of its different focus. Many Dartmouth engineering majors combine engineering with another discipline.</p>
<p>hey bryceman, I am a current Dartmouth student on the engineering track (still have yet to fill out my major card) so hopefully my advice can be of some help. There is a reason chessloser says what he does (I’m assuming you’re a dude chessloser, my bad if you’re not): you don’t see many Dartmouth engineers working in the field because they’re usually the ones running the company. The engineering program here is quite different from any other schools because Dartmouth’s core value is its holistic approach to education. Before you can commit to a specific field of engineering, you have to take gateway courses in at least two different disciplines. This policy may be a nuisance if you are dead-set on one field, but I find it really beneficial because you gain a broad understanding of what engineers in other fields are doing in addition to your own. Admittedly, your skill set may be slightly behind engineers from other schools like Berkeley or MIT when you first enter the workforce but the fact that you have a broader view of engineering means that you can coordinate between various fields, which is why most Dartmouth engineering alums I’ve met work in management rather than direct practice. Also, as MidWestFather mentioned, you can modify majors here at Dartmouth and engineering is no exception. You can modify almost any major with any other as long as you can provide a rational argument – I’ve heard of people modifying computer science with studio art (art forgery detection) and economics with music (music biz). In short, while you may not go as deep into a specific discipline as a Dartmouth engineer, you gain a greater breadth of understanding which I personally feel is more valuable. There is always grad school to focus in on a specific discipline, but your fours years as an undergrad are your only opportunity to really explore all these different paths. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me or even reach out to the professors themselves – all of my profs respond to my emails on the same day, and most within a couple hours so I am sure they’ll be more than happy to talk to you.</p>
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<p>Don’t buy this rubbish. This is how Dartmouth likes to position themselves because the engineering program is small and lower rated. It’s not a terrible program and Dartmouth itself is prestigious. The facilties are decent as well.</p>
<p>The other think to remember is getting an ABET engineering degree at Dartmouth will take five years as you have to get a BA first (no exceptions). You can shorten this somewhat if you have a lot of APs - but starting next year that won’t be the case. Also, the trimester system is no great for engineering. You just start a course and it’s over - okay for humanities but not for engineering classes.</p>
<p>Where else did you get in?</p>
<p>@LakeClouds - DD will graduate this June with BS/BA in engineering + a liberal arts major in four years + one additional term. Careful class selection made it possible. By all accounts she took advantage of the full breadth of the Dartmouth experience.</p>
<p>It’s been a LONG time since I’ve looked at CC, but I just had to chime in about this!</p>
<p>Math - Very intelligent professors. Some are better at teaching higher-level concepts in smaller-settings, but I think at an undergrad level, you can get everything you want from your major at Dartmouth. </p>
<p>Engineering - my experience with D’s engineering dept has been unbelievably fantastic. As another poster said, it’s fairly common to see students modifying their engs major with another field or doing double majors. I can’t speak for the teaching styles of other schools, but I think at Dartmouth, there is definitely an emphasis on thinking, hands-on building, and integration with the world outside college. Even though it’s in the middle of NH, the school provides great avenues of exploration with this major. Some people pursue the arts, some go to grad school, some go into finance/law/consulting, some work at start-ups. The list goes on.
Post-grad: I’d say they were one of the earliest “major” groups to get hired/have plans before graduation. They all went to excellent grad schools or got excellent jobs. Of course, they all worked very hard during their four or five years (it’s very feasible to get it done in four!) so it wasn’t by pure luck. </p>
<p>Also, it’s a quarter-term school, not a trimester. Some upper-level classes do go on for two or three terms, or are in sequences so the system is definitely not as abrupt as LakeClouds describes it to be. </p>
<p>Ok, yeah. If I haven’t made it obvious enough - I loved the engs department. The type and quality of the faculty and students, the extracurricular opportunities, the perpetual push to learn and work hard, blah blah. It was great. </p>
<p>CompSci: Can’t say much because I never took upper-level courses, but I’ll say that the major graduates of my class found great jobs for the most part. Gov’t/Google/startups/facebook/etc. </p>
<p>Hope this helps!</p>
<p>I’ve got a question to add: does Dartmouth have a computer science engineering degree? If so, would I be able to double major in economics and computer science engineering in four years or would that take extra time?</p>
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<p>This will be much more difficult starting with class of 2018 as Dartmouth no longer provides AP credit. Most (or all) of the students who completed the BA and ABET degree had several APs coming.</p>
<p>Chessloser3201 and LakeClouds are both correct. For the programs you want, you should look elsewhere.</p>
<p>Thank you for this information.</p>
<p>My husband’s experience, while out of date, is far more in line with ragekage’s: he got his BE and ME from Dartmouth, went to Carnegie Mellon for his PhD, worked in industry, ended up an entrepreneur and CEO, and is now in finance doing tech stuff. His classmates do everything from straight engineering to management. If you’re looking for a tech school, Dartmouth isn’t it, and that may be why chessloser and Lakeclouds are so dismissive of the school. It is a liberal arts engineering degree, and if that’s what you want, it’s a very good engineering school. If you want to get a BE and be hired right out of school as an engineer, and work at that all your life, Dartmouth may still be your school, but RIT might be a better choice.</p>