<p>Accepted to Dartmouth and beyond excited. My decision is coming down to Duke vs. Dartmouth. I want to be leaning towards Dartmouth but there are a couple things I am hesitant about. </p>
<p>-I haven't skied since I was 7. Obviously one of the awesome things about Dartmouth is the opportunity to ski. Does everyone? And is it a weekly thing? What months does it happen between? How hard is it to get okay at skiing for an otherwise athletic person? Any other insight into the skiing/outdoors culture of Dartmouth would be great. Also, what other things can one do during the winter aside from skiing? Movies? Snowshoeing? Dogsledding? Bobsledding? Reading a book by a fireplace?</p>
<p>-Obviously there weather in Hanover is on the cold side. Do the majority of people spend a winter term or two away from campus? Does the campus sort of feel/look "dead" on snowy January days? I picture isolation akin to the Overlook Hotel in the Shining. What goes on on campus when it is just too cold to do much? </p>
<p>-How good is the hockey team and how popular are the home games? What other sports have large followings?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I learned to ski this term. Tons of fun. Not difficult at all to pick up, especially for someone like you who has done it before. I skied from Jan - early March.</p>
<p>Tons of outdoor activities. You mentioned a lot of them. You can also go camping or hiking or whatever. Going to some of the big cities in the winter can also be cool. All cities look a little different when they’re under snow, in my experience.</p>
<p>People do take winter term off, but the campus isn’t deserted at all. If every single person took winter term off, there would still be 2200 students on campus because we’re required to stay on campus our freshman and senior years.</p>
<p>That said, the frat scene does get a lot smaller during the winter just because people don’t want to go out to them as much. It’s complicated because you want to wear a jacket outside so you don’t freeze, but you also don’t want to bring a jacket to the frats in case it gets lost/stolen.</p>
<p>I actually liked the diminished frat scene a lot because I got so, so much tighter with my floor. I’m going to miss them so much next year…</p>
<p>Hope I helped. Sorry for the shorthand writing…I just woke up.</p>
<p>EDIT: Sorry I forgot about hockey. Our hockey team is pretty sick. Top ranked nationally, though this year wasn’t our team’s greatest season. Dartmouth vs. Princeton hockey game is sick - definitely attend. Tons of energy, tons of tradition, tons of obnoxiousness. It’s like a true college sport experience. (It’s not quite like Cameron Indoor though where people will camp out to get tickets! That’s an absolutely unrivaled sporting experience. With regard to your decision, I would only pick Duke for Cameron Indoor – everything else goes to Dartmouth. In my humble opinion.) Other sports that are good are baseball (in the spring, so I haven’t experienced its following yet; baseball is our best sport; we win NCAA or do really well in it pretty routinely) and soccer (I really liked going to these games; a lot of energy, excitement; our team is solid - made it to the elite eight in the country, lost in OT to UCLA, a soccer powerhouse).</p>