The Enduring Power of the Dartmouth Alumni Network

For Dartmouth alumni, the journey doesn’t end at graduation; it evolves. The Dartmouth alumni network is a powerful and multifaceted resource, offering a wealth of benefits that extend far beyond the picturesque Hanover campus. This article explores the numerous advantages of actively engaging with the Dartmouth alumni network, from career support and networking opportunities to giving back and lifelong learning.

Building a Professional Network

Networking and Connections

Finding a job, whether it's an internship or an entry-level position, can be challenging. Joining your alumni association is one of the simplest and most effective ways to maximize your professional reach when looking for work. The vast array of alumni who work in almost every sector will give you a foot in the door at innumerable businesses worldwide. Connecting with Dartmouth alumni in your field or desired location can open doors to internships and entry-level positions. The alumni network provides a platform to connect with individuals who might not otherwise consider your application.

Dartmouth Alumni Clubs

Local Dartmouth clubs host events, gatherings, lectures, and other opportunities to meet fellow Dartmouth students and alumni. These clubs provide a local connection to the broader Dartmouth community, fostering relationships and offering opportunities for professional and personal growth.

Rockefeller Center Summer Networking Reception

For students and graduates in the Washington, D.C. area, events like the Rockefeller Center Summer Networking Reception offer a unique opportunity to connect with fellow students, alumni, and faculty. These receptions facilitate mingling and networking, creating valuable connections for those starting their careers.

Career Services and Support

Center for Professional Development (CPD)

The Center for Professional Development is available to help the Dartmouth undergraduate community make the most of resources offered on campus for current students and alumni-specifically young alumni, who are described as undergraduate alumni within five years of graduation. CPD is the right place for employers looking to hire Dartmouth students or young alums for both internships and employment. By partnering with CPD, recruiters and hiring professionals can post jobs and engage with Dartmouth students both virtually and in-person. A diverse and impressive list of companies have worked with CPD to access the highly qualified pool of Dartmouth students and young alumni. CPD has compiled dozens of resources to support the newest members of the Dartmouth alumni community. Those who graduated within the past five years should be sure to fully explore everything CPD has to offer.

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Dartmouth Connect

For alumni who graduated more than five years ago, Dartmouth Connect is an invaluable resource. Dartmouth Connect is an exclusive online networking platform designed for Dartmouth alumni from ’round the girdled Earth. Alumni and community members have access to connections, career resources, and groups designed for specific career interests.

Handshake

Handshake is a platform to help students find jobs. An impressive 80% of students who share their interests in their Handshake profiles are contacted by at least one recruiter. All students automatically receive a Dartmouth Handshake account as soon as they start classes, giving them access to job and internship recommendations based on their profile. The Center for Professional Development (CPD) also uses Handshake to send out crucial information about special events, deadlines, and Dartmouth-specific opportunities that match student interests.

Professional School Resources

The professional schools at Dartmouth also offer helpful resources to help members of their communities thrive.

Career Services

These services are pivotal for undergrads finding their way. However, these well-connected people often make themselves available to alumni. Though your access to school resources dwindles with time, there may be support waiting for you at career services.

Lifelong Learning and Engagement

Alumni Events and Gatherings

Homecoming is a wonderful time of year for past graduating classes to recongregate for alumni events. As the years progress, you can reconnect with old friends and roommates you’ve fallen out of touch with. You can also find nearby alumni who share similar interests and meet up closer to home. If you discover a bunch of die-hard fans of your college’s sports teams, you should gather to watch games throughout the season. Throw on your favorite spirit wear and make the most of your friendly gatherings.

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Global Leadership Program

Global Leadership accelerates the development of member companies’ top talent in anticipation of creating a future that cannot yet be predicted. Our program builds employee knowledge and loyalty. Retention rates among Global Leadership alumni of 70 to 85 percent or higher are common. Action Learning Projects deliver real results for participating corporations. Their impact on tough organizational challenges yields significant value for member companies each year.Sessions are geared toward real-world application and immediate impact, and program participants gain a common language. This shared framework helps them tackle challenges and drive action across the organization. Intimate cohort sizes ensure opportunities for building meaningful connections with peers and faculty. Some member organizations also have alumni groups that allow for participants to connect over multiple cohorts.Participants are frequently promoted shortly after completing the program. retention rateRetention rates for Global Leadership alumni are high. advancement rateParticipants see career growth after the program. international placement rateParticipants become global ambassadors for their companies. Global Leadership members are non-competing corporations seeking to expand their reach in global markets.Membership in the consortium is by invitation only. It requires each corporation to identify six or more high-potential leaders for the program annually. These participants, drawn from across the globe, form a diverse cohort that encourages rich intellectual and creative cross-pollination. Our key distinguishing feature is immersion learning in a place that is significantly changing the face of global business. As participants engage with these different markets, they develop empathy for the diverse needs of people across the world and begin to innovate more customer-centric solutions. They witness the dynamics of global markets first-hand and apply their learnings to their companies’ most pressing problems.Peer engagement and on-going coaching support them in their discoveries and create enduring professional networks. Module 1 takes place at the Tuck School of Business on Dartmouth College's iconic New England campus. The module highlights key strategy and innovation frameworks and digital transformation, setting the stage for rich experiential learning. Module 2 highlights how Silicon Valley excels at breakthrough innovation and novel ventures. Working with Tuck faculty and some of the world’s most influential technology firms, investors, and design thinkers, participants learn how to drive continuous innovation in their companies by “looking out” to seek insight and opportunity beyond internal boundaries. At the start of the program, each company identifies a strategic business challenge that becomes its objective Action Learning Project. It then charges its team of participants to apply new thinking and experimentation to drive recommendations. The stakes are real, and the results must be of highest quality, but coaching and reflection make it safe for participants to take risks and push toward innovative outcomes.

Giving Back to Dartmouth

Philanthropy and Financial Aid

Dartmouth relies on the generous philanthropy provided by Dartmouth alumni, parents, and community members through both endowed funds and annual fund giving. During the past two decades, Dartmouth has significantly increased the amount of scholarship funding it provides to undergraduates, thanks to the generosity of thousands of alumni, parents, and friends. Dartmouth’s financial aid program relies on two main sources of funding: endowments and annual fund gifts. Endowments are gifts that are specifically designated by the donor and invested for the long term. Almost all endowment gifts are restricted: They can only legally be used for what the donor has intended, so only a portion of Dartmouth's total current endowment can be used for scholarships. This is why Dartmouth also relies so heavily on annual gifts to the Dartmouth College Fund.

Supporting Future Generations

As the years pass and you build a career for yourself, you may remember how your alma mater’s reputation or friendly alumni helped you out along the way. These moments of reflection often spur people to give back to their college and help the institution continue its high-quality work.

The Value of an Ivy League Education

Overcoming Skepticism

Some people, particularly those who did not attend Ivy League schools, question the benefits of attending these institutions. Is it all it’s cracked up to be? Are the ever-rising tuition costs worth it? Could students be just as successful in their careers if they attended lower-tiered schools? First, it’s essential to understand what the Ivy League network means in practice.

Alumni Clubs and Organizations

Several of the Ivies, for instance, have physical buildings that house alumni clubs. For instance, there’s The Harvard Club of New York City and The Yale Club of New York City. And while not every Ivy League school has its own physical alumni club (Princeton had its own until 2021, when the club defaulted on its mortgage), they often share the spaces of their peer institutions. For instance, Dartmouth alumni can be members of The Yale Club. Beyond the physical spaces for their alumni, the Ivy League schools - much more so than less selective institutions - boast alumni clubs in virtually every major city. They also have affiliated alumni organizations for underrepresented groups, like LGBTQ+, Black, Jewish, and Latino alumni.

The "It" Factor

One of the most significant benefits of attending an Ivy League school is that its graduates don’t have to prove they’re intelligent, especially when interviewing for internships during college or early jobs. Ivy League grads, overwhelmingly, also tend to like to give back to their alma maters. They also show that same kind of support by helping more recent graduates of their alma mater secure internships and early jobs. They may land them an interview.

The Out-of-Classroom Experience

After all, Ivy League students go to college with future captains of industry - finance, medicine, entertainment, law, and many other fields.

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