Next up in our series highlighting early round acceptance rates at top colleges is Dartmouth College — an Ivy League institution located in Hanover, New Hampshire. Dartmouth has an undergraduate enrollment of about 4,500, most of whom live on campus. Around 60% of students are involved in Greek life and 25% participate in a Division I sport at the college.
See Highlights From The Dartmouth Article Below:
Dartmouth College admitted a record-low 17% of applicants during its binding Early Decision round following an all-time high of 3,550 students applying — an 18% jump from last year’s applicant pool.
Of the 606 admitted students, a record 22% will be the first generation in their families to attend college. These students come from 47 U.S. states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico as well as 47 nations across the globe.
In light of the ruling against affirmative action this summer by the US Supreme Court, Dartmouth added a new essay question where applicants were prompted to provide information about their personal backgrounds, experiences or perspectives.
In a break from recent years, Dartmouth did not report how many legacy students were admitted to the Class of 2028. Last year, 14% of students admitted via early decision were related to Dartmouth alumni.
DARTMOUTH REINSTATES STANDARDIZED TESTING
Just a few days ago, Dartmouth announced that it would be reinstating its standardized testing requirements, beginning with next year’s Class of 2029.
“Dartmouth and other top colleges have always known that SATs are an important predictor of first year college GPA. Especially now, with rampant grade inflation, high school GPA alone is not enough to identify students who will excel at schools like Dartmouth,” said Maria Laskaris, TTA Senior Private Counselor and former Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at Dartmouth College.
“It’s interesting to note that the test optional admissions policy did not achieve the desired aim of a more diverse applicant pool. As Dartmouth points out, seeing which students are excelling in the context of their school environment will help them identify which students are likely to excel at Dartmouth,” she added. She also noted that top schools such as MIT and Georgetown have recently reinstated their testing policies as well.
TTA Takeaway: Dartmouth typically admits around 45% of its incoming class through its binding Early Decision round. Between 5 to 10% of students that are deferred ED end up being accepted during the Regular Decision cycle. However, due to the college’s announcement that it is reinstating its standardized testing requirement, we expect application numbers to drop in the coming year, as they did at MIT. If you’re confident that Dartmouth is your first choice and you have strong test scores, we recommend that you take advantage of the increased admission opportunity in the binding Early Decision round.
At Top Tier Admissions, we are committed to making the college admissions process more transparent. Easy access to clear data helps families understand trends in college admissions to make more informed decisions. We’re collecting early acceptance rate data at selective schools and providing insight and analysis of our own. For historical data, see our collection of Ivy League and Top College Acceptance Rates and Admissions Statistics, including the Class of 2027 Ivy League admissions data and admissions stats for a range of additional selective schools.
Want To Read More About Dartmouth’s Acceptance Rate?
- Get Into Dartmouth
- Dartmouth Class of 2027 Acceptance Rate
- Breaking News: Dartmouth College Reinstates the SAT
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