<p>Question in title. I'm sorry, this is just killing me. Why is that all of these prestige-hungry Ivy wannabes I know all looove Penn and Cornell and Brown but haven't even heard of Dartmouth? Is it because it's in Hanover? Is it because it's so small LAC-esque? What's going on? Every time I log onto CC all the other Ivy League titles are gold but the Dartmouth one is always gray because nobody's posted anything new. Can we get some more Dartmouth discussion here? Why don't more people love this place?</p>
<p>People have heard about Dartmouth...it's got more posts than Cornell and Brown on this forum (although that's a terrible way to gauge schools).</p>
<p>Yes, some people don't think Dartmouth is as big a name as Harvard or even Penn or something. That's because Dartmouth isn't brand-obsessed. Dartmouth is much more laid back than the other Ivies and, as you pointed out, it's got quite a different goal than many of them as manifested by its similarity to many LACs (and other things such as less of an emphasis on research and graduate level work). If you think about it though, it's really a good thing for undergraduates. Take Harvard. Everybody wants to get in there because of the name, but their undergraduate program is really not as good as it is cracked up to be. Why? Quite frankly, because professors care about their own research and the school cares about its graduate programs. At Dartmouth, the professors are actually concerned with teaching, and teaching undergrads. This may mean that they get mentioned in papers less than Harvard professors (but don't worry, Dartmouth profs get plenty of exposure either way), but it leads to a much more fulfilling academic experience.</p>
<p>People are also turned off because of Dartmouth's reputation as a big drinking school, which I think is a shame because Dartmouth's social scene rocks.</p>
<p>I'd also like to point out that the Princeton Review gave Dartmouth the highest academic rating of the Ivies this past year, and Dartmouth was also mentioned in the largest amount of Princeton Review "categories" among the Ivies. It's not as underrated as you may think.</p>
<p>Dartmouth is definitely not underrated; I'm from Korea and my counselor says Dartmouth is one of the harder Ivies to get into.</p>
<p>the term "underrated" often comes from Dartmouth's smaller admissions pool (12,000 compared to 20,000+ for the HYP) and probably from the smaller student body and more remote location. I come from California and Dartmouth is far less known regionally in the West than, say, New England. I am actually happy that Dartmouth isn't the most "popular" college choice... then the application pool would be flooded with many students who merely apply for the "name"... a la Harvard, Yale. Students who apply Dartmouth seem to be more interested in the school for other, more pertinent reasons... the beautiful location, the small, close-knit feel, the unique undergraduate experience, etc. Better to be an underdog than overrated.</p>
<p>I know as a parent doing the tours, we saw all of the Ivies, and Dartmouth was the only one that she was interested in. </p>
<p>The first time, my daughter stayed for an overnight, she came back and said "this is the place for me". I believe that Dartmouth students are a more self-selected group who as students are there because they WANT to be there vs. "it's the best Ivy that they could get into." Many students are there because it is their first choice, and tend not to be part of the "IVY Name chasing" crowd.</p>
<p>One thing that I see about Dartmouth that did not seem to come across on other campuses is the sense of camaraderie amongst Dartmouth students and alumni and the knowing that they are part of connections that last a lifetime. It's the Dartmouth experience that seems to ooze from their pores from the freshmen excited at the prospect of hosting prospective students, to the class of 1958, who came up on the DOC trips to welcome the 08"s.</p>
<p>If you ask any one at Dartmouth, they do not feel as if they have "settled" being there and for the most part thay can't seem to see themselves anywhere else (gosh, I wish that I could say these thing about NYU where I went to school!)</p>
<p>I think Dartmouth is underrated for a few reasons. </p>
<p>1) Location factor- I think many high school seniors think its in the 'middle of nowhere', not taking into account how having 4500 other amazing students around creates such a wonderful community. Visiting Hanover is out of the way of most college trips, although its only 2 hours north of Boston. </p>
<p>2) 'Conservative' image- Although Dartmouth students on average are far from Bush fans, the school does have a historical image it has fought to eliminate. </p>
<p>3) Undergrad focus- Less grad programs mean less research, which puts off some of the science/ research focues CCers who are looking at things like "how good the bio program is" in order to get to med school. These people sort of forget how important having one on one contact with professors is, and how overall institutional quality is more important than specific departments at the undergrad level.</p>
<p>Overall, Dartmouth is an amazing place and often people who go cannot imagine going elsewhere. I think overall it is a little underrated by CCers (as is brown in my opinion), but overall it has a very stron reputation. In my Chicago H.S. it was the next best thing to HYPS.</p>
<p>It's not the next best thing to HYPS, it's on par with HYPS.</p>
<p>he said in his high school</p>
<p>Also: Dartmouth is far from conservative. In fact, it is actually known as one of the more liberal Ivys.</p>
<p>I agreethat its totally liberal! I'd say 90% of my friends were liberal. But I disagree that its known as 'one of the more liberal' Ivies. Look at the other CC posts, people seem to lump it with Williams, W&M, Georgetown, etc. In the 80's Dartmouth was conservative, and although that has completely changed, in many parts of the country part of that image persists.</p>
<p>Almost all ivy colleges and other top schools are liberal today. This is of course because as admissions have become more merit based, they are less populated by wealthy, conservative WASPS. However, the alum are a huge part of creating the school's reputation. In the past Dartmouth was one of the most conservative in the ivy group. My former husband, an alum, was shocked when he visited Dartmouth and saw it through the eyes of a current student. My how things change!</p>
<p>I had the misfortune to make my pilgrimage to Dartmouth during their spring break during my sophomore year. As such, I wasn't really there when the place was active. I still loved it. The quad, the colonial building styles, the trees, Hanover...I just loved it. My parents kind of pushed me to look there because my grandparents live only about 45 minutes away in Vermont. I agreed to check it out and just got swept away. I wouldn't say that it's underrated...but I can see how it might be "lesser known." But like it's been said, this ensures that the people there actually WANT to be there.</p>