I talked to Lydia Freedman, ’25 about her experiences at Dartmouth College, her application process, and advice for those interested. She is obtaining a bachelor’s degree in Engineering Sciences with an emphasis on biomedical engineering. In her dual degree program application, she emphasized the ability to take Vassar courses and access the right resources at Dartmouth, such as proteins or nanoengineering. In her application, she explained the work she does within the Vassar Student Association, tap, and the program Code With Klossy. She recommends emphasizing resources that you can get through the program that are not obtainable at Vassar in your application, all while leveraging the work you have done here at Vassar.
With a new campus comes a new social life, that includes being introduced to Greek life and other social circles, while balancing the intense (ten-week) quarter system workload. According to Lydia, the workload varies according to parts of the semester: the first three weeks are pretty fine, the middle five weeks are intense, and the last two weeks are study period and finals. It is a nontraditional program, with the possibility of a term in the summer, thus shifting summer opportunities to become fall internships instead. Many of the engineering assignments consist of completing weekly problem sets and she recommends working with a team. That way every individual can contribute to the principles they understand the best for the most efficient and effective workflow.
Lydia’s experience with the career center within Dartmouth’s engineering department was amazing. They redirected her to experiences that have accepted Dartmouth engineering students in the past. The career center provided her with all the information she needed to apply for summer opportunities.
Generally, the program is getting more competitive every year. In past years a professor notified her that Vassar did have other engineering programs, but as of now, this is our only engineering pathway. From past conversations with the program advisor years prior, she recommends the book The Existential Pleasures of Engineering by Samuel C. Florman which highlights the history of engineering as a profession and is monumental in understanding this field from the beginning.
Good luck to all students who are interested or applying!
Link to Program: Vassar-Dartmouth Dual Degree Program – Academics | Vassar College