#Dartmouth Cognitive Science ➡ UX @ Big Tech!!

17 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

rotund tulip
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Hi everyone! I’m Jood, and I graduated from Dartmouth a few years ago. I majored in Cognitive Science and minored in Human-Centered Design & Statistics (I realized I had room to squeeze in that last one my senior year) 🫡

Some things that I did while I was there:
• Make friends! Temporary & life-long (🤞)
• The Outing Club! Specifically the paddling branch. I went from no experience to leading backcountry canoe expeditions on the Rio Grande
• Design! There’s a lot of programming and opportunities that I can get into if anyone is interested
• Greek life! I was in a sorority, and also volunteered to be an unbiased guide for new members going through rush. Can only speak to small liberal arts college in northeast Greek life though
• Research! I tried both math and cog sci research, but it was not for me. Open to elaborating further
• Gap year! I took one after my sophomore year during COVID and it was exactly what I needed
• Internships! I tried everything, from different roles like marketing/PM/data, to differing company sizes. I got the sophomore summer internship that became my full time job with the help of a referral. Happy to talk about ‘networking’
• Other fun stints: film society, jewelry forge assistant, club field hockey, flute lessons (they’re included w/tuition). Not all at the same time! I tried lots of things in college

What I do now:
• Live in NYC, do UX for big tech
• Personal trainer on the weekends & seasonal application reader for a small liberal arts college
• I like to write, play the flute (I’m still kinda ass), go to Broadway & ballet, and have a beer with my friends

Dartmouth was my dream school when I applied, and looking back, it still is. Just not for the reasons I was expecting! Unfortunately some of my classmates did not get as lucky. Feel free to ask away 👍

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Dartmouth Cognitive Science ➡ UX @ Big Tech!!

abstract cragBOT
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AMA with Jood from Dartmouth

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a2pookie

will i like cognitive science if i hate bio but love social psych and tech / what were your fav classes as a cog sci major

rotund tulip
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Academics might be at my throat for saying this, but imo cognitive science can lowkey be anything that you want it to be. I view it as using any combination of the “classic” and more established disciplines to approach the study of the mind. You can approach it with computational linguistics, or with social cognition, or with philosophy of consciousness, or with behavior change and decision-making, etc etc etc.

Programs will vary in their flexibility of study, but at Dartmouth after taking core classes in psych, cs, ling, and phil, you make your own concentration. So I honestly think anyone can like cognitive science lol!!

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My favorite class actually ended up being Philosophy of Mind, which is shocking because that’s the core class I was least excited for. Is the mind like a machine? Where does the human mind end and body start, or does that even matter? What is the language of thought?

Turns out you can literally say anything as long as you have empirical evidence and a strong argument to back it up. This class actually altered my brain chemistry lmao

abstract cragBOT
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tay | purdue | genetics

What was it like being in a sorority? It's something that conceptually I feel like I might enjoy, but I've heard so many horror stories, so I'd like to get another point of view.

rotund tulip
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I need to preface this answer with the fact that I can only speak to my experience at Dartmouth, where Greek life is very different from schools that are bigger or, um… in the South.

A sorority is what you make of it. Some girls kind of vanished after the first few weeks, while others made it their main social space. I was kind of in the middle. Here were my 2 fav parts about it!!

  1. It’s a social space brought together by arbitrary means rather than interests. Which means that I got to meet random pre-meds, massive stoners, debate girls, athletes, etc, including upperclassmen. Are all of them going to be your bffs forever? No. But it was really cool to get to know people I wouldn’t have encountered in my classes/clubs/etc, and some of them are still my really good friends!

It also gave me community and social opportunity that met me where I was. Want to rip some pong on a Monday? You can find girlies who are down af. Picking your classes? Upperclassmen know the vibes and which professors to avoid. Everyone is going out on a Friday, but you want to stay in? Someone in your class of 65+ will be down to chill and be wholesome instead

  1. Having ownership of a female-dominated space is really fkn awesome, whether you live in the house or not. Dartmouth social scene is really driven by frats and invite culture. But being in a sorority, I felt empowered to bring whoever I wanted to the events that we would host, and they always felt safer and more fun. I also made baked goods in the house kitchen all the time, and hosted movie nights for my friends in the living room a lot. Having a physical space as another home base was really awesome!!
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I actually wasn’t going to rush at all, but changed my mind last minute. I was cool with it not working out for me. And I always knew that if the experience was not what I wanted, I could always quit. So what’s the worst that can really happen if you try?

abstract cragBOT
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a2pookie

what kind of careers do people in cog sci go into, apart from ui/ux?

rotund tulip
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academia, AI, consulting, med school, big data, investment banking, policy, non-profits, unemployment...

tame bay
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bunnir

"Unfortunately some of my classmates did not get as lucky." could you elaborate on that?

and what were the unexpected reasons you liked Dartmouth?

rotund tulip
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Dartmouth is a school built on traditions that make it “quirky.” It’s a small school that is very internal and community focused. Its social scene is heavy, and most nearby adventure opportunities are outdoors-related. I happened to love all of that! But sometimes, folks will pick a school because it’s the best one they got into, and realize it’s really not for them. I had a sizable amount of peers who thought everything was cringe, and were pretty unengaged with what the school had to offer.

Unexpected reasons I liked Dartmouth:

  1. My gut check as a 17 year old at accepted students day that I would like my classmates was right. Dartmouth people are so awesome
  2. Building on that, the alumni network SLAYS. Everyone is so kind and always paying it forward
  3. The outing club gave me lifelong outdoors(wo)man skills I would have never learned from anywhere else
  4. You can pretty much do anything you want. It’s nuts
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izapril | Many Animals Man

Why cognitive science at Dartmouth specifically? I’m interested in cognitive science a little bit, also from a philosophy standpoint, but I’m not sure I’m comfortable making that a main course of study. Are there any unique Cognitive Science like EC/opportunities Dartmouth has?

rotund tulip
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I sadly can’t speak in comparison to other programs. I don’t know what they’re like! But the Dartmouth one is very small, 1-2 full-time faculty with the rest partnering from other departments. But because it’s so small, it’s very cozy and personal. Dr. Jonathan Philips, who is a young hip guy currently running the show, is AWESOME and will help you find whatever research opportunity interests you. He’s also coming from a philosophy POV, as does the past head of the department, so you’re very covered there. So yes, research opportunities should be easy to come by if you ask nicely. Not sure there are any other Cog Sci specific ECs that I can think of, though.

As an aside, this might be a hot take, but I don’t recommend choosing a liberal arts school for one of its departments. You will be pushed to explore so many things via curriculum, odds that you will want to switch into something else is pretty high. Thankfully, at least at Dartmouth most departments are pretty good, some might just be smaller than others!

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blonded6160

I'm really interested about the QSS major, do you have any experience with it? Please talk about it