I'm Kalina, a '27 from Sofia, Bulgaria. I love books (I love reading and writing them), and I particularly love fantasy (i.e., I'm an expert on Middle Earth and Hogwarts studies). I'm fascinated by the human brain and the real-world magic of science. I also love hiking, bird-watching, climbing, and em dashes.
Instead of taking a normal Writing 5 course, I decided to fulfill my first-year writing requirement by taking HUM 1. This course helped me strengthen my relationship to literature and writing. It changed the way in which I thought about classics, both books and movies (we saw Wall-E, by the way). And it also changed the way I thought about academic writing and literary criticism. A third of the course was made up of lectures by professors from different departments, while the other two thirds were discussions with a single professor and a small group of 15 students.
Intro to Neuroscience was the first course I was truly excited about. It wasn't an easy course; we had a weekly quiz of ten to thirteen questions covering the lectures from the past few days, but it was very interesting and also very funny (Professor Winter's humor is legendary). We learned about the human brain at the level of individual cells. We also studied it at the level of different systems, from the olfactory system to the parasympathetic nervous system. And last, we learned about cognition: learning, attention, language. We saw a real human brain with formaldehyde dripping from it. We saw a real sheep's brain. And a rat's brain. And we pocked each other with paper clips to determine the sensitivity of our touch receptors.
Journalism with Professor Alexis Jetter was an enjoyable class, sometimes challenging but very satisfying. We covered a lot of US history through the lens of the media, and we started every class with a discussion of the current news and events (thanks to these discussions, I feel like a real adult now—not so lost when the conversation turns toward politics). Several guest lecturers—from former students of Professor Jetter who're now journalists to a New York Times war correspondent—brought us real stories from the field. In the middle of the term, each of us had to find someone over 30 years old in the Upper Valley, spend a day with them, and write a profile.
SummerSofia, Bulgaria
I'm spending my first summer back home, helping my family care for my newborn sister. In my free time (changing diapers takes a lot of time!), I'm doing research for the cognitive neuroscience lab FINN Lab, preparing for my classes in the fall, and working on a new book.
Back when I first learned about the Early Decision option, I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life, so it seemed scary and foolish to commit to just one school so early on. I thought of the Early Decision option as: "I'll apply somewhere easy for the sake of getting in and when/if I get in, I'll always wonder if I had chances of going somewhere better."
Then came the summer before my senior year in high school, and I started writing my college applications. Again, I still didn't have any clarity as to where exactly I wanted to go. All I had was a list of schools my college counselor recommended, and that was that. I didn't even know what Dartmouth was back then. (In my defense, I'm from Bulgaria, haha.)
The first ever picture I took of Dartmouth's iconic Baker Tower
I had written the applications for at least seven schools before I started looking into Dartmouth, but when the time came to actually research the school and write the "Why Dartmouth" essay, I was surprised to realize that I was actually EXCITED about what I was learning about.
I first stumbled upon a YouTube video about the Earth science program The Stretch.The Stretch is a 2-month-long "geological tour of the American West," and the idea of such an adventure still sends goosebumps down my skin.
I continued my Dartmouth journey across YouTube to find a "day in the life" video by a former Dartmouth student. I watched it all and realized that I can very much see myself having such a day.
My messy room a week after I first moved in - notice the Dartmouth felt flag on the wall. I was afraid that I might not get one because it's too far away to ship to Bulgaria, but once I got to campus, they gave me my very own flag! Yay.
And finally, I ended up scrolling through the very blog you're reading right now – People Places Pines. Luke Grayson's post about hiking The Fifty (that's a fifty-mile hike) was the final piece of evidence I needed to see that Dartmouth was a place where people were excited about the outdoors and academics as much as I was, in the way I was.
And I knew that I'd be applying Early Decision. I didn't make this choice right away – I had my calendar ask me two weeks later if I was still excited about Dartmouth and then two weeks after that, too.
Still, a month later, Dartmouth was the only school that excited me as much. No other school I had looked at (and I was ready to send applications to the maximum of 20 schools) gave me the same thrilling feeling of butterflies in my stomach.
Applying Early Decision was no longer scary–it was the only option that made sense.
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!
As a second-year at Dartmouth, I've embraced leadership roles that foster community, creativity, and support! Here's a look at how each role has shaped my journey.
