The Dartmouth Mirror 01/08/16

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01.08.2016

2// MIRROR

EDITOR’S NOTE

CAREER FAIR COLUMN

Happy Friday! We hope that you’re not spending the beginning of your winter term searching for summer internships like one of us is. Upon meeting her co-editor Caroline Berens for the first time this week, Hayley Hoverter was jealous of Caroline’s youth Although she’s less than a year older than her, Hayley longs for the easier days of her sophomore year, where the only challenge the upcoming summer posed was where to tan. Meanwhile, Caroline secretly envied Hayley for seeming to know what she wanted to do with her life — an ever-elusive pursuit for the taller co-editor.

But, as the Dartmouth axiom goes, if Caroline decides to do corporate recruiting this summer, she’s going to be taken from her life of leisure and will find herself on track to sleepless nights at Goldman.

And isn’t that much of the reason why we came to Dartmouth in the first place? To elicit an impressed eyebrow raise and approving nod from prospective employers when we reveal our school name at job interviews? (Or, in the case of Boston-bred Caroline, to prompt a confused smile as she explains that the college is in New Hampshire, or the classic, “You mean UMass Dartmouth?”) Or, was it to simply brag to people that you went to the same college as the creator of “The Mindy Project”?

This issue explores just that — what resources does Dartmouth give us to achieve our career goals? How many people actually want to “sell their souls?” Is there really a typical Dartmouth career trajectory? Can you look over Hayley’s resume? (No, really. I’m asking you.

Please blitz me). We hope you enjoy reading this issue between edits of your LinkedIn page and trying to avoid slipping on the ice. Hopefully 2016 brings us all closer to our career goals.

Best, Caroline and Hayley P.S. Hayley has attached her resume to this, in case you’re interested.

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MIRROR R

B y MARY LIZA HARTONG & ANdrew kingsley

Taylor Mayde, your typical nondescript, Collis pasta loving, Birkenstock wearing Dartmouth Senior has decided it’s about time she start looking for a job. What did she major in, you ask?

Environmental Science modified with Theater with a double minor in Italian and Psychology, not to mention her FSP in New Zealand for Linguistics.

Taylor is a veritable melting pot of interests, a real Renaissance woman, or as her mean old Uncle Jack says, a useless piece of garbage. Hush up, Uncle Jack, she thinks as she enters the career fair. With the blazer she borrowed from her roommate and the heels she found on Psi U’s lawn, she’s ready for anything these recruiters might throw at her.

Taylor approaches the first booth, a bright display labeled Scrooge & Co. Consulting Firm. Hmm, she thinks, I’ve given advice before. Because of me, Lindsey doesn’t have bangs and mom isn’t dating Buffy from the knife shop! I’ve got this.

Scrooge: Interested in consulting?

Taylor: Sure!

Scrooge: Let me give you a scenario.

Taylor: Okay, I’ll do my best.

Scrooge: In consulting it’s important to focus on the three C’s.

Taylor: Oh! Color, clarity, and carats.

Scrooge: No, company, clients, and competitors.

Taylor: Oh and cut!

Scrooge (staring blankly): No. Let’s say your company’s profits are tanking.

You’ve got to make a decision based on the clientele and the competition as to whether or not you fold or you try to rehabilitate the business. To complicate things, Satan wants your soul, based on a deal you made with him a number of years ago wherein you promised if you got this job you’d give up your goods after ten years.

Taylor: Wait, what?

Scrooge: So Satan’s breathing down your neck, the company’s flailing, and you’ve got a kid on the way. What do I do?

Taylor: I thought this was hypothetical.

CAROLINE BERENS & HAYLEY HOVERTER EDITOR-IN-CHIEF REBECCA ASOULIN

Scrooge: You’ve taken a second mortgage...on your soul.

Taylor: I think I should go.

(Scrooge disappears into thin air as a cackling sound echoes through the hall) Taylor decides consulting--and consorting with Satan--is not for her.

Perhaps her green thumb could be put to use. She approaches a booth teeming with fresh vegetables.

Taylor: Hi! This looks amazing. What does your company do?

Rabbits grazing on the vegetables: (indiscriminate munching noises) Taylor: Excuse me? Is anyone running this booth for (reads sign) Peter Rabbit Organic Produce? Is there a business card I could take?

Rabbit: (hands her a piece of lettuce and nods conspiratorially) Taylor: What am I supposed to-Rabbit: (shhhh sound, nodding) Goodness, Taylor thinks, what’s a girl gotta do to make bank around here?

Satan’s voice: Come to us!

Taylor: No! Not now, Satan.

Satan: Okay.

Out of the corner of her glass eye, Taylor spots a wily raccoon. This looks promising, she muses, approaching the colorful Tammy’s Taxidermy booth.

Taylor: Hi! Tammy: Hi, sugar! I’m Tammy Tarmel and this here is my small business.

Why work for a small business? Well, we offer benefits that the big boys just can’t compete with.

Taylor: Oh, like what?

Tammy: Your beloved dog dies? That’s free stuffing for employees. Creative dentistry? We got all the teeth you could ask for. My brother’s part wolf now. That could be you!

Taylor: Do you your employees get health care benefits?

Tammy: Yer darn tootin! Grandpappy Beefus is a world class medicine man.

All the snake oils you could want, honey bunch.

Taylor: Cool! Well I’m going to keep walking around, but I’ll definitely be back.

Tammy: Here’s a free sample for your journey. (hands her a stuffed rabbit) Taylor: Is this one of the guys from Peter Rabbit Organic Produce?

Tammy: That’s C number 3: competition.

Taylor, excited but wary, approaches a modest, nondescript booth in the corner of the room.

Taylor: Hi there!

Patricio: Buongiorno!

Taylor: Right back at ya! What does this organization do? I can’t really tell from your booth.

Patricio: So glad you asked. We’re an Italian theatre troupe that focuses primarily on using current psychology to educate children on environmental science and world language patterns.

We believe the interdisciplinary knowledge is the key to lifelong happiness and improved health. I guess you could say we’re a melting pot.

Taylor: Wow! Taylor imagines all of her passions coming together like a beautiful tapestry.

Everything she’s worked for, thrown together like the sexiest bag of Chex Mix there ever was. Then, she hears her Uncle Jack’s voice. Garbage, garbage, garbage. The voice that’s been in her head her whole life, her personal Satan.

Satan: Who, me?

Taylor: No, I’m just monologuing.

Satan: Oh, okay. Sorry. Carry on.

I’m not just going to go along with what Uncle Jack says! Taylor thinks, bursting with emotion.

Taylor: I know what I’m going to do with my life!

Patricio: Excelente! When can you start?

Taylor runs with glee back towards Tammy’s Taxidermy.

Patricio: But why? Mi amor?

Taylor: The health care benefits!

MIRROR EDITORS

PUBLISHER RACHEL DeCHIARA

EXECUTIVE EDITORS MAYA PODDAR ANNIE MA

OVER HEARDS

Art history professor: “Look at the sculpture of this turkey. To me, this captures the very essence of turkeyness.”

Music professor: “There are few things more depressing than finding a book you wrote on Amazon for one cent.” ’16: “I’ve been drunk since Thanksgiving.”

’19: “It can’t actually get that much colder, can it?”

COSC professor: “I could never have gotten into Dartmouth as a student, but I can be a professor.”

’19: “I like floors 2 and 4, but I don’t fuck with floor 3.”

The non-corporate path less traveled SPOTLIGHT

B y karen cao & LIsa oh

As winter term 2016 kicks off, Dartmouth has been filled with harried students by day and a silent tundra by night. Frisbees, lacrosse sticks and tennis balls are being dropped in favor of cozier, indoor options like hot cocoa, hockey games and the library. But these are not the only things being dropped this winter season. In the warmth of their dorms and homes, hundreds of Dartmouth students are dropping their resumes on Dartboard this winter, with hopes that one corporate all-star will favor their application and transform their career.

For students who are looking to pursue a career in finance, business or consulting, corporate recruiting has often offered a convenient opportunity to secure a hot internship for a chilly winter off-term. But did every student in recruiting start off with the intention of finding a corporate workplace ­— or have they been influenced by the culture or their classmates at Dartmouth? And what about the slew of other students who intern at non-corporate companies — where are they dropping their application this winter?

Er Li Peng ‘16 said that corporate recruiting seems like an appealing option because of its accessibility and popularity.

“It’s so prevalent and there’s the mentality of fear of missing out, in which everyone else is doing it so why am I not doing it?” Peng said.

Peng compared corporate recruiting’s prevalence and allure to that of the Greek scene.

“I kind of see it as related to Greek life in a way, where people come in and they’re not as interested but a lot of people are in Greek life and they kind of get persuaded into it,” Peng said.

Peng said that while it may not seem that way, corporate recruiting is not the only vehicle through which Dartmouth students can find career opportunities. In fact, Peng drew a parallel between corporate recruiting and an iceberg, with it being the only visible trajectory – the tip – and everything else, though larger, invisible beneath the surface.

Director and senior assistant dean of the Center for Professional Development, Roger Woolsey, shared a similar concern to Peng, speaking to the frequency with which corporate companies come to Hanover to garner talented, ambitious Dartmouth students.

“I think what confuses students is that all they hear about is corporate recruiting, particularly for the

how much she has valued the ex- finance and consulting sector, beperiences she’s gained by working cause those industries have a great with smaller businesses, noting deal of capital and are aggressive that she gets to play a bigger role in their recruiting,” Woolsey said. than other student interns might Because of the recruiting intensity of the corporate sector, many at larger companies.

“I think that has been a lot more of the non-corporate opportunities beneficial to me,” Zischke said. available may not be as visible to “I was able to feel more invested students, Woolsey said. in overall goals, and it feels more In 2015, for example, the top industries with inter nship or worthwhile in the end.”

The invisibility of non-corpo- job postings on Dartboard were rate options can leave students who diverse, with industries such as don’t apply via corporate recruit- education coming in first, and ing scrambling for other channels research coming in fifth, Woolsey by which to discover internships. said.

For many students, these options “If you look at Dartboard, a lot can seem not readily available. of these other industries are postThis may make students feel like ing,” Woolsey said. “The number their options are not only more one industry that posts is educalimited, but also that pursing these tion, not finance or consulting.” options takes greater effort than a Maggie Finn ’16, who plans to pursue teaching, said that she resume drop.

So, where do students find non- did not use Dartboard to find her corporate internships and jobs? internships in education. She said Peng suggested applying directly to in her experience, she’s largely seen company websites, which Finn and teaching internships advertised on the listerv Zischke also of Students said they did. “[The corporate sector] for Education Peng said that has this prestige around Reform. applicants Woolmight have it. People will look at also said more compeme and say ‘You’re go- sey that size and tition because vast need of t h e y ’ r e u p ing into teaching?’ and corporate against stuask ‘Why?’” companies d e n t s f ro m engenders all different the frequency schools, not -Maggie Finn ’16 with which just Dartthey recruit, mouth like which subsewhen stuquently might dents apcontribute to ply through the concepDartboard. tion that Dart “Somemouth is a corporate school. times they may not get back to you because they have a lot of “The investment banks and other people applying to them the consulting firms, they have whereas when you apply to CPD, very predictable hiring needs,” there’s less of an applicant pool,” Woolsey said. “They are more visible on campus because they Peng said.

Woolsey said that the CPD come here more often and have does have a lot to offer Dartmouth more resources. That’s what gets students with non-cor porate the most attention, and it seems internship and job interests. He like that’s what Dartmouth does, said that many opportunities are because that’s what people see.” advertised through email, which Whether frequent corporate is not the ideal way to reach busy recruiting draws students to majors such as economics or a high constudents.

“A big part of the problem is that centration of such majors brings our main means of communication firms to campus remains unclear. is through email,” Woolsey said. Jess Zischke ‘16, who interned “There’s a lot of information that at the Sierra Club and Seedling caters to non-corporate opportu- Projects, two environmental nonnities in our emails. But emails profit organizations, shared a clutter, so it’s not the best way for similar perspective to Peng and Finn. communication.”

Email can be not as effective, “I think the corporate trajecbecause students often get bom- tory is taken as a given a lot of barded with blitzes and many don’t times and it kind of feels like its have the free time to sift through all self-perpetuation,” Zischke said. the clutter to find those relevant to Zischke said that she bypassed them. In order to rectify this, the corporate recruiting, expressing

MIRROR //3

TRENDING

@ Dartmouth CPD has started several programs to make opportunities more visible, according to Woolsey.

“We are trying to increase our use of technology to give students access to things with the fingertips of their hands,” Woolsey said.

The CPD has recently developed a phone application, DARTmobile, for the students in the Professional Development Accelerator program.

“If you hit a tab, it gives you all the resources that you could connect to.” Woolsey said.

Among others, these resources include Dartboard, the Dartmouth Career Network and DartmouthCircles. The app is meant to be a more practical way to display opportunities than blitz.

Although Zischke recognized these efforts by the CPD, she noted the remaining inequalities.

“I think the resources have gotten better, but they’re not entirely equal.” Zischke said. “It’s hard when so many students do go through corporate recruiting, so it makes sense that there will be more resources for them.”

Senior associate director of the CPD, Monica Wilson, explained that the vast majority of students go into fields outside of corporate recruiting, at least while at Dartmouth.

“We have a very loyal alumni base in the corporate sector, so we don’t want to turn employers away when they want to recruit Dartmouth talent, but we work hard to engage other industries as well,” Wilson said.

Wilson explained that typically, 15% of students who go into recruiting get hired, so the remaining 85% are getting jobs out of recruiting.

Although they may seem invisible at times, there are a multitude of options available for students who aren’t going into corporate recruiting, such as non-profits, non-governmental-organizations, graduate school, startups and many more.

Ultimately, people should pursue the career paths they desire, even if it defies the typical corporate culture at Dartmouth, Finn said. “[The corporate sector] has this prestige around it,” Finn said.

“People will look at me and say ‘You’re going into teaching?’ and ask ‘Why?’” Ultimately, she said, this occasional incredulity from others has not kept her from pursuing a career she is passionate about.

Zischke is a former member of The Dartmouth Senior Staff.

B E A N BOOTS

HERDING Herding- that fence isn’t subtle at all, Dartmouth.

WARM CUTS

Like jumping from the pool to the hot tub, but way less fun.

MICHELIN MAN

Heard this look was hot on the Paris runway this season.

HAVING A LOT OF WORK

It’s only been a week, but gone are the casual first days of term. Periodicals are packed, first floor Berry is full and the six p.m. bells are drowned out by complaints.

BAD FOOD Calling your mom to complain about the food.

FALLING

4// MIRROR

MIRROR ASKS SPOTLIGHT

BY michael qian

The Mirror sent out a survey to campus and got over 250 responses regarding their career-relate hopes and dreams.

Here are their responses. We edited and condensed the answers for clarity.

1. Has your experience at Dartmouth changed your career aspirations, and if so, how/why?

No, not yet. (It almost did, a lot of people like consulting here) Not experience at Dartmouth, more experience at my internship It made me interested in medicine Yes! Before coming to Dartmouth I was completely unsure of what I wanted to do.

Now, through clubs and classes, I’ve narrowed it down to financial services.

I was introduced to Linguistics and the academic world and decided to go to grad school Research put in contact with grad students that helped encourage me to aspire for grad school.

Never going into consulting or finance Yes, took CS 1 and switched career path from becoming a chemistry professor to wanting to go into the tech industry as a software engineer!

Not really; I basically knew what I wanted to do before Dartmouth, but classes here have enforced my original thoughts Yes! Went from wanting to make money to just wanting to be happy Seeing new opportunities for careers that weren’t even on my radar before; getting spat out by the bio department and having to drop premed I’ve realized that I have no interest in being the most “noteworthy” or having the best title. I just want to find a place where I feel comfortable, can make a living, and have the opportunity to It has definitely reinforced my drive to be the top whatever I end up doing The government is terrible to work in Yes, I’ve decided to take gap time before med school.

Yes, my classes, professors and internships have all exposed me to industries that I didn’t even knew existed My interests haven’t really changed but I’m aware of new career paths with those interests.

No, my experience at Dartmouth hasn’t changed my career aspirations I realized I’m not cut out for engineering, and that I love genetics and molecular biology Moving away from “typical” post-grad careers like banking/consulting/tech I want to take a gap year before med school;

but still want to be a doctor It’s made me feel inadequate for not wanting to pursue a career in the corporate world I decided I didn’t want to do finance because I realized the lifestyle and corporate culture were too misaligned with my interests, especially when careers that were more closely aligned paid similar wages.

Yes — an amazing internship I applied for randomly, took on a whim, and absolutely loved Yes, found about professions i didn’t know existed through Dali It has made me realize I can shoot a lot higher than I thought 2. What do you hope to get out of a career?

I want a career that pays me enough to be self-sustaining, and where I get to apply myself creatively while helping others.

Security and the knowledge that I’m making a difference in the world Money and happiness Fulfillment, happiness, friends Being able to work at something I’m really passionate at and that people care about Make change, help people, stability I want to enjoy going to work everyday and I want my career to be meaningful I hope to have a job that brings new challenges every day, but that allows me to feel like I am making a difference. I would also love to travel.

Go into medicine Happiness, feeling like I’m helping people/ the world, something I’m excited and passionate about I want to work with people that I enjoy, in an environment that brings out the best in me. What I do for work is not a huge consideration.

I hope to make a modest living, but more importantly, I want to do something honest and productive for society.

Experience, knowledge, excitement, sustainable income Some kind of fulfilling work where I can be financially independent and somehow Make the world a better place at the same time I hope to feel like I am contributing positively to society every time I go to work. I want to make a difference in the lives of others.

Intellectual stimulation, learning more about myself, developing my thought processes I want to do something that is enjoyable and satisfying, that makes me a solid amount of money, and that lets me live in a place where I would want to live.

I want to impact the lives of others through health and also to create knowledge.

A life — for my career to be a vocation; time and space to think/read/write; relationships; challenge; meaning An opportunity to do what I love: building things and helping to make the world a better place No really sure. I know what I want to do in the short term, but longer term is a mystery I hope to provide for my family and positively impact society.

Satisfaction in tangible change I make on a community Job stability, sense of accomplishment, enough money to live comfortably Personal satisfaction that I am helping others and be able to provide for my family.

Sense of responsibility and skill, contribu-

tions to scientific community Comfort (of living), fulfillment, flexibility, and minimal stress Artistic and personal fulfillment Make measurable progress in exciting, engaging research and change lives!

3. What is your biggest career/job related fear right now?

That they will look at my grades and not hire me.

Not getting a job after college I’ll fail corporate recruiting Not getting into med school Not getting a job As someone in my first consulting internship - my biggest struggles are: what time do I leave? Who do I eat lunch with?

Not having the right connections after Dartmouth/not knowing the path to anything but consulting.

I won’t figure out my passion!

Not being in Boston/New York when it feels like all my friends will be there That I don’t have a competitive resume for top jobs I worry that I don’t have the specific skills to make me a competitive applicant, and that my cover letters don’t catch peoples’ attention. I also worry that I’ll take a job I don’t like out of Staying corporate for longer than a few years Embarrassing myself in front of professionals That I won’t get a job that pays/is interesting and meaningful (I don’t want to sacrifice one for the other) and I want to have enough time where I can dance on the weekends Not getting one The MCAT Getting a job I hate Not being accepted to medical school That I’ll be stuck in a low-quality place I don’t want to be; that I won’t be able to go higher Finding job in desired field Not having my GPA at a point where recruitment will come easily That all the stress and work I’ve put into school will be for nothing That I won’t get an investment banking summer internship offer Doing petty, unfulfilling work.

Not being able to get hired after graduating undergrad or grad school if I do that I won’t get into medical school because of organic chemistry Not being able to make it to med school Worried about lifestyle and completing medical school I won’t make enough to support myself and will have to live in a tent forever That I’ll work for a company I don’t like or I won’t like the work I do Not getting into medical school Finding something to do for my gap year; committing to be a student for the next 6 years when people around me are starting ‘real life’ and careers Not getting into med school Not getting into medical school Getting a job as a writer How do pay for grad school Banking is soul sucking Not being able to find an internship for this summer Having too low a gpa to get a job If I am competitive enough Getting the necessary degrees for it

4. If you were guaranteed success in any field, what career would you pursue?

Bookstore owner Education non-profit Law Medicine Private equity Food critic Academia Education policy Pharmaceuticals. People love drugs Creating and selling tech startups, particularly ones that serve pressing social needs Mechanical device design (engineering) Improving health policy and education Nutrition/dietetics Talk show host Recipe developer Entrepreneurship I’d be a writer/director Global health I would be an actress. Not because I want to be famous, but because I actually think I would like it. Or I’d work at Buzzfeed.

National Security I would be a surgeon.

Film reviews/ film making Tech Start-Up I would hope to be a novelist, essayist and literary critic Aerospace Cat-sitting Medical science, specifically attaining human immortality (then you have time pursue everything else you want to) Human-rights lawyer Coaching &/or pharmacology research Research in agriculture and renewable energy Global Health Translation/Interpretation Criminal psychology Secretary of State Urban planning/International Development Movie Director Biology/Health Novel writing Archaeology Neurosurgeon Owning a restaurant Art(painting and/or photography) Photography Something with energy systems, sustainable development, or urban green infrastructure Entrepreneurship Beyonce Farmer/chef Corporate litigation Mathematics Alison Guh/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

6// MIRROR

Through the Looking Glass:

The Eight Year Degree SPOTLIGHT

B y NOAH BOND

At the beginning of 2010, just before the start of my first spring term at Dartmouth, I left school and embarked on what would turn out to be a rather unorthodox path to the world of technology startups and venture capital firms.

I had just finished winter finals and was on the verge of a mental breakdown. For anyone who has lived the majority of their life in the Bay Area, winter in New Hampshire is a living hell, especially if you hate snow and have little interest in skiing. To make matters worse, I was head-over-heels for a woman back in California and was much too romantic of a 19 year old to not become depressed by our separation. My grades were horrible, I had no idea what I wanted to major in and the crippling perfectionism in the back of my head made it difficult to even attempt my class assignments. Ultimately, the decision to take time off was an easy one.

I needed time to figure out what I wanted for my life. So, I packed my bags and headed West, returning to Santa Cruz, Calif. and a job making milkshakes at Betty Burgers. It was difficult to know what the future would hold, but I’ve always thrived off uncertainty.

Growing up with an adventurous single mother (D’91), who had me her senior year at Dartmouth, prepared me for the precariousness of a life lived on my own terms. Though I relied heavily on friends and family for advice, couches to crash on and introductions that would advance my career, I always supported myself financially, which, in my experience, is the only way one can truly be independent as a young adult.

After an eight-month internship at the Diversity Center in Santa Cruz, a non-profit dedicated to supporting the local LGBTQ community, my girlfriend and I broke up and I moved north to Berkeley, taking classes at the University of California, Berkeley. For a few months, I took classes and interacted with student groups. One organization in particular, The Berkeley Group (TBG), provided me with a sense of what I might want to do for a career. I was introduced to TBG, a prestigious pro bono non-profit consulting group run by Berkeley undergraduates, through Jeremy Au, the TBG president at the time. We met through mutual friends and I mentioned I was interested in starting something similar at Dartmouth.

My time spent at the Diversity Center made me realize that what I really cared about was helping disadvantaged communities. However, as someone who has straddled the line between privilege and poverty, I knew I needed to remain practical and gain skills that might be applied toward more lucrative future job opportunities. Non-profit consulting would allow me to both help people and advance my career. Win! A year after leaving school, I returned to Dartmouth with a newfound sense of purpose and a desire to build something of my own ­— it was not long after that the Seeds Consulting Group was born.

SCG was a collaboration between myself, Dexter Zhuang ’13, and a handful of other undergraduates. With the help of Jeremy Au and TBG, we developed a curriculum to

train student consultants and scope consulting projects. At the same time, before Dartmouth Entrepreneurial Network was really a thing, Dexter and I decided to form a local chapter of the Kairos Society, a global undergraduate entrepreneurial society, in order to foster a spirit of innovation and risk-taking on campus. It was through the Kairos Society that I was first immersed in the world of tech startups and entrepreneurship. Though semiexclusive (students were required to submit an application if they wanted to become Kairos “fellows”), we cultivated a diverse group of young women and men and while each had their own interests, the general consensus was that entrepreneurship provided a path toward the realization of our individual goals.

By now a couple terms had past since I returned to school, and SCG and Kairos were taking up more and more of my time. In addition to classes, I was working more than 40 hours a week for these two organizations and had a part-time job at the library circulation desk. I had also just been awarded the Tucker Foundation’s Class of 1982 Social Entrepreneurship Fellowship to work with the Upper Valley Haven homeless shelter. As winter term approached, I became increasingly aware of my inability to juggle school and my growing extracurricular responsibilities.

I again decided to withdraw from Dartmouth, but remained in Hanover in order to continue working with SCG and the Upper Valley Haven. For the entirety of 2012, I lived just outside of Hanover, working 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. managing Umpleby’s Café and Bakery and 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. as Berry’s circulation desk night manager, finding time to sleep in between jobs and on weekends. During my free time I founded my first business making all-natural cashew cream ice cream with my best friend Austin Pogue ’13. We resolved to buy a food truck and grow our business on the streets of San Francisco.

Unfortunately, our food truck empire never materialized beyond the conception phase. Austin decided to accept a position at LinkedIn and I packed my bags for Israel and an eight-month ulpan program at Ma’agan Michael, one of the largest kibbutzim, a collective community based on the principal of joint ownership, in the country. As a precursor to the program, I went on Birthright with a long-time crush of mine — it took only a few days for us to fall in love. The only problem: she lived in New York and I was to remain in Israel for the better part of the year. What happened next I can only describe as kismet. Just before moving to the kibbutz, I contracted an extremely painful stomach virus and ended up hospitalized for nearly a week. With all my money lost to medical bills, eight months in Israel was no longer an option, so two weeks later I left, and a month after our trip, Birthright woman and I were living together in a small studio apartment in Brooklyn.

As it turned out, my old fraternity brother Teghvir Sethi ’12 was in the beginning stages of starting .Bk, an online-based company producing high-quality, limited edition menswear. With my previous experience advising non-profits and startups through Kairos and

Courtesy of Noah Bond

Noah Bond ’13 discusses his unconventional path to graduation.

time spent running my own business, I was finally in a position for someone to actually pay me for my time. Following five months of non-stop work, however, it became clear that although we were and continue to be good friends, our professional relationship wouldn’t be able to endure the long hours.

My relationship with Birthright woman was also in trouble and I found myself floundering as I considered my options. Though I had always planned on finishing my degree, it never quite felt like the right time until that winter in New York. Once again, I would return to Dartmouth, this time for good.

I came back in the spring of 2014 and after so much time living in the “real world,” the idea of studying full-time seemed like a vacation. That entrepreneurial itch would always be there, but my long-term plans (which include graduate school) depended and still depend on getting my degree. A funny thing happened, though. As I was searching for winter off-term opportunities, three terms after returning to school for a second time, my experiences outside of Dartmouth were opening doors that would normally require a 3.8 GPA and family connections to gain access to. I accepted two offers: one from Base Ventures, a small venture capital firm in Berkeley, Calif. and the other from Connect, a mobile technology startup based in San Francisco. After returning from my off-term, I remained employed by Connect, working remotely and flying out between terms for company retreats. A year has gone by and I’m still at Connect, back in San Francisco for

the winter, working long hours and enjoying every minute of it.

Next week, I have a second interview at one of the most prestigious venture capital firms in the world. I’m 25 years old and I don’t have a degree, but I’ve been able to achieve and experience more than most Dartmouth undergraduates do following the more traditional route through school and corporate recruiting. I’m not an economics or computer science major, I’m not going to graduate summa cum laude, and, by the time I finally do graduate, it will be almost 10 years since I first started my degree. But over the past seven years, I’ve worked a total of 21 jobs and internships, including fulltime roles at three startups, four non-profits and five restaurants; started and run two non-profits and one business; lived in seven cities, in three states and two countries; and financially supported both myself and my family. I was able to do so much because I refused to accept that my life would be determined by others.

Let me be clear: I’m not advocating anyone drop out of school. Attending Dartmouth is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and at no other time in your life will it be your job to learn for the sake of learning. My only request is that you acknowledge how capable you are and what a blessing it is to be alive. Don’t waste your life chasing societal ideals of success. Make your own path. Be an outlier. Do some cool shit. Whatever you end up doing though, do it of your own free will and when you look back on your life, have no regrets.

MIRROR //7

JOE KIND: A GUY COLUMN

By Joe Kind

I spent my New Year’s Eve at home with my drunk friends — Kathy and Anderson — on CNN squabbling with one another. I, sober and stressed by packing woes, watched in awe as the ball dropped in Times Square. Would I ever be there in person? Hell no. I can only imagine myself standing in the same place for hours at a time, having to pee discreetly in a plastic water bottle or suffer the consequences of holding it in, wondering “Why in the world would I ever commit to such a heinous act?” Maybe I could do it with the sweet coddling of a significant other, in the hopes of making it on America’s home screens while making out. Or, better yet, making out while simultaneously showing off my Confused Baby Boy adorned with layers and layers of fleece. “He is so cute and cuddly,” America will think. Well, in this case, America is stupid. Babies deserve better.

I like to pretend these kinds of things.

Indeed, 2016 is shaping up to contain lots of pretending ­— pretending to be living in a big city apartment, dingy as can be; pretending to be working in an office; pretending to have a job at all; pretending to graduate…

I am a senior. Hear me complain yet again about my job search. I honestly am over the struggle of it all. Is it possible to ever admit enjoying parts of the application process? In my time applying for entry-level positions — which is all of a couple of months, let’s not forget — I have learned a lot about myself and my aspirations for my future. The process empowers me to think beyond what I thought I could do, or what I thought I would do. I don’t see a reason to be so bitter about that.

Maybe it’s just that the light is around the corner, finally. At least I think it is. The process certainly creates a tunnel vision of course; maybe I’m just seeing the flashlights of other lost souls.

2016 is finally upon us — insert several exclamation points here exclaiming false enthusiasm.

I think this calendar year presents more unanswered questions than any previous collection of 365 days in my life. And for obvious reasons.

But even the same questions considered at the start of each year seem to carry more weight than in years past. Take the classic — where will I be for the holidays this year. Before college, this question usually meant, where will my family be on vacation during the holidays this year, if at all.

During college, this question turned into, where will I physically be for Thanksgiving (because I have had to return early to campus each year for swim training instead of spending the six weeks of break at home). After college, this question only evokes more uncertainties. Will my future

job, assuming I find one, even allow me to take a holiday break? Will the break be long enough to justify holiday travel at all during the holidays?

Will I be making enough money to afford a plane ticket home?

All these uncertainties breed an unprecedented sense of urgency.

I would think that I know all about urgency.

My strongest events in swimming have always been the sprints. One may even argue that, in my short career in the pool, the sprint events have been my only events. But I digress.

You can therefore imagine the confusion running through my head when my high school swim coaches told me I needed to learn how to swim with urgency.

I will always remember that conversation. We were at an outdoor swimming pool on a rainy Saturday. I had just finished a race and had done only okay. I approached my coaches for feedback.

They explained that beyond all the mechanics, beyond all the technical elements that comprise a strong race, I needed to change my mental attitude. I can’t just swim through the motions.

I needed urgency.

Flash forward four years later, almost to the day. It was a Monday, the last week of 2015. I check my email, as I tend to do at the start of my mornings, to see that a memorial service was being planned for Tate in his hometown of Nashville, Tennessee.

My teammate and good friend lost his life too soon, as I had learned the day before. When I read the email on that groggy Monday morning, after resting on a poor night’s sleep, I got out of bed almost immediately. Something inside me had shifted into an autopilot. I reached down to the floor of my bedroom for my computer and began to peruse the internet for flights to Nashville.

I didn’t consult my parents or my sister or my friends. I didn’t think about any of the costs or the burdens. They would all be dealt with later.

An hour later, after several phone calls, I emerged with a rearranged itinerary and a renewed sense of self. I was going.I know what urgency feels like.

Tate was a terrific guy, for those who did not know him. He was precisely the kind of person that made me happy to attend Dartmouth ­— someone who challenged me to be better, in and out of the pool; someone who kept an open mind and was driven by a strong sense of character; someone who you always wanted in your corner because you believed he would never leave you behind.

I woke up early on Jan. 1 for my flight to Nashville, with a clear head. Thank you, Kathy and Anderson, for making me laugh yet another year in a row. 2016, here I come. Ready or not.

Sam’s little larks COLUMN

By Sam Van Wetter

(WIN)TER SAM and (LOSE)TER SAM discuss the pros and cons of the season.

WINTER SAM: Oh, don’t you love the sunset over a snowy Green?

LOSETER SAM: I’m so mad I can’t even look at it. My friend is in Australia for the term and her whole Snapchat story is like, beaches and dingoes and double digit thermofilters.

WINTER: That makes you mad?

LOSETER: Obviously. It was so cold in my room this morning that the hot coffee I brewed instantly froze.

WINTER: Well, I hate to say it, but if you were expecting koalas in January you came to the wrong college, let alone hemisphere.

LOSETER: I just always forget how horrible the winters are.

WINTER: Dartmouth in the winter is the only Dartmouth worth anything.

LOSETER: Come on.

WINTER: Dartmouth is made for this season.

LOSETER: Please. I had a near-breakdown at the end of the fall when I saw them taking the Collis patio furniture away.

WINTER: Come on. Don’t you get a little twinge of excitement when they put the wooden covers on the stairs to the library? It means Mother Nature is laying icy booby traps on all our steps and we must carry on, foiling her. Pulling up on the Coach and seeing the Christmas tree on the green is such a good sign. It’s a groundhog for a different season, foretelling 10 weeks of— LOSETER: Ice and dark and cold and misery.

WINTER: Yes and snow! And a beautiful carnival sculpture! And scarves and hot cocoa and skiing and skating!

LOSETER: Winter sports are overrated. Dubai has it figured out. Make an indoor ski resort. Keep winter confined to a bubble.

WINTER: That’s the easy option. Instead, why don’t you see the change in temperature as a challenge, something to be conquered, you know? How you can still have fun and see the world and be with friends but in a slightly colder environment.

LOSETER: Ew, no thanks. I’d rather warm-cut.

THOREAU: I think that I cannot preserve my health and spirits, unless I spend four hours a day at least — and it is commonly more than that — sauntering through the woods and over the hills and fields, absolutely free from all worldly engagements.

LOSETER: Okay? But I’m taking classes and that makes it kinda hard to saunter away from my worldly engagements.

THOREAU: When sometimes I am reminded that the mechanics and shopkeepers stay in their shops not only all the forenoon, but all the

afternoon too, sitting with crossed legs, so many of them — as if the legs were made to sit upon, and not to stand or walk upon — I think that they deserve some credit for not having all committed suicide long ago.

LOSETER: I’m not, like, depressed. I just want a pill that makes me warm and happy.

DICK’S HOUSE: We have happy sun lamps?

LOSETER: Close enough.

WINTER: But I think what Thoreau was saying that there’s a really big, natural happy sun lamp outside that you could just… stand by. For free.

LOSETER: Yeah, I’d rather not.

WINTER: But why not just… wear more clothing?

LOSETER: Like what, a sleeping bag?

WINTER: That’s kind of what a down coat is.

LOSETER: My hands get cold.

WINTER: Wear some gloves.

LOSETER: They don’t work.

WINTER: That makes no sense.

LOSETER: My hands are like, extra cold liable.

WINTER: There is no problem you have that cannot be fixed with proper layering and insulation.

LOSETER: Yeah, but it’s so much easier to sit inside.

WINTER: Easier? Dartmouth people are famous for winter resilience and innovation. Did you know the first ever machine-driven, permanent chair lift was made in Hanover? It was a rope tow at Oak Hill and pulled people on literal planks up a slope so they could hurdle down it again. We have a rich history of Dartmouth men and women breaking records and going to the Olympics and innovating so that people everywhere can enjoy the winter instead of, you know, sitting inside with a lamp.

LOSETER: I don’t want to invent the chair lift. I just want to get to class without my hair freezing.

WINTER: Well, if it’s dry it won’t freeze.

LOSETER: That requires me to have foresight and the ability to plan which is essentially not who I am.

WINTER: Let’s go to the Skiway sometime. It opens this weekend. It will never be easier for you to get outside for an afternoon of skiing. It’s easy to get to, easy to rent gear, and really fun and worthwhile once you get there. Plus it has its own snapfilter.

LOSETER: Wow. Either you really love the Skiway or they’re, like, paying you.

WINTER: Kind of both.

LOSETER: I really don’t need to sit outside for any extended period of time.

WINTER: But you’re not just sitting. You’re skiing and dancing around and whipping through trees and stuff.

LOSETER: And then sitting again to get to the top.

WINTER: It’s a quick ride.

LOSETER: It can’t be quick enough. Hell for me would be being forced to sit somewhere, unable to move, through the entire winter. I would be so cold and so bored.

ROBERT FROST STATUE: It’s not so bad.

LOSETER: I refuse to believe you. Being covered in snow for months on end would be miserable.

ROBERT FROST STATUE: It’s like anything.

If it’s on top of you for long enough you can just pretend it’s a weird jacket – it’s kind of insulating.

And it’s better than birds or squirrels because it doesn’t poop.

LOSETER: I think you have bigger problems.

WINTER: Everyone does. And getting to go outside helps us to forget that. So try it once in awhile. And, golly, it’s good to be back.

8// MIRROR

What’s in a name?: Dartmouth To what extent does the Dartmouth name matter in internship searches?

SPOTLIGHT

By LEINA Mcdermott

Campus is blanketed in snow, Canada Goose jackets are visible all around and the Class of 1953 Commons is open for business. In other words, it’s officially winter term 2016. Like the beginning of any other term, this one was accompanied by President Hanlon’s quarterly “Welcome back!” message to the entire Dartmouth community.

In it, he emphasized the importance of the liberal arts education Dartmouth provides, specifically, the attractiveness of liberal arts graduates in today’s job market. He stressed that the skills gleaned from a liberal arts education are not only “the capacities employers will seek”, but also those capacities that “humankind will need to advance progress.”

Dartmouth’s commitment to the liberal arts is one of the qualities I love most about this school, but as I read the president’s email I began to wonder how employers really view the liberal arts graduate and more specifically, the Dartmouth graduate. With its status as a member of the prestigious Ivy League and as a world-class institution, Dartmouth has a name that clearly carries some weight, connoting intelligence, ambition and future success.

If someone asks me where I attend school, my answer is often followed by something like “Ivy League? Dang!” or “Good for you! You’re going places!” responses that I’m sure most Dartmouth students have heard. But beyond the realm of impressing the average person, how much weight does the Dartmouth name really carry in a job interview or an internship application? To find out, I spent this week interviewing a variety of Dartmouth students about their experiences, thoughts and opinions concerning the Dartmouth brand.

As it turns out, the Dartmouth name wields considerable influence, but does not ultimately seem to secure someone a job.

Naturally, getting hired based solely on where you go to school is highly improbable ­— if not impossible. That being said, almost every student I interviewed emphatically acknowledged that attending Dartmouth improved their chances for potential employment and in some instances even compensated for qualifications they might have been lacking.

Julia Pomerantz ’16, who was hired for a summer internship during her junior year by a pension fund in Toronto, Canada, experienced this exact scenario. A chemistry major, she was the only person recently hired by the firm who did not have a finance background.

“The Dartmouth name definitely helped

there,” Pomerantz said, noting that she was one of the few employees who went to school in the United States. She said that studying outside of Canada, coupled with the Dartmouth name, made her an appealing candidate for the job, despite having less knowledge about finance than her peers.

Ian Speers ’17, who has worked for the American Red Cross, American Public Health Association and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, expressed a similar sentiment about the College’s positive reputation in the workplace. “[The response to the Dartmouth name] was always positive, people generally seemed to know the school, and, you know, it’s pretty well-respected. I didn’t have any negative or less than positive responses.”

Although one might think that Dartmouth students interviewing with prospective employers could encounter some measure of unfavorable bias due to the negative press the College has experienced in recent years, nobody with whom I spoke had experienced this or spoke of anyone who had.

Despite its status as an elite institution, the Dartmouth name might not have the same level of recognition as other elite institutions, especially one like Harvard University.

Isabel Alexander, a sophomore at Harvard, explained that she and her peers refer to saying where they go to school at “dropping the ‘H bomb’”. Due to Harvard’s history and international prestige, everyone knows the name, perhaps more than other schools, even comparably prestigious ones like Dartmouth.

“In fact, I think that’s why many students choose Harvard over other high-caliber schools.”

Alexander said. “Its international clout grabs the attention of employers all over the world.”

Alexander said the name recognition of Harvard and Dartmouth may be only equal on a regional level, and not as much on an international one.

Alexander noted, however, that along with the prestige, Harvard’s name can also carry connotations of pretentiousness. The Dartmouth name is probably less associated with this quality.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if Harvard’s elite name backfired in cases where the job involved working with underprivileged individuals,” Alexander said. She noted that she once wore a Harvard hat to a soup kitchen and received snide remarks from some customers and employees.

Of the six Dartmouth students I interviewed, four had been hired through the corporate

recruiting process. Sophie Hoffman ’16 went through recruiting during her sophomore summer and was hired as an intern for Goldman Sachs, where she will be returning full-time after graduation.

“The Dartmouth name definitely attracted a lot of employers to the school for recruiting and made it much easier to find opportunities,” Hoffman said.

Jacob Savos ’16, who was hired by Wayfair through corporate recruiting, echoed this. He noted that the consulting, finance and technology companies recruit heavily from Dartmouth. So in these sectors, Dartmouth “does well.”

Hoffman said that for students interested in other sectors the Dartmouth name might have less of an impact.

“I have friends who are interested in different types of opportunities who it was much harder for,” Hoffman said.

While the College’s reputation in the corporate world opens doors for many students, it does not always help those interested in internships and job opportunities in other fields.

Alexandra Sclafani ’18 plans to major in environmental science and said that in her experience, her less common major makes it slightly harder to find jobs.

“You kind of have to go out of the way to find things for yourself, it’s not like they come to Dartmouth to find you, like finance does,” Sclafani said.

Speers, who is majoring in anthropology and psychology and hopes to find a career in global health, felt similarly.

“It’s a little harder to understand where you are in the process, or, you know, NGOs or governmental organizations don’t fly you down to do an interview,” Speers said.

While both Sclafani and Speers were able to successfully find opportunities outside of Dartmouth channels, the same is not true for everyone.

Soyeun Yang ’16 is an English major who has not always felt the Dartmouth name provided her an advantage. She said that outside of corporate careers.

“The Dartmouth name is a lot trickier.” She noted that in her experience employers look for business undergraduates or students with specific refined technical schools over those from liberal arts colleges such as Dartmouth.

Yang said that finding internships in retail, her primary interest, has proven difficult due to her lack of a merchandising background.

“At the end of the day you have to balance three different things,” Yang said. She emphatically noted that she was disappointed that the industry and the employer and your major and background are more important than the third thing; what you actually have to offer at the job.

Pomerantz expressed a similarly passionate response about the high number of students who complete corporate recruiting.

“I’m just realizing everybody goes into finance or consulting,” Pomerantz said. “Everybody. It’s crazy! And that’s why, because that’s where we carry clout, I guess.”

However, one of my most important discoveries was the strength of the Dartmouth alumni network, regardless of major or intended career trajectory.

Dartmouth alumni are everywhere and they are eager and willing to help students from their alma mater. Every student I talked to mentioned connections they had with Dartmouth alumni and the benefits these connections provided. In fact, many students mentioned that the alumni network was a major factor in their decision to come to Dartmouth. The alumni network, I believe, is an asset that sets Dartmouth apart from other elite institutions. Regardless of your field, major, experience or location, the Dartmouth name will always carry weight with another graduate from the College.

Hoffman said that as she went through corporate recruiting, all of her interviewers were Dartmouth alumni. In fact, the internship program she participated in at Goldman Sachs was designed specifically for Dartmouth students.

“Every week we would have lunches with partners or very senior people in the firm and there’s a lot of structure in place to connect us with other Dartmouth alums at the firm,” she said.

Other students said that Dartmouth alumni provide support and opportunities outside of finance.

The position Speers held at the CDC was part of a program initiated by a Dartmouth graduate through the Dickey Center for International Understanding.

Beyond the career opportunities alumni provide, the sheer size of the alumni network is impressive. Hoffman said that once a student graduates she has an “incredibly strong alumni network.”

No matter how much the Dartmouth name factors into the employment process, alumni enthusiasm prevails.

CAROLINE BERENS/ THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

In what sector was your most recent internship or job search? The answers from the Mirror survey are represented in the word cloud above.