How accessible are undergraduate research opportunities at Dartmouth for students outside STEM?

Dartmouth is unusually strong for this, including outside STEM. Because it is a relatively small research university, undergrads in government, history, economics, sociology, anthropology, and related fields often have more direct access to faculty than they would at larger universities.

In practice, non-STEM research at Dartmouth usually happens through faculty research assistant roles, independent studies, honors theses, and funded projects over off-terms or the summer. The quarter system and the D-Plan can actually help here, because students can use an off-term for full-time research, internships, or archival work.

For economics, research assistant positions with professors are a common path, especially if you do well in intro and intermediate courses and build relationships early. In government and history, opportunities often look less like a formal lab and more like archival research, policy research, qualitative research, or close faculty collaboration on a specific project.

How early can you start? Realistically, many students begin exploring in first year and get involved more substantially in sophomore year, though some first-years do find roles, especially if they are proactive. The key is usually reaching out to professors after taking a class, going to office hours, and asking specific questions about their work rather than waiting for a centralized listing of openings.

So yes, these opportunities are realistic for non-STEM students at Dartmouth.