Dartmouth College Top Questions

My classmates are fun, supportive, laid back but extremely smart, focused and athletic. They might appear to be laid back and granola, but in reality they are an accomplished and brilliant lot. They are attending an Ivy school for a reason.

There is a place for everyone at Dartmouth, and that includes both some of the greatest people I've ever known and a lot of corporate tools who are more interested in their resumes than anything that goes on in class. There are a number of incredible professors here, who are really dedicated to teaching, above all else, and sharing their passions with their students, but there are also a few lackluster ones. The fraternity scene tends to dominate social life if you let it (and a lot of people do). There's a lot of amazing stuff going on at Dartmouth, including some incredibly helpful resources, but to find them, you will have to seek them out. I have undergone immense personal growth and fulfillment while here, and I can't imagine having gone to any other school, but what I will remember about this school are the wonderful individual relationships I formed- I have no love for the institution. Many people love everything about the school when they first arrive, but find themselves growing dissatisfied with aspects of Dartmouth as they find out more. The problem with this is that a lot of people on campus are pretending to be happier and more self-reliant than they really are. People are scared to ask for help, because they're so used to doing well on their own, and people are afraid to be unhappy, because Dartmouth is supposed to be this wonderful community where everyone is supposed to be getting what they want out of the experience. And I have found wonderful communities within Dartmouth, but the important thing to know is that if you are unhappy, or struggling, or both, you are not alone, and you do have a niche here, but you do need to make the effort.

My classmates are driven, engaging, and relateable young adults, not very different from myself.

Pretty diverse although a lot of people DO come from prep/boarding schools. People take academics seriously, obviously, but it's not really that apparent outside of the library and the classroom.

My classmates are ambitious students who are some of the brightests students I've met; they know how to work hard but also have a lot of fun in the process.

Friendly.

Fairly diverse. Sometimes I feel like there are people here who just shouldn't be here, because they're not comfortable with the rural New England location and they don't like snow. You really have to embrace the small town feel of the campus to be happy, and some kids just aren't willing to do that, which puzzles me. However, the diversity is generally a good thing. We've got people from all over the country (from LA to Miami, Seattle to New York, Houston to D.C.), and not as many people from the northeast as you would expect (although that is still the most heavily represented area within the student body). There are plenty of international students, who really add a lot to the school in terms of their perspectives and opinions. Everyone gets along really well. In the dining hall, you usually can't identify the people sitting at one table from the people sitting at another table, unless there's a whole sports team sitting together!

My classmates are brilliant people eager to take on new challenges and make a difference in their own way while having a blast!

They know when and how to have fun as well as work hard.

They are friendly, helpful, and really interesting.

My classmates are very bright, curious students who are willing to work and help with others.

Smart and under pressure to succeed without selling out.

My classmates are brillant and diverse.

My classmates are fun guys who like to play sports and go out at night.

Classmates at Dartmouth College are focused; when it comes time to play hard, they do it just as hard as they work.

Most of the students are wealthy Caucasians, but the Asian and African communities have formed thriving, close-knit communities.

My classmates are my lifelong friends.

My classmates come from a wide variety of backgrounds, and it is that diversity that I most value. Despite our differences, everyone is incredibly friendly and willing to learn more about one another, creating a social environment that allows all of us to mature and grow in our appreciation of different cultures and values. Many students are caring and compassionate and willing to do whatever they can to make things easier for me when I am having trouble, and overall the environment is very conducive to a strong community.

My classmates are some of the most confident and brilliant people i have met in my life.

Reserved, but fun and caring once you get to know them.

My classmates are generally very motivated at whatever they are passionate about.

My classmates are passionate, compassionate, focused, engaged, deeply thoughtful, musical, dynamic, talented in a huge variety of ways - three of my best friends are a music/computer science major, a classics/physical chemistry major, and a studio art/pre-med major, respectively - considerate, active, entertaining, and altogether a group of people I feel lucky to have met and feel glad will be part of the generation that shapes the way the world develops next.

Friendly, outgoing people who like to drink and party but still do well in school.

Fun-loving kids who party hard but always surprise you with their passionate outlook on school and their accomplishments.

Freewheeling, neo-hippie, Ultimate Frisbee-playing, outgoing, crunchy outdoorsy types.

Smart, bright, hard-partying, hard-working

My classmates are very focused, intelligent, and hardworking. The people that go to Dartmouth are among the best in the nation, and it shows in every individual student.

Diverse in perspective. Excellent. It's a vibrant campus that is made vibrant by the student body. People actually love Dartmouth. You don't just go here because you have to you go here because you like to.

As I mentioned before, the student body is unquestionably smart, hard-working, and accomplished, but everyone puts up a good fascade that they don't try too hard and are just an average joe. Some will lead you to believe that all they do is play pong and "hang out", while others have no problem telling you they spent the past three days holed up in Berry library, but there is never a competitive or "look at me, I'm so smart" vibe. The student body is pretty diverse - racially, religiously, ecomonically, geographically and sexual orientationally (if that's a word). Some minorities have their own Greek organizations and many of the typical frats/soroties are predominantly white, so in this respect the school isn't as integrated as it could be. I don't think there is ever any hostility, just a chosen separation. The school and its history are fairly conservative with an "old boy" mentality prevailing until recent years, but the student body is rather liberal, in line with most college student bodies. There are active political groups, but republican and democrat, but on the whole students are too political. There is a tendency to get sucked into the "Dartmouth bubble", where you are unaware of outside current events and tend to think that everything else in the world is secondary to what's going on in the Dartmouth world. There are your typical groups: the athletes, nerds, frat boys, sorority girls, alternative druggies, crunchy hippies. But there is enough cross-over that you'll meet the soccer player/frat brother/econ whiz who dates a girl who works at the organic farm and is involved with student assembly.

Dartmouth RAVES about its diversity. In my class alone, we have people from tens of countries, from every race, speaking many languages, having different sexual orientations, etc. But even though we are all so different, we're all very similar, too. All of us LOVE Dartmouth, we all want to get a great education and be successful with our lives, we're all ambitious, and we all like to have fun, too. Everyone is very welcoming, and there aren't any cliques unless you include the Greek system, but that's what really brings people together: it doesn't divide them. Politics is obviously a big deal at any university. Nationally, many of the students are very aware of what is going on in the world, and because New Hampshire has some of the first primary elections in the country, there are always candidates coming to Dartmouth. Most lean to the left, but that's because they haven't made their own money yet; once people are working EXTREMELY hard and becoming successful, they'll want to keep the money that THEY've earned, not just hand it over to someone else. As far as wealth goes, Dartmouth is very fortunate. Many people are on financial aid, some with full rides, which is only possible because of the people, including myself, who are paying the full tuition, which is over $50,000 a year.

I have never in my life encountered such an accepting atmosphere. On my floor alone I’ve met: Bongani from Swaziland who loves hip hop and improve comedy, Virginia from Bulgaria whose quick quips and coffee making skills are unmatched, Jake a Native American student who teaches snowboarding and is a film connoisseur, Meghan from Boston who spent her summer interning with a senator in Rwanda, and Lauren from San Francisco who creatively infuses her Cuban heritage into her passion for Celtic dance. At the beginning of fall term I often looked at our kaleidoscopic bunch and wondered, “What could we possibly have in common?” My questions were answered as the six of us raced around the homecoming bonfire, unified by our “11” shirts and visceral screams. We’re united by our love for this school and the passion it inspires. Each of us has found our individual niche but still enjoys coming together with the entire student body to celebrate our inexplicable bond when singing the alma mater after a Dartmouth victory.

The student body is reasonably diverse and very laid back. People who wear a suit or something to class would get looked at. On a nice day people are in shorts, polos, dresses, etc. In the winter, women wear Northface fleeces and jackets with tights and ugg boots, while the men just wear whatever. Many students are from the northeast (specifically New Hampshire, New Jersey, NYC and Massachusetts) although there are tons from California and other nations. People generally socialize predominantly with those who are similar to them or from the same region, but sports teams and activities act as ways of mixing things up. However, there is still some voluntary segregation by most students (for example, some of the international students feel more comfortable with other internationals.)

Like I already said, this is a dynamic group of people who are smart, fun, outgoing, and energetic. People here are incredibly kind and enthusiastic about life... It's kind of like it's own little paradise situated in between Boston and Montreal.

The student body is relatively diverse, but there is a definite tendency towards long curly haired, khaki-wearing, outdoorsy types who love to laugh and have fun. Everyone on campus is a part of either the Mountaineering Club, Canoeing/Kayaking club, or Cabin and Trail. It's because proximity to the outdoors is honestly one of Dartmouth's greatest (and most defining) resources. At no other time in your life will you live in a situation like this, with 4000 other young, lively people in walking distance from woods, a gorgeous pond, whitewater rapids, and mountains. There's great climbing 10 minutes away, our own ski mountain 15 minutes bus away, Mt Moosilauke and the river only a few minute walk through trees from the center of campus. It would be wasting an amazing opportunity not to take part in the access to nature that Dartmouth provides.

Everyone here is brilliant, talented, and yet very normal. The students who are winning accolades in academia can be found here skiing on Dartmouth Skiway after class and building snowmen in the winter, swimming in the river in the summer, lounging on the green and chatting with friends in the fall and spring, and being social and fun. A typical day might consist of classes, dinner with friends at Food Court, going to see an a cappella show at one of the greek houses, then hanging out with friends in the dorm or at a party.

Mixed group of people. The "metal heads" are not as noticeble if that is your group, there are a lot of athletes and they seem to separate along with the international students.

Depsite rumors, I think the student body is incredibly diverse. To me this means more than just ethnicity. Everyone I met came from different backgrounds and had incredible life experiences to share.

Everyone here is very different, but at the same time everyone here is so nice. Yes, people can be petty or be jerks, but over all everyone is generally kind. People come from all over and do so many different things, but if you leave here and you run into someone who went to dartmouth 10, 15, 50 years ago I garuntee you will talk a get to know that person better than anyone else in the room. A Dartmouth bond is very strong.

There is a strong Christian community here. There is a small but strong queer community here. Both sort of feel out of place here, but make it work. There is some, but not a great amount of racial diversity. The kids who really click here want to be I-bankers or lawyers or doctors and go Greek. Other identities, I think, but I'm not sure because I'm white and prob ignorant, don't matter as much as choosing something that fits that class identity.

There is a pretty diverse student body present on campus, with W. Virginia being the only state not represented in my class year, and students coming from countries I can barely pronounce.

There is a bit of everything here at Dartmouth. All races, ethnicities, socio-economic, geographic backgrounds are represented here, usually in your immediate group of friends too. The student body is very accepting, and finding one's social niche is pretty easy.

Most people are friendly. Everybody is beautiful. The people really are accepting of all backgrounds, and although here and there you will find self-segregation and racism...where do you NOT find it??? Dartmouth is a helpful place and a nice place to find something for you.

Students are pretty relaxed on campus. I've gone to class wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt and no one said anything. In fact, such attire is pretty common for morning classes. Students are accepting of people from all types of backgrounds. Less than half of the student body receives any type of financial aid so a large portion of Dartmouth students come from families that are well off, however, students typically do not discuss their financial situation with others. Students are very much politically active and during election time, it can get hectic. Dartmouth has a reputation as being the most conservative Ivy, but I don't think this is true. Though the conservative groups on campus are very vocal, they are small groups and represent a minority of the student body's opinion.

I think that Dartmouth as a whole is a generally accepting place and there are no major racial or other issues. There are definitely wealthy people that go here but because most people just wear extremely casual clothes to class, wealth is not made extremely obvious. I think that Dartmouth is a pretty liberal campus like most colleges. There are some students who do talk about how much they are going to earn, but i would say that is a small number of people.

Dartmouth students are from all over, but there are a lot from the Northeast (New England, NYC). Students wear a variety of things to class- usually jeans and hoodies, especially in winter, when warmth is more important than fashion. Towards late spring/early fall people make more of an effort to dress cute. Athletes make up a large proportion of the student body.

I think the type of student who would feel most out of place at Dartmouth might be described as follows: the socially adept, frat-hating, non-drinker. There are many social people here, and many people who abstain from drinking and stay away from frats, but I think its probably hard for people who fall into both of these categories to find others like them. But maybe I'm wrong.

I think the closed-minded (AND one who is unwilling to open their mind) student would feel out of place at Dartmouth. Dartmouth is fabulous because the student body has such diverse backgrounds and genuinely love engaging with other students to learn more about their experiences. Most students are also athletes because we are a smaller sized school, yet still Division 1. If students aren't athletes, most love being active in some outdoor/indoor physical activity.

i would think that it would be hard for a person who does not have a lot of money to fit in as there are always a lot of things that you randomly have to pay for here. it seems that there are a lot of very wealthy kids here. i would definitely say, though, that students of all kind of backgrounds interact. however, sometimes you will see the typical 'asian' table and 'black' table. Those would be two of the four tables. the other two i would say would be filled with athletes from a team and then a group of girls. there is not much talk about life after college. the students are politically active.

Dartmouth is so diverse that I think any kind of student would feel comfortable at Dartmouth. Most students wear either jeans or sweats to class. Everyone interacts with everyone; there are the different 'groups' or 'stereotypes' of people but people go beyond those superficial walls and make friends with all different kinds of people that they otherwise probably wouldn't have talked to.

Dartmouth is an incredibly diverse school. Very rarely will you see groups of friends that are purely homogeneous. There are lots of racial minorities (esp. Native Americans) as well as people of varying sexual orientation and gender identity. In addition, there is a huge amount of political diversity and financial diversity as well. Granted, there are a good amount of rich students, but these amount to only about half of the school’s population. Being a gay student, I can say that my experience has been very positive. Not once have I dealt with blatant discrimination or harassment. I have only encountered tolerance, and very often acceptance, from my peers. My only problem is that a lot of other LGBT students don’t feel the same way. I feel like sometimes Dartmouth breeds a large amount of semi-closeted LGBT students because of the (slightly) intimidating Greek scene. Not to say there isn’t a substantial amount of out LGBT students here; they just aren’t all extremely vocal. Overall, Dartmouth is a very open-minded and progressive school and the environment is overwhelmingly tolerant and accepting.