What Students Say
Likes
- The community at Dartmouth is small and very collaborative and speaking to the grad students here made me realise this is a screaming green flag of a program given the very healthy mindset of people (and no toxic unhealthy competitions) unlike other ivy leagues in the country.
- The research faculty, the environment and a very collaborative mindset. There are a lot of resources that Dartmouth provides for one to be successful in their research career.
Dislikes
- Nothing honestly. I got what I want. Maybe it's location. Hanover is a small town and it can get really cold. Also you'd need a car to do something fun in this town as public transport sucks. But people here are always happy to drive you around.
Required Exams for Admission
I applied to this college for its extensive cell bio research and I'm happy that it lived up to my expectations. The environment is a green flag for research and there is a lot of support you can find along your way here.
Course Curriculum
Since it is a PhD program you get to choose the courses (other than the basic stuff that is mandatory) and this helps you to study courses that is relevant to your research.
Faculty
It is a ph.d program so you get to interact with your PIs on a one to one basis everyday. If you don't like that advice is to go for a hands off PI and you don't get to see them for weeks ( whatever floats your boat).
Campus Life
There are tonnes (I honestly have lost track) but as a grad student I don't think most of us care to join these clubs.
Placement
I think this question is more relevant for people doing an MS in engg. or some business course. Not applicable to a phd program for fundamental science. You either do a post doc or hmgo for a job where you have to apply. No one brings anything to your plate.
Accommodation
You get apartments to rent out (not sure of on campus living that's mostly for undergrads).The cost of living in Upper Valley (hanover, labanaon and adjacent areas in Vermont) is pretty high and the average rent is easily 1000 bucks a month. But they pay you fine to get it covered (hey all grad students are poor and the pay is low in academia than industry so we got to live with that).
Exams
Just any English proficiency test (no GRE needed for the program I am enrolled to) IELTS score 8.5. You need to submit all 3- SOP, LOR, CV. Highlight your skills in CV in a quantitative manner. SOP should clearly state your interest in a specific field and also write about your interest in at least 2-3 profs in the program you're applying to. It should also clearly indicate what motivated you to do a PhD and do mention why you applied to that particular school. I had one to one interviews with 5 professors. We spoke about their science and my work. It was a casual conversation where we ended up asking each other asking a lot of questions relevant to each other's science. No technical details were asked. I would say mine felt almost like a poster presentation where they even (after hearing my current research) gave me specific input, especially the experiments I should be doing in future to further validate my results. It was a very constructive interview. On that note, every person has different experiences.
Fees
It is a lot (since it is private institute and I don't know the exact figure) but since it is a phd program, it is all covered.
Scholarship
Nothing separately. The program I applied to cover my tuition fees and pays a stipend (most PhD programs do so).
