<p>Drill is an important part of the Rassias method of language teaching, for which D is known. John Rassias is still teaching, and is quite a character. S has worked as a drill instructor for both his dept and the Rassias Foundation, and really enjoys it.</p>
<p>Yes. S met with advisor prior to picking first semester classes. All students do this at freshman orientation. They are on campus for a week before they even choose their courses and, during this time, all departments have open houses and advising sessions as well as placement testing. They also have an advisor(dean) for individual students. Some orientation meetings are mandatory; some are open for departments or courses that student has interest in. During this week, S went to engineering, pre-med and Japanese dept open houses and spoke with profs to get a feel for planning his schedule. Afterward he met with his advisor and told him the courses he selected for first term and they agreed it was ok. They did not plan out future D-plan but I am going to encourage him to look at this when he is home in March as he is trying to fit a lot of stuff into 4-yrs and it will require careful planning to meet all distributive, world culture, pre-med and engineering. His minor in Japanese language will be complete by freshman summer! He is very lucky to have gone in with two full terms worth of credits(from AP scores) which will help him tremendously with engineering if he wants to get BE in addition to BA.</p>
<p>As Consolation mentioned, Dartmouth is well-known for its language (Rassias) program.</p>
<p>When you visit in June, try to go when summer term is in session so that you can see the students on campus. We visited some schools w/o students and my son never liked them because they were empty.</p>
<p>The advisorsâas they are at every schoolâare totally useless. Upperclassmen will always be the best resource.</p>
<p>Thank you again for you comments and valuable suggestions. We are familiar with the Rassias program at Dartmouth and it is one of the reasons for our interest in the college. My S will be taking the 4 week Summer immersion program in Chinese offered by the Middlebury College Language Institute in VT. Because he is only 16, he will be participating in that program off campus at the nearby Union Academy. It is during that June-July timeframe that we plan to visit Dartmouth. In the meantime, we are awaiting the first round of SAT scores as well as the ACTâs. Most of the parents here are all over that I know. Youâre lucky! My wife and I are just beginning the processâŠ</p>
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<p>Rauner has a copy from the first printing of the Book of Mormon in 1830. Since Joseph Smithâs birthplace is in Sharon, VTânot that far from DartmouthâI suspect that Dartmouth is on the Mormon history tour and therefore gets a lot of requests to see its copy.</p>
<p>Yes, that is correct! Donât miss the Rauner tour, the professor is very engaging and it is impressive to see students using the books for their own research.</p>
<p>Another good tour during Parents Weekend is the architecture tour. Itâs was given by a woman who is a revered professor of architecture, and she walks you through all the various stages and styles in the history of the development of the campus buildings and layout. She points out stuff she thinks is great and other stuff she regards as big mistakes. E.g. she loves the original Baker Library but thinks the later Berry addition and renovation basically ruined it. She points out the design and policy reasons why the north end of campus never became the busy student hang-out place the way it was intended and hence feels like a ghost town much of the time. Etc.</p>
<p>It was very interesting.</p>
<p>Well, I have been offline forever. Missed itâŠbut health issues, moving etcâŠgot caught up in life. Moved closer to the Big Green, but not too close (can now drive vs. flyâ within a few hours). Hope all you parents are doing well.</p>
<p>Welcome back MyCollegeKid. I hope everything is fine healthwise. That is really all that is important in life. I just got back from visiting D this past weekend. So much fun! First, if any of you fly into Manchester, Randy at uvride.com is GREAT. He picks you up at Manchester and drops you off wherever you want. He is so nice and friendly, and his vehicles have 4 wheel drive. They also have wifi. The phone is 802.356.9320. This worked out great for me, as the flight options from Boston got me to Hanover later than I wanted. </p>
<p>Anyway, I had never visited on an ordinary weekend. It was great to meet so many of her friends and new sorority sisters. Every time I am there I am reminded that Dartmouth truly is a very special place!</p>
<p>Dumbo!! TISNF! Hope you got some quality time in. Next week is Dartmouth Idol finals, canât wait for the video.</p>
<p>Magnum! Iâm embarrassed to say I had to google that acronym, as I didnât know what it stood for. Sorry, but itâs hard for me to feel bad for you when you are in HAWAII. Seriously though, it must be hard to be so far away. Next time Iâll bake an extra batch of cookies and bring them to your son :).</p>
<p>Ha Dumbo, I had to look it up to even use it. Happy that you got to go and visit your D. Is she going home for Spring break? I had to schedule some meetings on Capitol Hill as an excuse to help him move to DC for his internship. I now have to figure out a way to attend sophomore summer weekend. Would love to visit the lodge, Kayak on the Connecticut River, see Mt. Washington, look for moose. Iâll have to think about it when I am at the beach tomorrow.</p>
<p>I know the answer I am looking for is somewhere on this 63 page threadâŠI simply donât have the patience to look through it. When my '15 takes next winter off, where does he store his stuff? If he gets a research assignment at Dartmouth for his âoffâ term, where can he live? He said you can only stay certain # of terms on. He will be taking 5 terms in a row prior to Winter off. (Freshman Summer LSA+). Thanks parents!</p>
<p>The Office of Residential Life has all the answers and more. You can find them on the Dartmouth web site. There are storage options both on campus and off campus. It all works out. Housing is available for an on-campus research quarter when he doesnât take classes, it is called âLeave Term Housingâ and there are requirements to qualify for it, like 30 hours of research per week. Itâs all on the ORL webpage. Hope he enjoys his Dartmouth experience.</p>
<p>Thanks MagnumPI⊠will check it out.</p>
<p>When I dropped S off this term we went to Rauner and I asked to see the 1st ed Pride & Prejudice. The librarian brought out two in different bindings. It was a huge thrill to open volume 1 and read that wonderful opening sentence, imagining what it would have been like to do so in 1813. I love Jane Austen. :)</p>
<p>Here is my response to all the hazing allegations and Dartmouth slamming Iâve read in the last month or so: My Daughter will be attending graduate school there next year. We are very proud and could not be happier about her decision to apply to and choose to attend Dartmouth. It will take more than bad press to take down an institution that sends out so many outstanding graduates.</p>
<p>Looks like I may make it out there this late summer after all. We will have to have a CC parents function.</p>
<p>Also a big welcome to Parents of the Class of '16!</p>
<p>Magnum, CONGRATS! How exciting that your son and daughter will both be at Dartmouth. And very impressive also. I would also like to welcome the parents from the class of 2016! Your kids have made a phenomenal choice for their college education.</p>
<p>Any other parents in the heartbreaking position of having to tell their âjust accepted to Dartmouthâ kid that it is simply unaffordable? Our EFC was through the roof, 45k, and closer to 50k if you factor in loan and work study. Our EFC represents more than a third of our annual gross income. It defies logic. Hard to tell our son that if he goes he will be saddled with about $120k in student loan debt.</p>