<p>What is the campus and town like? How far away is Boston? What are the poeple like? What is the overall atmosphere like? Any description is appreciated!</p>
<p>The campus is gorgeous, and located in a small, picturesque New England town. Boston and Montreal are both two hours away, and buses go to those locations frequently every day. For the most part the people are extremely friendly and laid-back...I'm an '08 and I couldn't imagine going anywhere else.</p>
<p>Here, I posted this in response to someone's question about the social scene a while ago; it should give you an idea of what it's like there.</p>
<p>"I'm extremely happy with both my classes and the social life, and I've been able to balance the two without much difficulty. I'm taking The Age of the Samurai for my freshman seminar (15 people), Spanish 9 (12 people) , and Film Studies 1 (50 or so people). The workload is definitely more than high school, but you adjust to it. I had a 12-page research paper due yesterday and I have a two-page spanish essay due tomorrow, but this week will actually be pretty easy because after tomorrow all I have to do is study for my film final.
As for the social scene...it's amazing. People give Dartmouth a bad rep and say all anyone does is drink, but that really doesn't give the social scene enough credit. On a typical Friday night my friends and I will go to a show of some kind at 8 (a capella, improv, a play, a movie, whatever), goof around in our dorm room for a while, maybe grab some food at Thayer, and then head to the frats at about midnight. Dance parties are really fun--especially themed dance parties. All the weird costume things in the back of your closet you aren't planning to bring--feather boas, weird hats, phony glasses with thick eyebrows--bring them. They are necessary. For those of you who come here next year, early 80s is awesome, and so is the disco inferno at Tabard. And make sure to dress up the weekend before Halloween because a.) it's fun and b.) some frats won't even let you in without a costume. I missed naked tails at AD (where the pledges serve bar naked) and I'm really sad, but I think it has been mentioned before that Dartmouth is very naked-friendly, so I'm sure there will be other nudity in the future to make up for it. Most of my friends do drink, but I definitely know non-drinkers who still go out to the frats and have fun. A football player who lives downstairs from me never drinks, and he still goes out to party with his teammates at GDX on the weekends. Also, drinking doesn't necessarily mean that you get drunk. That's totally your choice. And I think someone said they were worried about only drinking Keystone--it's not that hard to get on a few frat lists for *<strong><em>tail parties. They'll blitz you about pre-party *</em></strong>tails, which are usually served at 9:30. They do sometimes have lists for these, but they don't always check them. It depends on the night. Also, room *<strong><em>tail parties are not uncommon; my friend is throwing a "Swank Tunes" *</em></strong>tail party tomorrow, with margaritas and cosmopolitans.
Okay, some non-drinking activities: The week before Thanksgiving three of my friends spent hours cooking an elaborate meal for about 15 people in my dorm's basement, which was a blast. The weekend before break I went to a Dashboard Confessionals concert on campus with a bunch of my friends, which was absolutely amazing. This Saturday we're planning a girls vs. guys touch football game on the green--but my guy friends are being macho (aka stupid) about it, and it's going to be eight girls against four guys. They still think they're going to beat us. (No.) Soo many more random things like that, but this is already ridiculously long. Almost everybody is involved in some kind of activity--I write for the news section of the Dartmouth, my friend does backstage for shows, one of my roommates does theater and sang in a musical review in Lone Pine, the other roommate plays rugby. I've gone to speeches by Madeleine Albright, Art Spieglemen (famous cartoonist), and Alexander Payne (director of the movie "Sideways,") and friends of mine have also seen Howard Dean and Vanessa Kerry. Political groups organized trips for people to see Bush and Kerry on several occasions when they came to New Hampshire also (good thing we're a swing state.) Also, whoever comes here next year, make sure to go and see "Wired," the three 24 hour plays they perform once a term. (24 hour plays meaning they write them starting at 8 pm, cast them at 8 am the next morning, and perform them at 8 pm that night. Really good.)
Okay, this hopefully has given you a taste of what life here is like. I probably already told you way more than you wanted to know, but feel free to ask me anything."</p>
<p>Boston is 2 hours by car, 3 by bus. Buses go frequently to Boston.. not so frequently to Montreal. Montreal is 3 by car if you speed.</p>
<p>Dartmouth is very distinct from other colleges. I know this as I was a transfer and spent a lot of time visiting friends elsewhere. Most Dartmouth students are incredibly friendly and open, and its easy to communicate with them. There is actually a lot to do, and people seem to enjoy random fun things such as road trips, jumping in the river, fun parties, etc. The place always has something going on.</p>
<p>The student body is very tight, and it is amazing how people will go freely between frats and other places as compared to many other schools. The campus is beautiful, especially in the summer and winter. Students take advantage of this by going hiking, skiing, etc. The school also breeds a sense of coziness, and things like drinking hot chocolate with some friends by a fireplace in a dorm on a random night happen all the time. Its a place that breeds intellectual curious students, many of whom really get to know and appreciate each other. </p>
<p>The professors are truly amazing and the opportunities such as grants, study abroad, etc are endless. </p>
<p>The only thing I could say negative is that most Dartmouth students are relatively social and outgoing, so there is a tendency for some students to conform vs. other places. Also, some of the frats are jock-dominated, then again there are others that are not. Plus, you even see this at a place like Brown.</p>
<p>Thanks Kelsey! Wow, I definetly will apply there. So, how do you even make friends? I would think it would be hard since it is big. Although...I guess it is true that nobody knows anybody, so everyone is pretty outgoing...I assume.</p>
<p>No problem! And don't worry about the friends thing at all--I guess 4,000 people is bigger than most LACs, but the atmosphere is really, really tight-knit. You befriend your trippees on the DOC trips before Orientation week even starts, and O-week (which we all remember very fondly) is specially designed for meeting people (and partying) before you have to start classes. After a few weeks you'll find that you run into people you know everywhere you go.</p>