你好！Or Hi! My name is Taylor, and I'm a '27! I'm from Beijing, China. I'm hoping to major in Mathematics Modified with Computer Science and minor in Religion. Outside of the classroom, you can find me going on hikes with the Dartmouth Outing club, drawing or crafting at the jewelry studio, or having fun, philosophical conversations with friends!
Academic Program
(Intended) Mathematics Modified with Computer Science, Religion
Coming to Dartmouth with a solid background in French (Delf B2), I find French 3 a perfect fit for me -- it helps me to consolidate a lot of key grammar and vocabs, and fun weekly cultural activities like coffee hours and french lunch table offers me chances to relax in busy times. While the class is very rigorous and requires a lot of hard work, my professor is so nice and makes the class very fun! I also look forward to going to Dartmouth's Toulouse LSA program after completion of this class!
This course explores how Buddhist concepts of embodiment affect daily life and society in Southeast Asian contexts, and how the intersection of religion, sexuality, and gender impact broader understandings of authority, wisdom, beauty, death, and loyalty. The class takes on many forms beyond mere lectures -- a visit to the Hood Museum of Art, mindfulness practices, and small Buddha-crafting projects. Our professor (the sweetest Prof. MK Long) also invites many of her colleagues at other institutes as guest lecturers to our class so that we can learn from real experts specializing in different countries in Southeast Asia. I have learned a lot from the class and decided to become a religion major after this course!
Having never enjoyed math classes before college, I'm surprised (again) by how I'm becoming a math major and falling in love with math here! My professor (Prof. Shu Longmei, who graduated from the best university in my hometown) is incredibly good at teaching the concepts -- not just explaining things clearly but also showing us the beauty and elegance of calculus. I really look forward to taking more math classes in the future!
SummerVietnam & Beijing, China
I first visited pagodas in Vietnam for a couple of weeks and had days of conversations with monastics! Then, I returned home to savor time spent with my family and old friends, focus on my mental and physical health, and study and work a bit.
One thing that I like about Dartmouth is that it gives you a plethora of opportunities to explore—both in terms of academics and career. In this post, I will focus on opportunities for academic exploration, and in my next post, I will discuss more about the career opportunities here.
Dartmouth's distributive requirement requires students to take courses in a variety of fields before graduation. On our way to fulfilling these distributive requirements, we oftentimes stumble upon really fun classes and fields that we wouldn't have the chance to explore otherwise, and sometimes, these fun classes even shape our major and minor choices.
For example, this term, I'm taking a computer science (CS) course, "Introduction to Programming and Computation," a writing seminar about Jerusalem, and a course named "Buddhism, Gender, Sexuality in Southeast Asia." As an intended mathematics major, I might have never thought about taking all these classes. However, Dartmouth's distributive requirements encourage me to explore fields that I'm entirely unfamiliar with, and I can't express how much I love these classes—now I'm considering religion and computer science minors!
Taking these diverse courses has prompted me to reflect on the rationale behind such distributive requirements. My writing seminar has introduced me to new dimensions of religion, history, and politics. Through close readings of historical texts from various cultural and religious perspectives and engaging office hours with my professor, my critical thinking and writing skills have significantly advanced. Even my computer science class, like linear algebra last term, has been a revelation. Having been scared of STEM subjects since elementary school, I never thought that in college, I would recognize the beauty in math and computer science's foundational logic.
In essence, my coursework across these different fields is converging on a singular lesson: the art of thinking both critically and creatively, a skill essential and irreplaceable in the age of artificial intelligence. To me, this epitomizes the essence of a liberal arts education!
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!
Academics can be challenging at Dartmouth. But there are lots of groups across campus here to support you through your academic journey. Read on for my experience asking for help and a few organizations that might be helpful to you!
Every Dartmouth student is required to demonstrate proficiency in a language other than English. Here's my experience navigating the language requirement!
