Dartmouth College, located in Hanover, New Hampshire, is a member of the Ivy League and the ninth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States. Roughly 60% of Dartmouth’s 4,500 undergraduates are involved in Greek life and 25% participate in its Division I sports teams.
Dartmouth’s Class of 2028 had a record low Regular Decision acceptance rate of 3.85%. Dartmouth also experienced an all-time high of 3,550 students applying Early Decision — an 18% increase from the Class of 2027 applicant pool.
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TTA Top Tip: Dartmouth’s website emphasizes that your essays should illustrate your personality first and foremost. Highlight those unique qualities: “your sense of humor, your passion, your intellectual curiosity, your self-awareness, or social awareness, or some mix of these.” Dartmouth admissions officers want to know what you can and will bring to their community.
We asked Maria Laskaris, former Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at Dartmouth to weigh in:
“Dartmouth’s supplemental essays get right to the heart of what makes the Dartmouth community such a special and strong one — 4,200 talented and energetic students, each with a unique set of experiences and perspectives who love learning, care deeply about their communities, and united in a common desire to make the world a better place.”
DARTMOUTH’S SUPPLEMENTAL ESSAY PROMPTS
1. Required of all applicants. Please respond in 100 words or fewer:
- As you seek admission to Dartmouth’s Class of 2029, what aspects of the college’s academic program, community, and/or campus environment attract your interest? How is Dartmouth a good fit for you?
2. Required of all applicants. Please respond to one of the following prompts in 250 words or fewer:
- 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.
- “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:
- What excites you?
- 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?
- In “Oh, The Thinks You Can Think,” Dr. Seuss invites us to “Think and wonder. Wonder and think.” Imagine your anticipated academic major: How does that course of study sync with Dr. Seuss’s advice to you?
- The social and family interactions of wild chimpanzees have been the focus of Dame Jane Goodall’s research for decades. Her understanding of animal behavior prompted the English primatologist to see a lesson for human communities as well: “Change happens by listening and then starting a dialogue with the people who are doing something you don’t believe is right.” Channel Dame Goodall: Tell us about a moment when you engaged in a difficult conversation or encountered someone with an opinion or perspective that was different from your own. How did you find common ground?
- Celebrate your nerdy side.
- “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, outlook, or sense of purpose?
- Buddy Teevens ’79 was a legendary and much-beloved coach at Dartmouth. He often told parents: “Your son will be a great football player when it’s football time, a great student when it’s academic time, and a great person all of the time.” If Coach Teevens had said that to you, what would it mean to be “a great person”?
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APPLYING TO DARTMOUTH?
Are you thinking about applying to Dartmouth College? Confused on how to start writing these essays? Contact us to discuss our Essay Guidance Program or Personal Boot Camp. By working on your applications now, you will be able to reap the benefit of increased odds in the early round of admissions.
Top Tier Admissions is tracking the 2024-2025 supplemental essay prompts for all top schools here — we look forward to supporting you!
Interested in learning more about Dartmouth?
- Dartmouth: Class of 2028 Acceptance Rate
- Dartmouth College: Early Acceptance Rate
- Breaking News: Dartmouth College Reinstates the SAT
- Dartmouth’s Supplemental Essay Prompts (2023)
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