Dickinson College Top Questions

I wish I had realized that friendships do not form overnight. Feeling comfortable in a new environment takes more time than I anticipated, but it does happen. I wish I would have known how much I would grow to love Dickinson and my friends there so I could have walked into my dorm on the first day more excited than nervous. But not only is it natural to be nervous, it's common, and it's not worth pretending you love college when you don't feel that way yet. One day you will.

I wish I learned how to thoroughly analyze a reading, meaning learn how to read it quickly but efficiently. I am expected to read a lot of sources and analyze it in brief periods of time so if I could have learned those types of skills in high school, I feel i would be better prepared for my classes now.

I wish I had known that it's exremely homogenic. I wish I had known that there is no diversity. I wish I had known that people are very wealthy. I wish I had known that it's kind of boring sometimes. I wish I had known that the school is stingy with financial aid. I wish I had known that there are lots of graduation requirements. Not much of a music scene. I wish I had known hat I would major in computer science. I wish I had known that Dickinson College had a great computer science department.

I wish that I had known how the professors really care about how the student does in his or her class. They are always willing to meet with you. Also I wish I had known how amazing the students are who go there. Everyone is really down to earth and wants to succeed.

I wish I had known how rural the area around Carlisle is before I made my college decision.

It can be a little bit of a party school, where everyone seems to go to frats / sports team houses on weekends. Not the most accepting of schools, cliques certainly do exist.

That the high cost of attendance includes just about everything that you will need/want and more. Take advantage of ALL that the college offers (including clubs, free and low cost events, advising, career center advising, laundry, meal plans, library resources, etc.). If you don't take advantage of everything you might regret spending the money.

The availability of things to do in the surrounding town. Carlisle, PA is a nice little town and Central PA is a beautiful place, but there is not much out there to do. The town closes early, and there is not too much public transportation to the nearest city, Harrisburg, which is 30 minutes away. But, this also helped my friends and I be more creative with our time and activites.

I wish I had realized actually how far we are from the nearest major city.