Hello there, friend! My name is Love and I am a '23. Aside from being on the pre-med track, I'm currently interested in studying math and public policy. I have a penchant for old things, learning languages, and the arts. I also love personality tests, irrespective of their actual validity—in case you're curious, I'm an INFJ, Scorpio, dragon, and type 2w1.
BIOL 11.07 (Major Events in the History of Life and the Human Genome) is a very unique class. We learn topics such as oxidative phosphorylation in conjunction with evolution and paleontology. In other words, where and when did ETC come from, and how can we support our hypothesis? Though not an easy class by far, every day the material I learn amazes me with the wonder of life, which is how biology should be!
MES 7.03 (Jerusalem: Vision and Reality) was my First-Year Seminar and such an interesting class to take! We explored Jerusalem through three main viewpoints (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam). The class had a bit of religion, literature, anthropology, sociology, and even geography—all things I love to study but don't necessarily have the space for with our three-class quarters. I often found myself going to office hours just to talk with my professor about questions I had outside of the reading!
COSC 10 (Problem Solving with Object-Oriented Programming) is a data structures course and the last pre-requisite for the computer science major. Though I added it as a fourth class on a whim because of COVID-19 and remote learning, it quickly became my favorite class this term because I loved the problem solving that CS has to offer. It is a difficult class but the emotional and academic rewards make it all worth it!
This was one of four classes I took during fall term and it was super interesting! We learned about healthcare systems and innovations from around 4 guest lecturers per week, and were able to do research on our own and propose a new system at the end of the term. Students came from all over campus and the course was very enlightening for me in terms of understanding how care is dispensed in the U.S. and how we can improve it.
Though this was my first "foundation" course in the Biology department and I still found it challenging, I really enjoyed learning the material and found it all super exciting! We learned about DNA replication, mRNA transcription and protein translation, genetics, and had the opportunity to do a literature review at the end of the term.
The dreaded Organic Chemistry sequence of my pre-med track came upon me faster than I thought it would, but it surprised me by being one of my favorite classes to date! I found it intellectually interesting (even though it was time-consuming), probably because I treated it like a STEM-and-logic puzzle instead of pure STEM or pure memorization. Am I great at it? Not necessarily. Do I remember everything I've learned? I'm not too sure! Am I mentally ready for Organic Chemistry 2 next term? Not at all! But I had a lot of fun doing this class and surprised even myself with how I tackled it.
I love dancing, story-telling, and learning about different cultures so I knew going into this course that I would enjoy it. Cross-listed in the theater and AAAS departments, this course let students have the privilege of working with Dance Theatre of Harlem members who were in Hanover for a summer residency. As a group, we analyzed a play ("The Purple Flower" by Marita Bonner) and transformed the text into a physical movement piece. Each student also had complete ownership of a personal final project, and I opted to do a self-choreographed dance. Overall, I loved getting the chance to work creatively in my academics this term and I also was able to broaden my perspective and knowledge of the African-American story in the process!
As a pre-med, I am constantly trying to learn more about the U.S medical system. This course was extremely engaging in all aspects, taking students through all of American history through the lens of healthcare within the span of 10 weeks. I particularly liked having a discussion session that replaced a lecture, since we were able to talk about the issues with the professor and think out loud about our readings. The course was definitely challenging and required a lot of synthesis across different time periods and topics, but I feel like I came out of it with a deeper and more profound understanding of our healthcare system and why it functions the way it does today.
WinterDetroit, MI
For my junior winter, I did an internship in clinical research! With COVID affecting so much of my college experience, this practical, in-person work internship was very important for me to not only hone my employable skills but also see what having a 8am - 5pm job looks like and how it could fit into my future.
Much like my other pre-med courses here at Dartmouth, Biochemistry was quite rigorous and fast-paced. It was certainly challenging, but I found the work extremely rewarding and I enjoyed learning about all the different mechanisms that happen inside of our bodies. Additionally, many of my friends were also in this class as well, rounding out final prerequisites for graduate school, and this fact made it all the more fun.
SummerDresden, Germany
For my junior summer, I had a research internship in Eastern Germany, working at the intersection between math, computer science, and biology! The learning curve was very steep since my project focus changed once I arrived in Europe, but I had a lot of fun and learned a lot about the content and myself. I am extremely thankful for all the support that Dartmouth has given me throughout my time here, without which I wouldn't have been able to do a 12-week European adventure!
As a pre-med student interested in health disparities, SOCY 75 was an amazing class to take! We covered numerous topics concerning how where one lives can impact their health outcomes. At the end of the course, students were also able to complete a final project of their choosing and I loved being able to tie my personal experiences into an academic course.
Throughout college, most of my science courses have been at the introductory level: one term of genetics, one term of cell structure, etc. Rarely have I had the chance to engage with something on a deeper level or connect the pre-med courses to human biology. This course was super interesting because I could finally connect everything I've learned throughout college into one cohesive course that connects to something I want to do post-Dartmouth.
As a senior, my friends and I have been through our fair share of job hunting while at Dartmouth.
This can either be for our post-grad plans or even our internships. For many students, your first paid position that helps you learn directly applicable skills for your preferred career will be sometime during your first or second term off. Due to the D-Plan, your second break off from school won't be the same as everyone else.
For me, for example, I took first-year summer, junior winter, and junior summer off.
First-year summer, I had a Dartmouth-sponsored internship through the Dartmouth Center for Social Impact (DCSI). During this time, I interned at a non-profit in San Francisco, learning about how they secured real estate to protect against gentrification. I obtained this internship by applying through the DCSI's application and going through the interview process. After the interview, they placed me with a non-profit and a Dartmouth alumna who served as my mentor during the summer! I decided to do a social impact-focused internship for my first internship because I was still trying to figure out what sort of career I wanted after college. Additionally, the support that comes with a Dartmouth-sponsored internship is great, as you know you can always email someone at the College in case you had questions or wanted to talk about something.
After my break freshman summer, I took classes for five terms in a row. Therefore, my next break was in junior year, and I actually had to take two off-terms this year. This is because, in general, Dartmouth students are required to have 12 terms of taking classes and 3 terms off.
So junior winter, I interned at a hospital system near my hometown as a clinical research assistant in dermatology. Due to COVID, many things were still shut down and so finding this experience was quite hard. I eventually secured it by cold emailing various departments at the hospital and going through the hiring process with the lab's principal investigator. I was quite lucky and this process went smoothly. I believe you too will find that the Dartmouth name helps open many doors if you are a student who needs to cold email people for opportunities, particularly in academic or other types of research.
Lastly, junior summer I had a computational math research internship in Germany! I had always wanted to study abroad but was unable to do so after COVID. As such, this internship was my own way to do international travel and get to learn about a completely new approach to academics. I found this internship by searching online on my own using keywords like "international research program." Even though this program was completely unrelated to Dartmouth, I still needed transcripts and letters of recommendation, so many of my mentors knew what I was going through while applying.
Each of these internships were instrumental in me learning more about what I wanted to do post-graduation and what sort of work I was good at. This past December, I used my past experiences and found my gap year job through a job posting that was emailed out by Dartmouth's pre-health advising office. Come July, I will be working in an orthopedics outcomes research group, running clinical trials and mathematical models for policy recommendations! I am extremely lucky that I found an opportunity that fit my academic and career interests so well; I look forward to learning more about clinical research during my gap years as I apply to medical school.
Job hunting, therefore, can look very different based on where you are in your college trajectory and what sort of career you want. Through my own experiences, I have used Dartmouth programs, cold emailing, and formal applications to secure opportunities. I was primarily interested in a combination of social impact, math research, and medicine, which meant that I had to do a lot of research to find opportunities that fit my niche set of interests. If you were to go into consulting or finance, however, much less of your application process would be independently driven since you would do "recruiting" with the rest of your class and most likely follow an extremely established schedule of applications and cases. As another example, if you wanted to go to graduate school and get a PhD, you would most likely be even more interested in research opportunities than I was, whether that be continuing research at your lab for continuity or doing summer research programs for greater exposure.
In general, I would recommend knowing what is expected of you as an applicant in terms of application materials and timelines. In case you have any questions, always feel free to reach out to faculty, staff, or other peers. There is a wealth of knowledge here and people are always very eager to share their tips. Job hunting at Dartmouth is certainly a lot to handle on top of managing classes in a 10-week term, but it can be done and is quite rewarding when things are finalized!
This fall, Dartmouth provided me with incredible opportunities to get involved in politics. I registered as a New Hampshire voter, joined civic organizations, canvassed, and more! Read on to follow my journey leading up to Election Day!
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!
