The best things about Dartmouth are...

[johnleemk]

<p>

I have absolutely no clue what you’re talking about, so I’m going to assume that you were high when you wrote your post. I’ve only been to a frat maybe about 5 times in the course of my time here at Dartmouth.

</p>

<p>I have absolutely no clue what you’re talking about, so I’m going to assume that you were high when you wrote your post. If you’ve only been to frats five times, you must have decided to come home smashed every single time. (I can quote each instance to you in private if you’d like to relive our freshman year.)</p>

<p>

I honestly don’t care what you think. People here have told me that I was helpful to them, and that’s good enough for me.

</p>

<p>Is that “don’t care” as in “Live and let live,” or “don’t care” as in “■■■■”?</p>

<p>

ARE YOU HONESTLY ■■■■■■■■. My points are things that affect ALL Dartmouth students, not just a select few. The fact that ECs here are terrible? Definitely a point for all to consider. The fact that Greek life defines the social atmosphere here? Also a point for all to consider.

</p>

<p>Your opinion of Greek life? One subjective data point. Your opinion of ECs? One subjective data point. No two individuals ever approach these things in the same way. In the aggregate, sure, it’s clear we have a big Greek scene and that certain kinds of ECs are dominant at Dartmouth. What you’re missing is that these things are big minuses for you, but big pluses for others. Do you think an African-American who loves to ski gives two craps about how sucky DAO is when we have the Ski Patrol?</p>

<p>And you’re also missing the clear fact that a lot of Dartmouth students who don’t fit the traditional mold still love it here, despite our crappy cultural societies (which I mostly don’t care about) and somewhat odd social scene. In other words, these things turned out to be dealbreakers for you. But they’re not dealbreakers for a lot of others. I’m not saying you’re wrong - just that the tone of your posts is blowing the magnitude and importance of these things out of proportion. If you want to bring up PMs from people who thank you for your “objective” posts, I can easily raise you PMs and blitzes from current Dartmouth kids who don’t fit the standard mold but like it here as much as I do.</p>

<p>

<em>Facepalm</em> I’m not even going to argue the sheer idiocy of this quote, for people at Yale don’t really have negative things to say about the Residential Colleges. The Greek system at Dartmouth however…

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<p>Whether you like something is a subjective opinion, so it’s hard to say something is idiotic unless the opinion itself is founded on false facts. I’ve personally visited Yale twice, and that’s my impression of it. Unlike you, I’m not insecure about the fact that not everyone shares my point of view or opinion of things.</p>

<p>

Absolutely, incredibly, and laughably false. The only reason why people opposed the SLI plans was because the administration wanted to do them at the expense of the Greek system. Wright openly admitted that he wanted to get rid of the fraternities (perhaps, like someone else said here, to make Dartmouth more “Harvard” like). Otherwise, NOBODY WOULD BE OPPOSED TO HAVING RESIDENTIAL HOUSE SYSTEMS ALONGSIDE AN INCLUSIVE GREEK SYSTEM. That you would even suggest something like people opposing that one aspect of the SLI, is quite telling of your intelligence here.

</p>

<p>Don’t you think it’s telling, however, that both the administration and students at the time perceived there to be a direct trade-off between residential houses and Greek houses? One undermines the other by implication; if we were to establish a system copied straight from Yale or Harvard, Greek life at Dartmouth would either change drastically, or the residential colleges would simply not work the same way as they do elsewhere because students would stubbornly hew to their old habit of hanging out in frat basements.</p>

<p>Having said that I’m not defending or opposing either system, although I think the status quo is hardly an “abomination.” I think more residential programming would be an ideal compromise, although it’s hard to tell if this would really attract significant student response.</p>

<p>

johnleemk, while I usually respect your posts, you did yourself (and perhaps Dartmouth) injustice in this thread by not responding to the OP. You say that I act like my view is the only valid one, but when almost every other poster here posts ONLY good things about the school and puts on this facade making Dartmouth out to be a school with no flaws, then the problem doesn’t lie with me.

</p>

<p>Let me lay it on the line, I have two on the vine - if I hadn’t replied to your post, what should I have done?</p>

<ul>
<li>Posted more inane things about how great Dartmouth is (a topic which has been done to death)?</li>
<li>Let your unrepresentative views either go unchallenged, or responded to only by “Dartmouth is awesome!!!11” posters?</li>
</ul>

<p>I’ve established what I like about Dartmouth already pretty clearly. I like that the social scene is inclusive enough so that anyone can walk into a frat and have a good time. I like the general academic tenor of the school. What are you talking about when you say I didn’t address the OP? You say we need to hear unvarnished opinions of the school - I’ve made my thoughts pretty clear on things I think we could fix and things I think work well. Is it only an unvarnished opinion if it’s yours, even though it was you who decided to drag this off-topic by posting things you don’t like? (I fully agree we should discuss the cons of Dartmouth as well, but if you’re going to complain about people talking about things other than the original topic, you should stop calling the kettle black, Mr. Pot.)</p>

<p>You say I didn’t respond to the OP. You keep using that phrase. I do not think it means what you think it means.</p>

<p>

Dartmouth ECs are uniformly terrible (and I say this in comparison to the other Ivy League schools, which is IMO, the only reasonable comparison we should be making). Anyways, I’m not going to rehash old posts I’ve written.

</p>

<p>The DOC? The Ski Patrol? Our various athletic teams? The D? Our more active academic journals (Aporia, Stonefence Review, DUJS, etc.)? Saying they’re uniformly bad just because the ones you like aren’t as active is a load of hogwash.</p>

<p>

I should add that this is a point in favor of the relatively lax administration here at Dartmouth. Some departments just totally suck though (most notably, Econ and Government) but if you look hard, there are certainly some gems to be had.

</p>

<p>Government definitely. Econ? I don’t know about that. It’s certainly inflexible in some ways but that’s in part because they’re a much bigger department than many others, just in terms of student demand (the most popular major being econ).</p>

<p>

Many reasons. Prestige is an obvious one. But also, Dartmouth sells itself as a school that’s focused on its undergraduates, and you have posters like slipper on CC who basically say that Dartmouth is the best thing on this side of the Atlantic. I didn’t even apply to Columbia or any of the city schools when I was a high school senior. But what you want out of the college experience can change over time. Let’s be serious here, 18 year olds don’t really have a grip of what they want in life. You need to give these people a break. Perhaps you are overestimating the amount of information one can really glean as a high school senior.

</p>

<p>This is absolutely true. You may realize after a year at Dartmouth that it’s just not what you want out of college. Having said that, I do think that a lot of people who don’t fit the Dartmouth mold don’t mind that much - they’re fairly indifferent, or they might even find other things to like about Dartmouth.</p>

<p>

Dartmouth is not a very intellectual school…at all. As a high school senior, I thought it could have been. Invariably, many competitive students of Dartmouth’s caliber will no doubt, want some things intellectual.

</p>

<p>Again, it depends on personal experience - some people are unlucky. I went to Harvard for a visit freshman winter and at first I was bummed that the people there did seem more interested in intellectual discussion than most people I knew at Dartmouth. But now a year later, I’ve realized that in my circle of friends, we have a lot of interesting discussions about intellectual things all the time. Sure, most people here aren’t very intellectual. But that doesn’t mean everyone is like that.</p>

<p>Another counterpoint: that same Harvard visit, I stayed with a bunch of Harvard guys who reminded me a lot of Dartmouth dudes, only lamer. They went out to SAE, got smashed, played video games all day long… I had more or less a similar experience visiting a friend at Yale last fall. Most people anywhere are not very intellectual. It just happens that Dartmouth is such a small school that it can be harder to find people who are interested in the intellectual side of life. School size is an important variable to consider. Larger schools by definition have a larger variance of personal traits across their student bodies.</p>

[hmom5]

<p>Aerial, you point out all the reasons why a thorough and detailed college search is so important. I read one post here yesterday where a student was planning to apply to 30 colleges! And there are so many where every ivy is on the list.</p>

<p>I understand not everyone can visit every school but hopefully kids can spend a weekend at their final choices. Or at the very least subscribe to the web sites with student’s detailed comments on different aspects of the schools. The one’s I’ve read have been quite telling.</p>

<p>To assume all top schools are intellectual–and many do–is a common mistake. Then again in the context of a college there are different ways to define intellectual. Certainly there is the presence of amazing intellect at Dartmouth. Does it manifest in the same way as at Chicago? It does in the classroom but not so much in the dorms. And believe me, my business partners who went to Dartmouth and have been uber successful still often act like frat bro buffoons on their own time at 60. Boys will be boys and Dartmouth attracts a work hard/play hard crowd.</p>

<p>There’s no shame in making a bad pick for you. And your comments should be heard. It’s a good thing to assign percentages though, because from what I’ve seen 10% not happy seems about right.</p>

<p>Good luck in finding the right place for you! This is a good time to find your fit because the folks you meet in college will probably be your friends and business/work associates for life.</p>

<p>Lastly, Ill just mention that I believe one of the very best tools for assessing former student’s view of their college is alumni giving rates. Dartmouth, along with Princeton, is at the very top.</p>

[aerialblue]

<p>Thank you johnleemk for your highly unproductive post, which I will not respond to. If you wanted the last word - there you have it. I already said my part.</p>

<p>I hope you do realize that by prolonging this discussion, you’re only making Dartmouth look bad? Have you not learned anything from Internet tough guy? </p>

<p>You truly are a tool: <a href=“http://www.disarm.se/data/bildunttext_nsfw/internet_white_knight.jpg[/url]”>http://www.disarm.se/data/bildunttext_nsfw/internet_white_knight.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

[aerialblue]

<p>Thanks hmom5. And the very best to your daughter (or son) here at Dartmouth!</p>

[MYSOJ1230]

<p>Sigh. I wish more Dartmouth students could have the time to post even half the amount that aerial does. So you’re trying to transfer? Well golly gee that explains a lot.</p>

<p>Btw, sorry aerial, but making a occasional “Oh but Dartmouth is good at ______” doesn’t offset the fact that you make so many negative comments. </p>

<p>No wait, screw that. I wish there was an aerial on every single college board, just so that people can get a feel of what the college is REALLY like.</p>

[hmom5]

<p>There’s a bright side to everything. Anyone that doesn’t get in can just focus on Ariel’s posts:)</p>

[aerialblue]

<p>MYSOJ1230, it’s Wednesday night. Aren’t you supposed to be drunk right now? If not, kudos to you for working to improve that 2.5 GPA of yours. </p>

<p>But wait, GOLLY GEE isn’t it pong time on table #1 at TriKap? Dude! Table NUMBER ONE (yes for all you GOLLY little prospies out there, those TriKap Asians do number their tables!).</p>

[the_prophet]

<p>play like a champion today.</p>

[eri196]

<p>aerial- i actually appreciate you bringing up some of the negative points about Dartmouth, that often get brushed aside by the posters that LOVE dartmouth. i’m sure its not all rainbows and sunshines… so stop hating on ppl who are giving their honest opinion, like everyone here is entitled.</p>

<p>ppl need to hear both sides of the story! especially students who take the prons/cons into deep consideration. so lets everyone make peace lol :)</p>

[the_prophet]

<p>i second that.</p>

[b_smom]

<p>right; this argument between the two of you doesn’t make Dartmouth look very nice-and I am a fan of Dartmouth-but people who like Dartmouth are allowed to be unhappy with it or have some criticism. Do you know each other in “real life?” Perhaps your discussion should be in person over lunch at the HOP.</p>

[aerialblue]

<p>The people who work the line at the Hop are the most incompetent individuals ever to walk the face of this planet. That is all.</p>

[b_smom]

<p>then go to Lou’s?!!!</p>

[Acceptd]

<p>“Do you know each other in “real life?”” lol also wondering this – you would think that if you guys knew each other, someone would be losing a few teeth by now…</p>

<p>thanks guys (and aerial especially) for all your comments on D… i feel like i got, surprisingly, a lot out of this thread… thanks boys, and girls…</p>

[Dartmoose]

<p>I really like the cashier guy at the Hop though. But I agree that the grill people are hit or miss.</p>

[MYSOJ1230]

<p>Haha. So aerial. Who are you?</p>

[bananafish9]

<p>So the gov department sucks? Huh. Guess I’m glad I got deferred, then.</p>

[hmom5]

<p>DS took a government course on a lark and fell in love with the department. He’s taking another this tern and considering it as a double major so there are two sides…</p>

[yellowknife]

<p>There definitely are two sides. The government department administration and advising system tends to be bureaucratic (figures), but the professors are great. A lot of the government profs, especially those in International Relations, are eminent scholars in the field. It’s the only Ivy League government (aka political science) program that has no grad students, so that’s a draw for many undergrads, as well.</p>

[yanks07]

<p>I took a govt class last term and am taking one this term. I don’t know what these other people are talking about, they’ve both been my best classes by far. I also haven’t heard bad things from the majors I’ve talked to, so I’m not sure where this is all coming from. I guess a few people must have had bad experiences.</p>