Welcome to the woods! Dartmouth is hands-down my favorite place, and I look forward to coming back every term. I'm not even kidding. After a day and a half of traveling, I step off the Dartmouth Coach and breathe in the crisp Hanover air. Dragging my two humongous suitcases, I trudge across campus, climb three flights of stairs, fumble for the key in my pocket, and finally open the door to my new corner dorm. I let out a sigh of relief at the sight of my bare twin XL mattress.
During Dartmouth's 2-week-long Orientation period, I had the opportunity to visit each department's open house. I went to the Chemistry and QSS open houses since I have always thought of pursuing these two interests in college. With the intention to just explore other departments out of curiosity, I tagged along with a friend to the Engineering and Computer Science Center.
My first picture of this building on Open House day :)
Now, I am the most indecisive person in the world, so any exciting factors can easily sway me. I've never thought about taking a computer science class in college ever. Let's just say my high school coding experience was not so enjoyable. However, the moment I stepped foot into the ECSC building, I was so mesmerized by its interiors. I wanted to come here every day and take all my 3 classes in this building. Of course, I knew I couldn't just choose my major from how amazing the buildings were, but computer science suddenly became an option.
Anyways, my friend and I roamed around the building for a while, asking professors questions about the courses and appreciating some free orange juice and donuts. One other student asked a professor to give us a pitch as to why we should pursue computer science. I remembered locking eyes with my friends after his speech, and we knew we were both heavily convinced. We had to take CS1.
Course elections rolled along and I ended up taking CS1. The first few weeks were a breeze, but things got real as we sped into the quarter. It requires a chunk of your time, and the assignments are there to make sure you've got a grip on the concepts in the lectures. It's definitely not a layup (easy, chill class), but I think the way Professor Vasanta teaches gave me a stronger foundation in computer science.
Us really going through five stages of grief.
I realized that computer science started making a lot more sense to me, and I was excited to pursue it further. Wonderful opportunities emerged as I started looking into the WISP Research Internship Program. This program matches freshmen and sophomore women who are in STEM disciplines to faculty members for a paid, part-time internship. As I've mentioned, this is a matching program, which means that both the student and faculty members have to be interested in working together.
After attending 2 informational sessions, I applied to the program and emailed a few faculty members to ask for an interview opportunity. I had to do it as soon as possible since availability in each lab may be limited. Three interviews and long days of waiting later, I got a match! In the winter, I'll be working with Professor Lorie Loeb and my WISP teammates on a computer science project titled, 'DALI Lab mobile app design and development.' Can you guess where my meetings will take place for this internship? If you said the Engineering and Computer Science building, you are absolutely right.
So here's my rating for CS right now: so far so good. I am so thrilled and I can't help but wonder what winter term will bring. :
This fall, I took INTS80.06: Multilateralism and US Leadership. The course was taught by visiting Professor DeLaurentis. We finished off the term with a trip to New York City to visit the UN and various UN Embassies.
Welcome back to Open Doors—your inside look at life in the Woods! This week, Sarah Getraer '26, a studio art major, showed me around her dorm room, where we discussed Dartmouth residence halls, classes, and campus life.
