Welcome! I'm Olivia Koo '26, hailing from Los Alamos, New Mexico. I am studying biological chemistry on the pre-med track, and I'm excited to be supplementing it with music as a classical pianist and singer-songwriter! Some of my favorite things to do are watching YouTube videos about video games, singing and playing my guitar, and reading New York Times op-eds. Look through my page for information about Dartmouth's pre-med track, STEM research, acapella/music, and study abroad opportunities!
Unsure whether I would enjoy the biology-heavy pre-health track, I took an intro biology class. I surprisingly found myself so invested each class—I didn’t think I’d ever be excited trying to determine if the Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA) had DNA or RNA, but here we are! I found it a great introduction to thinking processes at Dartmouth.
I loved coming to this class with its supportive environment! The professor's feedback really helped me improve in my writing. This course guided us through personal narratives and organizational writing while discussing what it really means to be authentic. It also introduced me to the library’s resources for writing and research!
This class was definitely not easy! The accelerated version of general chemistry, it was my first class at Dartmouth that used a textbook, and I had to adapt and learn how to use a textbook for a class properly. But that didn't mean I didn't have a good time! The classes were full of physical demonstrations, and I felt very supported in the lab and beyond.
This was the first group music class I took, and I loved it! Each class we'd move a little forward in time; one day we'd talk about medieval chants, and by the next couple weeks, we talked about Baroque music. We even got to observe original medieval music scores from the Rauner Library, and attend a performance of Baroque music by the Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra!
Songwriting 1 was the first time I was able to work on something creative/in the arts at Dartmouth, and I really loved it! I got to learn how to improve my songwriting and get to know a community of fellow songwriters on campus. The class was both supportive and constructive, and I pushed myself to my creative limit with the assignment of writing one new song a week. This class inspired me to continue writing and being expressive, whether in an academic setting or not.
For one of my classes on the London Music FSP, I got to attend a myriad of musical performances in London and discuss them with my class! It was a once-in-a-life-time experience–getting to watch multiple operas, ballets, jazz sets, and a musical, as well as seeing beautiful performances from the London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic, and more, helped me grow my ear so much and my inspirations as a musician.
I took this class to learn a little more about the social landscape around medicine, and this class delivered that by a mile. From environmental exposure to racial inequities in medicine/health to the discussion of medicine itself as a manipulative tool in colonialist social structures, this class helped me rethink medicine and my role within it.
I first came to Dartmouth wary of the weather. After all I had heard about the infamous snow and sleet, I was worried that the snowy winters I had at home in New Mexico (yes, some parts do get snow!) prepared me adequately for the New England winter.
My first year proved my concern right, but also surprised me in so many ways. I was entranced by the brilliant reds and oranges of the trees during fall term, and as they turned brown and fell away at the end, I felt a sense of accomplishment, a marker of a full term spent at Dartmouth. The winter was admittedly cold; during my first winter, we had a day that had an average temperature of about 4º F, with a minimum of about -20º (the coldest weather I've ever been in)! And yet, the snow made the campus so beautiful, and as the days slowly began to grow longer, I felt a sense of achievement and relief having made it through the winter to the other side of the tunnel.
That's not to mention all the fun activities that were possible due to the cold and snow in the first place!
The spring term was equally transformative around campus—what started dreary, cold, and muddy, ended with blossoming bushes and bright sunlight; the optimistic energy surrounded all the students, as they greeted the sun by hanging out on the Green and taking every opportunity to work outside. Saying goodbye to the campus in full bloom after the spring term, it felt like a completion of a cycle, as the weather grew similar to the bright August days that introduced me to the campus at the beginning.
Each term brings something new, and a unique energy that accompanies the season's scenery, whether it be the nervous bustling energy of the fall term accompanied with bright red leaves, the quiet, peaceful feelings of the winter term as snow falls outside the library windows, or the celebration of life and a nearing conclusion to the year with the spring term and its increasing amount of sun. Even the summer was a unique experience, with the campus holding a relaxed, easy-going attitude. The weather makes every term worth looking forward to, not only for classes and friends, but getting to see how Dartmouth changes throughout the term. The campus takes on a character of its own, and it makes the experience, and each term, all the more memorable. Had I been at a school with a more homogeneous climate, I'm not sure if I would be able to remember each of my terms so clearly. The weather accompanies each memory, whether it be doing my first sunrike (sunrise hike!) during the fall, marvelling at how the sunlight hit the golden leaves from upon Gile tower, participating in my first midnight snowball fight on the Green, or taking my first Woccom (walk around Occom Pond) after the leaves returned in the spring.
The way the sun peeks through the leaves after descending from a sunrike will never get old!
It's not easy, of course. The winter nights are long, the spring showers are lengthy, and the cold fall winds are harsh. But looking back, I feel that I should not have been so afraid of the weather of Dartmouth, as it makes campus life fresh every day.
This upcoming spring term will be the first spring term that I'll be on campus for since my first-year spring! I've never been more excited to see what the term will bring, but more importantly, to see the campus grow in color and brightness as the months pass by.
I sat down with Aarushi Jain '25, a coxswain on the women's rowing team, to learn more about the opportunities to study abroad as an athlete at Dartmouth!
