Class Note 1978
Issue
March-April 2026
Class Note 1978. It’s spring term 1976, and members of the class of 1978 are taking the next step toward their future by declaring a major. I asked you to tell me about that decision and its ramifications in your lives 50 years later. Your answers were, not surprisingly, fascinating and varied.
Mara Dinsmoor and Michael Pope chose majors (biochemistry and biology, respectively) that they figured would help them get into medical school. In retrospect, they wonder if they really needed to focus that tightly that early on. “I have often told potential med school applicants that it doesn’t matter what major you choose,” Michael writes. “Study what you love and what you are interested in.”
Rick Beyer chose government because he “had a clear plan: I was going to go to law school and run for U.S. Senate. Didn’t quite work out.” But 40 years after graduation, Rick found it useful as he was lobbying lawmakers to approve a Congressional Gold Medal for the Ghost Army unit that helped win World War II.
David Hathaway loved Tinker Toys, Lincoln Logs, and Legos as a child. But it took a false start into premed to finally click with his first engineering course during sophomore spring. “I use my experience in finding my major when I do STEM presentations in schools, since I know how important it is to help kids understand fields they may know nothing about but may be a perfect fit for them,” David writes.
Sharon Lee Cowan chose her major even before she chose Dartmouth: She applied only to colleges that offered a Russian major. Her plan was to be a foreign correspondent, but she used her skills in a satisfying career in communications and publishing with the United Nations. And it was the broad range of courses outside her major that Sharon credits with her ability to “hold my own in a conversation with anyone on just about anything, grounded in at least a bit of relevant knowledge.”
Jim Lattin was one of a handful of majors in the new math and social sciences program. “That choice changed my life,” Jim writes. “I couldn’t believe how fortunate I was to be in a seminar class with juniors and seniors (we met in the evening! we sat on sofas!).” Jim just retired as a professor of marketing at Stanford.
Scott Marber majored inpsychology. “It has made zero difference in my life. I would absolutely do it again because it was super interesting and fun as hell.”
Jack Reeder never directly used his history major in his career in finance. He is still an eager amateur student of history, and he remembers fondly all the French courses he took. “If I knew then what I know now, if I had understood what really mattered, if I had been a little braver, if I had trusted my instincts—well, then, I suppose I might have chosen a different major,” Jack writes. “But I really have no idea which one!”
Send news!
—Anne Bagamery, 13 rue de Presles, 75015 Paris, France; abagamery78@gmail.com; Rick Beyer, 1305 S. Michigan Ave., #1104, Chicago, IL 60605; rickbeyer78@gmail.com
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Mara Dinsmoor and Michael Pope chose majors (biochemistry and biology, respectively) that they figured would help them get into medical school. In retrospect, they wonder if they really needed to focus that tightly that early on. “I have often told potential med school applicants that it doesn’t matter what major you choose,” Michael writes. “Study what you love and what you are interested in.”
Rick Beyer chose government because he “had a clear plan: I was going to go to law school and run for U.S. Senate. Didn’t quite work out.” But 40 years after graduation, Rick found it useful as he was lobbying lawmakers to approve a Congressional Gold Medal for the Ghost Army unit that helped win World War II.
David Hathaway loved Tinker Toys, Lincoln Logs, and Legos as a child. But it took a false start into premed to finally click with his first engineering course during sophomore spring. “I use my experience in finding my major when I do STEM presentations in schools, since I know how important it is to help kids understand fields they may know nothing about but may be a perfect fit for them,” David writes.
Sharon Lee Cowan chose her major even before she chose Dartmouth: She applied only to colleges that offered a Russian major. Her plan was to be a foreign correspondent, but she used her skills in a satisfying career in communications and publishing with the United Nations. And it was the broad range of courses outside her major that Sharon credits with her ability to “hold my own in a conversation with anyone on just about anything, grounded in at least a bit of relevant knowledge.”
Jim Lattin was one of a handful of majors in the new math and social sciences program. “That choice changed my life,” Jim writes. “I couldn’t believe how fortunate I was to be in a seminar class with juniors and seniors (we met in the evening! we sat on sofas!).” Jim just retired as a professor of marketing at Stanford.
Scott Marber majored inpsychology. “It has made zero difference in my life. I would absolutely do it again because it was super interesting and fun as hell.”
Jack Reeder never directly used his history major in his career in finance. He is still an eager amateur student of history, and he remembers fondly all the French courses he took. “If I knew then what I know now, if I had understood what really mattered, if I had been a little braver, if I had trusted my instincts—well, then, I suppose I might have chosen a different major,” Jack writes. “But I really have no idea which one!”
Send news!
—Anne Bagamery, 13 rue de Presles, 75015 Paris, France; abagamery78@gmail.com; Rick Beyer, 1305 S. Michigan Ave., #1104, Chicago, IL 60605; rickbeyer78@gmail.com