Dartmouth is the mountain Ivy. It is an outstanding top-tier university nestled in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Due to its quite isolated location, it attracts students who are at the top of their game in school but who also want to be outdoors, in nature, and who aren’t scared of a hard winter. The overall acceptance rate for the Class of 2029 was 6%. The Early Decision acceptance rate that same year was 21.6%.
Dartmouth is not unique in prioritizing students who prioritize them. Like most schools offering ED, it is your best chance of getting in if you are already a strong applicant. But what is a strong applicant for Dartmouth? Standing out requires strong grades, impressive scores, and a clear sense of self. Let’s start with the numbers.
Dartmouth wants to see high grades in hard classes. Coasting along with the basic courses does not work for Dartmouth, even if you get all A’s. We encourage our students to take the hardest course load they can without — and this is key — negatively impacting their grades. While Dartmouth does not publish GPA distributions for recently accepted students, they do share that 96% of recently accepted and enrolled students were in the top tenth of their graduating class.
Once you have the grades sorted, you need the test scores. Dartmouth was the first Ivy to reinstate requiring SAT or ACT scores after everyone went test-optional during COVID. They didn’t make the decision on a whim, instead undertaking extensive research to assess whether having test scores actually was necessary in assessing the strength of a candidate for admission. Ultimately, they decided that scores play an important role. We advise our students to aim for above the 50th percentile of accepted and enrolled students, which means a 34+ on the ACT or a 1520+ on the SAT. While it is possible to get in with lower scores, it puts you in an uphill battle instead of having your scores underline an already impressive application.
With scores and grades figured out, and an application plan (Regular or ED) decided, it’s time to dive into the application itself and, most notably, the supplements. This is also the point at which many students get overwhelmed. Remember, it is nearly never too late to ask for expert assistance.
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To us, the Dartmouth supplement is ideal. There are three questions, and you have options to ensure that each prompt fits as well as possible with your personality and interests. Yes, it takes some time to get the Dartmouth supplement right, but having a solid amount of space to strengthen your case for an acceptance is awesome. Now, let’s get into the questions.
ONE: As you seek admission to Dartmouth's Class of 2031, what aspects of the college's academic program, community, and/or campus environment attract your interest? How is Dartmouth a good fit for you? (100 words)
For this prompt, you have a short paragraph to make a big case for why Dartmouth is an academic and social fit for you. They only give you room for a few sentences because they don’t want answers that wax poetic on landscaping or even dining hall favorites. Instead, they want you to talk about what Dartmouth is really for: education and community, in that order.
Start by spending some time researching your prospective major, the professors in the department, and the opportunities for crossover, creativity, and hands-on learning that the major offers. Then, take your favorite parts and make a list.
Your supplement needs to start with a spark that led you to Dartmouth, maybe a moment in the classroom, a professor who pioneered a concept or discovered a breakthrough, or time during a visit to campus that was, remember, academically oriented. Then you are going to transition to sharing the major you picked and why studying it at Dartmouth is so special. Remember, specificity is the key here but this also isn’t something you are stuck with once you arrive.
Follow that with a sentence or two focused on what you want to do outside of the classroom. Again, be specific. Then close with a reflection on a particular aspect of Dartmouth or campus tradition that, for you, is particularly exciting.
TWO: Required of all applicants, please respond to one of the following prompts in 250 words or fewer:
For this second supplement, you have more space and more options. There are two options to pick from, and we’ll break down each. Spoiler alert: they are nearly the same.
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.
If you are a Quaker, which only covers a tiny percentage of Dartmouth applicants, it might make sense to pick this prompt. If you grew up in a non-traditional environment, pick this prompt. If you grew up in an extremely traditional environment that makes ‘strict’ look laid back, you should probably also pick this prompt. The problem with the prompt, though, is the first thing you need to address when planning your response.
The issue with option A is that it asks you to describe how life happened to you, not how you happened to life. By this, we mean that you didn’t (most likely) have a say in the “environment in which you were raised.” You didn’t pick how you grew up, so responses to this prompt can end up heavily explanatory with minimal room left for personal growth and development.
To make this prompt work, you need to start with the impact as the focus, building out the description of the environment around a scene that centers your evolution into how you are today. Remember, too, that explaining is never as impactful as bringing a moment to life to convey a message.
B. "Be yourself," Oscar Wilde advised. "Everyone else is taken." Introduce yourself.
Between the two options for this supplement, this one is definitely our preferred when we are working with students on a Dartmouth application. It is an opportunity basically to say whatever you feel they need to hear about who you are. This means, though, that writing about a short-term experience or summer program, or even almost any prize or award you could have won, isn’t compelling here. Yes, you worked hard to get into the program or to win the award, but it’s the work not the winning that actually tells application readers anything about you.
Dartmouth is looking for students who are bold, community-minded leaders who look for ways to help others while pushing themselves in school and beyond. So, show them how that description is uniquely applicable to you through the particular lens through which you see the world. That could be anything from describing a shelf in your room to bringing a winter walk with your dog to life. What it normally shouldn’t be, though, is located in a classroom. Show yourself in the world using what you’ve learned and engaging with the world to write a supplement that captures the application readers’ attention and holds it.
THREE: Required of all applicants, please respond to one of the following prompts in 250 words or fewer:
For this supplement, you again have options and a good amount of space to work with for your response. Instead of two prompts to pick between, though, you have six. While we have favorites, which will undoubtedly be obvious, remember that the most powerful response will speak to you at your core. Dartmouth does not seed duds into the options. There isn’t a prompt that they put in as a trick or a trap. Our guidance will help you, absolutely, but you need to pick the prompt that aligns most closely with who you are first and foremost, not simply because we like it better.
A. What excites you?
The prompt is awesome because it is short. That isn’t because we are anti wordy sentences, but because it closes no doors. Writing a successful answer to this prompt is simply about communicating passion. You need to bring what excites you to life with such vivid and compelling storytelling that the admissions officers can’t wait to tell their colleagues about this awesome student who just applied (that’s you, by the way).
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?
This prompt is really sweet, but we aren’t entirely sure what it offers that you couldn’t also address through option A, and without the follow-up questions that complicate whether you have successfully answered the prompt. Ultimately, there does have to be a sentence or two of explanation that speaks to your internal why and what you dream of doing to make an impact in the future, but most of this supplement should be spent storytelling.
Don’t explain all the ways you make an impact. Instead, focus on one particular example and bring it to life, focusing on your engagement with others either through teamwork or through hands-on person-to-person service — or both. For example, if you work with the local food pantry processing donations from local farms, write about the complex geometrical considerations that go into fitting as much into the fridges as you can while prioritizing that clients can see all of their options when picking what they would like to put in their bags. Note that you aren’t describing the clients here, which could come off in ways you don’t intend, but focusing on the pantry as a service to the community that benefits everyone: the farmers, the clients, and the broader community.
C. In an Instagram post, best-selling British author Matt Haig cheered the impact of reading. "A good novel is the best invention humans have ever created for imagining other lives," he wrote. How have you experienced such insight from reading? What did you read and how did it alter the way you understand yourself and others?
Okay, so we have a bone to pick with this one. It is a little strange, we feel, to start a prompt about literature with a quote from a social media post. That quibble aside, though, there are other issues with this prompt. Students, we’ve found, will often want to pick it when they think that doing so will make them seem intellectually elevated. The problem is that it is so easy for a response to become not really all that much about you at all, and you actually get lost in the exploration of someone else’s mind or story.
If you are going to pick this option, you need to have a super compelling reason for why it is the perfect prompt for you. Maybe you want to study the work of the author in college, of the book shaped decisions that have formed a meaningful path in your life. For example, a consultant on our team read Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder while hiking in Spain as a high school student. The journey of Dr. Paul Farmer, the subject of the book, shaped her path and led to her working with the woman mentioned in the next prompt, actually, Dr. Jane Goodall, before going to college. The path the book laid wasn’t, for her, that she should become a doctor and found a global healthcare nonprofit, but instead that caring and building systems for impact is one of the coolest things you can do.
D. 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?
Now to Jane. One of the most interesting things about Jane isn’t her research but her ability to communicate with people she disagreed with and build bridges that resulted in greater equity and understanding for all stakeholders: people, animals, and the environment. While we love Jane, though, we don’t love this prompt. It is the now-super-popular ‘civil disagreement’ prompt, and it is possible to write a really interesting answer, but there is a bit too much to do in 250 words to make it an impactful piece of your application unless you have the perfect story to tell just waiting in your pocket.
If you are going to pick this option, it is absolutely imperative that you don’t frame the conflict you write about as having a ‘winner’, and even if there is a ‘winner’ that person cannot be you. Instead, the story must focus on a moment of coming together in the journey towards understanding. It also needs to be a real conversation, not something you’ve imagined or made up. If nothing jumps to mind, pick a different option.
E. Celebrate your nerdy side.
Much like option A, we love this prompt because it is short, sweet, and keeps your options open. You could write about nearly anything here, from the chemistry behind baking to the geometry that goes into a stellar ice hockey goal. We love when students take something from their activities list that isn’t explicitly academic, and then applies an academic lens to it. The key here is to go all in. You need to fully embrace the eccentricity and maybe even a little bit of absurdity in how you are applying academic principles to, say, blowing the most giant iridescent bubble for your little cousin who is obsessed with unicorns.
F. "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?
Okay, so you’ve made it to the last option for this supplement. If it feels like it has taken a while, you are right. There are a lot of options. We are not entirely sure what this prompt offers that hasn’t already been covered elsewhere — especially if you picked option B for the second supplement. If it speaks to you, though, run with it. Remember, though, that you need to do more than simply describe a difference you have experienced. You need to develop how it has shaped who you are and defined the path you see for yourself at Dartmouth.
This all can feel pretty overwhelming to go through, but really it’s only three manageable supplements that all celebrate you. The options give you options, and different avenues by which to express yourself. Now you just need to do it.
When we work with students on a Dartmouth application, the first step is to truly understand who they are and what they need to say to admissions. That leads us to the best prompts for them, and then it’s all about the storytelling. It’s easy, in this process, to get stuck in the weeds, distracted by the lengthy prompts and the pressure to impress. If at any moment you get overwhelmed, remember to step back and look at the big picture. You are compelling, interesting, intelligent, and enough. If you want some help telling that story, let us know. We’re pros at this.
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