Hi everyone! I'm a Biology major and Global Health minor, but I still have a lot of time to explore all my interests over the next three years. I'm also a part of the Great Issues Scholars Living Learning Center, which I have loved so far. We focus on issues such as security and global health, and we even went on a retreat to Vermont last term. Some of my favorite ways to relax on weekends include walking into town for brunch, and hiking with some of the amazing people I have met so far.
I looked forward to this class every week, partly because of the professor and partly due to the content. We read books on a wide variety of topics, ranging from privilege and how it affects our interactions with others to restaurant kitchens and the hierarchies inherent in surgical residencies.
Biol13 is structured so that you have to work as a group on difficult class problems and even on some exams, which was novel to me and pushed me to really understand the material. This class inspired me to pursue research (both off-campus and on-campus) related to genetics.
Although this class was daunting to me in the beginning, given that I had little to no experience in either Women's, Gender, and Sexuality or Art History, it was also one of the classes in which I became the most engaged in. For our final project, I investigated the history of allegories in Western art and why they were so often portrayed as women.
SummerOff Campus
I interned at Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA under Dr. Livingston. I explored the mechanism by which BRCA1 acts as a tumor suppressor. It was really rewarding to be able to apply what I had learned in Biol13, including specific procedures and techniques we had been tested on, to a real-life laboratory setting.
Congratulations to all of the Dartmouth ‘22s! It's weird to think that just a year ago, I was in your shoes. Now is definitely an exciting time, one where you can already begin to see some of the paths your future might take (not at all intimidating, right?)! As I already said, I know exactly how you guys may feel – excited, nervous, happy, the list goes on and on.
My admissions story goes as follows – I almost did not apply to Dartmouth. I did not expect to get an acceptance, so when I found out that I did, I was absolutely thrilled! But I also felt a bit intimidated because of the huge decision I now faced. That’s where Dimensions came in.
My friend Heavenly (who went to the same high school as me) and me in front of Baker-Berry Library at Dimensions.
Dimensions is an amazing program into which a lot of people put an enormous amount of planning, creativity, and effort. It’s a great way to learn more about the school and personally, I found Dimensions an extremely important factor in my decision to attend. Dimensions takes you beyond whatever may be online or on paper about class sizes, professors, extracurricular activities, and beyond, and allows you to actually experience camps firsthand. For these reasons, if you have the opportunity to come to Dimensions, please do! I promise, you won’t regret it.
I was able to ask current students about the biological sciences department and obtain an overview of possible opportunities through events such as this one.
My Dimensions experience started off a bit rough – given that I woke up at 3 am that morning to drive from Maryland to Dartmouth in time for the programming. But I was quickly shown the warmth of Dartmouth students through my host, who helped me carry my sleeping bag and other overnight materials to her room in McLaughlin. I was interested in staying with a student with the same academic interests as mine – she was also pre-med with an interest in global health. It was staying with her and learning about her Living Learning Community (LLC), the Global Village, that inspired me to apply for the LLC when it came time to do so. She introduced me to a bunch of people on her floor, and we all ended up chatting in a common room for hours.
The town of Hanover feels very quaint, especially the used bookstore Left Bank Books.
But by far, my favorite part of Dimensions are the shows and tours that students have in store. I remember eating gelato at 11 pm, marveling at the beauty of the Hogwarts-esque Tower Room, and looking at the stars through the observatory’s telescope. Dimensions also gives students an opportunity to explore Hanover. I remember going to the Dartmouth Co-op with my family and buying my first ever piece of Dartmouth gear, with ‘Dartmouth Class of 2021’ written across the shirt. Little did I know that this title will now remain a part of my identity for life, bringing me closer to fellow ‘21s as well as Dartmouth students and alumni of all years. Welcome home, ‘22s.
