Summer term is traditionally labeled "sophomore summer," but several non-sophomores have decided to spend these three months on the Hanover Plain.
While there are 1015 sophomores here for the summer, there are 197 students registered who are not members of the Dartmouth Class of 2000, according to Registrar Data Control Assistant Nancy Comstock.
The Registrar's list of summer students includes 65 from the Class of 1999, and 55 members of the Class of 2001, as well as several from classes as far back as 1987, Comstock said.
There are also nine students from the Twelve-College exchange program, from such schools as Mount Holyoke College, Wellesley College, and Smith College, and seven on the Thayer Engineering School dual-degree program. Finally, there are 11 special summer exchange students, including six students from Edinburgh, Scotland, and two from Keble College, Oxford.
Randi Barnes '98, said she decided to stay for the summer to work on a short film. She is also holding down three jobs, as a camp counselor, a manager at Collis Center and an intern at a publishing company, which "hasn't exactly left me with much time to actually work on said film," Barnes said.
"The atmosphere here is sort of surreal. It is not 'my' sophomore summer, so I have a sort of 'been there, done that' kind of feeling," Barnes said.
However she added that "having the sophomores on campus is great. Hanover was very lonely during interim and post-graduation."
Willy Wong '99 said he spent his sophomore summer working in investment banking in New York. "I mostly stayed this summer to prepare a grad school application for Fulbright, and to work on my thesis," Wong said.
Esther Freeman '01 said she is staying on campus this term because she took her freshman winter off to compete with the U.S. freestyle ski team, traveling across North America and Europe, and to Japan for the Olympics.
"I am going on the [Language Study Abroad] to Sienna, Italy, in the fall, for which I have to be a sophomore -- so I have to make up the term I missed by being here now," Freeman said.
"I'm not sure if I'll be here next summer or not," Freeman said, "as we have ski training all summer on a glacier in Oregon, and I would miss a lot of training by going to school."
Freeman said the atmosphere in the summer was much more relaxed, with "more play, less work" going on.
"I haven't been going to all the parties (who can?) but quite a few. Enough, shall we say," she said.
Eric Shoemaker '01 said he decided to stay at the College for the summer rather than "getting an internship where I shuffle papers or do some sort of menial labor."
Shoemaker said he hopes by taking classes he will be able to take an extra term off in junior year, "when I'll be prepared for a meaningful internship."
Shoemaker also commented on the relaxed atmosphere on campus. "Dartmouth is even closer during the summer," he said.
One student from the Twelve-College exchange program was not so enthusiastic, however.
"On the surface, I would have to say that the campus is somewhat cold. I have found that people are happy to be approached, but not equally as excited to introduce themselves to me," she said.
Other exchange students also found the sophomores a little cliquey. Deepa Subramanian -- a student from Smith on the dual-degree program -- said, "I guess the sophs are cliquey, but, come on, give them a break. They've known each other two years now and have their niches."
Subramanian, who will be here until the spring, and then returns for another year after finishing at Smith, also said Dartmouth was "more real than Smith, being co-ed."
