If you’re thinking of going to Dartmouth, the only Ivy League school to call itself a college, here’s a few things to expect:

    • First, you’ll love green eggs and ham (and the color green, in general).

    • You’ll be tempted to learn new languages and you’ll probably study abroad at least once.

    • You’ll always be taught by a professor.

    • Your summer vacations are portable. You can transfer your “Leave Term” to the winter to avoid New Hampshire weather or compete for an internship in the fall and then return in the     summer to study.

    • If you learn to ski, you’ll do it at the Dartmouth skiway.

    • You’ll wonder why every school doesn’t have a version of “Camp Dartmouth” on a mandatory summer term.

    Founded in 1769 by the Reverend Eleazar Wheelock for the expressed purpose of educating Native Americans and all those seeking education, Dartmouth is the ninth oldest college in the United States. It’s also one of the most beautiful. Nestled between the White Mountains of New Hampshire and the Green Mountains of Vermont, the 269-acre campus has its share of picture-perfect scenery. In fact, visiting the campus for a commencement address in 1953, Dwight Eisenhower commented that “this is what a college ought to look like.” Affectionately termed “the college on the hill,” Dartmouth’s central green is adjacent to the cozy town of Hanover, New Hampshire. On campus, brick dorms and administrative buildings are adorned with ivy, and Baker Library’s tower presides majestically over it all. If you listen carefully, every day at 6:00 P.M. the bell tower plays a recognizable melody. Selections range from show tunes to Beethoven.

    Dartmouth, however, has a lot more going for it than aesthetics. A bona fide “college”rather than university, Dartmouth prides itself on this distinction. The whole issue was de cided in 1819, during the now-famous “Dartmouth College Case,” in which Daniel Webster, class of 1801, successfully convinced the Supreme Court that Dartmouth should remain a private institution instead of becoming a property of the state of New Hampshire. In what is an oft-quoted line around campus, Webster summed up his argument by saying, “It is, sir, as I have said, a small College, but there are those who love it.” From then on, Dartmouth has fondly referred to itself in the same way.

    If Dartmouth isn’t the ideal campus, it’s pretty much as close as you can reasonably get. With its northern location, year-round calendar, and focus on the undergraduate experience, Dartmouth is perhaps the most comfortable of the Ivy League schools. Its intimate atmosphere breeds some of the highest student satisfaction rates in the country, which is probably partly due to the fact that everything balances so well. Dartmouth students are some of the smartest in the country, but they also like to have a lot of fun. The Dartmouth community is incredibly close-knit, yet, thanks to the fact that different students and professors come and go each term, it never feels stifling. Hanover is a beautiful, rural locale, yet the school manages to attract first-rate speakers, performers, and intellectuals. In fact, you’d probably be exposed to about as much culture at Dartmouth as you would in any major metropolis. It’s just that Hanover is a heck of a lot quieter. Student activities see high participation rates, but the school is small enough so that you never get lost in the crowd. And finally, the school has just enough surp rises so that even when you’re feeling stressed, there’s always something to appreciate.

    Finally, Dartmouth is an intellectual powerhouse that offers incredible on-campus and international opportunities. Besides those tangibles, however, Dartmouth offers something ineffable. As evidenced by the fact that everyone puts their arms around one another as they sing the alma mater, there is something very special about going to school up in the mountains. Perhaps, in fact, this appeal is best summed up by the alma mater’s cryptic last line, which speaks to the permanency of the Dartmouth experience. Dartmouth students, it proclaims, find themselves with “the granite of New Hampshire in their muscles and their brains.” Go to Dartmouth, and by the end, you’ll understand what that phrase means. I know I do.

    Dartmouth College Academics 

    Despite three top-notch professional schools (the Dartmouth Medical School, The Amos Tuck School of Business Administration, and the Thayer School of Engineering), as well as twenty-five other graduate programs in the arts and sciences, Dartmouth prides itself on what seems to be an almost singular focus on undergraduates. Dartmouth students, consequently, have a unique advantage. All classes are taught by professors and not graduate students. Not surprisingly, Dartmouth consistently gets high rankings for its quality of teaching, as well as for the level of interaction between faculty and students.

    The Dartmouth Plan

    The Dartmouth plan is a unique year-round calendar. Dartmouth’s academic year is divided into four ten-week quarters (called fall term, winter term, etc.), and students typically take three classes in each. This schedule works particularly well because not only is it difficult to get bored after a mere ten weeks, but students enjoy being able to focus on just three subjects at a time.

    In order for the logistics of this to work out, students are required to spend at least nine terms on campus, including fall, winter, and spring of their freshman and senior years, as well as the summer between sophomore and junior year. Often a favorite term, “sophomore” as it is called, summer allows for a less crowded campus, afternoons of studying outside in weather that’s finally warm, and a chance to bond with classmates. Students then get to decide what they want to do with the other terms; choices range from staying on campus to doing a transfer term at another university to taking part in one of Dartmouth’s forty-eight off-campus programs in twenty-one departments in twenty-three countries. Sixty percent of the student body will go abroad at least once during their four years.

    The Curriculum

    The requirements for the Bachelor of Arts degree at Dartmouth are designed to promote the overall goals of a liberal arts education: the deep analysis of a single discipline (the major); the broad introduction to several fields (the distributive requirements); and the integrating force of interdisciplinary work.

    The Major

    About one-third of the student’s curriculum will be in his or her field of major study, elected before the end of the sophomore year. Dartmouth offers 56 standard majors, as well as nearly limitless possibilities for special majors, designed to meet diverse student needs. Options include: a Modified Major (work in two departments with emphasis in one); a Dual Major (completion of the requirements for two Departmental Majors, which may in themselves be quite dissimilar); a Special Major (accommodates students who wish to design special interdisciplinary or interdivisional programs of study involving two or more departments of programs); and a Major/Minor. In addition to the above majors, there are interdisciplinary programs in a number of areas.

    The General Requirements

    All Dartmouth students study a broad spectrum of courses fundamental to higher learning and basic to a liberal arts education. Of the 35 courses needed for graduation, students must take ten courses distributed across eight intellectual fields; three courses that emphasize three different cultural perspectives (North American, European, and Non-Western); and one course that is interdisciplinary in its focus. A single course may satisfy two or even three of these requirements. In addition, a course that falls within a student’s major may also be used to satisfy these requirements.

    Distributive Fields

    • Arts

    • International or comparative study

    • Literature

    • Philosophical, religious, or historical analysis

    • Social analysis

    • Natural science

    • Quantitative or deductive science

    • Technology or applied science

    • The Culminating Experience

    Each academic department and program includes among its major requirements a culminating activity, normally undertaken during the senior year. All students will take a course—or engage in an independent study project—that permits them to pull together the work of their major and add to this some intellectual or creative activity of their own. The culminating experience could take one of several forms, including a thesis, a paper, an exhibition, or a performance.

    The Language Requirements

    All students are expected to become proficient in a least one foreign language. Unless exempted on the basis of SAT Subject Tests or advanced placement test scores, students complete their language requirement by studying a language on campus or by participating in a Dartmouth Language Study Abroad program.

    Faculty

    Dartmouth has an incredibly strong faculty and student-faculty relationships are excellent. Classes for the most part are small. In fact, approximately 80 percent of courses have enrollments of fewer than thirty, while only 2 percent of courses have over 100 students. The most popular departments at Dartmouth are History, English, Government, Economics, Biology, and Psychological and Brain Science.

    Foreign Language Program

    One particularly innovative academic program is Dartmouth’s unique approach to for -eign language instruction. The brainchild of famed professor John Rassias, the pro -gram is designed to make students comfortable speaking their new language. Each day, in addition to a regular class period, students have a one-hour “drill,” which meets at 7:45 each morning. (Those who can’t hack the early hours can elect to take a 5:00 P.M. drill instead.) There, they meet with an upper-level teaching assistant who puts them through the rigors of conjugating verbs and practicing dialogue. The session, accented by liberal amounts of pointing and clapping on the part of the instructor, is incredibly fast-paced and lively.

    Research Opportunities

    With over $200 million invested annually in grant-funded research, world-class laboratory facilities, and strong support among the faculty for student research, the opportunity to participate in faculty research proves to be an invaluable compliment to classroom learning for many Dartmouth students. Because Dartmouth’s graduate student population is relatively small, Dartmouth undergraduates enjoy access to funding for research and in many cases serve as co-authors on faculty publications.

    In addition to participating in faculty-led research, many students pursue their own endeavors, often with funding from their department, the College, or outside agencies. Dartmouth students also pursue more than 1,000 independent studies for academic course credit during each academic year. Through this close collaboration with faculty mentors, many students find that their professors transcend the role of “instructor” and become colleagues and close friends. 40% of students pursue independent research.

    Funding Sources

    • Dean of Faculty Office

    • Dickey Center for International Understanding

    • Rockefeller Center for Public Policy and Social Sciences

    • First Year Office

    • Office of Residential Life

    • Academic Departments Formal Research Programs

    • First-Year Summer Project

    • Women in Science Project Research Assistantship

    • Presidential Scholars Programs

    • Senior Fellowship Program

    Research Funding

    It’s not just senior fellows who fare well with research, either. As students will attest, funding at Dartmouth for almost any sort of academic endeavor is readily available. Much money is doled out by the Rockefeller Center, named for Nelson Rockefeller, class of 1966. The center houses the departments of economics and government, and has financially supported everything from internships at the U.S. Embassy in Ecuador to research on Dartmouth’s role in the Civil War. The center also draws a number of prominent speakers for panels and discussions. In recent years, it has hosted former Prime Minister of Israel Ehud Barak, chairman of the Pakistan Press International Foundation Owais Aslam Ali, Pulitzer-prize winner Laurie Garrett, and former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, ’68.

    Libraries

    The final thing to know about Dartmouth academics is that students spend a lot of time in one or more of Dartmouth’s nine libraries, which contain over two million printed volumes. Baker is the largest and is an architectural wonder. The wood-trimmed Tower Room is a popular studying spot, as is the reserve corridor, which is framed by the murals of Mexican artist José Clemente Orozco. Painted between 1932 and 1934 when Orozco was the artist-in-residence, the famed murals depict the barbaric nature of the colonization of the New World. Dartmouth also has related libraries for biomedical science, math, business, physical science, engineering, art and music, and English. One thing to check out is the Sanborn English Library in midafternoon; every weekday at 4:00, students break for tea, cookies, and talk.

    Dartmouth College Admissions 

    Dartmouth’s admissions process is highly selective. The applicant pool has grown significantly in recent years and of the 16,538 students who applied for admission to the class of 2012, thirteen percent were accepted. The middle fifty percent of admitted students scored between 660 and 770 on the math, verbal, and writing sections of the SAT and between 29 and 34 on the Act.

    Admissions, however, is not based on book smarts or academic standing alone. What distinguished the exceptional applicants admitted from the thousands of other qualified candidates is intellectual curiosity, and academic or extracurricular passion, and an eagerness to be a positive member of a diverse and international community. In essence, Dartmouth is looking for students who will add to the community, inside or outside of the classroom. Dartmouth uses the Common Application for admissions. There is one particularly unique supplement to the Common Application that Dartmouth requires, however. In addition to two teacher recommendations, you’ll also need to solicit one of your more eloquent friends to write a peer evaluation. Dartmouth realizes that the best way to understand how you might interact in our community is to see how your peers in your own environment evaluate your contributions.

    Alumni Interview

    Conducted by one or more alums in the applicant’s home district, this personal conversation allows the student to convey their interests in the admissions process in ways that a written application might not easily facilitate. Dartmouth does not require an interview, nor does it favor students who have one with alumni.

    Early Decision

    Finally, here’s one more bit of advice. If you’re completely psyched to go to Dartmouth, apply Early Decision by November 1. If admitted, you’ll be finished with the entire college application process in time for the holidays. Keep in mind that the Early Decision admissions process is binding, meaning that you have to go if you are admitted. Although the percentage of applicants accepted for Early Decision is typically slightly higher than that of the normal applicant pool, the selection process is comparably competitive.

    Financial Aid 

    Dartmouth offers its students and their families one of the most comprehensive financial aid packages in the Ivy League. 48% of a recent class are receiving need-based scholarships from Dartmouth, totaling over $16 million, with the average scholarship of $30,341.

    The school recently announced a number of exciting new enhancements to Dartmouth’s Financial Aid program for current and prospective students. This latest initiative provides free tuition for students who come from families with annual incomes below $75,000 with typical assets, replaces loans with scholarships for all scholarship recipients, assures needblind admission for all students, and replaces one“leave term” earning expectation with additional scholarship dollars.

    Dartmouth College Students 

    With everybody going to and fro so often, it might seem that Dartmouth would have a hard time fostering a sense of community on campus. Ironically, the opposite is true. Bonding begins early, in fact, before students even officially matriculate at Dartmouth. Over ninety percent of the incoming class elects to participate in a first-year trip sponsored by the Dartmouth Outing Club. Each group of eight to fifteen “first-years,” led by an upperclassman, faculty member, or school administrator, take to the woods for three days of hiking, canoeing, biking, and rock climbing. There are few rules, but one remains firm: no showers. After the three days are over, students convene at the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge on Dartmouth’s Mt. Mousilauke (still no showers) to practice singing the alma mater, learn the Salty Dog Rag, and pay tribute the Theodore Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss, class of 1925. (This is also where the green eggs and ham come into play.)

    Dorm Life

    Besides first-year trips, Dartmouth has an impressive network set up to unite incoming students. Organized by residence, each dorm floor has a U.G.A. (undergraduate advisor) who organizes movies and ice cream sessions, plus dorm formals and barbecues. Dorm life tends to be incredibly social during first year, although it undoubtedly lessens as the years go on. Surprisingly, however, even after first year, eighty-seven percent of students remain in the dorms. Many Dartmouth students are surprised to find that the dorms, for the most part, are far more spacious than other living quarters. More than one person typi cally would share more than one room, and private bathrooms (although not showers) are not uncommon. Plus, many have fireplaces, which is an especially appealing feature as you’re living through a long Hanover winter.

    As if freshman trips, hall-bonding, and a host of common interests weren’t enough, there’s one more thing that tends to unify a diverse group of undergraduates: a fondness for their school. Student satisfaction ratings are among the highest in the country, and tend to breed an odd phenomena: the “I-love-everything-that’s-green-and-related-to-Dartmouth” mentality. At first, anyway, it seems exceedingly hard to find anything you don’t like. Of course, Dartmouth students do not love it blindly. In the past years, issues of race and sexuality have sparked debates, as has the age-old issue of whether or not the Greek system should be abolished. And despite impressive numbers of students of color (they compose approximately twenty percent of the student body) and international students (they compose more than seven percent of the student body), Dartmouth continually strives toward a communal balance of supporting affinities and interests with the institutional need of integrating students to enrich the intellectual discourse. As a perfect example, Dartmouth supports affinity housing (such as Cutter-Shabazz for students interested in learning more about African-American issues), but has the housing available to all students with genuine interest. Though Dartmouth issues reflect the issues in society, the sense of community yields a dialogue that is open and respectful. It is safe to say that Dartmouth students have a very real affinity for their school—not only during the years they attend, but in the years to follow.

    Tucker Foundation

    A host of other popular programs falls under the auspices of the Tucker Foundation, which organizes all the volunteer activities on campus. About one-third of the students devote time to programs like Big Brother/Big Sister, Adopt-A-Grandparent, Students Fighting Hunger, and Habitat for Humanity. To facilitate volunteering, the Tucker Foundation has cars that students can use to travel to their activities. In addition to organizing—and often funding— volunteer activities, Tucker is also the umbrella under which all the campus religious organizations fall. Most recently, Dartmouth dedicated the new Roth Center for Jewish Life, which will provide space for Jewish religious services, an annual Holocaust commemoration, and social events.

    Racial/Ethnic Groups

    Dartmouth students also spend a lot of time participating in groups organized by particular racial or ethnic affiliations. Groups such as the Afro-American Society, The Dartmouth Asian Organization, The Korean-American Student Association, Africaso, Al-Nur, La Alianza Latina, and Native Americans at Dartmouth all have large memberships. The Dartmouth Rainbow Alliance, Dartmouth’s gay and lesbian organization, also tends to be a vocal force on campus.

    Publications

    Working on student publications is also popular. The Dartmouth, said to be the oldest college newspaper in the country, resides in the same building as Dartmouth’s AM and FM radio stations, which are completely student-run. The newspaper is supplemented by a number of specialty publications, including the Stonefence Review, a literary magazine, Sports Weekly, Main Street (the Dartmouth Asian Organization’s publication), Black Praxis (the Afro-American Society’s publication). Woodsmoke, an outdoors magazine, and The Dartmouth Review—the reason that so many outsiders mistakenly think of Dartmouth as a conservative bastion, The Dartmouth Free Press—the liberal campus newspaper, and The Dartmouth Independent, which strives to present varying viewpoints on pertinent issues.

    Campus Committees and Groups

    Students also serve on campus committees, in the student government, and in organizations that try to educate the campus about problems that affect the Dartmouth campus, such as alcoholism, sexual assault, and eating disorders. Many also sing in one of the eight a cappella groups on campus. For those who don’t sing, attending their shows is a favored pastime. (About now, you’re probably beginning to understand why that daily planner comes in handy.)

    Hopkins Art Center

    The Hopkins Center, or the “Hop,” designed by the architect who was responsible for both Lincoln Center and the U.N., is the hub of the arts on campus. Interestingly, it’s also the home of the campus mailboxes. They were put there, goes the rationale, so that students would be forced to take notice of all of the Hop’s artistic offerings. Besides housing three departments (art, music, and drama) and a jewelry studio, the Hop has incredible films, plays, and concerts. In a recent term, for example, the Hop played host to:

    • Ang Lee (on campus for the U.S. debut of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon)

    • Wynton Marsalis

    • Itzhak Perlman

    • Oliver Stone

    The hop also features movies; for a $20 pass, you could conceivably see about thirty-plus films per term.

    Hood Museum

    Dartmouth’s other cultural center is the Hood Museum, which houses over 60,000 college-owned artifacts. The collection, which draws over 40,000 visitors annually, is particularly strong in African and Native American Art, nineteenth- and twentieth-century painting, and contemporary art. Dartmouth College Guide to the Most Competitive Colleges o 329

    Parties, Carnivals, and Fun

    OK, so Dartmouth students are busy, you say. But do they have any fun? The resounding answer to that question is yes. Dorm parties are a big deal first year, as are Homecoming (fall), Winter Carnival (winter), and Green Key Weekend (spring). Each fall, it’s the responsibility of the first-year class to build a big wooden structure in the center of the green—and make sure that it’s still standing on Friday night for the big bonfire. On that night, there’s also an alumni parade, many speeches no one hears, and lots of parties. Winter Carnival, perhaps Dartmouth’s most famous social tradition, is complemented by a huge snow sculpture on the green, and for the very brave, a dip in the local pond. Besides the dorms, fraternities, sororities, and coed houses there are central party areas. No one joins a fraternity, sorority, or coed house until sophomore year, but those who do generally form close relationships with the people in them. The merits of the primarily singlesex Greek system are heavily debated on campus, although for the time being it seems to be here to stay.

    For those who aren’t into the Greek scene, there is a host of other social opportunities. The college often sponsors comedy clubs, hypnotists, concerts, and something called “casino night,” which tends to be incredibly popular with the high rollers on campus. And, contrary to popular belief, people do date at Dartmouth. However, the on-again, off-again nature of the D-plan—you’re there for nine months, and then gone for six—has been known to put a crimp in many a budding romance. Sorority and fraternity formals are popular date functions. Finally, right outside campus is the quaint town of Hanover, which has one good movie theater, a few bars, and a ton of reasonably affordable restaurants.

    Athletics 

    More than seventy-five percent of the campus participate in either intercollegiate, club, or intramural sports programs. The athletic center’s modern facilities include two pools, basketball courts, squash and racquetball courts, an indoor track, a brand new 14,000-square-foot recreational fitness center, a ballet studio, and a gymnastics area. Outside, there are tennis courts, an outdoor track, and the football stadium. Dartmouth also has its own skiway about twenty minutes from campus, and buses run to and from it six days a week during the winter. If you decide you want to ski, you can get a season pass to the skiway, a seasonal bus pass, and rent skis, all for under $200.

    Alumni 

    According to a 2008 nationwide salary survey Dartmouth graduates have the highest median salary, $134,000, 10–20 years out of college. On average, Dartmouth churns out large numbers headed for lucrative jobs in investment banking and consulting; recently, more than 200 companies looked to Dartmouth to recruit prospective employees.

    Of course, not everyone from Dartmouth heads off to the world of big business. Medical school and law school are both popular options for many recent grads, as are M.A.- or Ph.D.-tracked graduate programs. In a recent year, about twenty-five percent of the senior class was headed right back into school. Additionally, by the time they’ve been out of school for five years, about seventy-three percent will have gone back to some school.

    The working crowd, meanwhile, tends to be attracted to jobs in education, social services, advertising, and publishing. Others teach English in foreign countries or head off to parts unknown with the Peace Corps.

    Even with so many varied directions, the one thing you can be almost sure of with most Dartmouth graduates is that they’ll come back to Hanover at some point. Dartmouth has an incredibly strong alumni network, and Homecoming and reunions are always well-attended.

    The alumni magazine is one of the strongest in the country. Each class produces a newsletter several times a year.

    Dartmouth graduates don’t just stay in touch with each other, either. They also stay in touch with the college. Over two-thirds of alumni contribute to Dartmouth’s alumni fund, making     Dartmouth’s endowment one of the largest in the country. Alums also keep up with recent graduates. Dartmouth’s Career Services keep extensive files on alumni who are willing to be contacted about their jobs, and the networking connections are consistently strong. Dartmouth graduates tend to like their school, and like others who went to their school.

    Prominent Grads

    • Salmon P. Chase, Former Secretary of State

    • Louise Erdrich, Author

    • Robert Frost, Poet

    • Buck Henry, Film Director

    • Laura Ingraham, TV Commentator

    • C. Everett Koop, Former Surgeon General

    • Norman Maclean, Author

    • Robert Reich, Former Secretary of State

    • Nelson Rockefeller, Former U.S. Vice President

    • Dr. Seuss (Theodore Geisel), Author

    • Andrew Shue, Actor

    • Paul Tsongas, Former Senator

    • Daniel Webster, Orator and Statesman

    • Henry M. Paulson, 74th United State Secretary of the Treasury

    • Timothy Geithner, 75th U.S. Secretary of the Treasury

    • Kirsten Gillibrand, U.S. Senator from New York

    Faculty 

    Dartmouth has an incredibly strong faculty and student-faculty relationships are excellent. Classes for the most part are small. In fact, more than 75.5 percent of the 1,350 courses offered in a recent year had enrollments of fewer than thirty. Also, the most popular departments at Dartmouth tend to be the strongest, so you can expect to find a lot of history, English, government, chemistry, and language majors.