Pro or con, depending on your viewpoint: Dartmouth has a very high fraternity and sorority participation rate.
It’s interesting. A sorority was the last thing I thought my Berkeley D would be interested in, but she rushed and joined one. It was not a big part of her Dartmouth life (although she had fun living in the house Sophomore Summer), but it was among the many pieces. The house was right across the street from the Episcopal church. I expect she was one of the few to frequent both places. 
People are always quick to say that’s Dartmouth has a large Greek presence. Yes, there is a a lot of people who participate in Greek life. However, unlike other schools, activities given by the Greek system are inclusive and is open to al. Choosing not to participate in the Greek system will not adversely affect your college experience at Dartmouth like it can at other places where the Greeks set the tone for the whole campus.
There is plenty to do outside of the Greek system and everyone can find their people.
@chillkitty I’ve heard that it’s really easy to get to know professors (you can take them out to lunch), but does the quarter system affect that?
Absolutely not. I remember my D taking Engs 3 during her sophomore summer. She felt it was like the opportunity to catch up with all of the friends that she did not get to see over the year. The class had about 300 people. Professor broke the class into 2 sections. He further broke the class down into groups of 15-20 students so that he could take them out to dinner to get to know them.
She went to lunch/dinner with many of her professors (especially in her major) during her years at Dartmouth.
If you are used to taking a ton of AP classes in HS and working your butt off, you should have no problem keeping up. If you have not taken those types of classes, there may be an adjustment period.
One of the advantages (at least as a parent) I feel is the Dartmouth requirement of the Sophomore summer. This frees you up to do an internship during a less competitive time period - fall/spring - when other schools are in session.
I am not as big a fan of sophomore summer as I thought I would be. For one thing, although you pay the same full tuition for that term, the course offerings are abysmal. They could think outside the box a little and, if they can’t get Dartmouth professors to teach over the summer, perhaps bring in some interesting, high-quality faculty from other institutions that might want to teach a special course at Dartmouth for that term.
My son did get a great internship during the spring term preceding his sophomore summer, and while it’s true he didn’t have to compete with others to get the spot, the downside was that he was the only intern there! This summer he is doing an internship at a company that brings in many students, and I think he is looking forward to the camaraderie and group dynamics that he missed at last year’s.
The six-week long winter break is interesting. I can see how some students would take advantage of it to do interesting trips. Pro or con?
I thought I would like it but I ended up wishing the college had not made the change. Fortunately, we had only one year of it. It was nice having my sous chef home to help with Thanksgiving prep, but , but the fall term felt even more compressed than usual, and it was just too long – for all of us. D got a lot of work done on her honors thesis, since I have access to the UC library, but she was antsy to get back to her life in Hanover rather than being under parental eyes all the time. A trip would be a great idea, especially if the kid is doing an FSP for the next term. I could even see a fun family vacation winding up wherever the FSP started.
The break between fall and winter term was too long and none of the friends were home except 4 days around Thanksgiving break. We were so happy to have him home and it made the initial drop off much easier because it felt so temporary but round 2 send off was just awful. He was apprehensive about going back and I was a mess. It was a false sense of normal! BTW, he has had no problem getting to know his teachers and classmates under the quarter system and does not feel any competitive pressure. Still trying to find “his people” but everyone is inclusive and his biggest learning curve is time management.
The attitude of the administration is that only money matters. They only do things to get good press and boost their ratings to increase donations. They’ll do things like ostracize and keep kids who need help with mental issues off campus so suicides occur off campus. Study abroad isn’t an option unless your in a few specific majors or are fine wasting a quarter academically and the food is horribly done.
Saying that study abroad is not an option is incorrect. Dartmouth has one of the strongest and best foreign study programs in the country.
@AboutTheSame Thats ridiculous. They are mostly transported classrooms not true study abroads because Dartmouth professors teach a lot of the classes and they are also easy. everyone talks about them as academically wasted terms but lots of fun because of the traveling. There are of course exceptions like the astronomy program and a few super exclusive ones like the oxford exchange but for the most part you don’t really learn much and don’t get quite as much cultural exchange.
@Dartmouth20 : Have you been on one? If not, your comment is worthless. And it is precisely because real Dartmouth professors teach the classes – rather than contracting out the process the way most other schools do – that the programs are valuable. Easy? Don’t really learn much? I dare you to find, for example, a single person who went on a Greece FSP with Professor Christesen who would agree with you. Yes. They are “transported classrooms.” That is the point. That is the value. You are not just sitting in a classroom in Barcelona listening to someone with no connection to the college while you wait for your chance to hit the beach. You are being taught by one of YOUR professors. I am sorry you do not appear to appreciate the value of that.
@AboutTheSame some are valuable, the greece one for example, but they are only open to some majors. And If you spend all your time with fellow students and faculty your not really learning that much about other cultures. And it doesn’t sound like your a student so I am not sure where your info is from. Also you just described the barca lsa except you forgot to specify hit the beach with Americans from school.
LOL. I picked Barcelona out of a hat as an example. Glad to know that a blind guess could hit so close to the mark. Thirty seconds of research [something I highly recommend] would have told you that I am a parent of a graduate, not a student, but I believe I have enough direct information from my own kid and many others to call into question your disparagement of the college’s programs. You actually raise a somewhat interesting question, however. What is the purpose of study abroad? To learn about other cultures? Or to learn something specific to the topic? The classics FSP are plainly aimed at the latter, but I will say that I think every student I know who went on one still managed to do the other as well, so I still think your critique is misplaced. I hope that you are enjoying/have enjoyed your years in Hanover more than your posts here seem to indicate. Regards, ATS
I’m with @AboutTheSame, in asking have you actually studied abroad? If yes, did you do a FSP or a LSP?
In my D’s experience (she did a FSP in her major and a LSP), she did not spend all of her time with fellow students and faculty because only one of her courses was taught by a Dartmouth professor each time. It definitely was not a cake walk or a day at the beach.