Hello! My name is Cal Shin, and I am a '27 planning to double-major in Economics and Philosophy. Outside of academics and blogging, you can find me drawing (perhaps even designing for The Dartmouth), hosting my radio show as a proud deejay at WebDCR, perusing the Free Market, or hanging out with friends. Ultimately, I am an artist and a storyteller. I hope you enjoy reading about my Dartmouth experience; the journey has just begun!
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!
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.
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.
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.)
I can hardly believe that it has been a year since I wrote my first end-of-fall-term reflection. It felt like only yesterday that I stepped into my dorm room in September, eager to reunite with my friends. I have just finished my last final exam for the term; campus is slowly becoming emptier as people leave for the holidays to reunite with their families for a much-needed, six-week respite. Here is an overview of how my classes went this term!
ECON 10: Introduction to Statistical Methodsis a required course 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. The course was challenging and rigorous, but 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).
PHIL 23: Art and Aesthetics is the third course I have taken within the Philosophy department, and I am one step closer to completing the Philosophy major. As an artist myself, I was curious to see what this course would be like—and it did not disappoint! I learned a lot about art theory, reading papers about different types of criticism, whether there is a set standard of taste, and art's compatibility with activism through anger. We even visited the Hood Museum of Art to take a look at different works of art, and I chose to write an art criticism about the painting Army Soup by Wendy Park. For my final essay, I wrote about whether images produced by generative AI tools like Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, and DALL-E have intentionality, and in turn, whether those images can be considered art.
THEA 50: Playwriting I is not a course I took for my major, but rather for pure enjoyment (and a distributive requirement). I went into the class knowing nothing about writing a play and walked out of it having written a full, one-act play! I chose to write a play about a man's struggles with his given fate, the question, of course, being: will said destiny become his reality?
All in all, if I had to describe this term in one word, that word would be restful. This may seem counterintuitive given Dartmouth's fast-paced 10-week terms. Maybe it is because I chose my classes wisely, but I felt like everything moved at the perfect pace for me. I am excited for another upcoming Dartmouth winter! Who knows how much it'll snow this time?
Most students have to go back to college after Thanksgiving to take their finals, but not at Dartmouth! We have a six-week winter break, known as "winterim!" Let me tell you how I spent my winterim!
Applying early to a university can be overwhelming and confusing. As someone who did not apply to Dartmouth through early decision, here are a couple tips that I could have used when thinking about applying early to a school!
