A Truly Great College

Introduction
Dartmouth is a phenomenal place. With a gorgeous campus, bright students, caring professors who are brilliant, and a healthy social life, Dartmouth was (and is) everything I wanted in a college. The liberal arts focus of Dartmouth has been tremendous in expanding my capacity to think and solve problems, as well as to relate to other people. If you really can't take the cold, Dartmouth could be rough. That being said, Dartmouth students make the winter into one of the most fun times of the year (Winter Carnival is a great example of that), so it's not hard at all to have fun even when it's snowing.

Campus Life and Social Life
Something is always going on in Dartmouth's social scene, whether that means hanging out on the green, getting coffee with friends, partying at a frat, sorority, coed, or off-campus house, listening to musicians in town or inside a College building, or any number of other possibilities. I always have something to do on campus, but if I get tired of campus life, I can always go to Montreal (about 1.5 hours away) or Boston (about 2.5 hours away). I don't have a car, but there are buses that leave frequently for locations all over the Northeast (New York is another popular destination - about 5 hours away).

Almost everybody here plays sports of some kind, either varsity, club, intramural, or just hanging out with friends. With the great outdoors all around, it's easy to go outside and have some fun.

There is a fair amount of drinking at Dartmouth, but I don't think that differentiates Dartmouth much from most other schools. People who want to drink will drink, and the people who don't want to drink won't. There are plenty of social options that do not involve alcohol, and there's not much (if any) pressure to drink in social situations where alcohol is present. Comfort and relaxation are the names of the game in Dartmouth's social scene.

On the weekends, people like to go to Dartmouth sports events, like football, lacrosse, basketball, baseball, and especially hockey (Dartmouth's mens and womens teams are always in the upper-echelon of teams in the country). Then there are plays, concerts, movies, discussions, and general hanging-out scenes all over campus during the day and in the evening. Most people have homework to do on Sunday, but that's just a part of being a college student (and particularly an Ivy League college student). Advertisement
Academics
In short, Dartmouth's departments are uniformly strong. The Economics department is fantastic (with several professors who have been on different Presidents' Economic Advisory Councils), as are the history, government, philosophy, English, and biology departments (among others). The professors are all relaxed and concerned about students. My biggest problem has been with the Physics department, but that has nothing to do with the teaching; I'm just lousy at math (I've improved, but let's face it, I'm a humanities major- I can handle calculus and more, but I'll never be a math star).

Otherwise, though, it's all good. I've had a whopping total of zero TAs in my entire Dartmouth career, the Profs are great, and workload is challenging, but managable. Sounds like a good college career to me.

Student Body
There's no such thing as a "typical" student at Dartmouth. Students are from all over the country and world: I'm from Oregon, and my closest friends are from Utah, California, Connecticut, Louisiana, Alaska, New York, and Florida, as well as from France, Kenya, Spain, Venezuela, Honduras, Taiwan, and Russia. Basically, they're from all over the world.

One can't generalize about their interests either. They like all different things, from parasailing to wine tasting to hockey. The good thing about Dartmouth is that students can enjoy each others' differences, learn about each others' backgrounds, and share in the diversity that Dartmouth has.

In Closing...
To close, Dartmouth's amazing. I've had so many opportunities here: I've done undergraduate research, had opinion articles published in several major papers, been published in a professional journal, taken incredible classes, had wonderful experiences, and, most importantly, met absolutely unbelievably fantastic people. My peers and professors have amazed me these past four years (I'm a senior), and it's going to be terribly sad to see them go. Although it looks like I'll be graduating into a good future, I'll always be green at heart. Once you become a part of Dartmouth, Dartmouth becomes a part of you. I've been adopted into the Big Green family, and I can't wait to give back and contribute to the family's success, even when I've gone on new adventures elsewhere in the country and the world.

Dartmouth students don't like Dartmouth- They love it. I'm no exception, and if you come here, I'm sure you won't be either.