How to get into Dartmouth College
How to get into Dartmouth: the D-Plan and small-school fit
5.4%
Acceptance rate
$68,268
In-state cost
What makes Dartmouth College admissions different
Dartmouth is the smallest Ivy and the only one running on a quarter system with mandatory sophomore summer on campus (the D-Plan). Admissions filters hard for students who actually want a rural, undergraduate-focused, outdoorsy community — not students who put Dartmouth on the list because it's an Ivy.
What an actually competitive application looks like
- 1.
Address the D-Plan in your supplement. Show you've thought about how a four-quarter calendar with required summer residency works for your goals.
- 2.
Reference Dartmouth's small size, outdoor culture, and rural setting as features, not bugs. The wrong applicants treat 'Hanover, NH' as a downside.
- 3.
Maintain 3.9+ GPA and 1490+ SAT / 33+ ACT. Slight stat bump favored vs Brown/Yale.
- 4.
Apply Early Decision if Dartmouth is your top choice — acceptance rate roughly 4x RD.
- 5.
Get a teacher rec from someone who has taught small seminars or discussion-heavy courses — closer to how Dartmouth actually teaches.
Common mistakes that hurt applicants here
- ✕
Listing Dartmouth alongside large research universities in 'why' essays. The fit signal is the opposite.
- ✕
Skipping Dartmouth visits if you can travel. Demonstrated interest is real here, especially for unhooked RD applicants.
- ✕
Treating 'rural' as something to overcome. Frame it correctly: it's why Dartmouth is what it is.
If you're on the bubble
Dartmouth is one of the schools where ED applicants in the middle of the stat band have a real shot — especially with clear fit signals. If you genuinely want a small undergraduate experience and can articulate that, your odds are meaningfully better than the headline 6% acceptance rate suggests.
Next steps
Last updated: November 2025. Acceptance rate and cost data refreshed nightly from college reporting.