Happy New Year! Plans and Hopes for a Dartmouth Sophomore
Welcome to 2024! I hope that the application season for '28s went well; congratulations to those who have been accepted early! Here's a sight that awaits you next winter:
2024 is an exciting year for me; for the first time, I'll have a full year of school! Due to the D-Plan, in which students can choose the terms in which they are enrolled, my plan for 2024 is to be enrolled for all four terms (winter, spring, summer, and fall)!
The D-Plan continues to surprise me with the effect it has on the campus. Because not everyone is on campus at the same time due to unique D-Plans, there have been terms when I haven't seen some of my peers. Dartmouth's robust study-abroad programs add to this phenomenon, as students who are still enrolled can be far away from campus. As a result, the early part of the term always includes puzzling out which faces I see on campus and those which I don't. Despite that, it's exciting to see a friend that you haven't seen in a long time! I'm excited to see my friends who are "off" (away from campus) in future terms.
The D-Plan also impacts my education plans—because specific classes are not offered every term, I've been viewing when classes that I need to take are offered to make sure that I am "on" for those terms—this is why, as of right now, I plan to take classes during the fall term of 2024.
Most importantly, however, the D-Plan strongly recommends that students take at least one term during the summer, especially during their sophomore year, called Sophomore Summer. It's a beloved tradition among Dartmouth students, and I am interested to see what the fuss is all about.
But just because I'm "on" for all four terms doesn't guarantee that I'm on campus for the entire year. For my spring term, I plan to attend the London Foreign Study Program for music! During this FSP, I'll get to live in student housing in London for a term, attending concerts and taking piano lessons with an instructor in London. I'm very excited about the opportunity, and I hope that it's a nice change of scenery from Hanover!
It's interesting to reflect upon the different position I was in a year ago, at the beginning of my first winter at Dartmouth. Dartmouth, then, was still very new to me; the possibilities endless in what I could study and do. This year, it seems that the path has narrowed somewhat, but not in a negative way at all; instead, I feel that there is a bit more focus in the direction I hope to explore and a bit more purpose behind my actions (or at least, I hope so). I'm looking forward to combining my interests in science and music, but I'm just as excited to continue pushing out of my comfort zone while maintaining my well-being. Who knows what the next term will bring?
Until next time!