Exchange students at Dartmouth this summer say they cannot believe Dartmouth's laid-back atmosphere.
"As a summer retreat, Hanover is excellent," said Michael Brett, an exchange student from University College London.
"It's hard to study when there are so many ways to waste time," he explained. "I do like the outdoors lifestyle so I'm finding it tough to get my reading done."
During Summer term, exchange students flock to the College to bask in the warm summer weather, enjoy the beautiful surroundings and, incidentally, work on their academics.
Twenty-one students from other colleges and universities will share the Dartmouth experience this summer by participating in one of three exchange programs: the Twelve College exchange program, the Thayer School of Engineering Dual Degree program and the United Kingdom Exchange Program.
The 11 other colleges participating in the Thayer Dual Degree exchange program and the Twelve College Exchange are Amherst, Mount Holyoke, Bowdoin, Connecticut, Trinity, Vassar, Wellesley, Wesleyan, Wheaton, Smith and Williams.
Students partaking in either of these two programs generally stay for one academic year at Dartmouth, according to Assistant Dean of Faculty and Exchange Coordinator Peter Armstrong.
The two programs were founded 28 years ago when most of the colleges were single-sex institutions, according to Armstrong.
"Basically, the idea was to test coeducation at each school," he said.
But now all 12 colleges are co-educational except for Mount Holyoke, Smith and Wellesley, and because of this change, there has been a steady decline in the number of students interested in the exchange programs.
Armstrong said the College has hosted more than 21 students in past years, but the number of students has been steadily decreasing for the past five to 10 years.
In contrast, the number of students applying through the third program, United Kingdom Exchange, has remained steady since its founding roughly 20 years ago, according to Armstrong.
This program resulted from Dartmouth's Foreign Study programs at University College London and University of Edinburgh, Scotland. Students of the United Kingdom exchange usually leave after the end of one summer term.
Unlike the Twelve College Exchange in which students automatically receive credits for the courses they take at Dartmouth, the United Kingdom Exchange students cannot transfer their credits back home, according to Armstrong.
Students with the United Kingdom Exchange come for the experience of dabbling in other areas of study since they can only take courses related to their major back home, Armstrong said.
Students involved in the exchange programs come to Dartmouth for a myriad of reasons.
"Of all the colleges in the Twelve College Exchange, Dartmouth had the best math program," said Jana Pruski from Mount Holyoke.
Laura Keating, a junior from Smith, cited Dartmouth's "outdoor atmosphere" as one of its best assets.
"By comparison, the atmosphere at Smith is definitely more intense than Dartmouth's," she said.
Some find that the differences require a little more personal adjustment.
"Dartmouth is different from my college, University College London, in every conceivable way," Brett wrote in an electronic-mail message.
"UCL is situated in central London; student accommodation is spread all over the city, often in rented apartments," he wrote.
Brett said New Hampshire's environment is much different to what he is used to.
"The surrounding countryside is a far cry from London, allowing for hiking, kayaking, etc., which is very exciting," Brett said.
But, Brett said the peace and quiet of Hanover and the town's slow pace is difficult to get used to.
"The fact that cars simply yield even if I only consider crossing the street is very entertaining," he said.
The biggest difference between Dartmouth and other colleges and universities is the social life, according to the exchange students.
Courtney Barlow, an exchange student from Wellesley, said she decided to spend a term at Dartmouth to see what it was like to study at a coed school. According to Barlow, the social scenes at the two schools are quite different.
"Most of the social scene at Wellesley is off-campus, while you have the frats here for weekend parties," Barlow noted.
Mez Roberts, an exchange student from Edinburgh, said he has found it hard to find things to do at night in Hanover.
"The older legal drinking age [in New Hampshire] also means that there are fewer students out having a good time so they have to rely on frat parties," she said.
But Roberts said he is generally impressed with Dartmouth.
"The facilities are excellent, plenty of computers, very helpful library staff in most libraries," he said. "What I appreciate the most is the great weather and beautiful scenery though."
