Dartmouth students weigh in on an oft-debated issue:
The Mirror surveyed 402 Dartmouth students to find out what we would give up (and what we actually give up) when it comes to sleeping, partying or academics/extracurricular activities.
We polled 102 members of the Class of 2017, 99 members of the Class of 2016, 105 members of the Class of 2015 and 96 members of the Class of 2014. 242 of the respondents were self-identifying females, and 160 were self-identifying males.
The results speak for themselves — as much as Dartmouth students may want to give up partying for higher pleasures, we just can’t seem to resist the allure of the College’s tempting social scene.
Mirror staff writers speak up in defense of...
ACADEMICS & EXTRACURRICULARSby Victoria Nelsen, The Dartmouth Staff
As we gear up for week seven of the term, the days of pretending we couldn’t care less about academics are far behind us. With second-round midterms and final projects already on the horizon, let’s not act like it’s easy to find a place to sit on third floor Berry.
Everyone loves sleep, and sure, U.S. News and World Report did proclaim Dartmouth one of the nation’s frattiest colleges. But let’s get real. Academics and extracurricular activities are important to (almost) everyone on this campus, and they will always be a priority.
That’s why we’re here. That’s why we pay $60,000 a year to attend one of the nation’s top universities. To learn. To study. To graduate. And no matter how hard you see someone raging on Friday night, you will likely find that same person in the 1902 Room on Sunday at 3 a.m. There’s always a trade-off, but academics will rarely be the odd one out.
And why should they be? With Dartmouth’s limitless opportunities, both through academics and extracurricular activities, there is a never-ending supply of chances to learn. With Tucker programs, the Dickey Center, study abroad opportunities and countless trips and activities through other clubs, Dartmouth gives its students the chance to explore what the world has to offer. Why waste that by choosing sleep and partying over school?
As a freshman, I have spent a lot of time over the past two terms trying to find my place on campus, and I am constantly exploring new communities from the Dartmouth Outing Club to the ultimate frisbee team. Each group offers a totally different type of community and new people to befriend. Not one meeting has been unwelcoming. The search to find my place would be far more difficult if I did not conduct it with the help of extracurricular activities and the people they have introduced me to.
For those students who choose to pursue athletics on campus, sports are a tremendous commitment that serve as a natural extension of academics and extracurricular activities. The athletes I know are far more organized when it comes to work and time management. Furthermore, needing to maintain a certain GPA while excelling in their sport ensures that athletes, especially when in-season, will be the first to drop partying in favor of academics and getting enough sleep to perform well.
But if you’re not in a sport, who really needs sleep? I had friends in high school who would stop working at midnight if they hadn’t finished their assignments, but here, that’s really not an option. It’s pretty common to hear, “You can sleep when you’re dead” or “Sleep is for the weak,” and I adopt these words as my mantra when I hear the library’s closing announcements at 1:45 a.m.
My Day 14 blitz from Dartmouth on Purpose’s 21-Day Challenge told me that “jet lag, late nights and subsequent napping can disrupt gene expression, which controls bodily functions like metabolism, inflammation, stress and immune response.” I was nervous for a hot sec, but then I realized that if you eliminate “subsequent napping,” you will probably be okay. Plus, it’s winter. We only have like four hours of daylight anyway, so why waste these precious moments with a nap?
Even if all these health warnings about lack of sleep are true (unlikely), then we should probably ignore them, just like we ignore any health implications of drinking and tanning. People are constantly preaching about living in the moment, but that’s sort of a struggle if you’re too worried about future health problems. It’s also a struggle if you’re sleeping.
On the other hand, partying is fun, and there is a reason that the library is basically empty every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday night. But we’re at Dartmouth for a total of 12 terms, which is almost 120 weekends and, counting Wednesdays, 360 nights spent in frat basements. That is almost an entire year of inhaling toxic fumes, trying not to let the frat juice soak through your shoes, waiting to get on table or trying to avoid that guy from your math class at dance parties. When looking back on our Dartmouth days, will we be proud if our best times were moments we can’t even remember?
Personally, I’d rather spend my time in a mountaintop tent or in a compelling classroom discussion. I’ve been at Dartmouth for less than two terms, but my most meaningful times have been spent coming across new interests in a class or discovering myself through activities. These things define our futures and our times at Dartmouth, and we should never give them up, despite being tempted by frat basements and our pile of pillows.
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SOCIAL LIFE & PARTYINGby Jake Bayer, The Dartmouth Staff
Social life at Dartmouth comes in many forms, but the first thing it makes me think of is our prevailing social standard of “hanging out.” Dartmouth is inherently intertwined with students’s social lives, offering a stereotypical college experience. We care about this image so much that we’ve retained the “college” in our name despite the potential prestige associated with a “university” title.
Dartmouth is unquestionably isolated, geographically and intellectually, from the majority of the U.S. Historically, this has kept our social bubble limited to the few thousand people that make up the good old College on the Hill. Though hanging out may be on the decline, I believe there is a good case to be made for why we need to keep partying.
Sleep is just sleep. Sure, you’re supposed to get eight hours each day. But in reality, we only have so much time in Hanover — we have a unique, limited-time chance to socialize with intelligent, driven and multi-dimensional people. The opportunity to talk to and get to know students whose intelligence and interests have brought them to our Ivy League haven only comes once in a lifetime. While the academic process here at Dartmouth can be replicated in law school, medical school or anywhere else, our unique social experience cannot exist anywhere beyond the bubble.
The opportunity to hang out at all hours for any and every reason enables the Dartmouth student to explore different lifestyles and friendships. The people you meet while in a fraternity basement range from accomplished entrepreneurs to published scholars. This diversity of minds and experiences naturally lends itself to quality conversations.
Of course, it would be wrong to say that every conversation in a basement revolves around theses or curing cancer. In fact, you could probably say the opposite. Dartmouth might be the only school where alumni come back to campus to drink brothers under the table and then return to their six-figure jobs hungover. The number of readers who could probably name an alum who did something along these lines would surprise most non-Dartmouth people.
Dartmouth alumni are Ivy League powerhouses when it comes to donating to their alma mater. The bonds that socializing creates between Dartmouth students are so strong that every big weekend, alumni flock back in droves, not necessarily to the basement, but always to see old friends.
The real question is, what can the other options really offer you? Sleep is for the weak — most of you are done growing, and we’re all full of youth. Planning ahead of time can reasonably keep your sleep safe without sacrificing the social scene. And to those of you who sacrifice everything at the altar of academics, I hope you’ll take a few of my words to heart.
Dartmouth proudly presents itself as a liberal arts college that creates a closely-knit and diverse community. Sleep isn’t a communal activity, and doing schoolwork is increasingly becoming a solitary exercise as we spend more and more time hiding on fourth floor Berry. The ties between Dartmouth students fray as they spend more of their time sleeping and working and less time just hanging out together.
Reserving specific time and effort to be social ensures a college experience that is as memorable and impactful as a liberal arts education promises. For many of us, our personality and our understanding of the world comes from our interactions with other people — interactions that occur both inside and outside of the classroom.
Meaningful friendships are the most important takeaway from college. Even the smartest kids need days off, and at Dartmouth, we are afforded the opportunity to party alongside the best and brightest. Relieving stress with friends is a necessary part of the college experience. Without it, Dartmouth would lose a small but crucial part of its distinct character.
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REST & RELAXATIONby Mary Liza Hartong, The Dartmouth Staff
As I write this, I am snuggled beneath no fewer than seven blankets, four pillows and a fuzzy woolen garment that I fondly refer to as my sleeping cap. I’ve just woken up from a typical night’s sleep — nine hours of sheep-counting, pillow-drooling, dream-laden bliss. Yes, I did say nine. Go ahead and curse me, you miserable six-hour-getters, you midnight coffee drinkers, you 1902 Roomers. Ask me why. Ask me how. Ask me what the hell my major is. I can see the jealousy seeping out of your tired, tired pores.
But here’s the thing, my baggy-eyed brethren. To live the way I do, you have to throw caution and just about every other priority to the wind. You have to face your fears, more specifically FOMO, the fear of missing out. And as you tuck yourself in and drown out the merry voices of your hall mates, roommates and lovers, you must believe with all your heart that you’re doing the right thing.
The obvious argument for making sleep your one and only is the sheer happiness it brings. I think we can all agree that wrenching your body from the sheets is quite possibly the worst part of the day. Fluffing the pillows and re-stacking the blankets often brings tears to my eyes. I feel like a soldier heading off to war, and my bed the significant other I’m leaving behind. All day, I long for our loving reunion. When it comes, it is so, so satisfying.
You know that expression, “He woke up on the wrong side of the bed”? Nobody wants to be that guy, the one who yells at someone for putting mustard instead of ketchup on his hot dog because he’s tired and cranky. It turns out waking up on the right side of the bed and being a functional human being sometimes means simply making yourself get into bed in the first place.
Going to bed early may make you feel like a little kid, but this childish curfew comes with a childish freedom to forget everything you need to do. All of the thoughts, fears and expectations that permeate your day are put to rest. Let’s face it, guys. We need a snooze button. With so many people piling on extracurriculars like sandwich toppings, the pressure to do it all and make it look easy is enormous.
Why do we feel like by getting sleep we’re not trying hard enough? I know that when I tell someone how much I sleep, I immediately get one of those, “You’re one of them” eyerolls accompanied by something like, “So what do you do on the weekends? Play Twister?” or “That’s so cool that you don’t worry about grades.”
In response, I usually make a joke about my English major and shrug my shoulders. I don’t doubt my lifestyle for a minute, and I certainly don’t see these people as better than me. Why? Because they’re not. Getting nine hours of sleep doesn’t just happen. It means planning ahead, staying focused and having the maturity to know when to stop working.
Sure, there are hoards of scientific studies extolling the benefits of sleep on the body and the brain. Parents and teachers alike will give you the same spiel, usually punctuated with the slogan, “You’re a growing girl/boy!” Maybe that’s the reason so few people our age take the advice seriously.
“Sleep? Pshaw! I’d rather ride my skateboard down to the juice bar and chill with my homies,” you may be thinking. But take it from me, a youngster with the sleeping pattern of an 84-year-old woman. You’ve already made it to Dartmouth. Don’t you think you deserve some rest?
