This past weekend, one of my friends celebrated her 22nd birthday. She planned a dinner with her parents, followed by a Valentine’s Day-themed celebration in our off-campus apartment before going out for the night. Around 10:45 p.m., we were all still happily chatting and eating chocolate-covered strawberries in our living room. We were tempted to call it a night, but given the birthday occasion, we decided we must venture out into the cold and head to the frats.
As we approached the house of our choice, we saw the huddle of people waiting outside the door and let out a collective sigh of disappointment. It was too cold, and we were too old to fight the crowd to get in the front door. We then had two options: We could walk another five to 10 minutes to try our luck at a different frat, or we could walk across the street to get a drink at Murphy’s. With little hesitation, we chose the latter.
After approximately three years and five-and-a-half months as a Dartmouth student, I would like to think that I could navigate campus with my eyes closed. Aside from a few physical and natural sciences buildings, like Steele Hall, I have had a class in most of the academic buildings. I have searched the library far and wide for my favorite study spot, braved all sides and floors of Foco, endured the highs and lows of Dartmouth housing, gotten momentarily lost in Pine Park … I could go on.
All of this to say that I have interacted with most spaces on campus, and the resulting sense of familiarity has led me to consider this plot of land in the middle of the woods a home away from home. Even my time living in the Choates — the freshman dorms that the admissions tours seem to purposefully avoid — holds a special place in my heart. I was almost certainly allergic to whatever is in those popcorn ceilings and grimy carpets, but they also gave me some of my best friends and memories of my early days at Dartmouth.
My love for the Dartmouth campus has blossomed over the past four years, but there is one place that stands out as the exception to this rule: the doorstep of a frat between the hours of approximately 10:45 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. The especially eager freshmen start lining up about 15 minutes early to be the first ones through the door when it opens at 11 p.m., and the stragglers who failed to fight their way in on their first try accumulate in line for the next 45 minutes or so.
For Dartmouth upperclassmen, there is a shift that occurs in going out culture — a shift I have only really started to feel this winter. One night, I looked around the frat basement I was in and realized that I didn’t recognize most of the people packed in around me. My friends and I were the oldest people in a sea of underclassmen.
“Reflecting on the past four years, it’s been really fun to break down the concept of frats in my mind,” Janani Srinivasa ’26 explained. “I used to see frats as such a big thing, but now, as I get older, I think it’s been really good for me to see that there’s so much going-out culture outside of frats.”
Whether it’s going to the Hopkins Center for the Arts bar for a free drink voucher or Murphy’s to play board games with friends, Srinivasa has discovered ways to socialize and have fun with friends outside of a frat basement.
Amaya Bonn ’26 has also felt this shift since becoming an upperclassman.
“By the time you’re a senior, you kind of have a pretty solid foundation of friendships and people to go out with,” Bonn explained. “But I feel like freshman year, people are still finding their people, so it’s really nice to go to spaces where everyone kind of congregates.”
As people turn 21 throughout junior year, they gain access to social spaces outside of frat row, like the Hanover bar scene.
“I would say Murphy’s is the closest we get to what people think of as a college bar,” Kat Mueller ’27 said. “There’s definitely been a shift of my friends wanting to get a drink [there] before going out instead of hanging out in someone’s dorm.”
Bonn agreed that “going out in town is a game-changer.” The $3 margaritas at Molly’s provide a great affordable option for upperclassmen looking for an off-campus social space.
Upperclassmen also gain access to on-campus 21+ events like Microbrews, a weekly Monday night event in Collis with a musical performance and drinks. It tends to cater to seniors who have likely established their social circles on campus, but it also encourages students to mingle with people they might not otherwise socialize with.
“A nice thing about senior year is, I feel like people are more willing, kind of like freshman year again, to meet new people,” Bonn said. “You kind of get that vibe at Microbrews where you’re saying hi to everyone. Everybody is so much friendlier and less stuck in their groups; there’s more morphing.”
Carly Joerin ’26 started going to Microbrews during her junior year. She explained that, as a student-athlete, she particularly enjoys the event when she is in season because it is “totally normal to be there and not be drinking.” She can socialize and catch up with friends outside of the typical going-out culture.
The Hop had its grand reopening this fall and students seem eager to get inside. The addition of the bar at the Top of the Hop has proved to be a great attraction for upperclassmen.
“This was my first time seeing the Hop,” Mueller said. The bar “is such a great excuse to go there and enjoy the newly renovated space.”
In the past few months, I have found myself feeling old far too many times. As I hear students introduce themselves with graduation years dangerously close to ’30, I can’t help but feel as though I’m past my prime. How is it that I can simultaneously feel so comfortable and familiar in a place, yet look around and recognize no one? I may have outgrown a frat basement, but it turns out the upperclassman going-out scene extends far beyond frat row and down Main Street.
