Dartmouth College Top Questions

If you come from nowhere like moi, you will not be ready for anything Dartmouth has to offer. True you will slowly find yourself, but again, it is up to you to make it. Academics are no playpen. You got in to Dartmouth to study. Make your time worthwhile here, and set goals to fuck up the curve for everybody else. :)

My largest class is 150+ while my smallest class is just 6 people. Classes with 50+ students are pretty rare and mostly limited to intro level classes. Students study pretty much every day and class participation is pretty common. Even large lecture classes encourage discussions. Dartmouth's academic requirements are pretty lenient. We have distributive requirements as opposed to a core curriculum so students have a lot of freedom in choosing what to take while still having some sort of guidance. As an Ivy League school, Dartmouth has a healthy dose of competitive edge. Students aren't competitive to the point of ripping out pages of each other's textbooks or cheating on tests in hopes of boosting their GPAs, but they do study and work hard in their classes. A little competition keeps students motivated to excel.

There are some large introduction classes, but even then, the professors know my name, especially if I make an effort to go to office hours. My favorite class thus far has been a microeconomics class because the professor was so well organized and cared about the students' wellbeing and understanding. I worry a lot about academics, so I study a lot, but I think many people study a lot too. Many students know how to balance their social lives while still keeping up their academics. Personally, I think education here is more about learning new was to think. My adviser told me to take anything that interested me, even if it wasn't in my major's department, because each class is tailored towards a specific learning skill.

It all depends on the size of the class and where it is held. yes, i think students are definitely competitive but it all comes out in different ways. I dont know what i am majoring in. I think the Dartmouth education is in between teaching to get a job and teaching for knowledge depending on the class.

Students are NOT competitive at all. It's a great learning atmosphere. Most profs go out of their way to learn names, even in big classes. And if you go to their office hours, they will make an attempt to get to know you as a person, which is really cool. I had a psych prof who begged us to take advantage of a take-a-prof-to-lunch program so he could get to know us better. The profs want you to succeed. They will make every effort to help you if you ask for it. They're not going to baby you, but they really do care and want to help. The psych department (which runs the neuro major) is pretty good. Profs are usually pretty funny and engaging. The chem dept (my minor) is FANTASTIC. The profs are hilarious and so smart and so quirky and wonderful. People here study a lot, especially for major classes. Everyone takes the occasional goof-off class that doesn't require much work just for a break or to fulfill a distributive requirement, but overall people spend a lot of time in the library. Which isn't a bad thing, necessarily.

I like discussion-based classes, and so find Dartmouth's size pretty ideal. I also enjoy that the quarter system means that we only have 3 classes a term, and switch them up every 3 months. This means we have a LOT less class time, on average, than other schools, which is awesome. The downside to this, however, is that every 3 months you have finals, which, especially given the fact that we only get 2 days of reading period, is pretty intense. Academics are great in general though, so long as you take classes based on the prof.

professors reach out to you if you reach out to them. they are very personable and responsive if you need them, but they are not burdensome if you want to learn things on your own. students at dartmouth do everything full out...they play hard and study hard. the library is always packed on monday, tuesday, and thursday nights because on the other nights people like to go out and have fun.

The professors at Dartmouth are here because they want to teach, and they want to teach YOU! They are extremely accessible and most know all of their students' names by the end of the first week of class (even true for large lecture classes of 100+). I'm a Women's and Gender Studies major. In my department, the classes are taught by professors from all departments who truly want to be teaching courses that look at the intersection of race, class, and gender across all disciplines. The discussions in these classes are mindblowing and have enabled me to broaden my learning beyond the classroom to my everyday experiences. These courses are often much smaller, seminar-style classes so professors are even more accessible and truly invested in their students! Many classes have set up times to meet for coffee, pot lucks, or student "pong" (NOT beiruit!!) tournaments.

all of my professors this far have known my name. my favorite class by far was stephanie boone's writing 2-3 class. there is no comparison to that class. i feel as though there could be more student participation. yes, almost to many intellectual conversations. students don't seem to be competitive. I do not think there should be a math requirement.

Yes my professors know my name. Students study ALL the time. It's very demanding and rigorous. Yes Dartmouth students definitely have intellectual converstaions outside of class. Yes I spend time outside of class with professors sometimes. By saying the students are competitive I would say yes they are very motivated and want to do well but it is not like competing against each other. Students are very helpful and friendly.