At times Dartmouth's location can be a challenge for the student body's many city-dwellers. The lack of exotic entertainment, diverse array of restaurants, shopping locales, hustle and bustle of everyday life and efficient public transportation can make Hanover, N.H. seem like the smallest four-block radius in one's average city.
However, living in small-town America has one overwhelming benefit: life is very cheap in Hanover. The cost of four years at Dartmouth (minus our whopping tuition) is tremendously low compared to the cost of living at most of our fellow Ivy League schools. Spending big at Dartmouth is a night at the Canoe Club, and while the burgers can be pricey, many know that an upscale restaurant in any major metropolis will set you back a lot more.
Still, every year seniors graduate and enter the daunting world of consulting and investment banking in America's largest cities. Boston, New York ... these cities have become synonymous with high costs and expenses, which may come as an unexpected surprise to many seniors.
Currently working in Chicago, Alvin Black '05 said costs manage to add up quickly.
"You don't realize all the little things that add up," he said. " It's not just rent. There's wireless internet, parking spaces, laundry (because you can't just go downstairs to your basement) and some people like their television, so if you want cable you realize there's no DarTV."
The concept of making, saving and spending money is significantly more substantial than the card swipe and subsequent disappearance of DBA in that last stretch of the term.
"After graduation you have to get used to different things. Even carrying cash around becomes a noticeable difference," Black said. "You go to dinner with friends or co-workers frequently and the expenses begin to appear and add up."
Senior Chris Bertrand '07 will be entering an investment banking job this summer and recently completed his first apartment search in New York City.
"I got together with my friends and we discussed the neighborhoods we wanted to live in, agreed on a list and started looking at the prices online, the real estate listings and Craiglist to see how much apartments would cost and what we could get for our money," Bertrand said.
The cost of living is high even for three guys working at some of the city's largest investment firms.
"We were so surprised to see how much it would cost to afford a place. [Our apartment's] neighborhood is significantly cheaper than some of the places we originally looked at like Soho, but it's in the financial district so it's still outrageous," Bertrand said.
The cost of city life only seems more exorbitant when drinking is factored in. Sadly, it's time for seniors to say goodbye to social dues that once guaranteed access to unlimited alcohol and welcome the $12 martini. It's a steal, really.
"In the end all those little individual things that constituted how you got by at Dartmouth confront you and you realize college is like being stuck between the real world and home," Black said. "You never notice money up close, so Dartmouth students are pretty oblivious."
