Dartmouth CS and Digital Arts: student perspectives

Program

General MSCS and Digital Arts (CSDA) are two different paths. The general MSCS now runs two years and seven terms, with coursework and thesis options; Digital Arts requires a thesis. If you want graphics, interaction and animation, CSDA has a really distinctive mix. If recruiting is all you care about, it's less convenient, since the art courses and the thesis take real time.

Courses and workload

3D Modeling has you build character models, Animation has you make a short film, and AR/VR combines design and development work. If you're into these areas, it's a lot of fun. Graphics also involves plenty of math and programming, though; knowing your way around a few tools won't get you through. In the 2026–2027 schedule, Animation is in fall, and 3D Modeling and Rendering Algorithms are in winter.

From 2021 to 2023, CSDA had a fairly limited course selection, with demanding fundamentals like OS and compilers taking up a lot of slots, and algorithms requiring mathematical proofs. With so few options, heavy courses were hard to avoid, and taking easy classes while spending the rest of your time on LeetCode wasn't easy to pull off back then.

Recruiting and life

It's a small program without much of a group LeetCode culture, so recruiting information is mostly something you dig up yourself. In 2022, with big tech in hiring freezes, the remote location plus the coursework made a pure job-hunting experience rough. Graphics courses and research are the bigger draw here; just don't pick CSDA as if it were the general MSCS.

Hanover really is a small town: cold winters, limited dining, and life without a car gets inconvenient if you live farther out. Hiking and skiing people will be happy; big-city people may feel stuck. Summer and fall are beautiful, while breaks get very quiet once the undergrads leave. Daily life feels nothing like New York or Boston.

CPT — updated October 11, 2026

COSC295 is still on the graduate internship course list, but no requirement was found making internships mandatory for all CS or CSDA students. OVIS currently keeps a course-based application route: the department has to sign off on the academic connection, and you need a CPT I-20 before you start. None of this guarantees approval; OVIS has to confirm the actual arrangement.