Dartmouth College

Gorgeous Autumns, Winter Wonderland

Dartmouth definitely gets all four seasons, but the two definitive ones are definitely the Fall and the Winter. There is nothing like experiencing the changing leaves during a New England Fall. This is the only time of year where tourist buses frequently pass through campus. Winter is the season that students bring up the most. For those who are not used to the snow and sub-zero temperatures, it is definitely difficult to survive. The school, as well as various student organizations, organize trips to outlet malls for students who need to buy more winter clothing. Most students would say that Winter is extremely cold and miserable. However, being a snow enthusiast, I loved every bit of it. You will never see such pristine, beautiful snow in a city. Since there is so little traffic in Hanover, snowstorms will blanket the campus and it will stay white for a long time. The best part of winter is the annual midnight snowball fight on the Green after the first snowstorm each year. Winter Carnival is also tons of fun. I definitely recommend participating in the building of the humongous snow sculpture each year.

Good, but on the Expensive Side.

There are plenty of off-campus options around Hanover. However, most students choose to spend most, if not all, of their years living on-campus. The school has some of the best housing options you'll find anywhere. Usually, students only live off-campus during their Sophomore year, when, due to the housing priority system, it is more difficult to get one of the better rooms. Students also tend to live off-campus if they want to live with a large group of friends. Housing does tend to be surprisingly expensive for such a small New England town.

Safest Place on Earth

The only crime that students face on-campus is occasional laptop or bike thefts. There is absolutely no violent crime. I went to college before each dorm was fitted with a key access pad and anyone could walk right into the dorm buildings. Despite that, I never locked my bedroom door when I was a student. I would have felt completely safe camping out in the middle of the green and sleeping through the night. Safety and Security regularly patrol the campus and offer services to drive students around campus when it is late at night. When I was a student, these services were almost exclusively used by students who had broken their leg or when it was the middle of winter and far too cold to be outside. Actual crime is truly nonexistent in Hanover.