@ h0pingt0livet02024 we are big believers in going with your gut! It is so unfortunate that you won’t be able to attend admitted student days. I can say that is what made the choice easy for our daughter. She went into the experience convinced she would select Brown over Dartmouth, and only really went to placate us. After spending the night on campus, she was blown away by the tradition and strong sense of community she felt. Her visit to Brown had the opposite effect as she left feeling lonely and overwhelmed.
As far as being happy at Dartmouth based on the rural setting, I would ask you to reflect what it is about city life you like so much? If it is being surrounded by people with diverse backgrounds and unique experiences, intellectual conversations, beautiful architecture and delicious food, if so, you might be surprised you can find all that in a small town like Hanover as well. Good luck on making your choice!
@AboutTheSame: I need to be more precise regarding comments about Dartmouth College if I have given you that impression.
I do not like the bonding practices at Dartmouth.
I love the setting & I love the academic calendar & three courses per trimester.
Many of my friends are Dartmouth alums. I have never met a Dartmouth grad that I dislike.
But the frat practices are revolting. I do not want to detail them here as others have written & published articles about them.
Whether or not I “like” Dartmouth is irrelevant. Dartmouth students & alums love Dartmouth. I dislike certain aspects which continue to be used as methods of bonding.
Simply put: To each his own.
Nevertheless, I understand your stance & it is not unreasonable.
I suspect that the Dartmouth experience may be quite different for males & females with respect to the bonding practices.
P.S. I feel really bad when I write about negative aspects of any school. I apologize if I have offended anyone. Because of its size & because of its location, it is difficult to avoid these things at this school.
I can’t speak to the frat bonding practices but I haven’t heard of anything objectionable happening at the sororities. One of the things I like about Dartmouth is that kids don’t rush until sophomore fall. Since many Greek parties are open to everyone, not just members, kids have a chance to explore non-Greek life and get a sense of each frat or sorority before making a decision whether to rush.
Kids that don’t rush still have the opportunity for an active social life - in addition to club and team sports, clubs like Sheba (dance), acapella(sp?), outdoors, power lifting, DEN, EMT, Women in Business, etc. make it easy to find like minded people. Also, since most classes at Dartmouth are relatively small, kids get to know one another through their academics as well.
I don’t have much to say about Dartmouth itself, but I love Hanover. I spend a lot of time on the Vermont side of the river and love to go to Hanover. I am a city person myself.
I’m a current freshman at Dartmouth from LA so hopefully I can provide a helpful city perspective. I’m not a super outdoorsy person (though I want to try some more in the future) and I absolutely absolutely LOVE Dartmouth. I’m sitting here in LA doing online classes and wishing I was in Hanover. I was similarly nervous at first about going to a rural school, but I’m never bored on campus, there is so much to do, the setting/campus is always gorgeous and bustling, and the community is amazing. I love that social life is all on campus and that I have access to everything, compared to an urban school where people diffuse into the city for social life.
As a disclaimer, I’m really into Greek life here and that’s where I spend most of my social time. I will also admit that there is a drinking culture present on campus, though a large percentage of students who certainly enjoy the greek system/campus without drinking. It’s a super open system and anyone with a Dartmouth ID can get into any house if it’s open that night (unless it’s at capacity or a formal event sometimes). But even besides greek life, there is a lot to do (outdoors trips, constant performances, movies at the HOP). This past winter term I didn’t leave Hanover from the day I arrived on the coach to the day I left for the airport.
If you ever want a city, Boston is only 2.5 hours away and round trip coach tickets are about $50. Not super cheap, but reasonable for once or twice a term. During the fall term, I went to Boston twice and NYC once with my friends and had a great time (largely due to the novelty of traveling with friends for the first time as an adult). But honestly, that was more than enough and I’ve never felt like I’m missing out in Hanover nor have I felt a longing to be in the city.
Sorry for such a long answer, but the tl/dr is that I love Dartmouth even coming from a city. Let me know if you have any other questions and I would love to answer them 
I think it’s perfectly reasonable to suggest that prospective students read the student newspaper and google the school to see when they’ve been in the news.
The drinking culture is alive and well at Dartmouth. I also agree with @Publisher that some of the frat practices are absolutely disgusting.
I think OP also has a valid concern about moving to such a rural setting.
Personally I’m partial to Northwestern of the three schools on this list.
Congrats OP - you have wonderful options!
Hey OP, '24 at Dartmouth here!
I’m from a very big city (think LA, NY, SF, etc), and I too was at one point unsure of going to the “middle of nowhere.” However, after talking to a few current students (and as @RedHiker already pointed out), I realized that people never really felt that they were in the “middle of nowhere” when they were on campus/in the area of Hanover. There are always activities going on. And yea even though frats are social hubs at Dartmouth, they aren’t all what some people make them out to be. I have read a few articles regarding Dartmouth’s party scene/hazing culture. Stuff like that is going to be present at a lot of colleges. Infact, I feel like drinking in itself would be more prominent in colleges located in cities where there are outlets like bars, clubs, etc.
Anyways, I hope to see you here this fall!
@momofsenior1 What makes Dartmouth frat practices more disgusting than those at other colleges? I am not offended or anything, just curious (though I will say that commenting that was kind of bold).
@h0peingt0livet02024, the OP, has made two threads. Helpful information about OP in the thread-starter post in each.
OP’s options seem to be Dartmouth College, UPenn, Georgetown, & Northwestern.
OP is a 22 year old city-girl curious about whether or not she would enjoy 4 years in “isolated/remote” Hanover, New Hampshire at Dartmouth College even though not an outdoorsey-type individual.
An important point not shared by OP in this thread, but shared in the other thread is that she is a 22 year old city girl.
After reading the single post in OP’s other thread, I wonder if a fairly rural/isolated school with a focus on Greek life would be enjoyable for a 22 or 23 year old freshman for a 4 year period.