Dartmouth College

Overview

Dartmouth College sits in Hanover, New Hampshire, and was founded in 1769. In fall 2025 it enrolled 4,464 degree-seeking undergraduates, with an undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio of 7:1 and most classes at 20 students or fewer. The six-year graduation rate for the cohort that entered in 2019 was 95%. Despite the word College in its name, Dartmouth also runs schools of medicine, engineering, business, and graduate study; undergraduate teaching sits in the School of Arts and Sciences. The 1,205 first-year students in the Class of 2029 came from 51 US states and territories and 53 countries, and 18% came from the western United States.

Three kinds of families tend to fit. In the first, the student wants a relatively small undergraduate setting where professors teach directly. In the second, the student is drawn to engineering but does not want to commit to an engineering school at 17. In the third, the student is comfortable in a small rural town and wants to use a flexible calendar for internships, research, or study away. When Dartmouth released its Class of 2030 decisions, it reported that one in three admitted students cited a campus culture that values dialogue and free expression in answering the “Why Dartmouth?” prompt, with community and the rural location also common themes. For Irvine families, the first question is how a binding Early Decision application fits alongside the University of California; the sections below take that up.

Admissions data

6.0%Class of 2029 admit rate

1. Applied28,230
2. Admitted1,699
3. Enrolled1,205

• South21%
• New England18%
• Mid-Atlantic18%
• West18%
• International15%
• Midwest10%

West includes California.

• Public and charter54%
• Independent41%
• Religious5%

Fewer than 1% were home schooled.

In the Class of 2029 cycle, Dartmouth received 3,552 Early Decision applications and admitted 768 students through ED. For the newest class, the Class of 2030, Dartmouth received 28,863 applications and admitted 1,687 students, a 5.8% admit rate, drawing from all 50 states, Washington, DC, Puerto Rico, and 59 other countries. Dartmouth expected to enroll 1,175 students in that class; final enrollment figures have not yet been published.

How to apply

Dartmouth accepts the Common Application and also works with QuestBridge. Required components are the application fee or a fee waiver, the Dartmouth Writing Supplement, the secondary school report with transcript, the school profile and counselor evaluation, two teacher evaluations, and the SAT or ACT. Dartmouth also recommends a peer recommendation, and an art portfolio is optional. A peer recommendation can come from anyone the applicant considers a peer, such as a teammate, a lab or debate partner, or a classmate, but not from someone in a supervisory role.

Testing is required. Students attending high school in the United States must submit the SAT or ACT; Dartmouth has no preference between them and superscores multiple sittings, taking the highest result on each section. Scores may be self-reported, and enrolling students send official scores before arriving. Students attending high school outside the United States may instead submit three AP exams, predicted or final IB Diploma results, A-Level results, or a standardized national exam. Applicants whose first language is not English and whose curriculum has not been taught in English for at least two years must submit an English proficiency score. In the Class of 2029, 99% of enrolling students submitted testing.

Interviews are conducted only by alumni; there are no on-campus interviews. Once an application is submitted, contact details go to volunteer alumni, who reach out directly. ED interviews usually happen around November, and RD interviews run from early December to mid-February. The conversation is both informative and evaluative, and the interviewer’s report joins the file. Dartmouth cannot offer an interview to every applicant, and not having one is no disadvantage.

Since the Class of 2026, Dartmouth has practiced universal need-blind admission, meaning an aid application never affects the decision, for international applicants as well as US citizens. It also commits to meeting 100% of demonstrated need for every admitted student.

Cost and financial aid

2026-27$95,901billed total

• Tuition$71,697
• Fees$2,426
• Housing$13,032
• Food$8,746

What a family actually pays, by income

1. Under $125,000Parent $0No parent contribution; the student covers a modest share from leave-term earnings and campus work
2. $125,000 to $175,000Tuition $0Scholarships cover at least full tuition
3. Above $175,000Assessed on need, with no income cutoff

Aid is need-based and reviewed each year, and the policy is the same regardless of citizenship or application round. Need is met with scholarships and student employment; packages never include a required student loan. Students on aid are expected to contribute leave-term earnings of $1,000 to $2,500 per year, and those who buy the College health plan receive at least half its cost in additional scholarship. In the Class of 2029, 46% of enrolling students received a Dartmouth scholarship, 20% had no parent contribution, 33% attended tuition-free, and the average Dartmouth scholarship was $74,765. Students on aid pay the same net price for a term on a Dartmouth off-campus program as for a term in Hanover.

Schools and fields of study

Dartmouth consists of the School of Arts and Sciences plus the Geisel School of Medicine, the Guarini School of Graduate and Advanced Studies, the Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business. The School of Arts and Sciences has more than 40 departments and programs and offers more than 2,250 undergraduate courses. Undergraduates are admitted to Dartmouth rather than to a school, and they do not declare a major until sophomore year. The most common majors among 2024 graduates were economics, government, computer science, engineering sciences, and biology.

College-wide requirements come in two parts. The World Culture requirement asks for one course each in Western Cultures, Non-Western Cultures, and Culture and Identity. The distributive requirements span the arts; literature; systems and traditions of thought, meaning, and value; international or comparative study; social analysis; quantitative and deductive science; natural and physical science; and technology or applied science, with some science categories requiring a lab. Students also complete a language requirement. Beyond standard majors, a student may take a modified major that combines work in two departments with emphasis on one, or design a special major with the approval of two faculty advisers and an interdisciplinary council; majors and minors together are capped at three.

Dartmouth’s calendar is called the D-Plan. The year has four ten-week quarters (fall, winter, spring, and summer), and there are 15 quarters between matriculation and graduation, of which most students take classes in 12. Students must be on campus for the fall, winter, and spring of first year, for two of the three quarters of senior year, and for one summer quarter; the remaining quarters can go to internships, research, work, or study away. More than half of undergraduates complete at least one off-campus study experience before graduating.

Engineering is taught by the Thayer School of Engineering, but high school students cannot apply to Thayer directly; every undergraduate applies through the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. Engineering Sciences majors earn the Bachelor of Arts (AB) first and then the accredited Bachelor of Engineering (BE). Many complete both within four years, and others add a fifth year, for which aid is requested from Thayer. EDUBUS recommends that Irvine students aiming at engineering reach the highest math and physics courses their high school offers while keeping depth in humanities courses, because Dartmouth builds its engineering degree on a liberal arts foundation.

Campus life

Nearly 90% of Dartmouth students live on campus. Every student is placed before arrival in one of six House Communities: Allen, East Wheelock, North Park, School, South, and West. First-year students live in their House’s first-year residence hall and then in upper-class clusters, staying in the same House for all four years and joining its talks and social events. Students may also live in Living Learning Communities organized around a subject, in affinity houses, or in fraternities and sororities, and the ten-week terms of the D-Plan let many students try several options. There are five dining locations on campus.

A timeline for Irvine families

The five Irvine Unified high schools differ in when AP courses open, how weighting works, and how the math sequence accelerates, and those four years of scheduling shape the depth of an application. School-by-school rules are in the IUSD high school guides.

1. Grade 9Set the path, protect grades
   • Settle the math and science sequence
   • Protect core grades
   • Choose one or two activities built on long-term teamwork
2. Grade 10First AP courses
   • Take the first AP courses the school allows
   • Take on a defined role in each activity
   • Consider an academic summer program or research
3. Grade 11Finish testing
   • SAT or ACT: first sitting in spring, second before summer ends
   • Choose the two recommending teachers
   • Identify a suitable peer recommender
4. Fall of grade 12Decide on ED
   • ED: application and aid materials by November 1
   • Run the cost estimator before signing the ED agreement
   • Otherwise Regular Decision by January 1

Dates and registration deadlines are on the 2026-27 test calendar, and preparation options are on the SAT page.

How EDUBUS helps

EDUBUS college planning runs year by year from grade 9: a four-year course plan built around the rules of each Irvine high school, a testing schedule, and a clear activities direction with real collaboration in it. In grade 12 a counselor reviews the Writing Supplement, the choice of recommenders, and the Early Decision decision itself. Preparing the CSS Profile and FAFSA for financial aid is part of the service. To see where a student stands relative to schools like Dartmouth, start with a free assessment.