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 The Dartmouth. 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.
As the culminating experience for my music major, I took a class with all of the music majors at once, and we got to explore all sorts of subjects about analyzing music, music academia, and got to do some cool music analysis projects of our own. We really felt like a cohort by the end of the class, which was awesome.
Although this class was challenging, it was fun to learn more about the background of inorganic chemistry and applying it to my own research, which is in bioinorganic chemistry!
Being pre-health is a title that holds a large reputation across universities. As a senior, I'm familiar with the language: the science classes, extracurriculars, clinical experience, leadership quality, and the MCAT. And, like most experiences in college, the experience of being a pre-health student is one that can vary a lot, depending on the school you attend!
For me, being pre-health at Dartmouth has been defined by challenging but rewarding courses, a flexible liberal arts education that allows me to explore my academic interests in addition to the pre-health curriculum, a supportive and resourceful environment provided by the health professions program, and access to an incredible nearby hospital and medical school, the Dartmouth Health Medical Center (DHMC) and the Geisel School of Medicine!
Challenging but rewarding courses?
The pre-medical curriculum consists of a set of required courses that most medical schools require/recommend their applicants take; you can see the list of recommended courses at Dartmouth here. Due to our school's academic rigor and speed of content through the quarter system, these courses are definitely not a breeze! However, the plethora of academic resources to succeed, from the Academic Skills Center peer tutors to the Teaching Science Fellows, to our laboratory teaching assistants, as well as my professors' genuine desire to help us understand the content, helped me feel supported throughout all my courses. The scientific foundations I took from these classes helped me immensely when studying for the MCAT as well!
But don't medical schools care about a high GPA?
Medical schools may care about a high GPA, but they also take into account the academic rigor of the university you attend, especially for schools as well-known as Dartmouth.
What's good about a liberal arts system for pre-health?
Dartmouth's liberal arts system allows students to explore several academic disciplines and invest their time, often, in more than one (I definitely employed this as a chemistry and music double major). For pre-health, this meant that I could take all the pre-medical courses I needed without worrying about having space to fulfill a major! Several of my pre-health peers have been able to major in disciplines completely separate from the pre-medical science-heavy sphere with relative ease, and space left over to explore with other awesome courses!
What's the Health Professions Program?
The Health Professions Program is Dartmouth College's pre-health advising department, and they host a myriad of opportunities to learn more about the pre-health path, supporting you every step of the way! I've used the program to help plan my pre-health class schedules, for feedback on my extracurriculars and application timeline, and to learn more about different medical schools through their admission information sessions. They have been super helpful and supportive every time I've reached out to them, and I'm really grateful for their knowledge!
What are the clinical opportunities available at Dartmouth?
Because of Dartmouth's close proximity to Dartmouth Health Medical Center (it's only a 10-min bus drive away!), which is the largest hospital in New Hampshire and affiliated with the Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine, undergraduates have been able to experience a lot of cool clinical opportunities first-hand! Through the Nathan Smith Society, the student organization for pre-health students, students get access to the talks hosted by Geisel, Grand Rounds at the hospital (presentations on interesting case studies), and a lottery shadowing system, which pairs students up every term with physicians of different specialties across DHMC to shadow with them. I've been able to learn so much through each of these opportunities, and I've been able to connect with medical students at Geisel, to also learn more about their time in medical school. Some of my peers also have jobs at Dartmouth Health, or do research with the medical school/hospital! There's no shortage of possibilities for clinical involvement.
Being pre-health is never an easy path, but the opportunities and experiences I've been able to have at Dartmouth as a pre-health student have continued to inspire me to commit to a path of medicine, while having fun with it!
I'll end with a nice photo of Baker Tower–the spring has begun to emerge on campus!
Amid the whirlwind of a ten-week term, the quietest moments — studying in the sun, cooking with a friend, running through Pine Park — turn out to be the ones worth savoring most.
One of my absolute favorite classes I've taken at Dartmouth has been Cinematography I, which completely changed the way I watch films and think about storytelling. Read on to hear more about my experience!
Curious about the requirements needed to complete your plan of study at Dartmouth? Come explore with me what each distributive requirement means at Dartmouth!
As my friends and I navigate complex feelings of nostalgia and excitement, we all have very different senior springs. Find out what I have been working on and what it has taught me!
