Wondering about overall friendships, academic and dating climate and overall student experience? Is there a well-designed freshman welcome?
Most LACs do a pretty good job with getting freshman oriented and involved in campus, and Dickinson is no exception. There are a mixture of orientation activities, social events, and free time the first few days on campus. Your other questions are pretty broad – is there something specific you want to know about academics?
Regarding dating, my D met her BF at swing dance club freshman year. They started dating late first semester, and are still together a couple years after graduating. I know her best friend had a couple of fairly lengthy relationships with guys on campus during their four years there. Not sure exactly what you are asking, but it is not just a hookup culture if that is what you are wondering. Although I think there is some of that for those who are looking for it.
My kid made a lot of friends that she still has after graduating. One thing she recommended was living in a learning community freshman year (one of the options when you sign up for housing). She said she made a lot of friends who were pretty serious about their academics by doing that, and that it was a good influence on her. 
Her overall experience was great. She excelled academically, had two different good off campus semester experiences, is still in touch with some of her professors, and got a very good job after graduating. She goes back for panel discussions and attends accepted student receptions in her city, too.
Hi–Awesome!! Thanks for this information, is great! I guess I mainly want to know if there is time for other interests outside of academics, sounds like there is, also for dating, good to hear. It sounds like an overall great experience. Out of curiosity, what made her choose Dickinson? Anything you/your D wished she did differently/ anything she disliked about her experience? Some other schools seem more “family-like” in how they build at least the initial freshman experience and Dickinson seems more “independent,” but now I am not sure.
Thanks, was really a great report!
She visited Dickinson initially because we were looking at Haverford and Bryn Mawr, and had an extra day in the area. I spotted Dickinson in Fiske, and it looked like a good low match for her, so we arranged a visit. It was pouring rain the day she visited, and she still liked it. She is pretty outgoing and friendly. At almost every school we visited she sat in on a class, and Dickinson was the ONLY school where the students in the class started a conversation with her when she came into the room. She really liked the class (ended up having that prof later at Dickinson, and is still in touch with her after graduating!). I ate in the cafeteria while she was in class – excellent coconut cake. 
She applied EA and got in, and they offered her a good merit scholarship. They are strong in her major (Political Science) and they have an interesting semester in DC program (different than the program most colleges use, and it was great when she did it). She got into a few higher ranked schools, but in the end she decided that she liked Dickinson just as much as any of them, and they gave her merit aid. She went back for accepted student days, confirmed it was a good fit, and decided to attend.
I really don’t think she would change her experience at all. One thing I didn’t mention above is that she was invited to work in the Writing Center – I think they look for good writers in the freshman class, and ask them to take a special course second semester to train them (they get credit, too). Then they work as writing tutors in the Writing Center (paid). She LOVED the writing center, and would sometimes hang out there even when she didn’t have a tutoring shift because a lot of her friends worked there. In fact, she told me the other day that she and some Writing Center friends are renting a beach house for long weekend this summer in Maryland. I also think have the Writing Center experience on her resume really helped her get internships and get her job after graduation – and her job has a significant editing component to it, so the Writing Center skills were really valuable.
I don’t think I would worry about whether it is “family-like” too much. It is a pretty small school, so you get to know people pretty quickly.
Thank you SO much for taking this time. Sounds awesome, this will all be part of our discussions.
May 1 is almost here!!