Dartmouth is one of the 8 Ivy League colleges. It's considered one of the most excellent Universities in the World. `The College with academic excellence, teaching thorough World's top faculties, and research participation opportunities. With all this, Dartmouth also has a vibrant community.

It's not a surprise that many students around the world wish to study at Dartmouth. You may be one of these students, and for that, we created this guide for admission requirements. This guide will explain the score requirement, application requirement, and other things required for admission. But before this, let's see an overview of Dartmouth College.

Dartmouth College Overview

Founded in 1769, Dartmouth College is in Hanover, New Hampshire, the USA. Eleazar Wheelock and George III established the University.

As per the "2021 US news ranking", Dartmouth is the 13th best University in the United States. And as per the "2021 QS World University Ranking," Dartmouth is the World's 203rd best University.

The tuition fee for admitted students at Dartmouth is $59,458(2020-21). The total enrollment in the school is 6,571. The student to faculty ratio in Dartmouth is 7:1. For every 7 students, there's 1 teacher, which provides all students very personalized attention. 64.2% of classes in Dartmouth consist of fewer than 20 students.

The Dartmouth University has significant names in the World as its alumni. Some notable alumni are Nelson Rockefeller (American Businessman and politician ), Robert Frost (American Poet), Daniel Webster (American Lawyer), Laura Ingraham (American Television Host).

What Dartmouth looks for in an applicant?

Dartmouth College doesn't specify what they look for in an applicant. However, as per the college website, Dartmouth is looking for uniqueness in a student. They admit a student who can bring something unique to the Dartmouth community. They what a student to be unique in three aspects, let's see.

Combination Of Qualities:

Dartmouth will look at the unique quality you possess in comparison with the other applicant. So, the College will try to admit applicants with different attributes. Thus, they will be able to create a class where everyone consists of qualities different than others. It will help them grow with each other.

Experiences:

What a student experience is also essential for Dartmouth. They will see the things you experienced, which are unique in themselves. A class with every student having unique experiences will make a class very diverse.

Point Of View: 

Point of view is another factor that makes a person unique. While reading your application, Dartmouth will see how your ideas are different from the rest of the applicants. 

Therefore, while applying for Dartmouth, try to show your uniqueness in the application. It may increase your chances of getting admitted.

Dartmouth SAT Score Requirements:

Dartmouth College SAT score requirement is very high. The SAT 25th percentile score of Dartmouth is 1440. It means only less than 25% of admitted students hold a score below 1440. 

The SAT 75th percentile score of Dartmouth is 1560. It means about 75% of admitted students hold scored less than 1560. The Average (50th Percentile) SAT score of Dartmouth we could find is 1500.

You can also aim for percentile scores of both sections separately. For Math, the 25th percentile score is 730, and the 75th percentile score is 790. 

For EBRW, the 25th percentile score and the 75th percentile score are 710 and 770, respectively. Here, we can see you need more marks in the Math section to reach the same percentile score as EBRW.

If you believe you are weak in one section, try to score higher than needed in the other section. So, even if you get more points than required in one section but got less in another, you can still get to the required composite score.

If you want to increase your score, we will recommend the "APguru's Flagship SAT Prep Program." It will help you to reach your target SAT score.

SAT Score Policy:

The College estimates student's test scores through the score policy. This policy is different for every school. In the case of Dartmouth, the method they have is the "highest section."

Another name for this method is superscoring. In this policy, the College will count your highest section SAT score across all test dates.

For instance, you took the SAT exam two times. In the first attempt, your composite score was 1470. In the score of 1470, 750 is of Maths, and 720 is of EBRW. In another attempt, you again received 1470 as a composite SAT score. But this time, he received 720 in Maths and 750 in EBRW.

As Dartmouth has a policy of the highest section score, they will count each subject's highest score. And as we can see, your highest Math score is on the first attempt, and your highest EBRW score is on the second attempt.

Hence, Dartmouth will take his Maths score as 750 and EBRW as 750. It helps as your score gained by 30 points, which now became 1500.

Hence as the superscoring system benefits students, it's necessary to take the SAT exam multiple times. It raises your possibility to boost your composite score.

Dartmouth ACT Score Requirements

The composite ACT 25th percentile score of Dartmouth is 32, and the 75th percentile score is 35. Dartmouth doesn't have any minimum score conditions. But, a lower score than the 25th percentile will make situations tough for you to get admitted.

The ACT composite score is the Mean of all 4 section scores. To get the desired composite score, you require to score around what you expected in each section.

If you want to increase your ACT score, we will recommend "APguru's Flagship ACT Prep Program." It will help you to reach your target ACT score.

ACT score Policy:

Unlike SAT, Dartmouth doesn't do superscoring for ACT score. For ACT, the College will consider your "highest single composite score." It means, if you attempted the ACT exam more than once, the College would consider the ACT composite ACT score across all the attempts.

Hence, I recommend you to attempt ACT multiple times before applying.

Dartmouth GPA Requirements

The average GPA for Dartmouth is 3.9 on a scale of 4. You need a high school grade of "A" to receive this much GPA. If you know that you will not get that much GPA score, concentrate on gaining more points in SAT / ACT.

Now let's move the application requirements.

Dartmouth Application Requirements

Application through the common app

For application, you need to apply through Common App. To do that, add Dartmouth to the "My College" section.

Application Fee or Fee Waiver

While applying, you need to submit $80 as application fees. If paying the application fee difficult for you, you can also take an application fee waiver. To know more about fee waivers, go here.

Dartmouth Writing Supplement

Dartmouth wants you to write two supplementary essays. Both of these are question-based. In the first essay, you will get a question to which you need to respond in 100 words or fewer. In the second essay, you will get multiple questions based prompt, where you need to choose one and respond in 250-300 words.

Secondary School Report with Transcript

Your high school counselor needs to submit the secondary school report. The report gives a summary of your high school academic record. Along with this, the counselor also needs to submit an official transcript and school report. The school report is a summary of the school itself.

Counselor Evaluation

The high school counselor also needs to submit his letter of recommendation. It will address your extracurricular engagements, personal character, and academic performance. 

Teacher Evaluations

It's required to submit letters of recommendation from two teachers. The two teachers should preferably be the ones who taught you one of the core subjects. The teacher should address your academic performance, course engagement, your character, etc.

SAT or ACT

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Dartmouth is now test-optional. It's up to you to submit the test scores or not. Above the blog, we explained the SAT / ACT requirements and policy.

Peer Recommendation

Dartmouth strongly recommends you submit a peer recommendation. It is a written statement given by the one you consider as your peer. Some of the examples of the peer are friend, sister, brother, co-worker, etc.

What If You Are An International applicant?

For an international student, the application requirement is similar to regional students, however, with the English proficiency test requirement. You need to exhibit proficiency in English if you want to get accepted. For this, you can take tests like:

• TOEFL - (Test Of English as a Foreign Language)
• IELTS - International English Language Testing System)
• (DET) Duolingo English Test 

Dartmouth Acceptance Rate

You need to know the acceptance rate of Dartmouth to understand how selective they are. The acceptance rate describes how many percentages of candidates get confirmed. The top colleges in the World are very choosy while admitting applicants. And as Dartmouth College is one the best colleges in the World, the acceptance rate is low.

The current general acceptance rate of Dartmouth is 8%. It means, in every 100 candidates, only 8 get accepted.

This means the school is extremely selective. Meeting their GPA requirements and SAT/ACT requirements is very important to getting past their first round of filters and proving your academic preparation. If you don't meet their expectations, your chance of getting in is nearly zero.

After crossing this hurdle, you'll need to impress Dartmouth application readers through their other application requirements, including extracurriculars, essays, and letters of recommendation. We'll cover more below.

The acceptance rate for early application of the class of 2025 of Dartmouth is approximately 21.25%. So as we see, the early applicant's rate is very high compared to regular decisions. However, Each year, both these acceptance rates are shrinking. In the following years, the same may happen.

In short: fewer applicants get selected. You can be among the few applicants who get admitted to Dartmouth College if you work hard.

What if Not Accepted? 

You've finally waited for the results after time has passed, and what do you get? Rejection! So will you concede? No, you won't because there are still other options to pursue. They are not the usual options, and it's no guarantee you'll get in, but you've already tried applying, so giving it a go won't have you lose much. Here it is: 

Alternative Option A: Attend a different college and transfer to Dartmouth College later

You can try applying for a different college and transfer to Dartmouth College later. But before you get all so excited about this option, be mindful of the transfer acceptance rate. The transfer acceptance rate of Dartmouth is approximately 1.49%. 

So, as we can see, this acceptance is lower than the regular acceptance rate. But if you're able to show Dartmouth College how different you've become after being rejected by them, they may consider you. 

Now let's see what the transfer application requirements are:

The application requirements for transfer is similar with some difference. 

Application fees:

The transfer application is $90, which is $10 high than regular students.

Application with essay:

You need to submit two essays while applying. But here, you need to write the first essay up to 500 words which were 100 or fewer for regular applicants. In the second essay, you need to write up to 300. To know more about this, go here.

College Official's Report with College Transcript:

You need to submit the College Official's Report with the College Transcript updated in May/June. With this, you also need to submit the final Transcript and end-of-year grades.

Year-end college transcript and course syllabus:

You need to submit these documents for all college courses. It is required to review by the academic department and Dartmouth registrar, which helps to determine credits.

School reports, transcripts, tests, and letters of recommendation are the same as the regular application requirement.

Alternative Option B: Apply again after a gap year

The next option is to reapply after finishing a gap year. What's a gap year? It's the year between your high school and applying for college, where you will not be doing any course. 

It's a riskier option to go for because when you reapply, Dartmouth may see you didn't do much with your time and might reject you again. 

But doing a gap year may be beneficial. The pros of doing a gap year include broadening your perspective, gaining professional experience, and making a difference. It's a way of building up yourself in ways that can benefit your overall growth as a person. 

It's also another way of building up your spike and maintaining excellence in other areas of interest. If you're ready to take the risk while building up to be the student Dartmouth College wants, you can go for this option. 

Conclusion

Dartmouth College is quite an elite institute. Even when it's smaller than the other Ivy League members, it can dazzle the students with its system, environment, and aura. Yep, it's selective in the admissions process, and it'll be a challenge. But with the guide you've read, you'll have a chance at being part of a college.