Jenny Chen

Not exactly. As an incoming freshman, I applied to a Living Learning Community. These are different themed groups that live together and have other programming designed to bring together people with similar interests. You can read more about mine, Great Issues Scholars, here. If you don’t want to live in one of these, you would just apply for normal housing - which puts you in a Housing Community. I still had one - North Park! Throughout your time at Dartmouth, you will live with other people in your community, since different buildings are allocated to each one. There are also really fun events put on by each student executive board - from trips to Boston and New York to apple-picking adventures, tubing, and relaxation days. In my own personal experience, I’ve been extremely happy with my housing - I’ve lived in the McLaughlin cluster three years and spent sophomore summer in my sorority house. I’ve been able to meet new people through North Park and many of my freshman hall mates are close friends to this day.

Classes certainly can be difficult, and I believe they should be challenging enough for you to grow as a student. I’ve definitely taken some classes that took a ton of time and effort - a few that come to mind are my Writing 5 on race and ethnicity in higher education, organic chemistry, and applied multivariate data analysis. But I would take each of those over again because they taught me so much, both in terms of the content themselves and also things like how to study better and work as a team. Furthermore, challenging classes typically have tons of resources to help struggling students out! I’ve taken advantage of free one-on-one peer tutoring, review sessions with Learning Fellows (who act like TAs), professor office hours, group study sessions, etc. Professors are always willing to help and usually spend at least a few hours a week answering questions during office hours!

Honestly, one of the main reasons I picked Dartmouth was because of the tight-knit community. It was so obvious from the moment I got in - my alumni interviewer emailed me to say congratulations, students spent hours in a common room talking to me and a few other prospective students during Dimensions, and there was the sense that I would be quickly welcomed, a feeling that hasn’t gone away. From First-Year Trips to Homecoming and Sophomore Summer, the small campus size and valued sense of tradition make Dartmouth a special place to be a part of, beyond just academics.

In my sex, gender, and society class, our final project involved analyzing the movie Colette and applying a few of the concepts we had learned throughout the term to it. The movie tells a story centered around the 19th century French novelist Colette. After watching it a few times, I felt compelled to write about gender performativity and how it is maintained by traditional gender roles.

While learning about indigenous culture and traditions, my introduction to cultural anthropology class watched Rabbit-Proof Fence, an Australian film that tells a story about two Aboriginal girls who escape from a native settlement to return to their families. It was an incredibly moving piece that brought the impact of discriminatory laws and policies into reality.

Everyone knows that the best way to learn a language is to listen to music, watch movies, and follow TV shows in that language. Rosso come il cielo, in Italian, introduced a young blind boy and his passion for music-mixing. Although it was pretty difficult to understand what they were saying without subtitles, given that we had only started learning Italian for a few weeks, it definitely helped us get used to the face-paced nature of the language.

This just had to be on the list. Though the song is 14 years old, the First-Year Trips program keeps it a timeless classic. One of the ways that freshmen bond on Trips is through learning dances together to songs such as this one. However, the moves are kept fresh in most of our minds, given that it’s played at pretty much every single formal for sentiment’s sake.

The first Friday of every fall term features a concert, Fallapalooza. My freshman year, PUBLIC was the artist. Although this was the first time I had heard of the band and their songs, I found them so captivating that I started following their music afterwards. The uplifting rock/pop is a perfect throwback to my first term as a college student - a time of excitement and novelty.

Less connected to Dartmouth and more to my own experience, this song reminds me of my freshman winter, when I had just discovered the Dana Biomedical Library. Many afternoons and nights were spent there with a checked-out Genetics textbook, listening to this alternative rock album.

I originally thought that only those studying languages could study abroad, but boy was I wrong. There are two main types of study abroad programs sponsored through Dartmouth — foreign study programs and language study abroad programs. While you can certainly speak and read Spanish in Barcelona or French in Paris, there are also opportunities to study government in London, music in Vienna, and art history in Rome, just to name a few.

One of the most common reasons why students study abroad is because the classes help them graduate! A professor in the department usually travels with the group of students (around 15) and teaches one of the courses. The other two classes are either taught by Dartmouth faculty or the local college faculty. Oftentimes, all three classes fulfill the major or minor, and it can be a great way to knock out several requirements in one term. They can also go towards distributive requirements as well.

If you are worried that studying abroad may be too expensive, have no fear! The financial aid you receive on a typical Dartmouth term extends when you are abroad. However, study abroad programs are typically a little more expensive given that you will be traveling and exploring a new place, which can include eating the local cuisine, going to museums and shows, and food, history, and culture. Many of the meals may be covered by a host family and some group outings (including excursions elsewhere) are covered by the College.