<p>From what I can see so far, Dartmouth is awesome, but I have one slight concern - I'm all for a tight-knit community in college; I enjoy knowing many of the members of my high school class, but do any of you who are currently attending feel that it is TOO small? Do you get sick of seeing the same people over and over again, or are there enough people that you still meet new ones every once in a while?</p>
<p>Also, while I'm posting - how's the political science / international relations department at Dartmouth? I like what I know about Dartmouth, but I do want where I go to be good for the field I'm interested in. Does the fact that they have to teach undergrads mean that great political science professors come, or are they deterred by not having reseach be their primary focus?</p>
<p>There are 4,000 undergraduates at Dartmouth, with approximately 3,000 on at any given time during the year. You're not going to be seeing the same people over and over all the time.</p>
<p>My impression is that if you sit in Food Court for 20 minutes, a couple of your friends are going to walk by in that time. I've also noticed that I can identify people I've never met, just by that I've seen them around before. However, the majority (~85%) of people I've never seen before.</p>
<p>Political science is a very popular major, and a very strong department. I'm not a major there, though, so I don't know a whole lot about it. Activism on campus is rather limited; it seems that politics tend to stay in the form of pontification in political journals and The Dartmouth editorials than anything else.</p>
<p>4000 undergrads? Really. It is that many. Especially when people are always coming and going because of the D-plan... you'll meet people who were off certain terms, or you'll be off certain terms. Additionally, you can leave campus yourself on an off term- either doing some exchange or study abroad or internship. There's a good flow.</p>
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Yes you are. 4,000 really isn't that many.
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<p>OK well being a sophomore at Dartmouth and having spent a year and a half now at the school, taking classes, doing extracurriculars, going to frats, I can tell you that you don't constantly see the same people over and over.</p>
<p>Hmm. Being someone who spent four years there (minus study abroads), I did see the same people over and over again and by the time I was a senior it got to the point that if I ever needed anonymity, I had to hop in the car and drive, at the very least, many miles away. (Further than West Lebanon, because I ran into people I knew just about every time I went there too.) </p>
<p>It's also true that many of the faces did belong to people that I never met, if that's what you're talking about... though I still recognized them.</p>
<p>I've seen a lot of activism on campus, but the impression I got was that it was cooling off after the '04 election.</p>
<p>Enjoyed both of my study aborads (Auckland and Tokyo). I personally liked them more for learning about the ins-and-outs of the country than for the classes offered during them. Just about everyone that I talked to that went on other study abroads loved 'em, too. As I understand, the language ones are easy to get into... there are a few subject-related ones (i.e. Art History, Anthropology) that are more difficult though.</p>
<p>My language study abroad in Europe was the best experience of my life...or maybe it was the fully funded anthro grant to the pacific the term before....lol that is how cool Dartmouth is with study abroad/ off campus programs.</p>