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Q:

Is it difficult to be introverted at Dartmouth?

A: Student smiling

Oh man. Oh man oh man.

This was honestly probably one of the most pressing questions on my mind when I got to Dartmouth. 

I guess I don't seem like it, but I'm actually pretty introverted. I mean, I hate big parties and huge crowds. The ideal Sunday for me is barricaded in my room with a book, and Netflix. Homework? Eventually. But the point here is that even if I don't give off the appearance from my other blog posts, I like being alone much more than I like being around others.

But that's not the popular perception of college, is it? 

You look at movies and TV shows, and it just seems like college is just a swelling population of people who hang off balconies and yell "whoo" a lot. 

Though that's not what college is like. Or, at least, that's definitely not what Dartmouth is like. 

The Dartmouth social scene is very, very diverse. I mean, of course you have your traditional mass gatherings. The kinds you'd find at any typical college, really. But at Dartmouth, there's not enough people who talk about the more lowkey events that are geared more for introverts. For example, I sometimes go to little lowkey comedy shows at Dartmouth's free (yes, free) coffee shop and performances by dance and a cappella groups. Even outside of official programming, some of my greatest weekends were spent relaxing in my friend's room. Four or five people, max. And just talking, you know? Talking about whatever pops up in mind.

But maybe that's unique to me. Who knows? Maybe I live in a bubble and Dartmouth really is filled with hordes of balcony-dwellers. Even if that's true though, that would reveal something actually quite beautiful about Dartmouth then.

Obviously, my story isn't typical. The campus isn't just a massive coalition of introverts like me. Of course, given Dartmouth's diversity in more ways than one, you'll have your good mix of your extroverts, introverts, ambiverts, whatever. But what that means is that there's something for everyone. So is it difficult to be introverted at Dartmouth? No, it isn't. All you need to do is just remember: people at Dartmouth are human. A quite diverse range of them, really. Each with their own experiences, personality, social styles; each wonderfully unique just like you. And once you're on campus? Well, maybe it's a human thing, or maybe it's something about Dartmouth, but somehow some way, you'll find your people.

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