Among the many experiences at Dartmouth we as students love to brag about is that of our penchant for international study. Any Dartmouth brochure or webpage never fails to mention that over 60 percent of us study abroad at some point in our four years here.. What we often forge, however, is that there's another 40 percent who remain in Hanover for the entirety of their academic careers at the College..
As flexible as the D-Plan may be, it doesn't guarantee that all students will have the time to go abroad. In fact, for those students at Dartmouth who are on the pre-med or engineering track, pursuing double majors or simply do not decide on their major until later in their college careers, studying abroad often gets placed on the backburner of their priority list.
Michael Altamirano '13 has never studied abroad, and his first off-term will be this spring.
"I prioritized getting into my major over going abroad," he said. "I'm a government major and I only started taking gov courses last winter, so to get the course work that I wanted I've had to take courses here."
Matt Ritter '15, who is an engineering major, said that despite his interest in international study, it is difficult for people like him to go abroad because the College prioritizes off-campus programs in non-scientific fields. "Engineering is a lot about group work, and it'd be a really interesting to see how group work is treated in another country and whether they're really rigid or relaxed about it compared to here," Matt Ritter '15 said. "I'd like to [study abroad], but it's hard in the sciences because a lot of the abroad programs are for culture, language and history."
Nevertheless, for the students in such programs who sort out their D-Plan early, studying abroad becomes much more feasible. Thomas Balch '12, an engineering major, planned out his entire D-Plan during his sophomore year so that he could participate in an exchange program to study at a Japanese university.
"I planned out what intended to take every term," he said. "And I realized that I could take a full term off of engineering courses and be able to graduate a term early from the 5-year program.
Because Balch is interested in robotics, and Japan is a world leader in this realm of engineering, he said his abroad experience proved an extremely enriching opportunity.
"I was able to get connections so that I could go back to Japan and get an internship at a robotics lab and live with some of my friends from the university," he said. "Whether or not I work in Japan, I'm inevitably going to be working with Japanese people. Now, I have the option of finding a job in Japan, and knowing that I already have connections there and like the culture there opens up new opportunities."
Pre-med student Hannah Kuhar '13 also found time to travel abroad by working with a volunteer organization in Guatemala called Mayan Medical Aid.
"At Dartmouth, it's hard to be pre-med and think beyond filing the requirements," she said. "But seeing these people in their different levels of career was very inspiring and motivating.It really confirmed my interest in health and my desire to get more involved in these areas."
Besides being on the pre-med or engineering track, involvement in Dartmouth sports teams also poses a problem for Big Green athletes who want to study abroad.
Because Arianna Vailas '14 runs both cross-country and track and is therefore a three-season athlete, she said she will never have the opportunity to study abroad in spite of her desire to.
"I have a passion for Spanish and I really want to be fluent, so I had every intention of going to a Spanish speaking country," she said. "But the way my coach put it was that you only have four years to compete as a college athlete, and the rest of your life to go to a Spanish speaking country." Vailas added that she doesn't never want to study abroad, she would just rather prioritize athletics while at Dartmouth.
"It'd be more important for me to compete well in as many seasons as I can, rather than study abroad for personal interest," she said. "By staying on campus all three seasons to compete as a Dartmouth student, I think I'm really capitalizing on that unique opportunity."Study abroad is valuable when it does fall in line with your interests, but when it doesn't, it often means that Hanover can offer you experiences that are equally valuable.
"I think a lot of students go abroad just for the sake of going abroad," Sara Marcus '13 said. "I don't think that means everyone has to go abroad to have a great Dartmouth experience. You can have life-changing experiences in Hanover or your hometown.
In the end, we love talking about international study because our peers who do take advantage of these opportunities often gain a lot from them. But the reason we chose this school in the first place was that there are equally amazing opportunities to be had right here in Hanover. Both at Dartmouth and around the world,we are thrown so many opportunities, and it's up to each of us to decide which ones we will benefit from most.
