With graduation approaching, many in the Class of 2025 have been fortunate enough through their summer internships to catch a glimpse of what life could look like beyond these ivy-covered walls. Major cities, in particular, attract a number of Dartmouth students while away from campus.
Although the Class of 2025 will soon be saying goodbye to Dartmouth, leaving Hanover does not mean they have to completely leave behind the comfort of the College community.
With over 3,000 alumni and recent graduates calling it home, New York City boasts the largest Dartmouth community outside of Hanover. As a result, a high volume Dartmouth graduates end up working with or living near one another. Jose Salinas ’25, who spent the past summer interning at Goldman Sachs, said he was working with “two other people at Dartmouth” on his team.
“[There were] a bunch of people at Goldman, and it was great. It felt like Dartmouth,” Salinas said.
Salinas said he did not experience any nerves when moving from Hanover to Manhattan, noting that the presence of his friends in the city made him more comfortable.
“I think I never felt that New York culture was a shock to me, because I was with so many people from school that it was almost like I was shocking the other people that I was around with Dartmouth culture”" Salinas said.
It’s no surprise that local bars and restaurants are among the main hang-out spots for many Dartmouth summer interns. In particular, Salinas said that the popularity of one particular Lower East Side pub — Hair of The Dog — felt like “the new Psi U[psilon] basement.”
“All the Dartmouth people would go out to the same bars and clubs over and over again,” Salinas said. “It felt like nothing had changed.”
Two-hundred and thirty miles southeast, in the nation’s capital, Tea Wallmark ’25 experienced similar nights over the summer while out with her Dartmouth peers. On the Fourth of July, Wallmark found herself in a crowded nightclub filled with fellow Dartmouth interns.
“We ended up taking over … the whole top floor of this club,” Wallmark said.
Although there were fewer Dartmouth students in D.C. this summer compared to those in New York, Wallmark still spent plenty of time with her friends from college. As she made the transition to D.C., Wallmark found it “really comforting” to have existing friends in the area.
“I actually lived with three Dartmouth [friends], and we lived in Georgetown, and we would meet up with the two Dartmouth [’25s] who lived a block away together,” Wallmark said.
Similar to D.C., Boston is an accessible city for the average college student and young adult, according to Emi Rohn ’25, who lived in the area this summer. Rohn resided in Brookline, a Boston suburb, while working for a tech company.
“It was a really great neighborhood over there — lots of parks [and] all of the [Boston University] students live over there,” Rohn said. “So very catered towards our demographic.”
Although Rohn roomed with Boston University students, she connected with other students of the College through Boston GroupMe, a College group chat with around “50 people” in it.
“We coordinated things [in the group chat], and I just hung out with … friends from school too outside of that,” Rohn said.
Boston also offered Dartmouth students the chance to explore local activities. Rohn often went to dinner, picnicked at the Boston Public Garden, shopped at the flea market or caught a Red Sox game at Fenway Park with other Dartmouth students.
“I just felt like the community was very robust,” Rohn said. “We had a good group of friends that I would see pretty regularly, and it was super fun.”
Although a large Dartmouth community can help ease the anxiety of moving to a new city, Rohn admitted that her college network kept her “in the bubble” of school, as she “talk[ed] to Dartmouth people all day.”
No student truly knows what lies ahead after receiving their diplomas. Seniors like Salinas, Wallmark and Rohn, though, are optimistic about post-grad lives after this summer.
“I can imagine if you were a Dartmouth student moving to a brand new city where no one else from school was, it’d be a bit more difficult to adjust,” Rohn said. “But I think [my summer] was super seamless.”
