What do you want out of your Dartmouth experience? Make a list, then number the list items in order of importance, and rewrite the list in that order. For example:
Lifelong friends 3 Lifelong friends To get into med school
To get into med school 1 To get into med school To learn time management
To learn time management 2 To learn time management Lifelong friends
Now that you have your goals in order, organize your time such that you’re spending the most time on your most important goal. If you have a goal that is urgent but not time consuming, such as learning time management skills, make time for it as soon as possible, but don’t spend more time than necessary on it.
Budgeting your time based on your goals will help you feel satisfied with your time spent. You can make a list of long-term goals and weekly short-term goals to help you allocate time for specific projects or studying for an exam. Revise your long-term goals monthly and your short-term goals as needed (daily/weekly).
Planners
The most basic time management tool is a planner. As some meetings might still occur via zoom, I recommend using Google Calendar. With Google Calendar, you can put the zoom link in your calendar and easily access it. We also offer a Dartmouth weekly planner with the start time of courses built in. You can print it out and highlight the time blocks of your commitments, or you can fill it in using text boxes in Microsoft Word.
Now that you have your goals established, you should plan your recurring time blocks according to your long-term goals. Be sure to include rest time. Using the free space, you should add in time for accomplishing your short-term goals.
Other Tips
The Foco lines are long. If you want to be productive while you wait for your omelette, you can pull up a pdf of an assigned reading, (for psychology students: you can do your InQuisitive assignment on your phone), you can review pictures of your notes, or do whatever you can do for your classes and extracurricular commitments. If you have an audio version of readings, you can listen to them while you walk around campus!
Use your goals as a guideline for your priorities, but trust yourself as you determine your priorities throughout the day, and stick to them.
Only concentrate on one thing at a time. This will help you get your work done faster, and you’ll find that you have more time this way. For more information and time management tips, check out our website!
I had my first in-person exam during 21X, after five quarters of remote learning. Needless to say, it was an experience. Here are five practices that made my in-person exam experience as painless as possible.
Study with physical material.
For example, if you have a PDF of a practice exam and reference sheets, print them out, and try to do the exam within the time limit that your professor will give you for the actual exam.
Try to recreate the conditions of your testing environment while you study.
If you know the classroom your exam will be in, see if there’s a time when it’s empty and unlocked. If there is, then the classroom makes an excellent place to do practice questions.
Even if the exam is open-book, do your best to remember the material without referencing your notes.
Switching between tabs and using the finder command on your computer is a lot easier than flipping through sheets of paper to find your relevant notes. If you know the material by heart, you’ll do better with time management on your exam.
Go to office hours.
Ask your professor for help with material you want to be more comfortable with. If you’re nervous about taking the exam in-person for the first time, ask your professor if they have any suggestions that will help you succeed on their exam.
Create practice questions for yourself.
The best way to learn material is to practice information retrieval. Ask yourself questions and try to answer them without looking at your notes. Spend more time quizzing yourself than rereading your textbook or notes.
This blogpost is the final part of the freshman FAQ series, and it will answer the following questions:
“How can I pick a balanced course load?”
“How can I choose classes while being considerate of my major and the liberal arts curriculum?”
Professor of Computer Science and Director of the Institute for Security, Technology, and Society, Venkatramanan Subrahmanian, teaches a class on Artificial Intelligence.
Picking Balanced Courses: Workload
Before you select any course, read reviews either on layuplist.com or the course assessment portal. You can access the course assessment portal through Darthub, search “Course Assessment Portal,” click on it, and once you’re in, you can type the course or professor name into the keyword search. For example, “PSYC 11.”
The course assessment portal does not have reviews of every course nor every professor available, but it is worth checking out as it will give you less biased reviews. Layuplist is great in that it has every course/term, usually the medians, and for most courses, it has reviews for various professors. However, it tends to be biased. If you see terrible reviews for a professor, try to ask upperclassmen (trip leaders, UGA, teammates, etc) if they have taken a course with the professor or if they know someone who has. They can give you more information and help you figure out whether taking the course is worth it. I would take reviews from 20S-21X with a grain of salt because many professors teach much differently over zoom than in-person.
If you’re wondering where the name “layup list” comes from, at Dartmouth, a layup is considered to be an easy course. Layuplist.com has an option for students to upvote or downvote a course as a layup, but remember that just because a course is a layup for another student does not mean it will be a layup for you. Likewise, just because a course is a layup for you, it might not be a layup for another student.
I advise you to use the course assessment portal and layuplist.com to gauge the workload of a course and find three with varying degrees of workload or two lighter workload courses with one hefty workload. Some questions you can ask yourself while figuring out workload:
How many essays will I have to write?
How many words/pages are they?
How many exams will I have to take?
What is the format of the exam?
How much time do I plan to spend studying?
How many projects will I have to complete?
How many homework assignments or problem sets will I have to do?
How often are they due?
How many pages of reading will I have to do per class or per week?
Do I actually have to do the whole reading for little details, or can I succeed while skimming for the most important conceptual information?
For language courses: How many times per week will I have drill?
Note: Drill is an extra class, taught by a fluent student, that you take for language courses. For Asian Society, Culture, and Language courses, it is usually four times per week. For European languages, it is usually three times per week.
Will my professor be using all x-hours? How many times per week will we meet?
Ultimately, the choice is yours, but please do not take three intense courses at once. Try to leave time for yourself.
Picking Balanced Courses: Subjects
When picking courses, it is important to balance the workload and types of work. I find that one reading-and-writing-intensive course, one STEM course, and one creative class (though I am a Studio Art Major, so this isn’t necessarily applicable for everyone) is a good combination. Try to balance your subjects so that you aren’t doing too much of one thing (for example, two reading intensive classes might have you doing 500 pages of reading per week). This should be easy regardless of your academic path because we are required to take distributive classes.
From personal experience, I find that the best way to transition to the academic rigor at Dartmouth would be to take two layups and one hard class. With this method, you’ll have a taste of what academic rigor really means here, but you won’t be overwhelmed by multiple classes at once.
For your freshman fall course load, you should have your Writing 2 or Writing 5 course, one easier class, and one harder class in a subject you are interested in exploring. The workload for humanities tends to be more intense than Writing 2 or Writing 5, as you have to read multiple novels, but regardless, I encourage you to take a course with a lighter workload and one course in a subject that you are interested in majoring in regardless of its workload.
Choosing Classes While Being Considerate of Major and Liberal Arts Curriculum
When planning courses, the most important thing to keep in mind is your goal after college. Are you going to medical school? Check out course requirements and suggestions for your med school of choice. Do you want to be an engineer? Meet with your dean, your academic advisor, or the department chair for help with planning your courses.
If you aren’t sure what you want to do yet, identify a few departments that you’re interested in and see how many requirements there are for the major, including prerequisites.
You will pick up distributive requirements as you explore departments, so you don’t have to take classes for the sake of getting distributives during your freshman year. If you do not have most of your distributives by your fifth term (in your sophomore year), then it’ll be time to worry about taking classes to get distributives.
The bottom line is that your first priority should be your plans after college.
Why are you here?
Your second priority should be your major.
What do you want to learn while you’re here?
Your third priority should be the liberal arts curriculum requirements.
Which courses do you need to graduate?
If you are worried about the liberal arts curriculum and picking a major that isn’t applicable to your goal after college, you can justify your studies to employers by saying that any major at Dartmouth teaches you how to think critically. For fields in which your undergraduate studies aren’t essential for your next steps, don’t worry about majoring in any particular department. Employers who hire Dartmouth students know that this is a liberal arts school. They want students who know how to think.
Have fun choosing classes, and have a great first year! If you have additional questions, feel free to DM our instagram account @dartmouthacademicskills.
For the fifth part of the Q&A for ‘25s blog series, I (Sarah, the ASC intern writing this) will address the following questions:
What is the best way to make friends?
How can I acclimate socially, especially if I’m not into Greek life?
Ways to Make Friends
Go on First-Year Trips! I was fortunate enough to have great trippies (which is what we call other freshmen who went on the same trip as us) and made three friends on trips, whom I still talk to and get meals with two years later! Not everyone gets along with their trippies, so if you don’t like yours, don’t worry! The student body is diverse, and you’ll be able to find your people if you look for them.
Joining clubs is another great way to make new friends. This is especially true for smaller organizations where you’ll have the opportunity to interact with people, or you have to interact with people when you show up to events. Some smaller clubs I’ve been able to make friends in are Mental Health Union and Dartmouth Japan Society. Any sort of club that requires collaboration (e.g. Habitat for Humanity) would be also excellent for making friends!
Living Learning Communities (LLCs) facilitate friendships because LLCs have required weekly meetings, and you live on the same floor, so hanging out is convenient. If your freshman floor UGA organizes events for you all to hang out, those are great opportunities to get to know your floormates better. You’ll have an hour weekly meeting with them as well, so you’ll have plenty of time to get to know them.
Classes that require a lot of interaction or group work are also great. Introductory language classes are helpful for this because you have to see your classmates at drill too, so you’ll be spending at least six hours with them per week, and you’ll have the opportunity to casually converse with them (in another language, of course). I also find that harder classes give way to friendships because people tend to seek out study groups or go to group tutoring when they are struggling, and I have made friends this way as well.
Due to Dartmouth’s housing crisis, you’ll probably have a roommate. If you do, you can make friends with your roomies! However, you don’t have to be best friends with them. Most people are not besties with their roommates. As long as you maintain cordial relationships and respect one another’s needs, establish cleaning rules, etc, you’ll be fine.
If you’re eligible for any affinity-based pre-orientation programs, it doesn’t hurt to attend those as well. I didn’t get lasting, close friendships from FYSEP pre-o, but I formed valuable relationships with staff. FYSEP and the NAP also offer fun student bonding activities (such as apple-picking or canoeing), which are opportunities to make new friends!
Sometimes people that you vaguely know will sit down with you in FoCo (the main, buffet-style dining hall, called Class of 1953 Commons on Maps) when they see you eating alone. It can be nice if you want to get to know them better. I tried doing it to a girl who sat next to me in one of our classes, but apparently she was waiting for people, so it ended up being awkward. If you try this method, go about it cautiously.
Club sports and varsity teams are also great ways to meet people, but I can’t speak from experience.
As you meet other students, keep in mind that you don’t need 4,000 friends. The most important thing is that you have one or two friends that you can be genuinely yourself with. Find people who you can enjoy having a conversation with, sitting in a comfortable silence with -- someone you can explore the town with, hit the gym with, or do little errands like getting mail or going to CVS together.
Words of advice for going out: If you’ve only known someone for a short time, you don’t necessarily have to do what they’re doing to fit in. Stay true to yourself. When you go out at night, go with friends. Before you leave, promise to take care of one another, and help one another get home safely.
How to Socially Acclimate if You Aren’t Into Greek Life
We can’t rush until our sophomore year, so you’ll probably have a couple of friends by then (perhaps acquired through the methods described in the previous section) who also aren’t into Greek life. 35% of the student population chooses not to rush, so there are plenty of people like you, for you to become friends with!
My friends who are not Greek-affiliated often end up in Greek spaces anyway because there’s nowhere else to party in this town, but I honestly have more fun hanging out with them in their dorm room than I do while going fratting. Stepping into Greek spaces isn’t necessary to have a good time!
Even if you’re not into Greek life, keep an open mind about it. There are three gender-inclusive houses that definitely don’t align with what people think of when they hear “Greek life.”
Greek life isn’t something that’s shoved in your face as a freshman, and if you want to avoid it, you most definitely can. I probably only spent thirty minutes in Greek spaces during my freshman year (though that might also have something to do with being kicked off campus at the beginning of the pandemic). There are plenty of other social spaces (e.g. clubs, affinity groups, etc.) where you can find your people and enjoy yourself!
As I’ve said before, the most important thing is that you have genuine friends whom you can hang out with regardless of the setting. Many people don’t find their good friends until sophomore year, so if you don’t make besties freshman year, don’t worry! You’ll find your people somehow.
Today’s blog post will be answering four questions:
“How can I access accommodations (extra time, etc.)?”
“How can I get mental health care at Dartmouth?”
“Do you have tips on how to get involved on campus, networking, and how to take advantage of resources?”
“What are the best scholastic resources at Dartmouth?”
Accommodations
To learn about accessing accommodations, please visit the Student Accessibility Services (SAS) website. I would first look at their “Getting Started” page. Note that it takes approximately one week for SAS to contact you after you put in a request, so do it as early as possible.
Mental Health Care
In Hanover, there are many free resources to help you take care of your mental health.
If you need to vent with a peer, Peer Support is a good option, which you can access (now, if you have a dartmouth email and zoom account) by dropping into their Zoom room from 10:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. EST every day.
The College Chaplain at the Tucker Center offers free pastoral counseling to help you, whether you’re religious or secular. The Chaplain provides confidential counseling and is not obligated to share, which means she is not obligated to share what you tell her or make reports to the Title IX office if you disclose an instance of sexual assault. She can help with crisis response, issues such as loss of a loved one, etc. You can contact her to make an appointment at 603-646-3780.
For support in dealing with sexual assault and gender-based violence, you should contact WISE at 603-448-5922. There are on campus resources for survivors of sexual assault and gender-based violence, but WISE are the experts of the Upper Valley, and there is a WISE advocate on campus. If you are in a situation in which you need support, such as moving dorms or issuing a no contact order, the Title IX Office can help you, should you choose to make a Title IX report. Their phone number is 603-646-0922.
On their website, the Counseling Center has listed a few resources that can help you in a crisis situation. You should save the phone number for Safety & Security (S&S) safe rides, which are when the S&S officers come to your location and take you home if you feel unsafe walking home, regardless of the reason: 603-646-4000. You can call any time.
If you wish to make a counseling appointment with the Counseling Center, you can call them at 603-464-9442.
These are just some of the resources available to you, but what you do with this information is your choice. Our campus culture has become more open to discussions of mental health in recent years, so don’t hesitate to talk to friends and ask an upperclassman or a mentor about mental health on campus. Talking to students with similar problems can help you figure out what might be the best option for you.
Lastly, it is important to manage your mental health at Dartmouth on a personal level. Some ways that I do this are by establishing a routine at the beginning of the term (sleeping, eating, & exercise times). I check in with myself to notice changes in mood, sleep or eating habits, pastimes, etc. If I notice a change that I don’t particularly desire, I will find the cause of it and act accordingly to fix it. Try to make genuine friends when you get here because connecting with others is important for mental health.
Campus Involvement, Networking, Taking Advantage of Resources
One of the best things you can do to get involved and network is join clubs and mentorship programs. This is a great way to meet upperclassmen and make new friends. It is best to go into clubs with the mindset of making friends and less with the mindset of networking, so connections won’t feel forced.
For business-related networking, the CPD has a guide on how to do it! Click the hyperlink to read more. It covers different kinds of networking, how to write networking messages on LinkedIn, how to follow up, etc. You don’t have to follow up with everyone, but if you felt a solid connection with someone, you should. You should include something you talked about when you follow up. For example, if someone tells you that you should read xyz book, offer your thoughts on the book after reading it.
If you don’t have an obvious follow up topic, but you enjoyed talking with someone, you can update them on your career progress and wish them happy holidays the next time that the holidays come around. These are just examples! Networking is what you want it to be, so if you don’t want to send these messages, there is no need to.
To take advantage of resources, you need to know what exists. The ASC instagram account @dartmouthasc has many posts about campus resources, which you should check out! After that, you can determine what you might want to utilize. If you ever need help but don’t know where to go, you should check in with your undergraduate dean and ask them which resource on campus can help you.
The best way to take advantage of resources is to make the time and use them. Schedule an appointment with an academic coach to build your time management skills, so you’ll have time to make those appointments with the CPD or your undergraduate dean!
Scholastic Resources at Dartmouth
At the ASC, we’re particularly partial to our freshman fall PE course called Learning@Dartmouth, in which you’ll learn all about Dartmouth’s incredible academic resources! We also offer group tutoring for introductory courses and academic coaching for individualized guidance toward better study habits and figuring out what you want to study.
For information on more campus resources, check out our website, where we have listed other academic resources!
