With all the adjustments freshmen undergo once they set foot on campus, it is easy to forget that one of the main reasons they are here is to get an education.
But professors do not hesitate to remind students as soon as classes start.
In order to maximize students' academic experience at the College, some professors advise students to keep their minds open.
"Don't have a preconceived notion of what you want to do when you grow up," Chemistry Department Chair John Winn said. "Stay informed, ask questions and don't be afraid to take risks."
Economics Professor Jack Menge stressed students' getting a strong grasp of the basics.
"They should emphasize the basic, core areas in the first few years," Menge said. "Get the fundamentals like mathematics, English and history."
After students feel they have a strong analytical foundation, they should pursue more specific interests, Menge said.
"Then they should major in economics," Menge joked.
The College uses freshman seminars and English 5, the freshman English class, to bring all freshmen up to speed in terms of writing skills and help them to learn to balance a college-level workload.
Almost every department offers a freshman seminar.
Dean of Freshmen Peter Goldsmith said these seminars are a unique aspect of freshman academics at the College.
"The seminar is the one specific academic experience that is common to all first-year students," Goldsmith said. "The first year of study is distinct in that it's a point in time in which students are refining basic skills that will serve them in the rest of their three years."
Each department has taken on responsibilities for teaching a seminar, more or less, Goldsmith said.
"Seminars are intended to accomplish a couple of things," Goldsmith said. "They continue the process of teaching students to write well, to write clearly and to conduct research."
Each seminar has a minimum number of papers it is required to assign to students, he said. The College also requires freshman seminar professors to comment on papers and have students rewrite them.
"They are not intended to be broad survey introductions to a particular field of study," Goldsmith said. "Rather, they're a focused examination of a relatively specific intellectual issue."
But freshman seminars have other benefits, he said.
"There is also a spin-off benefit," Goldsmith said. "They ensure that every first-year student has one seminar course, a small scale class that facilitates the exchange of ideas between students and students and between students and professors."
While freshman seminars are the only class all freshmen will take, Goldsmith said there are many other classes like freshman English and introductory language and science classes that are predominantly freshmen.
He said two-thirds of the class of 1999 will take freshman English -- English 5 or English 2 and 3.
But as soon as they have to file their Dartmouth-Plans with the Registrar in the spring, freshmen realize the uniqueness of a Dartmouth education extends far beyond freshman seminars.
The D-Plan governs most of students' academic experiences at the college.
The D-Plan requires that students reside on-campus for both their freshman and senior years.
During their sophomore and junior years, students can choose whichever three out of the four seasonal terms they want to take classes either on or off-campus.
This flexibility facilitates students' taking classes abroad or getting internships during the "regular" school year.
Assistant Dean of Faculty Peter Armstrong said the D-Plan allows more students to go abroad than would be able to in a semester system.
"If we were on a semester calendar, science students couldn't afford to take a semester away," Armstrong said. "Our calendar certainly has a marked influence on the popularity of off-campus programs and with the commitment of departments encouraging students to apply."
He said 60 percent of Dartmouth students participate in College off-campus programs.
Peter Woodson '95 said his educational experience in the Caribbean for the biology foreign study program, was very different from his experiences at Dartmouth.
"Away from campus, the professors really give themselves to the students," Woodson said. He said the program gave him "the chance to move away from the textbook based on theory and get [his] hands dirty."
Some students use their off terms to do large community service projects.
Allison Krasnow '95 received a grant to go to Bolivia to help increase women's literacy in the spring of 1993.
"My experience in Bolivia convinced me to be a teacher," Krasnow said. "It made me believe more strongly in my convictions."
Dartmouth also has programs like Presidential Scholars, that enrich students' academic life while they are on-campus.
Students apply to the program during their sophomore year to work one-on-one with a professor for two terms of their junior year doing original research which often leads to an honors thesis, Assistant Dean of Faculty Sandy Gregg said.
"It's a wonderful opportunity for students here to really get engaged in original research," Gregg said. "A lot of students have come and told me it was the best thing they've ever done here."
College President James Freedman implemented this program in 1988 as part of his effort to improve intellectual life on-campus, Gregg said.
The program's purpose is to "expose students to what life of faculty members is like and what research is about," she said."
The D-Plan requires students to spend at least one summer on-campus and they traditionally choose the summer after their sophomore year.
Most students, expecting it to be more relaxed, look forward to their sophomore summer.
Jen Jones '97 said during her sophomore summer, she has found more time to spend down by the river or playing tennis.
"It's been ingrained in our heads that summer is supposed to be fun," she said. "So it's going to be fun."
But some sophomores said they have spent a little too much time relaxing this summer.
Sara Clark '97 said she feels like she is not really at school this summer and that feeling has affected her tendency to study.
"I'm normally completely on top of everything," she said. "But I feel like ... things are already slipping by me."
Professors also sense that summer term is more relaxed.
"We'd like to think it is the same. We like to think of this term as being on parity," said Psychology Professor John Pfister, "But I'm not sure that's true. We struggle with motivation."
