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FactsSlang
- ‘Shmob - Large herd of first-year students who travel together to social events.
- Banner Student - Website containing personal, administrative information.
- Blackboard - Online service that allow professors to post course material and communicate with students electronically.
- Blitz - E-mail; can be used as any part of speech.
- Coco - “College Courses;” interdisciplinary course offerings, usually pretty interesting.
- DA$H - An account used for on-campus, non-food purchases; it’s not real money.
- Dick’s House - Student health center.
- EBA’s - Everything But Anchovies; they deliver until 2 a.m.
- FO & M - Facilities Operations and Management.
- FSP - Foreign study program.
- Green - Huge grassy rectangle at the center of campus.
- HB - Hinman Box, where you pick up your mail; located in the Hop.
- Hop, The - Hopkins Center; performing arts center of campus.
- H-Po - Hanover Police, important to avoid when drunk.
- LSA - Language Study Abroad.
- NRO - Non-recording option; when invoked, allows you to receive an “NR” if you fail to achieve a desired grade in a class.
- ORL - Office of Residential Life.
- Parkhursted - Suspended; named after the administration building.
- Pong - Beer pong; played exclusively with handle-less paddles
- Robo - Robinson Hall; home of the Dartmouth Outing Club and other student organizations.
- Rocky - Rockefeller Center; government center.
- S&S - Safety and Security; avoid when drunk, if possible.
- Sketchy - All-purpose word to describe anyone or anything about which you are skeptical; use liberally.
- Sphinx - Large, tomb-like home to a secret society, located in the middle of campus.
- Term - Used most often in place of “quarter;” saying “semester” will give you away as a newbie in a heartbeat.
- Thayer - Dining hall and engineering school. Pay attention to context clues.
- The D - The Dartmouth, the nation's oldest student newspaper.
- Tripee - Fellow member of your Freshman Trip.
- UGA - Undergraduate assistant; a supposedly less mean version of RA.
- Webster Ave. - Fraternity (and sorority) row.
Things I Wish I Knew Before Coming To School
- How cold a New Hampshire winter really is.
- How few nice clothes I need and how many crazy clothes I could use.
- How to ski . . . or camp.
- That all that time I procrastinated could have been spent having fun.
- That I only have time for two or three extracurricular activities.
- That orientation is by far the best time to meet people—be sure to go to Frat Row.
- That the Choates were nothing to worry about.
Tips to Succeed
- Always go to class when midterms or finals are coming up.
- Avoid morning classes or Tuesday and Thursday classes altogether.
- Don’t let BlitzMail consume your life (It’s challenging!).
- Find two or three good study spots, and move around.
- Have at least one good friend in every class.
- Plan a break or fun activity into your schedule.
- Take naps in the afternoon.
- Use distributive requirements as an excuse to take fun, easy, or interesting classes.
Urban Legends
- Beer pong was invented at Dartmouth—students believe that their paddle version is a purer form of the game than the oft-played Beirut.
- Students caught drinking during orientation and before matriculation will have their admission rescinded.
Traditions
- Daniel Webster - When a disgruntled trustee colluded with the governor of New Hampshire to make Dartmouth a public university, the College was represented by one of its most famous alumni. Daniel Webster was a wily rhetorician who argued on behalf of the College before the United States Supreme Court, which subsequently allowed the institution to remain private. Webster concluded his plea with remarks that are still echoed by Dartmouth students to this day: “This is, as I have said, sir, a small college…and yet there are those who love it.”
- Dartmouth Indian - One of Dartmouth’s founding principles was to further the education of the Native American population in North America. Today, a certain Native mystique still surrounds the College and is embedded in Dartmouth lore. The College failed to follow through on its original charter, with fewer than 20 Native Americans graduating before the 1960s, but in the last few decades, Dartmouth has built one of the strongest Native American Studies programs in the country. While the school has never had an official mascot, the Indian-head logo graced the Dartmouth masthead, as well as many of its sports teams uniforms for decades. Since the Indian was banned in 1974, the Clay Pipe Ceremony has been cancelled and only a few seniors walk with Indian-head canes at graduation. Recent efforts to replace the nebulous “Big Green” moniker with a moose have so far been unsuccessful.
- Green Key - With temperatures finally mild, Dartmouth students take to the outdoors to celebrate the conclusion of another school year. Green Key is arguably the biggest party weekend of the year, as students bask in the radiance of the sun for three or four straight days. Barbecues and concerts are popular, and some fraternities throw annual parties.
- Homecoming - Each term has one “big” (read: party) weekend and in the fall it is called Homecoming. First-year students are the focus of the weekend, as this is the point when they are unofficially welcomed into the Dartmouth family. On Friday night, upperclass students collect first years from all over campus in what is known as the “Freshman Sweep.” Everyone marches to the center of the Green, where a three-to four-story wooden scaffold has been erected. The scaffold is ignited and a monstrous bonfire ensues. First-year students circle the bonfire one hundred times plus the last two digits of their class year, while older students and alumni egg them on.
- Ledyard Challenge - Before graduating, students are supposed to swim naked across the Connecticut River to Vermont—where public nudity is legal—and then scamper back across the Ledyard Bridge.
- Lone Pine - When establishing the school on a hill, Dartmouth founder Eleazar Wheelock noticed one crooked pine tree among a cluster of straight ones. This he took to be a symbol of the College, which would struggle to survive through its own literal and metaphorical winters. While the Lone Pine has since been struck by lightning, Bartlett Tower stands in tribute to its memory, and its glazed stump is preserved.
- Sophomore Summer - Summer school sounds less-than-glamorous, but it means three months of fantastic weather and class bonding for each sophomore class. Students often take only two courses, while lounging away the summer days at “Camp Dartmouth.”
- Winter Carnival - In the days before Dartmouth went coed, the long, lonely winter term was punctuated briefly on this weekend as hundreds of young women were bused in from all over the country. Today, a variety of sporting contests are held and brave souls leap into Occom Pond to participate in the Polar Bear Plunge. Dormitories and Greek houses erect small snow sculptures on their properties, while a giant sculpture is carved out of a huge pile of snow in the center of the Green.
School Spirit
Love for the “College on the Hill” extends far beyond the Dartmouth jockwear most students sport around campus. From First Year Trips onward, most Dartmouth students are imbued with a fierce love of their unique and historic institution. The College’s small size fosters a strong sense of community, and students often take the trek to Hanover during their off terms to be around friends and share in the campus camaraderie. Dartmouth alumni are uniquely loyal and noted for being generous with their pocketbooks and connections. There is a growing sense among many recent graduates that the school is slowly being transformed into a cookie-cutter research institution along the lines of the Harvard university model, but, for the time being, at least, Hanover is filled with students who love their school and are sublimely happy.
Most Recent Contributing Author
Name: Kirk Greenwood
Hometown: Warrington, PA
Major: Compartive Literature Kirk likes to talk and listen (almost in equal measure), drink green tea and experiment, and is a lover of many things: people and Nature, innocence and wisdom, beauty, pain, happiness, experience. Contributing Author Internship  College Prowler is actively seeking talented students to be "Contributing Authors," and assist with updating
the College Prowler guide to their school. This is a great opportunity for a student to gain internship experience, be a part of a nationally
recognized company, gain tremendous exposure, utilize new media techniques, and share advice with high school students about what life is
really like at your college. Read more about the internship.
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