Hello! My name is Cal Shin, and I am a '27 double-majoring in Economics and Philosophy. When I'm not studying or writing a blog post, you can find me drawing as the Design Editor for The Dartmouth, hosting my radio show at WebDCR, or spending time with my friends. And if I'm not doing any of those, I'm probably watching cat videos. Follow along as I share the moments that make Dartmouth feel like home!
I took this course with Professor James Binkoski and loved it! I had never taken a philosophy course prior to Dartmouth, so this introductory course in the department was perfect! After all, it combined my interests of philosophy with time and time travel — at least, how time and time travel are depicted in the media. This course may initially seem to be on the more technical side, but Professor Binkoski made sure to break down the various time travel theories — various ways scientists and philosophers think of time and its supposed movement — in a manner that’s easy for anyone to understand. A very popular course overall; I am fortunate to have been able to take it during my first term here!
I took this course with Professor Ha Yan Lee and it was absolutely amazing! I had my initial reservations about this course, mainly because I knew a lot of my classmates would have had some background knowledge while I had none. Professor Lee did a wonderful job of breaking down concepts in a manner that, as she often put it, is easy for even “your grandparents to understand”. Even beyond the course, the level of care Professor Lee exhibited towards her students is significant. She’s one of the most popular professors at Dartmouth, and for good reason! I ate lunch with her at The Pine through the Take a Faculty Member to Lunch program, and she gave me tremendous insight and advice! Because of this course, I have been inspired to explore more courses within the Econ department and potentially major in Economics.
I took this course with Professor Jasmina Savic and examined how the vampire figure evolved over time, starting with Slavic literature, going through Dracula and Twilight, and ending with “vampire” political figures. I realized what the portrayal of vampires could tell me about the thoughts of that society, including the fact that the early notions of vampirism are akin to modern-day diseases. For my final project, I wrote a research paper comparing the gumiho (the Korean nine-tailed fox) to several Western vampires.
SummerNew York City, New York
I had the opportunity to visit New York City for the summer! I met up with a good friend of mine, explored the city itself, and went to a networking event with other college students.
ECON 10 is one of the required courses for the Economics major. Based on my stellar experience with Professor Ha Yan Lee during ECON 1, when I saw that she was teaching ECON 10 this term, I immediately jumped at the chance to take the course with her. Once again, Professor Lee did an amazing job of breaking down concepts in an easy-to-understand manner. (The fact that her slideshows were colorful and featured various pictures of cats helped.)
My main interest in philosophy lies in normative and applied ethics, so when I saw the opportunity to take a class on the former, I didn’t hesitate! The class focused on consequentialism, utilitarianism, deontology, and virtue ethics. I enjoyed the ample opportunities for discussion, including discussion posts about the readings, as well as the table-wide conversations. My table, in particular, had lots to say, and there was one reading in particular where we ended up diving into discussion, not once, but twice! In fact, we had so much to say that all of us coincidentally chose to write our essay on this reading — and none of us knew until after we started talking about our papers!
The D-Plan is Dartmouth's way of implementing the quarter system, which is split into ten-week terms: summer, fall, winter, and spring. There is an approximately two-week interim between terms, with the exception of winter term, where winterim is six weeks long. Students who plan to graduate within 4 years have 15 terms available, 12 out of which they must be "on" taking classes (either on campus or via a study abroad program), and 3 out of which they must be "off".
All of this may sound complicated, but I want to emphasize that as a prospective student, you do not need to think, let alone worry, about the nitty-gritty aspects of the D-Plan. As a first-year, you can't modify your D-Plan until that spring term, and Dartmouth will advertise plenty of resources to help you prepare to submit your initial D-Plan. Additionally, you can change your D-Plan as many times as you need just by clicking tiles corresponding to the terms you want to edit.
Still, there are certain guidelines one must follow when making a D-Plan. (In fact, the D-Plan software will not let you submit if you do not follow these guidelines.) But there are times when you may need to be a bit more flexible than what these guidelines allow you to do. That's when you can submit a petition to waive one of the requirements.
Upon planning out my courses for future terms, I came to realize that one of the requirements — the Fall/Spring Residence rule where I could only be "on" for a total of seven fall/spring terms — would be a barrier in fulfilling required classes for my Economics major culminating experience, as well as my Philosophy major. Some of those classes were only offered every fall, and others were only offered every spring. Having already been "on" for both the fall and spring of my sophomore year, I would have had to be "off" either the fall or spring of my junior year.
I met with my Undergraduate Dean various times, and we agreed that the best way to resolve this would be to petition my D-Plan. According to the Office of the Registrar, there are three categories of petitions: significant academic enrichment, serious financial hardship, and serious personal or health problem(s). Since my petition fell under the category of significant academic enrichment, I had to write a detailed letter explaining why I needed an exception to the Fall/Spring Residence rule. Additionally, I asked my major advisors to write supporting letters attesting to my need to waive the Fall/Spring Residence rule. 11 days after I submitted my petition, the Office of the Registrar marked it as "Under Review." Four days after that, my petition was officially approved!
Here is what my D-Plan looks like after the Office of Registrar approved my petition. Green tiles represent "on" terms, while blue tiles represent "off" terms. Tiles with a lock symbol are not petitionable, tiles with a "P" symbol have been petitioned, and tiles with an "i" are petitionable. Tiles that are a dimmer shade of green or blue cannot be edited.
One of my greatest privileges at Dartmouth has been learning from Professor Ed. Miller of the History and Asian Studies departments. Read on to learn more about why he is my favorite professor!
