Hi everyone! I'm Julia from Seattle, WA. Reading this blog during my junior and senior years of high school helped me to envision myself on this campus, so this all feels very full-circle. I'm studying QSS and I'm looking forward to taking my French skills abroad next year in Toulouse and Paris. I love cooking/food, watching old Modern Family episodes (my favorite character is Mitch), and finding cozy places to study on campus (preferably in my PJ's). Talk to you soon!
This class served as a great introduction to the Quantitative Social Science department. My favorite part of class was working with real-world data in our problem sets each week. I also adored my professor, Elsa Voytas. It was her first term as a professor here, and she was constantly eager to answer any questions you might have. I'm really looking forward to taking more QSS classes in the future!
I loved this class and especially my professor, Michele Tine. My favorite part of the course was watching the "Up!" documentary series as a class. The episodes began with a cohort of children at age 7, and has continued to follow them throughout their adulthood. We got to analyze the children's decisions and lifestyles in the context of what we were learning about, culminating with a paper highlighting one of the cohort members.
So, you just went on your Dartmouth tour or you just really love thinking about Dartmouth tours. In any event, you probably asked yourself: how did Dartmouth ensure that this tour stood out? The answer might be simpler than you thought: it's all thanks to our rigorous tour guide vetting and training process.
One of my favorite facts that I've learned in 2024 is that 13% of the Class of 2027 applied to be tour guides this year. I think this number really speaks to how much our student body cares about Dartmouth. Not only do people love attending our school, but students want to help other people learn about Dartmouth, too.
After all of the tour guides were chosen—myself included—we got to celebrate as a cohort. We all went down to the river first thing in the morning and ate donuts in a cabin. It was truly a wonderful way to kickstart our training journeys at the end of winter term.
Once spring came around, there were around five hours of group training per week for three weeks. These trainings happened in small groups with tour guide trainers (other current students) and with the admissions officer overseeing the tour guide program. This timeframe doesn't include suggested shadowing—one of the most helpful parts of our training program! Between shadowing and formal training, we learned everything from how to answer hard questions to hearing from departments that we should highlight on our tours. We even received a booklet with every little detail and statistic that we should know. As you can see, a large part of being a tour guide here is knowing the ins and outs of Dartmouth itself.
Shadowing in Collis!
What I thought made my Dartmouth tour stand out when I was applying was how much personality it had. Not only was I learning facts and figures, but I was also getting a sense of what it was actually like to be a student on campus. Apart from the number-heavy aspects of training, we also learned how to tell our stories in creative, succinct ways. I know that these skills will help me for years to come.
So, that's all there is to it! Once we're done with training, we take a tour guide test (we just give an entire tour) and then we're officially official. How exciting!
As a high school senior, I chose to apply to colleges with a strong Chinese language department. Luckily, I have found Dartmouth's campus brimming with students passionate about Chinese culture and language.
My "The Making of 21st Century Exhibits: Curating a National Black Theater Museum/Institution" class went on a field trip like no other. Here's the play-by-play.
I've been a member of Dartmouth's mock trial team since the beginning of Fall term. Now that the competitive season is officially over, here's a recap of all of the stuff we did this year!
