Hi! My name is Jack and I am a first-year at Dartmouth. I currently plan to major in sociology with a double minor in public policy and global health. Outside of class, I enjoy performing and I'm currently involved in both a student dance group and acapella. I love hiking and running outdoors and have already explored a lot of Dartmouth's surrounding trails. I still have so much to discover about this school and I'll keep you all updated here with what I find. Enjoy!
Dartmouth's unique calendar and quarter system leads to an academic lifestyle different from most. Semester-focused schools normally have four to five classes per semester, with months to cover the material in each class. At Dartmouth, however, students take three classes for each ten-week term. This means that while we are only taking three classes at a time, we have a little over two months to learn and work with all of the content in the class.
This quarter, since I am remote and have more time on my hands, I'm adding a fourth course to my schedule. It was a tough decision, but I thought that it could be a good idea. Taking an extra class allows me to finish more prerequisites and explore more content that I'm interested in. I realized that having an off-campus term won't always be an option, and the idea of four classes on campus is simply exhausting. All of these reasons convinced me to undertake this endeavor, and now, almost halfway through the term, I'm reflecting on how things have been.
Four classes is no joke. With the baseline three, Dartmouth already feels extremely intense. Because we have ten weeks to master entire courses, life moves quickly in Hanover. With exams sometimes occurring in the second full week of classes and consistent large assignments and essays, there isn't time to flounder. With an additional fourth class, the intensity is only heightened. I spend hours on end working away at different assignments, only getting up from my desk for essential reasons.
While my description of this lifestyle sounds bleak, I can guarantee it isn't, and I'm glad I made the decision to take four classes. This is because I enjoy the work that I'm doing. The content I'm learning in my classes is extremely fulfilling, and I appreciate the amount of effort I'm putting into academics because I feel aptly challenged and simultaneously rewarded. Dartmouth's academic schedule is intense and challenging, but also extremely fruitful and gratifying.
When I was applying to colleges, I absolutely loved watching 'A Day in the Life'-style vlogs. I wanted to share what a typical Monday at Dartmouth is for me to show there is truly never a dull moment here in Hanover, New Hampshire!
I've taken nine classes (three/term) ranging from international development to education to economics. I can't believe this term will wrap up my freshman year. Come learn about my English, psychology, and math classes I'm taking this spring!
We're just past the halfway point for spring term! For this blog post, I wanted to write about my classes because 1) I'm absolutely loving them and 2) I think they are reflective of some standout strengths of the Dartmouth curriculum.
"Undergraduate focus!" "Undergraduate focus!" "Undergraduate focus!" But what does that mean? It means the professors and faculty are extremely approachable and help you in your educational journey any way they can!
Welcome to my "Welcome to 21S" post! As I reflect on my sixth term at Dartmouth, what stands out to me is that it has been a full year since Covid-19 changed our world.
"Big Data Science in Hydrology" pulls content from computer science, environmental statistics, and hydrology—the study of the movement of Earth's water—to form a really interesting interdisciplinary class.
Spring has sprung in Hanover and the term feels like it's really getting off the ground with classes starting up in full swing, warmer weather, and the occasional muddy day.
