Dartmouth College Top Questions

We are somewhat rural here in New Hampshire, but it helps solidify the sense of community within the school- students dont go home on weekends or hang out in a city. Of course, the college provides busses to Montreal, Maine, Boston, Burlington, and other fun places on certain weekends. With Dartmouth's reputation, many famous and interesting people, acts and groups come to campus. We get well-known speakers and musical acts each term.

A lot of frats that have dance parties and drinking. There are also some nice events at the art center.

The frat scene is definitely huge at Dartmouth. I had friends who refused to participate in the Greek system and they managed to find plenty of things to do. You are in the middle of nowhere, yet there are picasso's in the museum and world renowned performers at the hop. Not to mention our ski mountain, the appalachian trail, and the connecticuit river in your backyard. Definitely not the right school for a city person, though.

There are so many activities to get involved in on campus that sometimes it is intimidating to know just what. From jobs to volunteer work, there is always something you can do 24 hours a day. As for the social life... I think it is great! Although the social scene is centered around frats, I think it is a ton of fun. Really when else are you able to hang out in a frat basement. Once you leave college you have plenty of time for bar life!

There's a lot of service. There's a lot of drinking. Hockey is big, football is not so big. Students often find an activity and base their social life around that group. There are world class performers and lecturers who come through-- it's great. There are great late night conversations, and I've formed really good, close friends here. The D-plan, our funny schedule, is really really hard on those relationships, though, and you're forced to meet new people and move around a lot. People watch movies, or they just hang out when they aren't drinking. My friends and I will sit around and sing songs with a guitar.

A good majority of Dartmouth students play at least some kind of sport, along with their record breaking number of resume activities, so it can sometimes be very competitive just to become involved. The social life on campus basically revolves around the frat houses, so if you don't drink be prepared to be bored.

DOC (Dartmouth Outing Club) and Hopkins Center for the Performing Arts programming are both great ways to get active. There are also what seems to be a million other student organizations on campus for everyone's interests. Fraternities play a large part in the social scene, but that can be as big a part of one's experience as one makes it.

I am not very social since I've settled with my boyfriend....My favoritist person I met here........but my first term, frat row saw my face occasionally on weekends. As a freshman you reside on an all-freshman floor and you become very close to your neighbors. I hear that this magical community ends as you move onto your sophomore year. For this, I am sad.

The Greek scene is vital to the party scene. The frats supply everything: free alcohol, parties, and space to socialize. Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays are all party days. Homecoming, Winter Carnival, and Green Key are all major party weekends as well. With that being said, very few people lock their doors at night. We all trust each other and incidents involving theft or trashing someone else's room are almost unheard of. The dating scene is pretty much nonexistent. You're either so committed to your significant other that you are practically married or randomly hooking up with people at parties or not really involved in any type of sexual relationship. The D-Plan makes it difficult to date (because you could both be off at different times) and the Greek scene facilitates the random hook ups. Our sports teams all pretty much suck so people generally only attend their favorite sports games. Over homecoming, however, it is almost mandatory for everyone to attend the football game.

A cappella groups seem to be really large on campus, and I'm in X.ado, the Christian a cappella group. It's amazing because it's like my family and we all grow together and learn from each other. I like to leave my door almost closed but not quite so our friends know we are in our room. I love music, so theater and musical performances are really popular for me and many others. I'm not sure about the "party goers" and their passion for music so I can't really answer. I personally think it's really easy to meet someone relationship-wise because our trimester/quarter system allows us to meet many different people and it isn't that hard to go an extra step to keep in contact with them. I met my closest friends through my extracurricular activities, and I hope that I'm close friends with my floormates. It's hard sometimes to have as close friends in class because usually they're lecture based, but it's possible. I'm a bit of a nerd, so I'll study at 2am for my class on Wednesday. Each term there is a large social event I guess, where alumni can come back to Dartmouth and it's usually an excuse for many people to party even more. People usually party on the days when there are fewer classes the next day, or none at all. It's pretty common, and fraternities/sororities are very popular. Last weekend I had a sleepover with my close friends, watching movies and such. Usually on Saturday night, I'll either study with a group of friends which quickly turns into just a social gathering. I go to church off campus or go to a restaurant, but usually I don't go off campus.