A photo of a sunset, with silhouettes of trees at the foreground

Cal Shin

Class of 2027
A photo of a person holding a camera
Bio 

Hello! My name is Cal Shin, and I am a '27 double-majoring in Economics and Philosophy. When I'm not studying or writing a blog post, you can find me drawing as the Design Editor for The Dartmouth, hosting my radio show at WebDCR, or spending time with my friends. And if I'm not doing any of those, I'm probably watching cat videos. Follow along as I share the moments that make Dartmouth feel like home!

Academic Program 

Economics and Philosophy

Favorite Thing Right Now 

FoCo's Sesame Garlic Cukes

Hometown 

Cary, North Carolina

Pronouns 

She/Her

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Cal's D-Plan

What's a D-Plan?

    • FallOn Campus

      Favorite Class: PHIL 1.08: The Philosophy of Time and Time Travel

      I took this course with Professor James Binkoski and loved it! I had never taken a philosophy course prior to Dartmouth, so this introductory course in the department was perfect! After all, it combined my interests of philosophy with time and time travel — at least, how time and time travel are depicted in the media. This course may initially seem to be on the more technical side, but Professor Binkoski made sure to break down the various time travel theories — various ways scientists and philosophers think of time and its supposed movement — in a manner that’s easy for anyone to understand. A very popular course overall; I am fortunate to have been able to take it during my first term here!

    • WinterOn Campus

      Favorite Class: ECON 1: The Price System - Analysis, Problems, and Policies

      I took this course with Professor Ha Yan Lee and it was absolutely amazing! I had my initial reservations about this course, mainly because I knew a lot of my classmates would have had some background knowledge while I had none. Professor Lee did a wonderful job of breaking down concepts in a manner that, as she often put it, is easy for even “your grandparents to understand”. Even beyond the course, the level of care Professor Lee exhibited towards her students is significant. She’s one of the most popular professors at Dartmouth, and for good reason! I ate lunch with her at The Pine through the Take a Faculty Member to Lunch program, and she gave me tremendous insight and advice! Because of this course, I have been inspired to explore more courses within the Econ department and potentially major in Economics.

    • SpringOn Campus

      Favorite Class: RUSS 7.07-01: Monster Trafficking

      I took this course with Professor Jasmina Savic and examined how the vampire figure evolved over time, starting with Slavic literature, going through Dracula and Twilight, and ending with “vampire” political figures. I realized what the portrayal of vampires could tell me about the thoughts of that society, including the fact that the early notions of vampirism are akin to modern-day diseases. For my final project, I wrote a research paper comparing the gumiho (the Korean nine-tailed fox) to several Western vampires.

    • SummerNew York City, New York

      I had the opportunity to visit New York City for the summer! I met up with a good friend of mine, explored the city itself, and went to a networking event with other college students.

    • FallOn Campus

      Favorite Class: ECON 10: Introduction to Statistical Methods

      ECON 10 is one of the required courses for the Economics major. Based on my stellar experience with Professor Ha Yan Lee during ECON 1, when I saw that she was teaching ECON 10 this term, I immediately jumped at the chance to take the course with her. Once again, Professor Lee did an amazing job of breaking down concepts in an easy-to-understand manner. (The fact that her slideshows were colorful and featured various pictures of cats helped.)

    • WinterOn Campus

      Favorite Class: PHIL 37: Ethical Theory

      My main interest in philosophy lies in normative and applied ethics, so when I saw the opportunity to take a class on the former, I didn’t hesitate! The class focused on consequentialism, utilitarianism, deontology, and virtue ethics. I enjoyed the ample opportunities for discussion, including discussion posts about the readings, as well as the table-wide conversations. My table, in particular, had lots to say, and there was one reading in particular where we ended up diving into discussion, not once, but twice! In fact, we had so much to say that all of us coincidentally chose to write our essay on this reading — and none of us knew until after we started talking about our papers!

    • SpringOn Campus

      Favorite Class: PHIL 22: Feminism and Philosophy

      While not explicitly required for the Philosophy major, you can choose to take this (and many other Philosophy courses!) as one of your four electives. Prior to taking this class, feminist philosophy was completely new to me. I had traditionally been exposed to “traditional” European philosophers, and taking the class helped me realize that my lack of exposure to other philosophers outside of this demographic was a product of epistemic injustice. The class consisted of weekly readings and discussion posts, some reflections, guest lectures from the authors of several readings, and a final project of pretty much any format about any topic of our choice! I walked away from the class with a much more nuanced understanding of agency, commodification, and labor; the harms that are a result of the very nature of women tailoring themselves under male desire seemed much more insidious.

    • SummerOn Campus

      Favorite Class: ECON 20: Econometrics

      Lots of Economics majors choose to take this class during their sophomore summer, myself included! This fast-paced class was both particularly rigorous and quite fulfilling. I walked away from every lecture feeling like I learned a lot, and by the end of the term, I realized I had gained a solid foundation in statistical knowledge, research, and best practices — all of which will be useful in my higher-level Economics courses. I particularly enjoyed working on the hands-on data exercises, where we got to handle real data through Stata!

    • FallHanover, NH

      Favorite Class: PHIL 11: Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy

      As a Philosophy major, PHIL 11 is one of several classes I had the option of taking to satisfy one of my major requirements. I wanted to take some time to really focus on some of the most “classic” philosophers one might think of when someone mentions philosophy. The bulk of our focus was on Plato’s Republic and Aristotle’s Categories. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning at 8:50, I walked into the classroom, ready for lectures and in-class discussions alongside around 20 other students. Assignments consisted of small discussions and deliverables with a team of 3 to 4 classmates, as well as drafts, peer reviews, and final versions of two papers. In each of our papers, we had the opportunity to connect our personal interests to the works of either Plato or Aristotle. I knew I was enjoying this class when, talking to my friends about the topic I chose, they pointed out my palpable excitement.

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Campus Longings

Dartmouth's academic calendar operates under a unique quarter system known as the D-Plan. Under this system, each academic year consists of four terms — summer, fall, winter, and spring — with each term lasting ten weeks. A typical 4-year undergraduate career consists of 15 terms, 12 of which you are "on" taking classes, either on campus or through an off-campus program, and three of which you are "off" and not taking classes. The D-Plan gives students the flexibility to choose which terms they are "on" and "off" after the spring of my first year. Having been "on" for five consecutive terms since sophomore fall, I opted to be "off" my junior winter. Ever since I left campus at the end of junior fall, I've found myself missing various aspects of Dartmouth that one would pass off as mundane. 

 

  1. No. 1

    The Baker Tower bells

    A photo of Baker Tower between 2 trees without leaves.

    Most clock towers chime right at the top of every hour, marking the time for anyone passing by. At Dartmouth, we’re fortunate enough to have our own Baker Tower. I always enjoy listening to its bells while walking around campus. For some reason, though, the Baker Tower bells ring exactly two minutes before the top of the hour, making it one of my favorite quirks. It’s such a small, mundane idiosyncrasy, but it’s one of those little details I miss while not being on campus.

  2. No. 2

    The Baker Tower bells, part 2

    I love the Baker Tower bells — so much so that I’m dedicating two spots on this list to talk about them. At 5:58 PM, two minutes before 6:00 PM, the bells do their usual chime. Immediately afterwards, the notes of our alma mater begin to ring throughout the campus. This occurs only once a day at this time, and I enjoy catching this familiar tune if I happen to be outside at this particular time.

     

     

  3. No. 3

    The snowball fight

    A screenshot of an email from Theodor S. Geisel

    If there’s one thing Dartmouth is big on, it’s tradition, and we have quite a lot of them. One of the highlights of winter term is the campus-wide snowball fight. During the first “big” snowfall of the term, everyone receives an email from alumnus Dr. Seuss inviting them to a snowball fight at midnight on the Green. Reading this year’s email and seeing all the photos of this year’s snowball fight made me miss campus and my friends!

  4. No. 4

    FFB study sessions

    A photo of the first floor of Baker Berry Library

    Berry Library consists of four floors, with each floor being quieter as you ascend the library. The first floor of Berry Library, colloquially known as FFB, is the loudest, making it a great meeting spot for group projects. My friends and I love to study there, and our “study sessions” tend to evolve into catch-ups and debriefs about our days.

  5. No. 5

    Spontaneous run-ins with friends

    The beauty of going to a small school with a small campus is that you frequently run into people you know. Being on the same campus makes it easy to randomly encounter friends and classmates, say hi, and briefly catch up! Luckily, technology has made it easy to keep in touch with friends, even when some of us are off.

    Stay tuned to learn more about my off-term!

Posted 02/8/2026 at 9:00 AMAll List Posts

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