<p>I'm a '14 and I've heard that the D-Plan helps you get more internships than other schools b/c of it's flexible quarter system. But is that really true? According to my sister who goes to Harvard, the really elite places you can intern will only hire you at the same time they hire everyone else. So can anyone give me some clarification? Thanks.</p>
<p>Your sister is wrong. The really elite places love to have some interns in seasons other than the summer when most are not available. Dartmouth kids get amazing opportunities during their off terms if they work the network.</p>
<p>No. Places like MoMA, the Smithsonian, have internships year round. Usually when people talk about “really elite” internships they mean finance/law, which I’m not really interested in and thus don’t know too much about personally, but there’s no reason they’d have more need for interns in the summer than in other seasons.</p>
<p>Wait but then all colleges on the quarter system would have this advantage right? Or is it exclusively Dartmouth?</p>
<p>It’s the only ivy on the quarter system and other ivy students will be your key competition for summer internships. Can’t think of any other top school on the quarter system. And I’m not sure why, but at schools like the UCs, which are on the quarter system, I don’t know kids who take off terms other than summer.</p>
<p>Stanford and UChicago have quarters too, but I don’t know if they have the same flexibility as the D-plan.</p>
<p>Opportunities for summer internships are <em>always</em> more than in other terms. But on the flip side, competition for internships in other terms is probably less.</p>
<p>Its a pretty nice advantage.</p>
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<p>What do you base this on? DS and his friends used career services summer internship listings and companies were happy to talk to them about other terms. His gf is living with us this term, interning for a fabulous firm that has many summer interns but only 2 Dartmouth ones this winter. They are getting much more responsibility than friends who had the internship this past summer. The Wall Street firm I worked for had a formal summer program, but hired lots of Dartmouth interns all terms.</p>
<p>I didn’t say that there aren’t opportunities in other terms. I said that you’ll have the most options in the summer – while a lot of firms may hire in the fall, winter or spring, a lot don’t. I know some people who feel the benefits of the D-plan were oversold to them, and quite a lot of the programs I’ve been looking at are only offered in the summer. Most structured internship programs I’ve seen are typically summer-only things, or have fewer available positions in other terms.</p>
<p>From what I’m seeing, the unstructured internships are a huge benefit to the Dartmouth crowd. You’re not one of many, they’ll let you break out and do all you can do. We had a group for dinner last week who have a variety of amazing internships, most through Dartmouth alum.</p>
<p>My interns certainly had more room to grow while not in the structured summer program too.</p>
<p>“I know some people who feel the benefits of the D-plan were oversold to them”</p>
<p>I’ve heard this too. So is this true or not?</p>
<p>I think it depends on the individual. Advantages of the D Plan are not limited to internships. It allows more study abroad–some kids do a few programs. DS and about 40 of his classmates decided they’d rather spend summer in Australia and NZ rather than winter in Hanover this year. So they are over there on an exchange program, having much too much fun IMO. They are also getting rid of distrib requirements in their weak areas while hanging out at the beach, bungee jumping, etc.</p>
<p>One thing DS decided to do is string 2 off terms together to have a long internship which he believes will help set him up better for a permanent job with his firm of choice.</p>
<p>DS’s girlfriend is doing a term in the UK and then staying to work for a term.</p>
<p>Where else can you do all of this? I suppose it’s ‘oversold’ if you don’t grab the brass ring.</p>
<p>The one negative I see is missing friends. DS and his gf will not be on campus at the same time this year until summer. But that seems to be what blitz is for.</p>
<p>I was at a speed camp (for track and field) last summer, and one of the volunteers was a Dartmouth grad who spent a while on wall street. We were talking about internships, etc. and he mentioned he had 3 internships prior to graduation: all finance, and all of which were during off terms.</p>
<p>That’s pretty impressive…</p>
<p>Granted, this is anecdotal, but I’d say that the majority of my friends really liked the D plan. It gives incredible flexibility: one of my friends was a competitive skier and took off winter terms. Another did some financial firm internships during the fall (and ended up getting a job at one of those firms). Others took off a few consecutive terms to work in a research lab full-time and get publications out. I was able to get an internship at a very competitive DC think tank because I could work in spring, rather than summer. I was the sole intern in my division for part of that time, and got a great reference out of it because of that. </p>
<p>There are some disadvantages, to be sure (it does mess up residential life a bit, and you’ll change dorms somewhat regularly depending on your D plan), but I thought on the whole, it was a great benefit.</p>