Hello there! My name is Shuyi and I'm a '23, which means it's my senior year here at Dartmouth! Follow me for my last year at Dartmouth as I reflect upon my college experience. At Dartmouth, I enjoy playing squash, eating at late night, and of course, blogging. You can ask me about studying social sciences, coming to Dartmouth as an international student, and anything else really. I hope you enjoy the blog!
I actually wasn't planning on taking this class but it eventually became my favorite class. The professor was very funny and created a relaxed classroom environment where I enjoyed looking at diversity in different contexts, such as college admissions and group dynamics.
This class was a perfect mix of philosophy, classical studies, and writing. We were able to reflect on societal views, our own ideas of optimism and pessimism, and how we can lead more fulfilling and compassionate lives.
My first experience with computer science was my Freshman winter, and I quickly became interested in the subject. I followed up CS1 with CS10 in the Spring, which I found just as cool. I love how you can solve problems by applying logic and math with computer science, and I look forward to diving deeper into the major!
Econ 21 is required for all Econ majors, and I loved my experience with Professor Gustman. He made the material super easy to digest and allowed me to take exams in my timezone, which I thought was really nice.
It was really interesting to study public speaking in an asynchronous environment, and I came away with a deeper understanding of not only public speaking but speech writing. I wrote a separate blog post about the class, so check it out!
Since English was one of my favorite classes in high school, I wanted to take another writing course at Dartmouth. This was a great choice, as it was a perfect mix of lecture and discussion. I loved reading and learning about several American dramas, and even discussing modern topics such as Trump's rhetoric!
SummerShanghai
I took my Sophomore Summer off, which many international students do, and got involved with the Tuck School of Business through the Bridge and Paganucci programs! You can read more about my summer experiences in my blogs!
This was my first class from the QSS department, which was long overdue considering that I'm a QSS major! I really enjoyed picking up some coding skills and tackling problems like transitional justice with quantitative approaches.
I took Econ 25 in the Fall, and Econ 35 was the next course in the game theory sequence! It was really fun to apply game theory to cool concepts like sports, Covid-19, and auctions.
This was my first time taking a music class even though I have been involved with music my entire life, whether that was playing the piano or learning how to make beats. I loved this class because I not only learned more about music, but more about Native culture as well!
SummerNew York
I took my junior summer off to pursue a management consulting internship in New York. I had a wonderful experience!
I absolutely loved this class! Theatre was one of my favorite classes in middle school, and so it was great to reconnect with theatre again in college. The professor was amazingly kind and passionate, and the final project was a really fun group performance!
This was a small class of around 15 people, which allowed us to have intimate discussions of readings and theatre. I loved hearing from my classmates, as we used our personal experiences to guide us in our understanding of materials. My final project was a protest on campus, which also really fun and refreshing take on performance!
After an exciting and well-rested winter break, I'm glad to be back to blogging! As has become tradition for each term, I'm going to introduce you guys to the courses I'll be taking this term and what they're all about. However, what has stood out to me already about my term is how flexible my course schedule is. Since I'm currently in China, it has been difficult at times to work around the time difference. Therefore, I was especially excited to learn that I would have a lot of control over my academic schedule this term, and I'm here to walk you through what that looks like for me!
Starting off with my public speaking class, I was surprised to learn that it would be offered asynchronously. How could I learn public speaking without an audience? One week in, and I've already created a speech and improved my public speaking abilities while doing it. Next week, I'll be able to look at some of my classmates' speeches and give feedback! So, while I won't have to be in class at any specific timeslot, I will be able to interact with my classmates and professor. In fact, my professor invited all of us to meet with her as soon as possible, which I was able to do last week!
My completely asynchronous public speaking class!
Next, I'm taking an Economics class on international finance and macroeconomics. Although we do have a synchronous time slot for the class, we are only meeting for lecture once a week. In addition to our weekly lecture, our professor prepared videos we need to watch ourselves, in addition to a weekly discussion where we can ask questions and talk about the week's topic. Being able to do the bulk of the class when I want to is really great for me, as I love being able to plan my week depending on what I'm doing and my availability. Furthermore, the weekly discussion is a great opportunity to not only get some face time with my classmates and professor, but also an open space where I can ask questions I had on the videos. So far, I've really enjoyed the structure and tone of the class.
To round out my course load, I'll be taking a social psychology class. I studied a little bit of social psychology in high school, so I'm super excited to dig deeper into the subject. Following the theme of asynchronous learning, the class is also a mix of live lectures and prerecorded videos that we watch ourselves. I think being able to have both every week is a great mix, as I can feel like a part of the community while also not having to be in class at ridiculous hours of the day. This week, we just wrapped up heuristics and schemas, which I thought was incredibly interesting.
As you can see, life away from Dartmouth is far from perfect, but asynchronous learning has given me a lot of flexibility and autonomy on how I want to tackle the term. As I learn about exchange rates, speaking techniques, and judgmental heuristics, I can do so at times that work for me. This has already been huge for me, and I look forward to going through another term with the blog!
Dartmouth changed my life. A large part of that change comes from the support I have received from professors. Learn more here about some mentor-mentee relationships I have made!
In Solid Mechanics, we designed and constructed a bridge that held 10kN, around 1000kg! The process, from SOLIDWORKS design to laser cutting to gluing parts together, took us weeks, but it was one of the most rewarding projects I have ever done.
Walking around the Wellelsey campus, it's clear that it was built with intentional incorporation of the surrounding nature. The architecture of many buildings were also mindfully crafted to support Wellesley's unique principles.
My first time in Chicago at the Society of Women Engineers Conference in Chicago, Illinois! Fully funded by Dartmouth, I had a great time meeting amazing companies and getting to know fellow women engineers.
Through Dartmouth's Guarini Institute for International Study, I am getting to take classes and experience life at Wellesley College, an all-women's school!
