The D-Plan

Hey everybody,

This blog is of course all about life at Dartmouth, and I just realized that it's almost impossible to talk about Dartmouth much without first explaining something that makes it truly unique from most other schools in the country: the Dartmouth Plan. The Dartmouth Plan (or D-Plan, as everyone here calls it) is basically our academic schedule (though it's also used to denote individuals' schedules, as in "What's your D-Plan?") As it has a huge impact on students' lives, I want to give you all a brief rundown about what it's all about.

Unlike most schools, Dartmouth does not operate on a semester schedule. Rather, we use a quarter system of 4 ten-week terms per year that correspond roughly to the seasons (so there are fall, winter, spring, and summer terms). Each term, students usually take 3 classes. So while for each class we're doing 14-15 week's worth of work in just 10, we take only 3 classes as opposed to 4 or 5, so I think it balances out pretty well. At least it's easier to compartmentalize our courses, even if the terms are more intense than they'd be at a semester school.

The fun comes in when students plan their schedules. Here's how it works:

• 4 terms per year for 4 years is 16 terms.
  
• We don't really count senior summer because most students have graduated and moved on by then, so there are really 15 terms.
  
• Of those 15, students have to be taking classes either at Dartmouth, on a Dartmouth study abroad program, or though an exchange with another school for 12 terms.
  
• Of these 12, Dartmouth requires that students are on campus for 7 specific terms. In the diagram below, these terms are shaded in green. They are freshman fall, winter, and spring; the summer between the sophomore and junior year (sophomore summer); and senior fall, winter, and spring.
• How students do their last 5 terms (12 - 7 = 5) is pretty much completely up to them. Most students go on a foreign study program at least once, and we can do up to three. I'm going to write more about study abroad programs in my next post.
  

To illustrate this a little better, I'm going to show you my D-Plan and explain what I've done for the past three years here at Dartmouth. On the graph, "R" stands for residence term, as in on-campus at Dartmouth taking classes. "L's" are leave terms, and "O's" stand for off-campus programs. *You can also try setting up your own D-Plan and seeing how the whole thing works by clicking HERE.*

As you can see, I was on campus for freshman fall, winter, and spring, and took a leave term in the summer. Most first-year students follow the same plan, though some stay on in the summer and take classes or go on a foreign study program (the Russian and Arabic programs, for example, take place in the summer so there are a number of freshmen who take levels 1, 2, and 3 of those languages and then go on the off-campus program. As for me, that's the summer I biked across the country with Bike and Build, raising money and awareness for affordable housing. I came back to campus for my sophomore fall, and then went on the French LSA+ (Language Study Abroad+) program in Toulouse, France. I'll write about my experience there in my next entry. After Toulouse I came back to Dartmouth and did 4 on-campus terms in a row, including Sophomore Summer.

A lot of you may be thinking, "Really? School in the summer!?" Certainly a lot of my friends from home wondered why I "had" to do "summer school." As it turns out, Sophomore Summer is typically one of Dartmouth students' favorite terms. First of all, it's great because just about the entire sophomore class is on campus as the same time. Because people are always coming and going throughout their sophomore and junior years, Sophomore Summer is the only term in two years when one's entire class is on campus. The weather in Hanover is the best during the summer and it's a really great time to get out and explore the Upper Valley. And because the upperclassmen are away, sophomores get to take leadership positions in their clubs and organizations. I got really into kayaking during my sophomore summer last year, and it's something that I've kept doing since (when the river isn't frozen, that is.)

Finally, after a year and a half straight of classes (including my term in France,) I took this past spring off. I went home and took an internship at a local manufacturing facility, doing some marketing support and consulting for them. It was really nice to have a 8:00-4:30 kind of routine and get to see the parents for more than a week at a time. But I couldn't stay away from Hanover for long; I'm back up this summer working full-time for the Admissions Office.

There are a lot of advantages to the D-Plan. One is that it allows students to take leave terms in seasons other than the summer. When Dartmouth students apply for jobs or internships in the fall, winter, or spring, they're competing against a much smaller applicant pool than they would have if they'd applied for the summer, when just about every college student in the world is out of class and looking for internships. Dartmouth is actually known for having students available to intern throughout the year and they're actively sought after in both the government and the business world.

There are lots of other advantages as well, but I feel like this post is getting a little long so I'm going to cut myself off here. But if you have any questions, please ask in the comment section and I'll be happy to answer them.