Hello! My name is Mario and I'm a Dartmouth '28. I am double majoring in government and economics with a concentration in international relations. I love to spend my free time swimming at the Connecticut River or skiing at the Dartmouth Skiway with friends!
German was absolutely one of my favorite courses Freshman Fall. German, like many other languages at Dartmouth, is taught in small, tight-knit classes that help students become comfortable practicing a language while receiving support from their fellow students. This course was incredibly interactive between students and the professor, with activities ranging from role-playing buying a house, to having improvised acted conversation mid-class. If you're looking for a class with a small group of people that's very interactive and fun, you should look no further than GERM 1!
ENGS 12 was an incredibly fun and fulfilling course during Freshman Winter. It consists of learning how the design process works when it's centered on addressing specific human needs. This course teaches you several new skills, such as using Photoshop, video editing, working with foamcore, sewing, and more. It's such a really good course to make new friends through group projects, to learn new skills, and to adopt a new mindset for analyzing your ideas. Specifically, it provides you with the tools to bring your craziest ideas to life!
Weapons of Mass Destruction was my favorite class during Spring Term. Throughout this class, I got a chance to learn the theories behind the use and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Specifically, I studied the origins and taboos surrounding nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. Ultimately, I applied my theoretical knowledge to a prospective scenario where I evaluated the likelihood of Saudi Arabia obtaining nuclear weapons. Incredibly fun class with lots of discussions between the professor and the students.
Growth and its Critics was my favorite class during sophomore Fall. In this course, I studied the theories and arguments behind population growth, economic growth, pollution, and technological innovation. The class was taught by Professor Henry Clark—a brilliant and incredibly dedicated professor. I enjoyed the course's focus on current political-economic issues as well as students' abilities to discuss their points of view with the professor and other students. Incredibly insightful and fun class!
My favorite class this Winter term was an introduction to creative writing with New York Times Best Seller Author Prof. Crouch. I had an amazing time during this class. I learned so many things, such as how authors create complex characters and use various writing styles to convey different meanings. We also discussed several interesting works of fiction. The main thing I loved about this class was writing my own short story from beginning to end. I have never written a work of fiction, and doing so this term made me appreciate how much time, work, and dedication go into each book I read. Overall, amazing class!
This spring, I had the opportunity to take ECON 29, an international finance class, and I loved it. The class focused on all aspects of international relations (which I love as a government double major), including trade, the balance of payments, exchange rates, and more. It was a very technical class, but I enjoyed the content a lot. I can say that this class helps me understand what is going on every time I read a financial article in the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times!
I hope you guys are doing well. Today, I want to talk about distributive requirements at Dartmouth—credits in various academic disciplines needed to graduate—and why you should not worry about them. Let's get started!
Dartmouth uses distributive requirements to encourage students to leave their comfort zone and explore various academic disciplines to discover any hidden interests or hobbies students might be unaware of. Some of these distributive requirements include, but are not limited to: Arts; Western Cultures; Non-Western Cultures; International or Comparative Studies, and more. I know these may sound a bit fuzzy and stressful but you should not worry about them.
While, as I said, these requirements are in place to prompt students to explore various academic disciplines, most students complete them without even being aware of it. Most undergraduate students use the Dartmouth Timetable of Classesto see which classes spark their interest—and lucky for most of us many of these classes fulfill our distributive requirements without us even being aware of it. For example, this Winter term I took CREATIVE WRITING 10: 'Reading and Writing Fiction' which focused on learning how to write fictional short-stories.
Unbeknownst to me, this class fulfilled one of my distributive requirements, specifically my Arts requirement, and I was not even aware of that until my degree completion progress in 'Dartworks'—an online platform that allows Dartmouth students to see their overall progress towards graduation at Dartmouth.
Similarly, as an undergraduate student, you are likely to take classes across various disciplines that spark your interest which are also likely to fulfill most, if not all, of your distributive requirements. Other classes I have taken, such as GOVERNMENT 51.19: 'Development Under Fire'focused on the usage of humanitarian aid to improve the living and security conditions in developing countries. I took this class because I found the topic incredibly interesting and wanted to learn more about it. Once again, unbeknownst to me, this course fulfilled my 'Non-Western Culture' distributive requirement!
I am telling you guys about this because distributive requirements are not something you should really worry about—I am sure most students at Dartmouth do not worry about them, including myself, because we fulfill them by simply exploring classes that spark our interests!
I personally believe the topic of distributive requirements embodies the essence of Dartmouth because it prompts students to leave their comfort zone and explore more about themselves in areas they would otherwise be too afraid or too uninterested to try out. Funny enough, I became a Government major when I decided to take GOVERNMENT 5: 'International Politics'because I wanted to learn more about the various theories about international relations. I did this while fulfilling my 'International or Comparative Studies' distributive requirement.
While I am not saying you should disregard these requirements completely—as they are an important and necessary graduation requirement—you should not stress about them. I would recommend checking your progress at 'Dartworks' once you become an undergrad once or twice a term to make sure you are making good progress and you should be all set!
Ultimately, in my opinion, distributive requirements are just a fancy way that Dartmouth uses to prompt students to explore and have a well-rounded education. They are there to prompt undergraduate students to do what they already excel at—leaving their comfort zone and making the most out of their Dartmouth experience by taking classes in various disciplines with professors who are leading scholars in their areas of expertise!
That is all for today, hope this helps answer some questions and reduce any worries about distributive requirements at Dartmouth!
As my friends and I navigate complex feelings of nostalgia and excitement, we all have very different senior springs. Find out what I have been working on and what it has taught me!
True to the theme of a liberal arts education, Dartmouth requires students to take one or two classes each in several different subject matters, or distributives, in order to graduate.
