Dartmouth College

It’s hard to rate universities but one can rate the campus right? I came in the middle of winter, so it’s not your typical lush green post card images. However it was still beautiful in a tranquil New England way. The architecture is colonial, which I find incredibly charming.
Immediately south of campus is a tiny college town with very good food. However it is quite limited in terms of diversity and hours.
The main green is what you see, but if you walk toward the back of the campus, you can find the business school and the frats. Look for the street with lamp posts only on one side of the street. It’s enough to drive the OCD people crazy.

Can’t think of a better place for my 1000^th review than my alma mater, dear old Dartmouth.
The smallest of the Ivy League schools, Dartmouth combines the intimacy and community of a liberal arts college with all the resources of a world-​class research university. Indeed, with just over 4,000 undergraduates out of a total enrollment of just over 6,000, it’s no surprise that the focus here is on an undergraduate liberal arts experience that’s second to none.
Students are required to take classes in each broad subject area (i.e., humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, etc.) and also have specific writing and foreign language requirements, but are otherwise free to customize their undergraduate education as they see fit. Often, you see students balancing their course loads across a variety of disciplines and finding creative ways to link subject matter in different areas together. The result is that you have well-​rounded individuals who are strong at critical thinking, can attack a problem in a holistic, interdisciplinary manner, and are ready to change the world. It’s no surprise that you can see English majors heading to top medical schools, science majors doing well in business and at startups, and pretty much everyone managing to make something of themselves after they leave the Hanover plain to roam the girdled Earth.
While the faculty lacks a roster of superstar Nobel laureates as may be the case at more well-​known schools, one advantage is that professors at Dartmouth are around to teach, first and foremost. They’re always available, even outside of office hours, and it’s pretty common to see professors having coffee, jogging around campus, or having dinner with students. Almost every professor I had at Dartmouth was an engaging, enthusiastic teacher, and every single one of my classes (with the exception of science labs or foreign language drill sections) was taught by an actual professor, not a grad student TA. All this having been said, Dartmouth professors do their fair share of research, and often collaborate with leading scholars, including Nobel laureates, at peer institutions.
What’s more, you’ll rarely see a Dartmouth student who isn’t truly happy to be there. With only 1,100 students in your class, chances are you’ll know what everyone’s names are — and hopefully will have heard something good about them — even if you haven’t met them in person. The Dartmouth campus is a true community in every sense of the word, and while there are strong affiliations on campus (Greek houses, athletics, activities, academic interests), you rarely see students being defined monolithically. Instead, most students have many interests and flow quite seamlessly among their daily obligations. For example, you could have a member of the crew team who’s also part of a Greek house, but also happens to be a strong classical musician and a top English major too.
The campus is also exquisite. While it’s true that the winters are long and sometimes harsh, Dartmouth students do get to enjoy all four seasons here, by virtue of the year-​long calendar that requires a stay during sophomore summer. The rural setting means that there isn’t a big city around to distract students, so folks have to find their own ways of having fun, whether it’s exploring the great outdoors or forming social groups and communities organically, without the semi-​superficial bonding that would occur at a large school where, say, tailgating around athletic events is a big focus of student life.
For many students, their four years at Dartmouth are years of tremendous personal growth. The interests and bonds formed here will last a lifetime. It’s not surprising that Dartmouth alums are some of the most loyal of any college or university in the world, no matter how you measure it. They have the still North in their hearts, the hill winds in their brains, and the granite of New Hampshire in their muscles and their brains.

Beautiful campus.

I can not comment on a Dartmouth education, but the campus is one of the most beautiful I had ever visited. I like it more than Stanford. The wife and I spend over 60 minutes walking around campus and surrounding areas. The only negatives are that there are no good eating places and minimum hotel selection of hotels in Hanover. But that is no fault of Dartmouth.

What’s not to love about dear old Dartmouth? I have the fortune of being an undergrad here and compared to what I hear about from my friends’ experiences at other schools, I think we have it good. It feels weird to write a Unilocal review about a school because I’m not quite sure what to write about. Do I write about the good food in the cafeteria? The small class sizes? The fact that we’ve been first for undergraduate teaching for so many years? The infinite snowy days? The beautiful nature surrounding us? The passionate people? There’s a million positive things I could say about this place and what a fine establishment it is to study at.

This campus is out of this world. Love the campus and love the town. Wow. Driving though stopped in to take it all in. Very impressed. The grounds and the people make this place.

What can you say besides, «Dartmouth is the best undergraduate college in the Americas?» They have the best academics, great professors, kind students, and a dedicated, close-​knit culture.

A place where the undergrad rules.
If the new administration can reign in alcohol fueled misbehavior,
Dartmouth for undergrads would rate 6*, sorry Harvard and Yale.
Bring plenty of down coats, because unless you grew up in North Dakota or Siberia,
winter in Hanover, NH can be insanely cold.
Unless you have experienced –20 F temperatures, you have no idea how cold January can get’

Good teachers, challenging courses, wilderness environment. long cold winters. Dartmouth, along with it’s Ivy League companions, provides an amazing network of successful people. Get in, work and study hard, and network, network, network. You may just survive the coming economic collapse.

Beautiful campus, wonderful college, and welcoming students!

I went to another small liberal arts college in New Hampshire, and had a happy experience, but I was always amazed by the relationship between the town of Hanover and Dartmouth, and just how thoroughly it epitomized the «college town.» I think of San Luis Obispo, Boulder, or Lawrence, Kansas as other examples…
An absolutely beautiful campus, world-​class faculty and students, in the midst of beautiful New Hampshire. Worth a visit, even if you don’t plan to go, or never did go, to Dartmouth.

Class of 2001 — 10 Year Class Reunion — June 17 – 19, 2011

An ex-​boyfriend went here, and I had the opportunity to visit him on campus back when we were dating.
I visited during the early spring, so it was still cold and sloppy outside, but in spite of this I was pleasantly surprised by the Dartmouth campus. As an undergrad coming from a large public university, I’d never experienced anything like Dartmouth before. I was in love with the Green; the buildings; the small, picturesque town; the Hop, where you can see some amazing shows; and the art museum. For a college in the middle of the New Hampshire woods, they have a pretty awesome collection.
The workload here is insane and doesn’t let up, and I remember my ex being very stressed out a lot of the time. I felt bad. I remember helping him edit his papers. They definitely push your buttons and push you to your limits here. I don’t do well under massive stress so in the end this place probably wouldn’t have been for me, and my ex complained about Dartmouth constantly. Of course, there was a lot going on for him at the time that did not involve Dartmouth, but you know what? At the end of the day, he must not have hated it that much. After graduating and working for a few years, he’s back at Dartmouth for med school. Go ex-​boyfriend! The only thing I found surprising in terms of Dartmouth’s graduate academics is that they don’t really have anything in terms of the humanities. Granted, they have a master’s program in comparative literature, but the rest of their M.A. programs (and all of their Ph.D. programs) are in the sciences. I just found this a little unusual, especially for an Ivy League school. I mean, most Ivy League institutions have humanities grad programs. But they do have a great foreign language department from what I’ve heard. A high school classmate did a summer session in Spanish language up at Dartmouth and she had an absolute blast. She came back raving about the place, the people she met and the activities (rafting on the river!). Keep in mind that this was a quiet, low-​key girl who was never going to pull a «Frank the Tank» type stunt (see below). Dartmouth provided her with a very positive experience.
Now we get down to the nitty-​gritty: there is very little to do in Hanover itself, and yes, the frat scene is massive here. This is the school that gave the world «Animal House,» after all, and the frathouse where the movie was filmed not only still stands but is still occupied by new generations of students. Drinking abounds, and if you’re not into that you may find little to occupy your free time. At least that’s what I was told, but then again I wasn’t a student here so I’m just going by what other people told me. Also, I would assume that it helps to be just a tad into nature if you’re going to school in New Hampshire. My ex played a varsity sport, which did help, but he was not into nature when I knew him, and I think it kind of takes you down a peg or two in the Dartmouth world if you don’t want to go and hike or something.
But all that aside, I really enjoyed my brief sojourn into Dartmouth and its world. While many Unilocalers described some of the students as preppy and snotty — and there are plenty of them to be found, but if you can’t spot them coming from a mile away, then you have more problems than Unilocal can help you with — I ended up meeting some really nice people. Nicer than the people I was going to college with at the time, if you want the truth. I remember how much that struck me then, and even now, all of these years later, I still recall some of the genuinely friendly people I met.
And Dartmouth Dining Services does indeed serve good food. Most colleges serve up crap, so everyone at Dartmouth should appreciate what they’re eating and clean their plates, because there are starving college students in the rest of America.
While I feel that I’d be remiss to give Dartmouth 5 stars because I never studied there, I can give it 4 stars for the excellent experience I had when I was a visitor on its campus.

Where do I begin.
First, the education leaves quite a bit to be desired. The professors, overwhelmingly, have good intentions but disastrous results. The main problem is that they assign you an unreasonable amount of busy work and just make you get it done without giving you time to think about and process it. This does not equal learning, it equals the brain turning into foie gras. Multiple professors have introduced their classes with «we have a lot to do and not very much time to do it.» So why assign it then?
Second, the students, overwhelmingly, are wrapped up in teenage & post-​teenage college idealism beyond the point of practicality. Example: From the moment I stepped on campus I was given lectures by fellow students about how Starbucks is evil and encourages consumerism. (And the Dirt Cowboy Café doesn’t, because it’s ‘local’? Whatever. At least Starbucks has good coffee and doesn’t have a stupid name.) Point in case: you’re paying $ 40,000/year for a name brand education, stop whining about consumerism!
But what made it truly unbearable is that every bit of pain and ridiculousness was intensified due to the fact there is nothing in Hanover except for Dartmouth College and therefore nowhere to escape. No, going to West Lebanon doesn’t work for that & I dunno, I’ve just never been able to get my rocks off by hiking or climbing or camping or shit like that. Yeah, yeah, there’s Boston which is a five hour & $ 35.70 (2005 student price, so it may have gone up) round trip, which by itself isn’t a bad deal but oh boy does that add up.
Good thing the college had universally convenient access to alcohol when I needed it.
But it didn’t just stop when I left the campus for good in 2005. I put up with what I did because I thought it would all be over soon enough & at the very least, a Dartmouth degree will help you in the real world. Not so, I found out, unless your scope of the real world is limited to New England, Wall Street & small circles in San Francisco.
I tried to like it here. I really did. But my time here was like a hilariously bad movie; the type where everyone who’s watching knows that everything that can possibly go wrong, will. Too bad I apparently wasn’t watching.
Two stars, because at least Dartmouth Dining Services had good food. :-\

The milestone 100^th review!
Dedicated to Dear Old Dartmouth.
I spent my undergraduate years at an equally prestigious institution, but I rarely visit or speak of it. In contrast, I LOVE LOVE LOVE The Big Green.
Manhattan will always be my first love, but my heart often longs for Hanover.
In fact, had I the means, I would keep a second residence in 3 755.
«Founded in Hanover, N.H., in 1769, Dartmouth has long been famous for the intensity of its alumni’s loyalty. It is not unfair, or an exaggeration, to call it half college and half cult.»
– Joseph Rago for The Wall Street Journal
«Mr. Rodgers Goes to Dartmouth»
Saturday, September 1, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT
As the Trustee debate continues, one cannot help but admire the fervor of the school’s alumni.
Yes, these are the same people who inspired the movie, Animal House & masterminded the school’s unofficial mascot, Keggy. However, the students study at least as hard as they party. Indeed, rigorous academic demands are heightened by the College’s 4 term system, known as the D-​Plan. Since classes are condensed into shorter time frames, there is a constant flow of impending papers & exams.
With a student body of approximately 4,000 undergraduate & 1,600 graduate students, Dartmouth is a relatively small school. Fraternity parties do constitute much of the social life in the small town, but outdoorsy folks can also find a plethora of alternative or supplemental activities. The Dartmouth Outing Club (DOC) is the country’s oldest and largest collegiate outing club. Urban types who miss the concrete jungle can hop on one of the many buses that shuttle to/​from Boston. 2 hours to Beantown.
Other highlights:
— Dartmouth is an Ivy League institution & the nation’s 9^th oldest college
— Motto: Vox Clamantis in Deserto «A Voice Crying Out in the Wilderness»
— 39 undergraduate academic departments & programs
— Total undergraduate tuition, room and board and fees are $ 45,483
— Graduate programs in the Arts & Sciences
— Three professional schools: Business, engineering & medicine
— 34 intercollegiate varsity sports: 16 women’s, 16 men’s & 2 co-​ed
— 17 club sports & 24 intramural sports
— Traditions: Homecoming, Winter Carnival & Green Key Weekend
— Notable alumni: Robert Frost, Dr. Seuss & Nelson Rockefeller
— Baker Berry Library
— The Dartmouth /​Yale Club of New York City
Dartmouth Undying
As performed by the Dartmouth Aires:
P. S. It’s =not= pronounced dart-​MOUTH.
Go Green!

Dear ‘olé Dartmouth. I’ve heard of people who weren’t totally bowled over by the college on the hill. That makes me sad. But there are people who don’t like other things that I love, like rainbows and puppies, and if they aren’t won over by free beer and school-​sanctioned polar bear skinny dipping, then there’s nothing I can say to change their disturbed minds.
I love Dartmouth. Hanover is a tiny gem of a town, though it’s changing and growing, I know. After four years, I was more than ready to leave, but I’d go back to stay for good in a heartbeat. Most all of my friends now are friends from Dartmouth. My husband and I started dating freshman year (he moved into my room sophomore year and never left), and many of the jobs we’ve found since have sprung from alumni connections.
I love the weather in New Hampshire, and the tiny skiway just minutes away from campus, where I learned to ski. The network of cabins and hiking trails running thoughout the state and into Maine provide endless distraction from studying, and a good excuse to pack up and disappear for awhile.
I love the faculty, and the campus (though the new library is hideous). I dreamed of a place like Baker library as a little girl, and spent endless hours wandering the stacks after work in the Reserves.
There is not much that I don’t love about Dartmouth – I admit, it’s easy to love now that I’m no longer there, and now that my hubby and I can just sit back and reminice about the good old days, but I’m convinced that there’s still so much more good at my alma mater than bad. And whenever I meet someone who’s been, there’s an instant kinship. It’s so nice to meet these sudden friends wherever I go. I wouldn’t trade that for anything.

Dartmouth paid for my Master’s, so I decided not to take away a stars for their horrible weather, their preppy stuck up fratboys and girls, their extremely isolated location in the middle of the New England woods, lack of a music store or even indie music fans, or the overabundance of Icehouse kegs and beer pong. It was REALLY hard not to take away a star for all the guys there wearing pink polo shirts with the collars flipped up and the girls with Uggs.
What does earn them five stars: Faculty who are more interested in teaching than in being famous — something that’s rare for an Ivy. Small class size. The family of wild turkeys (a mother and five baby turklets) that lived just outside my apartment. The first snow on all the pines. The 3-​story ice scuplture of The Cat in the Hat that was on the green for winter carnival. The equally-​tall crazy-​ass annual bonfire that takes place in the exact same location and must be visible for hundreds of miles. A cozy library with excellent customer service. A good, cheap film series that even shows 3D 70s porn. The Dirt Cowboy Café, which serves about 20 varieties of coffee by-​the-​cup. Lots of ponds. And the fact that during the two weeks when the weather is actualy nice, it’s so perfect that even stressed-​out Ivy Leaguers look up from their books.