For many freshmen, coming to Dartmouth is an intimidating experience. And one of the most difficult parts of the transition from high school to college is adjusting to a completely new living environment -- the abrupt change from living in a house or apartment to living in a room in a residence hall.
Freshmen must adjust to living with new roommates and without their parents, their siblings and even their pets.
Director of Counseling and Human Development Jeffrey Hersh said freshmen are thrown into a whole new living situation, which requires a good deal of adjustment.
Students gain more independence, form new relations and must learn to make decisions for themselves as they move from home into residence halls, he said.
Life in a residence hall involves making new friends and interacting more intimately in a diverse group, which can be very challenging.
"Students must learn how to relate to people without having support from home readily available," Hersh said.
"First-year students are thrown into a learning-group situation which offers the challenge of learning how to be neighborly while at the same time being sensitive to your own needs," he said.
Although each member of the Class of 1999 has their own individual experience with residential life at Dartmouth, together the class must learn to survive without parental influence and all of the comforts of home.
Hannah Alldredge '99 said her room in 101 Massachusetts Hall is "the best room on campus with the most central location."
"It is right when you walk in the door -- we don't have to walk up any steps or anything," Alldredge said. "We have our own bathroom and plenty of space -- it is so luxurious."
"Still, when we got here, the walls seemed so white," she said. "It took a little time before the room started to feel like home."
Even though Alldredge already knew her roommate before coming to the College, she said it is hard to be so far away from her friends back home in California.
"Sometimes I feel lonely and miss my family members," she said.
Still, the transition to dorm life has been a very positive experience for Alldredge, who mentioned her upperclass friends have been very friendly and helpful.
Carolyn Wang '99 and Sheryl Koval '99, who live in 409 Hitchcock Hall, both said they are happy with their accommodations.
"We really like Hitchcock," Wang said. "There are lots of '99s here and the location is great, although it is a pain to live on the fourth floor."
"Dorm life is totally different than life at home, but not different in a bad or good way, just different," Wang added.
"'Top of the 'Cock' has been relatively quiet so far this year," Koval said, referring to the traditional freshman parties hosted by the residents of Hitchock's top floor.
Koval said her Undergraduate Advisor and the other freshmen on her floor are friendly and have all partaken in the Dartmouth tradition of sharing a huge Vermonster sundae from Ben and Jerry's.
"I feel like I am never alone," Koval said. "In order to be by myself, I have to lock myself away."
Wang said, "Being surrounded by friends makes it more difficult to do work, so you have to really set your priorities when it comes to getting work done."
Jeff Borkowski '99 lives in a one-room double in Brown Hall and said living in the Choates residence hall cluster is not as bad as everyone says.
"All of my friends say that I am living in the slums, but it is not that bad," he said. "We have plenty of space and I don't mind the walk."
Borkowski said the transition to residence hall life was not very difficult for him. "I am lucky because I like my roommate a lot. If I had to adjust to having a roommate I didn't like, it would have been very difficult," he said.
Borkowski said he has had to get used to the feeling of confinement he sometimes feels because he lives in just one room as opposed to an entire house, and not having a car on campus.
"It was not a big deal for me to say good-bye to my parents," he said. "My older brother went off to college before me, so my parents were used to it."
One of the only complaints voiced by Borkowski was the noise over the weekends as people return home from parties.
"I think the whole Greek system sucks in a lot of people and at three in the morning, lines of people come back from frat row, making a lot of noise," he said.
Borkowski said his Undergraduate Advisor has been very helpful even though the '99s on his floor are not that close.
"Here I walk down my hall and just say 'hi' to people, but when I was in high school at Taft, everyone would always hang out in each others' rooms all the time," he said. "People were never in their rooms alone."
Borkowsi said his transition to residence hall life has been good. "It has not been difficult at all -- just different."
For members of the Class of 1999 encountering any difficulty coping with residential life at the College, the Office of Residential Life has two Area Directors freshmen can speak to: Chris Chambers, Area Director for residence halls on the west side of campus, and Chris Foley, Area Director for residence halls on the east side of campus.
For more severe problems, Dick's House offers counseling services.
"If a person is having difficulty making the transition from life at home, I would want to talk to them and find out exactly what the problem is -- if they are homesick, having trouble with a roommate, or miss friends from home," Hersh said.
He said he would try to be very supportive, normalize any problems and help the person understand it is normal to feel homesick.
"Going through major changes requires adjustment over time," Hersh said. "I would want to help people not feel badly that they are missing something that is important to them."
