<p>Hey, guys! I've applied to Dartmouth and was wondering if you could tell me more about the social scene. Like, Darmouth Night, Winter Carnival, Green Key, and Fieldstock. I also wanted info about the frats. How easy is it to get into one? Also wondering if they ever cosponsored any events with the sororities? If not, how often do girls show up to the frat parties? How to true to life is Andrew Lohse’s expose? How good/bad are the dorms? Is it possible to get a single freshman year? What about the food? Are there any nice shops/malls/grocery stores nearby?</p>
<p>Also curious as to how good the film studies program is. Thank in advance.</p>
<p>I know absolutely nothing about the film program.</p>
<p>On to the rest:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Big Weekends are fun. A lot of fun. People come back, many profs will cancel class, there are a lot of parties.</p></li>
<li><p>How easy it is to get into a fraternity will depend on which one, how often you hang out there freshman year that the brothers actually know you, and how much people in the house actually like you.</p></li>
<li><p>Fraternities and Sororities will host what is known as tails together on weekends. Most houses will have tails at least one if not both nights of a weekend. Additionally, because only three sororities can host open parties, most parties on campus are fraternity parties. So yes, there are women at fraternity parties. </p></li>
<li><p>Some things Lohse wrote are probably true. Some are probably exaggerated. Some are probably lies. I only ever had positive experiences with members of his fraternity, and that’s as far as I’m really qualified to comment, so I’ll leave it at that. </p></li>
<li><p>Dorms on the whole are not bad. Some better than others. I lived in the so called “worst” dorm as a freshman and it was not in fact bad. Just far.</p></li>
<li><p>There are freshmen with singles. I think more common is having your own room within a two room double though. </p></li>
<li><p>Food was great, went downhill fast my senior year. No idea if its gotten better again. There are decent but not a huge number of options in terms of off campus food.</p></li>
<li><p>There are some nice shops in Hanover (i.e. j crew, which just replaced the gap. And some other shops that focus on women’s clothes. There’s also a north face outlet.). Otherwise you have to go to West Leb, which doesn’t really have anything clothes shopping wise. For food, the co-op is a long walk/short drive, or there are an absurd number of grocery stores in west leb, along with a walmart.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Thanks for the reply, but I was wondering if you could into more depth about the big weekends. Also, am I allowed to have a car, seeing as stuff is kinda far out.</p>
<p>Well, homecoming is the first big weekend, and the one that typically sees the most alums and alums of the widest range of years. Parties typically start wednesday, though Dartmouth night is Friday, where the freshmen run around the bonfire. There are signature parties that some houses have associated with the weekend (with all big weekends really). Then there’s winter carnival. Winter Carnival is nice because classes are cancelled Friday for the ski races. The big tradition for carnival is the polar bear plunge, and the snow sculpture in the middle of the green. Again lots of big parties with traditional themes. Green Key is my favorite; its warm, lots of events are outside, everyone just hangs out a lot. Its the weekend without a point other than drinking, preferably of the day variety. It’s my favorite weekend because it often coincides with the first really warm days of the spring. Its like other weekends in that there are big parties with themes. </p>
<p>I don’t think freshmen are allowed college parking permits (?), but certainly you can easily get a college permit after freshman year. The only downside is that the college parking lot, a lot, is a long walk. I didn’t have a car on campus until I was able to park it at my greek house. There are greek houses who will also sell parking, but they tend to use it as a money maker so its pricey. Before I had a car I borrowed from upperclassmen friends. Its nice to have, especially if you aren’t living in dorms and have a real kitchen. I went off campus fairly frequently by junior and senior years to grocery shop, go to a movie not showing at the nugget, hit up walmart, and go to the liquor store, but its definitely possible to survive on the very walkable/bikeable trio of cvs, the co-op, and stinsons. And online shopping is your friend in Hanover.</p>