Hi everyone! I'm Tess, and I live 30 minutes outside of London. I love everything Dartmouth, including the sunsets, the traditions, the classes, and the merch. I'm super excited to experience everything I read about in this blog over the next four years. Come along with me as I explore the ins and outs of life in the woods.
A course that definitely surprised me, I did not know what to expect and had very little philosophical knowledge before taking this course. It was a mixture of current and past readings, with the final project to make a group video, testing my technological ability. Professor Bumpus was amazing, and I got to know her more when I took her to breakfast at Pine through the Take Your Professor to Lunch Program.
I was recommended to take a history course, specifically a history course with Professor Lu, and it has not disappointed! This course is cross listed with Asian Studies, my major, but it has made me consider a history minor... We start every class off with a song relating to the topic of that class, and then we move on to discussion based activities.
So far, the Dartmouth classes I have taken have been all based around discussion and essay writing. As an Asian Studies and Government major, I expected that the rest of my time at Dartmouth would follow a similar pattern, but in fact a pre-requisite for the Government major is a Political Analysis class. This class involves coding, analyzing survey samples, and other quantitative methods. The professor is amazing—a friend and I got to know him better by taking him out to breakfast at Pine through the 'Take Your Professor to Lunch' program. The final group project involves making projections for the 2024 elections using past data. Although, obviously, this election already happened, some of our predictions were more accurate than the polls! It is super interesting to take a class that I can see the themes in real world news outlets.
Congratulations, Class of 2029, on committing to Dartmouth! This time last year, I was just being added to various Canvas pages (the platform we use to manage work, grades, and everything in between), finding out about Dartmouth insurance and other technical bits and bobs, completing my writing placement tests, filling out First Year Trips interest forms and housing applications. I was eagerly reading the weekly New Student Orientation emails and awaiting my roommate assignments (which I wouldn't find out for another two months). Although, undoubtedly, the emails were useful, I was in the dark about what to really expect, what to bring, and everything else. But, as I had just graduated from high school and my move in date wasn't for another three months, college seemed like so far away. So, I wanted to share a bit of information about what to expect, bring and look forward to.
1. New Student Orientation (NSO) is tiring, but so much fun!
From this blog post, you can read about my entire experience during NSO. It is a whirlwind of moving in—First Year Trips, various 'getting to know others' activities, academic introductions and required orientation programming. This is meant to ease the fears of being in this entirely new environment. For me, it seemed that at all times, I had to be out socializing, trying to make new friends. I would feel a certain level of anxiety and FOMO when I was just sitting in my dorm, trying to decompress from the day. This shouldn't be the case. Yes, I met some good friends through Orientation, but it wasn't the make or break it. I met more friends as the year went on, and I think I would've done better if I had taken a more laid-back approach to Orientation, given myself more time and space to adjust to Dartmouth.
2. You can ship things to Hinman
For those that come from far away, or even those that don't want to load their car with so much stuff, Hinman—our package center—is available to ship things to. With your housing assignments in July comes your Hinman number, which is effectively your post box for your time at Dartmouth. I shipped my bedding, mattress topper, fridge, carpet, and other large items to my Hinman box. In this way, my stuff was ready for me when I came to move in.
3. Don't bring too much stuff…
This is a generic piece of advice that you have probably seen in many places, but I'm serious. Now, staring down the moving out process, I am genuinely wondering how I have accumulated so much unnecessary stuff. Even if you come to Dartmouth having packed lightly and realize that you missed something, there is a large Target and Walmart in Lebanon, only a 15-minute drive from campus, accessible by private car, public transport, or Dartmouth shuttles. Yes, we may be far from a city, but if you need something, you can get it.
My desk at the beginning of the year, before it became piled with miscellaneous items
4. The Dartmouth '29s Instagram Page
On the school run, Dartmouth '28's Instagram page, incoming students would submit a few photos and a short bio about themselves. It was so interesting for me to scroll and see who I would be spending the next four years with, but I myself didn't post. At the last minute, I panicked and thought that because I hadn't reached out to anyone I would have no friends going onto campus, so I reached out to three people who posted. The first person, once we got onto campus, we never ran in the same circles, so never spoke to each other. Funnily enough, my friend Maya was someone that I had messaged from the page, and we coincidentally sat next to each other at an Orientation event and got to talking. And then the third person I had reached out to, we made plans to meet when we got on campus. From this, I just want to highlight that messaging or not messaging people doesn't determine who your best friends will be—do it if you feel comfortable, or just wait until you get on campus! Information is also posted onto the page; for example, that is where I found out about this job!
5. You may or may not be best friends with your roommates, if you have one
Going into college, I thought that I would build my social circle around my roommates and those living on my floor, especially because I knew that I would be living in all first-year housing. My roommates and I are quite close, but we aren't each other's closest friends. We love yapping in our room, going through outfit crises together, or just vibing to music, but we don't spend tons of time together outside the room. And that's alright! It's kind of like having in school friends and out of school friends in high school. But on the other hand, I know people who are super tight with their roommates, and they spend lots of time together outside of the dorm. So, just be flexible.
Me and my roomies!
6. Get on the Woccom early
Occom Pond is a nearby pond, with a perfect 25-minute walking loop around it. I love going for a walk around Occom, a woccom, to get some exercise, get some sun, and just relax.
My first time doing a Woccom
7. I had major imposter syndrome…
In my first week of classes, the imposter syndrome was real. I knew that I worked hard for that position, but it seemed as if everyone had worked harder. As a result, it is easy to sit in class feeling that many are so much smarter. There are two ways to combat this. Firstly, know that you were accepted for a reason, and you deserve to be here. Secondly, Dartmouth provides so many resources. Undergraduate deans are an excellent outlet, for anything, really. From academic advice such as D-Plan stuff, to emotional issues, they can help you, or point you in the right direction. So, understand who your dean is, and that their door is open to you. The Writing Center is a great place for feedback on papers, or even just help getting off the (figurative) ground. I made a lot of use out of it my freshman fall.
So, I hope that this was relatively helpful. The Dartmouth community is so excited to welcome all incoming students, and hope that you will love it here as much as we do.
When I look back on my time at Dartmouth, and it is hard to believe I will be graduating in just two weeks, I know that Africa Week will always stand out as one of the moments when this campus felt most alive, most joyful, and most like home.
It's my first spring ever (!!!) and I have been blown away by the beautiful scenery that continues to bloom right in front of my eyes. Here are some of my favorite scenes from campus in spring!
In my freshman year, I wrote a blog revisiting my decision of attending Dartmouth College. Now that more than a year has passed, I would love to revisit my decision again, with a more realistic lens.
