Three weeks into their first term at the College, freshman will run into one of the most puzzling quandaries of their Dartmouth career: where to study for midterms.
The options are endless, but one could easily run into the danger of wandering aimlessly from locale to locale in search of the just the right atmosphere to kick your cerebellum into gear.
A good start would be the Tower Room at the top of Baker Library. Within this dark and corridor-like space, students will find very little to distract them. Unfortunately, the threatening prospect of sleep lies in wait within the antiquated room. Students who study there have a bad habit of developing narcolepsy.
Next, one could try Sanborn House, the English Library connected to Baker on the West side. Sanborn is just as antiquated as the Tower Room, but with more light. Students have a habit of making Sanborn their home, especially since the daily 4 p.m. tea provides such a welcome study break.
If Sanborn is not to your liking, there are two more spaces in the library tailor-made for the midterm crunch.
In the large wooden tables of the Reserve Corridors, students can try to stay focused. This state of mind might prove difficult to achieve, since the huge, colorful murals of Jose Clemente Orozco will hang over you threateningly (It has never been easy studying under the watchful eye of Spanish conquistadors.)
The 1902 Room is also in place for the sole purpose of giving students a place to get to work. It is perhaps the blandest of the study rooms in Baker, providing little mental relief except for three couches at the front.
For those who wish to avoid the library scene altogether, options such as the Top of the Hop, a huge room with no discernible purpose found on the second floor of the Hopkins Center for the Performing Arts. There on the scattershot arrangement of couches and chairs, students may find it just a little easier to concentrate on their books.
