Dartmouth College Admissions Guidance

What makes Dartmouth College so special?

Located in tiny Hanover, N.H., Dartmouth is a stark contrast to the Ivies residing in more urban areas.

Of all the Ivies Dartmouth might be the most unlike its peers. To emphasize its focus on undergraduate education it insists on being called Dartmouth College (instead of university), despite being composed of multiple schools and fitting the traditional definition of a university. It is the smallest Ivy League school next to Princeton.

They also have the most unique unofficial mascot, Keggy the Keg.

Dartmouth Quick Facts

Location: Hanover, New Hampshire

Year Founded: 1769

US News Ranking: 18

Application Deadline: January 3rd

SAT/ACT scores due by: January 3rd

2023-2024 Acceptance Rate: 6%

2023-2024 Applications received: 28,841

The majority of each incoming class take part in “trips”, a pre-orientation, student-run five-day outdoor program, designed to welcome them to Dartmouth and bond with other freshmen.

Tea and cookies are served at 4pm each weekday at Sanborn Library, home of the English Department. It is estimated that around 1000 cups of teas are served every year!

In another well-known tradition, hundreds of students plunge into the icy water of Occom Pond for the annual Polar Bear Swim that takes place during Winter Carnival.

Prompts for Dartmouth's 2023-24 Undergrad Supplemental Essays

Dartmouth's writing supplement requires that applicants write brief responses to three supplemental essay prompts as follows:

1. Required of all applicants. Please respond in 100 words or fewer:

Dartmouth celebrates the ways in which its profound sense of place informs its profound sense of purpose. As you seek admission to Dartmouth's Class of 2028, what aspects of the College's academic program, community, and/or campus environment attract your interest? In short, why Dartmouth?

2. Required of all applicants, please respond to one of the following prompts in 250 words or fewer:

A. There is a Quaker saying: Let your life speak. Describe the environment in which you were raised and the impact it has had on the person you are today.

B. "Be yourself," Oscar Wilde advised. "Everyone else is taken." Introduce yourself.

3. Required of all applicants, please respond to one of the following prompts in 250 words or fewer:

A. What excites you?

B. Labor leader and civil rights activist Dolores Huerta recommended a life of purpose. "We must use our lives to make the world a better place to live, not just to acquire things," she said. "That is what we are put on the earth for." In what ways do you hope to make—or are you already making—an impact? Why? How?

C. Dr. Seuss, aka Theodor Geisel of Dartmouth's Class of 1925, wrote, "Think and wonder. Wonder and think." As you wonder and think, what's on your mind?

D. Celebrate your nerdy side.

E. "It's not easy being green…" was the frequent refrain of Kermit the Frog. How has difference been a part of your life, and how have you embraced it as part of your identity and outlook?

F. As noted in the College's mission statement, "Dartmouth educates the most promising students and prepares them for a lifetime of learning and of responsible leadership…" Promise and potential are important aspects of the assessment of any college application, but they can be elusive qualities to capture. Highlight your potential and promise for us; what would you like us to know about you?

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