After filling out all those College applications and working hard to make your way through high school, all so you could make it to Dartmouth, you might not be happy to hear that things only get tougher.
Dartmouth places many graduation requirements on students, including a physical education requirement and many academic distributive requirements, but if you understand what you are required to do, things are a lot easier.
Requirements
When you first arrive to go on your Dartmouth Outing Club freshman trip this fall, you will take your first step towards graduation when you fulfill your first requirement -- a 50-yard swim test.
By the end of the Summer term after your sophomore year, you also have to complete three terms of PE. If you do not pass your swim test in a timely fashion, you will be required to take swimming for one of these terms.
Participating in a varsity sport can help you fulfill your PE requirement. The College offers many different courses for PE credit, such as aerobics classes, canoeing, ballroom dancing, mountain biking, rock climbing, downhill and cross-country skiing, fly-fishing, golf, in-line skating and racquet sports, among others.
Some of the more popular classes fill up quickly, so sign up early.
Students who do not fulfill their PE requirements by the end of their sophomore summer are fined $50 each term after that until they complete PE. You will also be fined $50 for failing a PE course (i.e. not attending class).
Academic requirements are a bit more complex. In order to graduate, students must pass their language requirement and fulfill 12 distributive requirements, including one interdisciplinary requirement, which can be fulfilled by classes taught by multiple professors from different departments.
The quantitative and deductive science requirement involves taking a math-type analytical course such as introduction to calculus or statistics.
The philosophy, history or religion requirement can be satisfied by a wide variety of courses in each of these departments, including such courses as introductory American history, 'Religion and Morality' and 'The Philosophy of Reason.'
Two social analysis courses are also required and can be satisfied by courses in such disciplines as economics, geography, sociology and anthropology.
The technology or applied science requirement is filled by computer science, earth science and engineering courses, while the "science" requirement is satisfied by chemistry, biology and physics courses.
You must take one technology or applied science course and two natural sciences. One of these three classes must have a laboratory.
Comparative literature and certain government classes fill the international or comparative study requirement.
Finally, there is an arts requirement which can be satisfied by music, art history and studio art courses, and a literature requirement that is satisfied by most course offerings in the English department any many upper-level foreign language classes.
In addition to distributive requirements, students must satisfy a world culture requirement which entails a that course be taken in each of the following areas: European, non-Western and North American. Courses in any department ranging from history and anthropology to music and religion will complete these cultural criteria.
Many students place out of their language proficiency requirement through Advanced Placement or SAT II tests, and others can place into the second or third course of a language.
Introductory language classes focus on grammar and vocabulary. They are supplemented by the Rassias method, developed by French Professor John Rassias, of phrase repetition during morning drill held at 7:45 a.m. or evening drill held at 5 p.m. five days a week in addition to classes.
Unless they tested out, first year students are also required to take English 5: Literature and Composition, and then a seminar class. These classes are usually well-liked because they are limited to 16 students to help foster discussion. Freshman seminars often explore interesting topics not covered in regular classes, such as Cold War espionage and witchcraft.
The course requirements for freshman seminars typically involve writing four papers of about six pages length and may demand heavy reading.
Choosing classes
Although you may be wondering if it is possible to satisfy all these requirements in four short years, few students run into major difficulties.
Students who must be most cautious, however, are those who must take a certain series of courses for an intended career path, such as pre-medicine or engineering.
For example, curriculum patterns can be tricky for those trying to satisfy pre-med requirements while majoring in a nonscientific department.
Although there are many requirements to assure that students get a well-balanced education, students still have a great deal of freedom in selecting their courses.
For advice on what to take and how to satisfy the requirements, students have many options: deans, undergraduate advisors, student mentors, academic advisors, professors and even older friends can offer valuable advice.
Many students decide on a major by the spring of their sophomore year and file a major card listing the courses they plan to take.
Most students will change their intended major several times before they graduate, so it is best not to set your sights on just one major. Deans often advise students to take a wide variety of courses their freshman year in order to get a broad sampling of possible majors and satisfy distributive requirements at the same time.
Major requirements can entail anywhere between eight and 12 classes, but modified majors and double majors will require more, so plan early.
According to Associate Registrar Nancy Broadhead, 144 of the 1,041 members of the Class of 1996 were double majors, and she said three students even triple-majored.
A minor requires about six classes to complete, and students do not have to declare minors until senior year. Broadhead said minors have only been available at the College a few years, and 246 members of the Class of 1996 graduated with a minor.
The six most popular majors at the College in recent years were government, biology, economics, English, psychology and history.
Besides taking courses on campus, students can participate in a Foreign Study Program or a Language Study Abroad in such countries as Argentina, France, Morocco and Japan. Broadhead said nearly 50 percent of students participate in an off-campus program.
Because of the Dartmouth Plan -- four equal terms year-round -- taking a 10-week term off to go abroad is not difficult.
Some of the most popular courses on campus include pre-med requirements usually taken by freshmen, such as Chemistry 5 and 6.
Other popular classes include Psychology 1, Economics 1, Government 5 and Engineering Sciences 4, many of which have enrollments of over 100 students.
Some courses are labeled by students as "guts," or courses which require minimal work and in which high grades are easy to earn. But many people say this is just a myth, and often students are surprised at the amount of work in a class labeled as a gut.
The Dartmouth grading system
When you get your first grade report in your Hinman Box, you may be confused at what all the numbers and letters mean.
Not only do your actual grades appear on your transcript, the College also prints the median grade for each course you take and the number of students enrolled in the course.
For many courses you can opt to set a minimum grade desired, and if you do not reach this grade your transcript will reflect a grade of Pass instead of a letter grade. This choice, called the Non Recording Option, is popular for students who are interested in a particular course, but do not want to damage their grade point average.
Students cannot place an NRO on a course for major credit or for a course satisfying a distributive requirement. The NRO does not apply to all courses offered at the College.
