Hello there, friend! My name is Love and I am a '23. Aside from being on the pre-med track, I'm currently interested in studying math and public policy. I have a penchant for old things, learning languages, and the arts. I also love personality tests, irrespective of their actual validity—in case you're curious, I'm an INFJ, Scorpio, dragon, and type 2w1.
BIOL 11.07 (Major Events in the History of Life and the Human Genome) is a very unique class. We learn topics such as oxidative phosphorylation in conjunction with evolution and paleontology. In other words, where and when did ETC come from, and how can we support our hypothesis? Though not an easy class by far, every day the material I learn amazes me with the wonder of life, which is how biology should be!
MES 7.03 (Jerusalem: Vision and Reality) was my First-Year Seminar and such an interesting class to take! We explored Jerusalem through three main viewpoints (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam). The class had a bit of religion, literature, anthropology, sociology, and even geography—all things I love to study but don't necessarily have the space for with our three-class quarters. I often found myself going to office hours just to talk with my professor about questions I had outside of the reading!
COSC 10 (Problem Solving with Object-Oriented Programming) is a data structures course and the last pre-requisite for the computer science major. Though I added it as a fourth class on a whim because of COVID-19 and remote learning, it quickly became my favorite class this term because I loved the problem solving that CS has to offer. It is a difficult class but the emotional and academic rewards make it all worth it!
This was one of four classes I took during fall term and it was super interesting! We learned about healthcare systems and innovations from around 4 guest lecturers per week, and were able to do research on our own and propose a new system at the end of the term. Students came from all over campus and the course was very enlightening for me in terms of understanding how care is dispensed in the U.S. and how we can improve it.
Though this was my first "foundation" course in the Biology department and I still found it challenging, I really enjoyed learning the material and found it all super exciting! We learned about DNA replication, mRNA transcription and protein translation, genetics, and had the opportunity to do a literature review at the end of the term.
The dreaded Organic Chemistry sequence of my pre-med track came upon me faster than I thought it would, but it surprised me by being one of my favorite classes to date! I found it intellectually interesting (even though it was time-consuming), probably because I treated it like a STEM-and-logic puzzle instead of pure STEM or pure memorization. Am I great at it? Not necessarily. Do I remember everything I've learned? I'm not too sure! Am I mentally ready for Organic Chemistry 2 next term? Not at all! But I had a lot of fun doing this class and surprised even myself with how I tackled it.
I love dancing, story-telling, and learning about different cultures so I knew going into this course that I would enjoy it. Cross-listed in the theater and AAAS departments, this course let students have the privilege of working with Dance Theatre of Harlem members who were in Hanover for a summer residency. As a group, we analyzed a play ("The Purple Flower" by Marita Bonner) and transformed the text into a physical movement piece. Each student also had complete ownership of a personal final project, and I opted to do a self-choreographed dance. Overall, I loved getting the chance to work creatively in my academics this term and I also was able to broaden my perspective and knowledge of the African-American story in the process!
As a pre-med, I am constantly trying to learn more about the U.S medical system. This course was extremely engaging in all aspects, taking students through all of American history through the lens of healthcare within the span of 10 weeks. I particularly liked having a discussion session that replaced a lecture, since we were able to talk about the issues with the professor and think out loud about our readings. The course was definitely challenging and required a lot of synthesis across different time periods and topics, but I feel like I came out of it with a deeper and more profound understanding of our healthcare system and why it functions the way it does today.
WinterDetroit, MI
For my junior winter, I did an internship in clinical research! With COVID affecting so much of my college experience, this practical, in-person work internship was very important for me to not only hone my employable skills but also see what having a 8am - 5pm job looks like and how it could fit into my future.
Much like my other pre-med courses here at Dartmouth, Biochemistry was quite rigorous and fast-paced. It was certainly challenging, but I found the work extremely rewarding and I enjoyed learning about all the different mechanisms that happen inside of our bodies. Additionally, many of my friends were also in this class as well, rounding out final prerequisites for graduate school, and this fact made it all the more fun.
SummerDresden, Germany
For my junior summer, I had a research internship in Eastern Germany, working at the intersection between math, computer science, and biology! The learning curve was very steep since my project focus changed once I arrived in Europe, but I had a lot of fun and learned a lot about the content and myself. I am extremely thankful for all the support that Dartmouth has given me throughout my time here, without which I wouldn't have been able to do a 12-week European adventure!
As a pre-med student interested in health disparities, SOCY 75 was an amazing class to take! We covered numerous topics concerning how where one lives can impact their health outcomes. At the end of the course, students were also able to complete a final project of their choosing and I loved being able to tie my personal experiences into an academic course.
Throughout college, most of my science courses have been at the introductory level: one term of genetics, one term of cell structure, etc. Rarely have I had the chance to engage with something on a deeper level or connect the pre-med courses to human biology. This course was super interesting because I could finally connect everything I've learned throughout college into one cohesive course that connects to something I want to do post-Dartmouth.
新年快樂! Happy Chinese New Year, everyone! May your holidays have been filled with lots of food, red envelopes, and friends and family.
Though I've always celebrated the lunar new year at home, this year I got the chance to experience the holiday while at Dartmouth. If I were to encapsulate exactly how Dartmouth celebrates such cultural holidays, I would say that there is no "one" event. Many student groups hold their own parties and gatherings, so much so that I knew of at least four (and there were definitely more) events spread out over the weekend. The largest one, however, is definitely the one led by the Dartmouth Chinese Cultural Society (DCCS), co-sponsored by OPAL, Korean Student Association (KSA), and the Chinese Student and Scholars Association. It was a Friday night, two-hour extravaganza with catering from the local Asian restaurants, performances by students and community members, and just an overall sense of community.
Some children of Dartmouth community members (such as the faculty in ASCL) performed during the event. They absolutely stole the show!
To be honest, I haven't had the chance to become very involved with the Chinese or Taiwanese community on campus, so seeing so many students together celebrating this age-old tradition made me a very happy camper. Even hearing a faculty member speak in Chinese to her children as they ate oranges made me feel nostalgic.
On Saturday, many other Asian groups were holding fun events. For example, DCCS held a dumpling-making party open to campus at the Thought Project LLC house and Agape Christian Fellowship (a religious organization targeted towards Asians and Asian-Americans) had dumplings and a baking party. Sunday night followed with more festivities as Street Soul, Dartmouth's amazing open dance group, had a hot pot social for their dancers with groceries from the nearby Yipings Asian Market in West Lebanon. And these were just the events that I, a freshman in only so many circles, knew about! I'm sure that other organizations such as KSA also held their own gatherings and friend groups made ramen and pigged out in the dorms.
We got catering during the Chinese New Year celebration! There are two Asian restaurants in town, Sushiya (Japanese and Korean) and Han Fusion (Chinese fusion).
But, in short, one can see that students at Dartmouth will have no trouble finding a place to celebrate the lunar new year while at school. A particular aspect of this may be because our campus is rural, so one can't go out into the city the way you might do in NYC or Boston. Another reason could be that the Asian community is relatively small and close-knit, so everyone comes together. And while our dining halls do sometimes have noodles, stir-fry, and sushi, any person would tell you that simple frozen dumplings and fish balls hit the spot in a different way, especially after you've just come back from winterim and aren't used to campus dining yet. All of these factors combine to create a rather lively and perhaps unexpected sense of community. If you are someone who wants to spend their years at college immersing themselves in the campus and getting to know the students around you both in and out of the classroom, I invite you to come see if Dartmouth is the place for you! We'll be waiting for you when next year rolls around, with oranges and Asian snacks galore.
Through Dartmouth's Guarini Institute for International Study, I am getting to take classes and experience life at Wellesley College, an all-women's school!
