Dartmouth students are busy. There seems to be a constant obligation to fill weekdays with work. For many students, it’s not just days of the week on campus — this feeling extends to off terms too. Questions like “Have you found an internship yet?” or “How did your interview go?” seem to permeate campus, no matter what term it is.
Indeed, one of the admissions office’s biggest selling points regarding the D-Plan is students’ ability to more easily acquire competitive internships during a less competitive application period. But there is more value to the D-Plan, beyond using off terms to work another office job.
This fanatic need to achieve is incredibly harmful to the Dartmouth community. Not only does it lead students to associate their resume value with self-worth, but it also prevents them from taking advantage of the abundant opportunities that both Dartmouth and being young provide: time, money and enough support to make practically any off-term activity happen. Instead, in a world of constant motion — amplified by Dartmouth’s academic pressures — it is good to take a step back and make a spontaneous decision.
Some students choose to take trips in the outdoors, traveling to new places they haven’t seen before, almost like an extended version of a Dartmouth Outing Club trip. Sumant Sharma ’26, for example, is currently spending his off-term canoeing across Europe, beginning in France and almost reaching the Black Sea. Sharma attended the trip on a whim. His canoeing partner, Ben Shaman ‘26, asked him to go on the trip with him, saying, “You’re the only person I know that is crazy enough to say yes to this.” Trips like these are a once in a lifetime opportunity — in the words of Sharma, he was “never going to get to do this again.”
Beyond the inherent value in broadening one’s worldview and being exposed to new things, trips like these give their participants an invaluable perspective about what matters most in life. For example, in the case of Sharma and Shaman, the abundant kindness of the Europeans they encountered inspired Sharma to “go back to the communities he’s part of and be a good person.” For Dylan Galvez ’26, who spent his off term biking across the United States, the obstacles that he encountered on the road — such as his bike breaking in the middle of the desert — helped him to appreciate the values of perseverance and determination.
Yet, not all off terms need to be so adventurous. Jack Wisdom ’26 spent his off term at home at Alabama, spending time with family and friends, doing random work for family members, studying for the LSAT and resting. He emphasized spending time with his family and figuring out his post-graduate plans.
The logic behind this desire to spend time with one’s family is borne out in the data. By the age of 20, the time the average person spends with their family sharply decreases. At this point in life, the average person will also have already spent approximately 90% of their total time they get with their parents. Thus, for students like Wisdom, off terms offer an increasingly rare and unique opportunity to pause, reconnect and prioritize what matters most before life inevitably picks up speed. Wisdom’s experience shows that quality time with loved ones and serious career preparation — like studying for the LSAT, a key law school admissions factor — aren’t mutually exclusive.
Some might say, “But I need this internship now! I can always travel later.” Yet, you can work in a city anytime after graduating, while off terms offer a rare sense of freedom. Dartmouth’s D-Plan offers students flexibility to spend that time on an unforgettable experience. Sharma described his experience canoeing across Europe as “playground time” — spontaneous, unstructured experiences beyond the usual grind of internships and pre-professional clubs. Galvez puts it simply: “You’re only young once,” a time with less health considerations and real-world responsibilities.
Some may argue that the hustle to find a job is necessary — especially in fields like finance or consulting, where internships pay well and often lead to full-time offers post-graduation. But these jobs are often limited to junior summer, leaving students with two other off terms to travel, do something unforgettable or spend time with their loved ones — experiences they will remember long after college.
Dartmouth students should remember that we are much more than our resumes and prioritize spending at least one off term on new experiences. Work a niche internship in a country you’ve never been to before, spend some time with your hometown family and friends or do something you’ve been wanting to do for your entire life.
This spontaneity can extend to off campus activities, like trying a new sport or going to a random club meeting that you saw on Listserv. Even if it’s not going to beef up your resume, it does not inherently have less value than something that does; rather, it serves a different purpose. It contributes to life’s meaning in its own way. Who knows, maybe you can make a friend or two along the way! After all, when our kids ask us about our experience at Dartmouth, are we going to talk about the days we spent working a 9-5 job or getting caught by the B+ median in our economics class, or share the real-world experiences we had and our interactions with others?
At a place like Dartmouth, where ambition runs high and time moves fast, perhaps the most meaningful thing we can do is slow down long enough to actually live the life we’re working so hard to build.
Ana Arzoumanidis is a member of the Class of 2028. Opinion articles represent the views of their author(s), which are not necessarily those of The Dartmouth.
