Elliot Mattingly ’09
German Major/Pre-Med
F07-S08 D-plan: R-R-L

Favorite and least favorite thing about department: The best thing about the German Department is the availability of the professors. It's a small department, so majors receive much more attention than in Departments like Econ or Gov. Because you have more contacts with the professors, they end up getting to know you better, which comes in handy for things like recommendations/ applications. The one downside is that because the department is so small, the course offerings can be somewhat limited. That being said, it's never a problem to get into what classes are offered.

Important info for potential majors: Plan often and early! I lived in Germany for a while in high school, so I was able to test out of the language requirement. If you don't come in with any prior German experience, you're going to need to plan on taking a lot of classes.

Talk to me if: you're trying to plan doing a non-science major with pre-med or need info about the Berlin FSP.

Most valuable academic information learned: Talk to your professors! Most of them are actually pretty interesting people outside the classroom.

Favorite class and professor: German 85. This class was an independent study I did while on the FSP. It involved me researching a German Jewish Librarian that lived in Berlin before/during the Second World War. I got to get out and explore Berlin while I did my research, and I enjoyed writing about him. I also enjoyed being able to meet with my professor whenever I wanted to talk about the project.

Major classes taken: GERM 30, 31, 43, 61, 84, 85

Major journey: At first I was an Econ and German major with a math minor, but after a consulting internship I decided business wasn't for me, so I decided to go pre-med. I came to Dartmouth being able to speak German fairly well, and I started taking some German classes that I thought were interesting, and eventually I decided to be a major.

Major specific activities: German Club

Other activities: Sigma Phi Epsilon; Surgical Volunteers Program; DHMC Shadow; Chabad; Hillel

Off Campus Program: German FSP in Berlin, 06F

Internship experience: Summit Energy, International Sourcing and Risk Management Intern, 06X, Louisville, Ky