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.
Dartmouth is known as a liberal arts college (LAC), but what does that mean?
Coming into my senior year of high school, I had very vague ideas of these words that people use to classify universities: research institution, LAC, pre-professional, etc. And while the exact "type" of your school won't be the only deciding factor, it certainly will be a big one, so hopefully this post will clear up some confusion and help you decide if Dartmouth is right for you!
First, it is easy to say what Dartmouth is not: Dartmouth is not necessarily a pre-professional school that prepares you for a specific career / post-graduation plan through a specific course of study.
The lines between what counts as a pre-professional university and what doesn't can sometimes be a bit blurred, but what may help you pick out schools with more of a career-leaning tendency is to look at their majors! Here, for example, we do not have majors such as communications, marketing, accounting, or even nutrition. We also don't have "majors" or set tracks for students who are pre-law, pre-pharmacy, pre-med, etc. Instead, it is up to the student to devise a course of study that can prepare them for their desired career while also meeting the requirements to graduate.
At schools which prioritize the goal of a career as the outcome of your schooling, you will find the opposite: many majors are designed to facilitate learning for the sake of a specific outcome, and majors like philosophy or economics (as opposed to business) may be undersubscribed.
So if Dartmouth isn't a pre-professional school, what is it? First-and-foremost, Dartmouth prides itself on its liberal arts education. The term "liberal arts" comes from history and the Latin term liber meaning "free," but all you have to know with respect to your college search is that LACs typically serve an opposite function of pre-professional schools: their structure is built to provide general knowledge and critical thinking skills that, ideally, a student can then use and apply in any profession they pursue after graduating. Many of the Ivy League schools have a liberal arts bent, but you may also recognize the names of other LACs like Amherst College or Williams College.
Choosing which type of school to go to will largely come down to what you prefer. Personally, I enjoy the intellectual vigor and open-endedness of LACs. After all, only here would I be able to be pre-medicine, a math major, and a public policy minor! Going to a school like Dartmouth allows me to explore my interests and create a framework with which to understand the world that is more holistic than it is specific.
There are, of course, downsides to this approach. You may value specificity and deep, foundational knowledge in only one field. You may not see the need to be "broadly educated," and would rather skip out on having mandatory graduation requirements such as English, culture, or even science classes. Or, you may really prefer the campus culture and resources that often come with large pre-professional schools—students at Dartmouth who wish to do things like journalism, acting, or accounting are largely on their own and must make sure they are keeping up with both college and career demands whereas a student at a pre-professional school may rest a little bit easier knowing that they have a set course of study and an advising office that is made exactly for these issues.
So what do you think your schooling preference is? Would you prefer to have a broad, liberal arts foundation? Would you prefer to narrow down your education from freshman year? Knowing your values can really help in your college search, especially since the United States has so many options. If you think you'd like a liberal arts education (or even if you're curious about it), I'd invite you to apply to Dartmouth!
After returning from an enriching study abroad program, I'm diving into a bustling spring semester here at Dartmouth. Here are my four courses I'm taking this term!
Dartmouth's liberal arts curriculum pushes students to explore new departments and draw connections between seemingly disparate disciplines. Come explore my Economics, Physics, and Asian, Societies, Cultures, and Languages classes!
