Then and Now: The (Newer) Major Dilemma
To say that students today have more choices on what to study is a huge understatement. While the Dartmouth curriculum continues to have core distribution requirements for graduation (such as the Swim test), one fundamental difference between a Dartmouth education today and that of the 1820s is a matter of major choice.
Today, Dartmouth students can choose among more than 60 majors, ranging from African & African American Studies to Geography, Linguistics, and Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies. Students can also modify Majors and add Minors to their degree plan – or propose a self-designed individualized interdisciplinary major.
In contrast, students in the 1820s shared a common course of study. There was no option to pick a major. All student’s studied a preset curriculum.
For a majority of students in the 1820s, a Dartmouth education wasn’t finished at graduation. During school breaks and after college, individuals supplemented their classes with additional coursework in their chosen profession.
- Students interested in Medicine attended supplemental courses at Dartmouth Medical School or elsewhere.
- Students interested in Divinity attended Theological Seminaries after Dartmouth. A few students, including Azariah Adams ‘1824, transferred out and headed straight for the Seminary rather than graduating.
- Students interested in practicing law studied under practicing attorneys – often alums of Dartmouth College – prior to taking the bar. Law was a very popular career choice
The Class of 1824 provides an interesting yardstick. Of the 28 graduates:
- Fourteen (50%) became attorneys. Two men later served as state U.S. District Attorneys (for Vermont and New Hampshire). Three men served as judges; two men served in their state Senates. One alum, Charles Hazen Peaslee, served three terms in U.S. Congress (D-N.H.); another, Cyrus Porter Smith, served as the Mayor of Brooklyn, New York.
- Six became Ministers.
- Five were Teachers.
- Two were Physicians.
- One, Charles Lee Martin, “studied no profession.” He was a clerk at the Bank of New York.
As can be expected, today’s post-graduate outcomes are very different. Of the Class of 2017:
- 28 percent began their careers in Financial Services.
- Only two percent of Dartmouth graduates go straight to law school, even though 13% plan to go eventually.
Here is a look at their intended majors long-term:
While student interests and the Dartmouth curriculum has changed, the College’s fundamental mission of providing a liberal arts education has remained consistent.
Source Cited:
- A Catalogue of the Officers and Students of Dartmouth College, October 1823. Hanover, N.H: Printed in Concord by Isaac Hill.