<p>With dartmouth, I always hear that the greek scene is too intense (over drinking) and exclusive, that diversity takes a back seat to a boys club mentality, that its too cold and isolated and therefore depressing, or that its too small. Ive heard that it gets boring. Why is dartmouth so good though. I know it has unreal academics, but what about the isolation is great. Why is Hanover better than a Philadelphia or Boston for example. What do students do on regular week nights? How much of a blessing is the D-Plan, or is it a curse? Thanks! </p>
<p>Parent of a recent graduate (girl). She absolutely loved her years at Dartmouth. The Greek scene is the most inclusive of any school that I am aware of. Parties are open to everyone, and the kids are friends with people in all houses as well as independents. There is drinking, but no worse than any other school. No one cares if a person chooses water over booze. There is no pressure to drink. It is cold, no debating that. My daughter never found it boring. There are so many activities, clubs, etc. She loved the opportunity to live in a small town, as she probably will never have that chance again. A real positive is the safe feeling on campus and in town. She loved the D plan, as she was able to secure internships without competition. Also, if you study abroad, a semester can be a long time away, while a quarter is great (comparing my 2 kids experiences on that). Academically, my D never had a bad professor. She loved her classes and really feels she got a great education, which led to a great job. Now that she has graduated, she misses it immensely, and she has already been back twice. There is no right or wrong, better or worse. You need to decide what is the right fit for you.</p>
<p>My daughter is not in the Greek system and she is one of about 50% or more of Dartmouth students who are not involved in the Greek system. She absolutely loves Dartmouth. The D-plan benefits far outweigh the only curse – which is that you are taking a semester’s worth of college material in just 9.5 weeks (but you only take 3 courses at a time). The benefits are many, not withstanding the following key ones: fall term ends at Thanksgiving and winter term begins the first week of January – so especially for those living on the west coast, you don’t have to take two round trips home in less than a month; the bigger benefit is the flexibility in terms of studying abroad and interning. While other students are only off in the summer, and everyone is competing for a limited number of internship spots, Dartmouth students can take any quarter off (while attending school in the summer) and better be able to secure key internships. Our daughter never seems to be at a loss of things to do – and although she hasn’t taken advantage of this yet, there are multiple buses a day going directly to Boston and to New York City. The passion of the Dartmouth students we have met is incredible – this is generalizing, but I think that there tend to be two groups of Ivy League students – those who apply to multiple Ivies hoping to get into one of them, and those that fall in love with Dartmouth. </p>