Welcome to the woods! My name is Natalie and I'm from California (3035 miles away from Dartmouth)! I'm a political science and crossword puzzle nerd who's excited to dive into the millions of activities we have on campus. I'm a Politics, Philosophy, and Economics major at Dartmouth, and am considering both a History and Human-Centered Design minor. I'm also the President of the Parliamentary Debate team! Go Big Green!
10 things I've learned during my 10 weeks at Dartmouth:
1. Everyone is equally freaked out as you are. We all demonstrate our anxiety differently, and most people don't feel comfortable expressing their anxiety to someone they just met. Just because everyone is acting like they have it all together doesn't mean they have it all together.
2. The body keeps the score. It's really easy to forget to take care of yourself at college. The first few days of skipping the gym and eating poorly and not sleeping enough don't really have an effect. But when you don't take care of yourself, your body is keeping track, and you're not going to be able to sustain the rocket-fast pace Dartmouth forces you to move at. You have to put in the time to take care of yourself upfront.
3. Go to office hours, even if you don't have anything specific to ask about. It's worth the time to invest energy into relationships with your professors. Not only will you take more away from the class, but cultivating strong relationships with your professors will serve you well in the long run in terms of grading and potential letters of recommendation.
4. Befriend people from the opposite side of the country. If you had told senior year me that all of my favorite people would live in the South, I would have told you you were crazy. But lo and behold, my best friends are from Nashville, North Carolina, and Texas.
5. Take classes that scare you! ENGS 12 (Design Thinking) was so far outside of my comfort zone and so far from what I thought I wanted to study in college, but it ended up being my favorite class this term.
6. Scheduling is important. If I don't set aside time to sit down and meaningfully work on homework, it's just simply not happening. College can be overwhelming because you have so much free time — you have to figure out how to use it
7. Nothing gets done on FFB (First-floor Baker). At least for me, I can't study in social spaces. I have to separate my social time and my study time.
8. Lemongrass chicken is the best dinner on Dartmouth's campus. Never pass it up when it's on the menu.
9. Take advantage of sunny days, because they quickly wane. Go for a walk in Pine Park, sit on the Green, eat a meal on the Collis patio. Sunshine and getting off of screens have the ability to fix a lot of problems — it's hard to be sad on a sunny fall day.
10. Call your mom! Or your dad! Or a adult you like to talk to! Dartmouth is a great bubble, but it's still a bubble. It can be really easy to get wrapped up in campus culture and stress. People outside of Dartmouth can provide a really helpful perspective. And I know your mom wants to hear from you.
It's hard to believe that it has been a year since I wrote my first end-of-fall-term reflection. It felt like only yesterday that I stepped into my dorm room this September, eager to reunite with my friends.
Most students have to go back to college after Thanksgiving to take their finals, but not at Dartmouth! We have a six-week winter break, known as "winterim!" Let me tell you how I spent my winterim!
Applying early to a university can be overwhelming and confusing. As someone who did not apply to Dartmouth through early decision, here are a couple tips that I could have used when thinking about applying early to a school!
