Chris (Sem 2, 2022)

My Exchange at Dartmouth College

I loved my experience at Dartmouth, but in many ways it was different to what I expected. I anticipated a rigorous academic environment which would push me out of my comfort-zone, and Dartmouth definitely delivered in this respect. However, I did not anticipate quite how high-pressure this environment would be. Dartmouth has a 10 week semester, which doesn’t seem that bad, but when you consider that UoA has a 2-week break in the middle of its 12 week semester, Dartmouth’s term structure means that the same amount of content is taught within a substantially shorter timeframe. This definitely took some adjustment.

Dartmouth also had an extremely lively campus culture. There are a plethora of clubs and societies that you can get involved with. However for me, a person who had lived at home while in Auckland and had never been much of a party person, Dartmouth student culture was a really big change. Since Dartmouth is located in the small (and lovely) town of Hanover, NH, social life is concentrated on the campus itself. There isn’t a massive sprawling city to go and explore, almost all of your student activities will be on the campus itself. When you couple this with the small size of Dartmouth’s student body, the Dartmouth student experience can feel extremely intimate when coming from a city university like UoA. Overall though I found this really forced me to be social, and I made some amazing connections along the way.

Definitely get involved with the outdoors. The Dartmouth Outing Club (DOC) coordinates all kinds of trips and outdoor activities. The DOC is so large that it has a huge variety of sub-clubs for different activities (e.g., hiking, skiing, and hunting). Personally, I did not think I had the capacity to get heavily involved with the DOC. However, I knew I definitely wanted to do some hiking. To this end, I ended up making use of the DOC’s dedicated web-platform called ‘Trailhead.’ Trailhead is great because you can sign up to go on individual hikes (which can be sorted by time and skill-level) without heavily committing to the society. This allowed me to sign up for a ‘sunrike’ (sunrise hike, not to be confused with a ‘sunsike’) which I absolutely loved. If you only have the chance to do one hike, which is understandable given how busy the term is, I would recommend a sunrike up Gile (particularly if you are on campus during Fall) for some excellent views of mountains and foliage.

Overall, I loved my time at Dartmouth, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants a mixture of outdoor adventure, academic rigour, and a close-knit social environment.

Q&A

What were some of the highlights of the academic experience at your host university?

I loved the high pace of the academic curriculum, it was challenging but rewarding.

Would you recommend any particular activity/activities unique to your host country or university?

Primarily, I would recommend getting involved in outdoor activities (skiing, hiking, canoeing etc.) as this is extremely common on campus, but I would also recommend checking out the student newspaper (‘The Dartmouth’), it’s the oldest college newspaper in the country.

What are your top 3 tips for future students attending your host university or going on exchange to your host country?

1. Don’t feel overwhelmed by all the opportunities, clubs and societies, you don’t have to do everything so just pick and choose what you love

2. Focus on your mental health, especially if this is going to be your first time living on campus or living in a dorm-room with other people

3. Make an active effort to find space for alone time away from the busy social life on campus

How much did you budget for your exchange? Was this enough? Were there any lessons learned that would help future students budget for their own exchange?

I budgeted around $9000 NZD, this was enough to cover flights, health insurance and food/accommodation. My main lesson would be to make sure that you have money set aside for travel across the USA, domestic flights and buses/trains in the US are surprisingly expensive.

What are your most significant takeaways from your experience abroad?

I’ve learned that the American college experience is totally different to the NZ college experience. It’s more high intensity, but is extremely rewarding.

Do you want to share anything about travels you did outside your host city/country?

Dartmouth is great because it’s on the East Coast and has a dedicated bus service which runs to Boston and New York. Trips to both of these places were a highlight for me.