Top Things To Do/Avoid at Dartmouth College

I recently graduated from Dartmouth College, a fact that makes me so sad that I'm compensating for it by talking endlessly about it. I had an amazing time and met the most amazing people and I would not trade the past four years for anything in the world. The following is a question I answered on my Tumblr sometime my senior year to an incoming member of the class of 2017. 

Top Things To Do/Avoid at Dartmouth College by a ‘13

1. Don’t have a plan set in stone from the very beginning

I was a Biomedical Engineering major when I started. I had my D-plan planned out for all four years with my Thayer advisor before the first day of class freshman fall. That morphed into just pre-med (everyone starts out being pre-med), and I spent my first two years at Dartmouth struggling through bio and chem classes until one day everything crumbled and I thought my life was over (I really did. You can ask my roommate.) I found what I was passionate about afterwards, and while junior and senior year were academically very happy, all that suffering would have been avoided if I had just allowed myself to explore at the beginning. You have to take pre-reqs anyway, so take some weird-ass classes freshman year and discover what you love before you choose a path. 

2. Go on an FSP/LSA

Seriously, this is my number one regret from Darmouth. Take a language, take a random religion class, philosophy class, anthropology, whatever it is that interests you and go abroad. Going back to my first point, I didn’t do a study abroad because I was too busy being pre-med. Seriously, work that shit into your D-plan somehow. Find a way. 

3. Don’t think that everyone at Dartmouth has their shit together and that you must be a failure because you don’t

I have seen this affect many great people, and it’s affected me as well. We all come from being applauded as the best of the best in high school, but you’re not always going to be the best at everything here. You’re still an incredible, intelligent human being, and it’s not always easy to remember that. 

We all put on this great act of knowing what we’re doing and being chair of every organization and taking the hardest classes while still managing to smile and sleep 10 hours a night. The truth is, we are all just scrambling to find our place at Dartmouth and in society and many of us, no matter how put-together, really feel the pressure of it sometimes. It can get lonely to think that you’re the only one struggling - but know that everyone is facing their own battles. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. And know that you WILL get rejected from things sometimes.

4. Dartmouth isn’t Hogwarts + Disney World

During orientation, trip leaders and croos are excited and everyone seems happy and Orientation Team is AWESOME (self-calling ‘cause I was on it for two years wazzup) and it’s the end of summer so it’s still semi-sunny outside and you sincerely can’t believe that you’ve arrived at this magical place. Things get really hard really fast, however, and you have to realize that things aren’t always going to be perfect, and you have to learn how to be okay with it. 

5. If you want a single as a freshman, ask for a single

My freshman year, we didn’t have enough people requesting singles so even some people that requested roommates had to get singles. That’s how many singles we have for freshmen. If you want one, request it in your housing application. 

6. Volunteer with other parts of the Upper Valley 

Hanover is a bubble. A rich, gorgeous bubble where houses sell for millions and the building codes are unbearably strict for the sole purpose of keeping the town looking like a postcard. There’s many struggling communities around Hanover, however, and nothing will be quite as effective in bringing you down to earth as realizing that Hanover is an alternate reality and that you can really make a difference in the community at large.

7. Do non-drinking things

It’s very tempting to spend the largest part of your non-academic life at Dartmouth trying to get on table at a frat or standing by the wall of a frat awkwardly sipping Keystone or getting so drunk off of Zenka shots that your floormates have to carry you to your room. While that’s all well and good and part of the college experience, I have to tell you that some of my most memorable experiences from Dartmouth have been outside of a frat basement. Go to hop concerts, go to events like taco fiesta or tie-dye over orientation, go to performances and culture nights and enjoy the time you have with your friends, even if it’s just watching a movie on your laptop. Life at Dartmouth CAN be happy even if you don’t go out every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, I promise. 

8. Not getting into the frat/sorority you always dreamt of your Sophomore year will not ruin your life, getting into it does not guarantee happiness

I’ve seen this with a lot of my friends and people I know since we pledged our sophomore year. People who didn’t get a bid were crushed, but they found their place at Dartmouth somewhere else. Some people who did get a bid ended up not fitting into their house. Regardless, your affiliation does not define who you are. After Sophomore year, no one cares at all what house you’re in, and the only person really affected by the friendships you’ve made and the bridges you’ve burnt is you. Reputations are stupid, go where you feel comfortable. 

9. Dedicate time to things you care about

Extracurricular time at Dartmouth is too limited to spend it doing something that makes you unhappy. Find organizations that you love working with and stick to them, because nothing sucks more than finding yourself slaving away working for something you don’t care about. 

10. Go on Programming Board weekend trips

Quebec City and New York winter term, Montreal spring term. Some of my favorite Dartmouth memories. 

Moral of this rant: time at Dartmouth is too short to be unhappy. I am so jealous you get to start next fall, I would sincerely re-play Dartmouth on a loop for the rest of my life if I could. Embrace it, enjoy it, accept it, meet some awesome people and do as much of it as you can because it’ll be over before you know it. 

Bonus Dartmouth picture from my Instagram during my favorite season (fall), because I miss this school more than I can put into words.