As you come to Dartmouth ready to spend your next four years in the Hanover environs, you're probably wondering many things.
Where am I going to study? Where will I hang out? How will I spend my time? What is Dartmouth like?
As a freshman, you will inevitably travel around campus in 'shmobs, whether it's to go get food in Thayer Dining Hall or to pay a visit to the Greek houses on Webster Avenue. You'll be surprised when everyone knows you are a freshman, but it's pretty easy to tell -- no upperclassmen will traverse campus in groups of 10 to 15.
Your UGA
The first place to go to answer your questions about Dartmouth is your undergraduate advisor. He or she can tell you about what to do and where to go on campus for various problems you may encounter or needs you may have.
"My UGA group was my first experience I had meeting people," Scott Peach '99 said. "My UGA helped me out in terms of helping choose classes and figuring out requirements, and just with any questions."
The people in your UGA group -- the other members of the Class of 2001 living near you in your residence hall -- will probably play a significant role in your freshman year.
Nate White '99 said his UGA group "did a lot of fun stuff together. We still have reunions every once in a while."
He said his UGA also got the upperclassmen on his floor involved with their activities, so he got to meet them as well.
Connected to the network
Regardless of whether you have been a proficient web surfer or frequent e-mailer before coming to the College or if you barely know how to type a paper, you will spend several hours a day using BlitzMail, the College's e-mail program, as well as using Netscape to search the World Wide Web.
It is a rare instance when Dartmouth students actually know their friends' telephone numbers. To get in touch with friends -- to ask them what's up for dinner or to ask for help with a class -- people on campus blitz each other.
At the beginning of your freshman year there is an unspoken competition to see who can get the most blitzes or who can send the most forwarded funny messages. The initial fascination wears off, but BlitzMail is still the primary form of communication for students as well as professors.
Peach said he thinks BlitzMail is "a great idea. It is an easy way to get a hold of people, especially when you have to get in touch with a large group of people."
The New York Times ran an article earlier this year about Dartmouth students and their e-mail obsession. It's a widely known fact. Being at the College may stunt your phone conversation skills, but your typing will definitely speed up.
What to do?
Your spare time will consist of one thing for sure -- studying. Some students choose to tool away in their residence hall rooms or study lounges. Many others opt for the library, Kiewit computation center, the Collis Center or the top of the Hopkins Center.
All residence halls are equipped with a study lounge complete with couches, tables and chairs, but whether you are disciplined enough to actually get work done there remains to be seen.
Many study lounges are strategically placed near the entrances to residence halls, and the constant passing of people -- especially people you know -- is often too much of a distraction to keep working.
The top of the Hop and Collis both offer quiet places to study with comfortable chairs. Kiewit has a few computer clusters that are quiet spots to write papers or work on computer code.
Baker and Sanborn Libraries offer some of the most popular sites on campus to study.
Sanborn Library, which serves tea at 4 p.m. on weekdays, has a two-story room lined with books that has private study nooks.
The Baker stacks are an isolated, quiet place to go when you don't want anyone to bother you. Beware, though, because a ghost purportedly haunts the eighth floor.
The Baker Tower room is the location of choice for all serious tools. It is so quiet you are afraid to sneeze, and during reading period before finals each term you have to get there early in a morning to get a study spot.
The most popular place to tool on campus is the Reserve Corridor of Baker Library. The walls are decorated with the famous Orozco mural, and to preserve the art the Reserves are kept cool in the summer and a comfortable temperature in the winter.
Sometimes called the "observes" since it is a great place to meet and greet classmates, the Reserve Corridor gets packed during reading period and finals and has a steady stream of frequenters during the rest of the term.
When you're not studying you'll want to do something fun. A great weeknight study break is an a cappella concert. The College has seven a cappella groups, and there are performances nearly every week.
Almost every day of the week, the Hopkins Center has a performance. Whether it is a newly released movie, a dance performance or part of the Dartmouth Film Society's film series, the Hop always offers something to do.
The Collis Center has a video game room and a pool table room in the basement, along with the Lone Pine Tavern, which features nightly student guitar and vocal performances.
All Dartmouth students are required to take three terms of physical education. PE registration takes place at the beginning of each term, and some of the popular classes fill up quickly.
You can choose from a multitude of activities, including aerobics classes, canoeing, ballroom dancing, rock climbing, fly-fishing, golf, in-line skating and racquet sports, among others.
The Dart"myth"
You may have heard all people at Dartmouth are tree-huggers crying in the wilderness, clad in khaki pants and a white baseball cap. It isn't true.
While the Dartmouth Outing Club does play a large role on campus, the majority of Dartmouth students do not regularly hike the Appalachian Trail.
And although the GAP is the only chain clothing store in town and many people look like they just stepped off the pages of a J. Crew catalogue, not everyone at the College dress the same.
You may also have the "Animal House" image of the typical Dartmouth student in mind -- the beer-guzzling, keg-tossing, drunken frat boy. Rest assured, not all fraternity members at the College fit that stereotype. In fact, that image is definitely the exception to the rule.
