<p>My son will be a member of the class of 2016 and one of the things that drew him to Dartmouth was the focus on undergrad learning and what seems to be a very tight-knit community with students that have a genuine love of learning. </p>
<p>Today I read an article in the UPenn newspaper that was kind of shocking - two students lamenting the total lack of intellectual curiosity, the total focus and "pre-professional" mindset of just getting the grades and then getting a "power job".</p>
<p>"Here at Penn, intellectual curiosity connotes pretention. Being passionate about Plato and plate tectonics is just plain un-cool."</p>
<p>In the comments at the end of the article, other students echo the points of the article.</p>
<p>Just curious if current students and grads could weigh in on my whether Dartmouth does foster the intellectual curiosity and interest in learning that I've been led to believe. Or, am I being naive and is the culture outlined in the UPenn article indicative of all/other Ivies, including Dartmouth.</p>
<p>I don’t have the first hand experience, but from my personal observation during visits, and from what I hear from my friends’ kids, the article is also indicative of Dartmouth. Not to be mean, but I did get the feeling of Dartmouth being a very pre-professional place, not an intellectual place. Something I didn’t get at Brown, say. However, when you think of what it took for the majority of the students to get there - heavy grind, getting top grades, top scores, ec’s, you can understand that they want to make major money coming out of college. Not that I agree with this, but that’s the feeling I got. I do believe that it varies by major in a big way – someone studying philosophy or art history or classics, will, by definition, be immersed in a much more intellectual atmosphere than someone studying a “drier” subject.</p>
<p>“I do believe that it varies by major in a big way – someone studying philosophy or art history or classics, will, by definition, be immersed in a much more intellectual atmosphere than someone studying a “drier” subject.”</p>
<p>Indeed. That would certainly be my take from conversations with D and others in her department.</p>