Welcome! I'm Olivia Koo '26, hailing from Los Alamos, New Mexico. I am studying biological chemistry on the pre-med track, and I'm excited to be supplementing it with music, as a classical pianist and singer-songwriter! Some of my favorite things to do are watching YouTube videos about video games, singing and playing my guitar, and reading New York Times op-eds. Look through my page for information about Dartmouth's pre-med track, STEM research, acapella/music, and study abroad opportunities!
Unsure whether I would enjoy the biology-heavy pre-health track, I took an intro biology class. I surprisingly found myself so invested each class—I didn’t think I’d ever be excited trying to determine if the Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA) had DNA or RNA, but here we are! I found it a great introduction to thinking processes at Dartmouth.
I loved coming to this class with its supportive environment! The professor's feedback really helped me improve in my writing. This course guided us through personal narratives and organizational writing while discussing what it really means to be authentic. It also introduced me to the library’s resources for writing and research!
This class was definitely not easy! The accelerated version of general chemistry, it was my first class at Dartmouth that used a textbook, and I had to adapt and learn how to use a textbook for a class properly. But that didn't mean I didn't have a good time! The classes were full of physical demonstrations, and I felt very supported in the lab and beyond.
This was the first group music class I took, and I loved it! Each class we'd move a little forward in time; one day we'd talk about medieval chants, and by the next couple weeks, we talked about Baroque music. We even got to observe original medieval music scores from the Rauner Library, and attend a performance of Baroque music by the Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra!
Songwriting 1 was the first time I was able to work on something creative/in the arts at Dartmouth, and I really loved it! I got to learn how to improve my songwriting and get to know a community of fellow songwriters on campus. The class was both supportive and constructive, and I pushed myself to my creative limit with the assignment of writing one new song a week. This class inspired me to continue writing and being expressive, whether in an academic setting or not.
For one of my classes on the London Music FSP, I got to attend a myriad of musical performances in London and discuss them with my class! It was a once-in-a-life-time experience–getting to watch multiple operas, ballets, jazz sets, and a musical, as well as seeing beautiful performances from the London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic, and more, helped me grow my ear so much and my inspirations as a musician.
I took this class to learn a little more about the social landscape around medicine, and this class delivered that by a mile. From environmental exposure to racial inequities in medicine/health to the discussion of medicine itself as a manipulative tool in colonialist social structures, this class helped me rethink medicine and my role within it.
Hello from London! For my 2024 spring term, I have the incredible opportunity to live and study in London on the Music Foreign Study Program (FSP)!
I have been planning and waiting for this FSP for the past year—I applied for the program in my first-year winter term, and it's hard to believe that I'm writing this blog in London right now. With a focus on music, this study program is a little different than the other programs offered at Dartmouth. I'd like to share them in this post to show the variety of foreign experiences that Dartmouth students experience!
The music FSP at Dartmouth alternates locations every year, between London and Vienna, both cultural epicenters for music. Instead of living with host families like some study programs, the music FSP students live in apartments or student housing. Although the FSP had multiple students living in one apartment in previous years, we are living in single-student housing units this time around. The study programs have varying living space types, depending on what is being studied and where students are.
Move-in day!
I'm particularly excited about my arrangement because of the provided kitchenette! I haven't had to cook for myself in a living space before, and I'm already cooking up some meals for myself (that aren't just instant ramen).
In stark contrast to Dartmouth's campus, where classes are only a ten-minute walk away, our living situation in this program means we get around with hefty commutes through the London Underground—the tube! It's been a very different experience so far traversing a city instead of a small campus. Navigating and choosing what to do in the city was (and still is) a little overwhelming, but I've been enjoying the "city-living" experience!
The Tube!
And, of course, there's the music. As part of the FSP experience, we students get to watch concerts in London…and a lot of them. I've been here a week, and we've already watched four!
The venues we've gone to so far have been stunning, and since they're all across the city, it's allowed me to explore the city even faster than I expected. The music has been incredible, too. Music has such a wide reach and variety, and the concerts that we'll be seeing this term reflect that. Already, we've seen a concert with African drumming, another with contemporary percussion, and an opera, and there's so much more to see and listen to.
I hope that I get to absorb and be inspired by all the different types of music I learn and listen to, to ultimately create more of my own music! I'll be sharing my experiences with music and London as I do so.
As a senior, one of the most exciting things for me is my thesis project. In this blog, I describe how to approach making a senior honors thesis. As Dartmouth focuses on their undergraduate research, many students complete a thesis, so let's dive in!
I recently visited the Harold Edward Cable Makerspace, a workspace designed for students to create personal projects. Read about some of the different tools available and what I made!
