Dartmouth College
Essay Requirements 2026
Dartmouth requires 3 supplemental essays — a short Why Dartmouth (~100–150 words), a Community/Contribution essay (~250 words), and an Identity/Perspective essay (~250 words). Dartmouth is the most community-focused Ivy: they read for people who actively shape tight communities, not just attend them.
3 essays
100–250 words each
Acceptance rate ~6%
Community first
Before You Write
Dartmouth = Tight Community + Active Contribution
Dartmouth doesn't evaluate intellectual abstraction (UChicago), systems thinking (CMU), or execution precision (MIT). They evaluate community character: students who contribute meaningfully, connect with others, reflect but still act. If your essay is too individual or too abstract, it fails immediately.
The Dartmouth Test — People + Action + Presence
Dartmouth is smaller and more tight-knit than most Ivy League schools. Their readers check whether you'll actually show up, engage, and make others around you better — not just attend. Every essay needs real interaction with other people, a visible effect on your environment, and a warm but grounded tone. Abstract values ("I believe in community") score nothing. Specific moments of contribution score everything.
All 3 Required Essays
Dartmouth's 3 Supplemental Essays
Click any essay to expand the full prompt, writing tips, and structure guide.
1
100–150 words
100–150 words
Dartmouth students can pursue a wide breadth of academic excellence and have access to an array of transformative experiences. What specific aspects of the Dartmouth experience appeal most to you, and how will you contribute to our community?
What to include
- Start with one genuine academic interest — specific, not broad
- 2–3 Dartmouth-specific features: small classes, D-Plan, close faculty access, collaborative environment, specific programs
- How you'll engage closely — not just what you'll take, but how you'll show up
- Close with one concrete contribution: what you'll add to Dartmouth's community
Avoid
- Generic praise: "vibrant community," "excellent faculty," "amazing opportunities"
- Ignoring community — Dartmouth is smaller and more relationship-driven than any Ivy
- Too practical only — Dartmouth values intellectual engagement too
Structure (100–150 words)
25–35 wordsYour academic interest + why Dartmouth's approach to it fits
50–70 words2–3 Dartmouth-specific features + how you'll use them actively
20–35 wordsOne concrete contribution to Dartmouth's community — grounded, not vague
2
~250 words
~250 words
In what ways do you hope to contribute to the Dartmouth community? How will your unique background, perspective, or experience enrich our community?
What to include
- Start with a real situation — place you, a group, and stakes together
- What you specifically did: your role, your action, your decision
- What changed because of you: a visible effect on others or the environment
- A pattern: show this is how you consistently operate, not a one-off
- Forward: how this shows up at Dartmouth — specific and believable
Avoid
- "I value community" with no concrete example — scoreless at Dartmouth
- Being passive — the essay needs you doing something, not observing
- No visible outcome — name what changed because you were there
- Club lists — contribution is behavioral, not membership-based
Structure (~250 words)
40–60 wordsReal situation — place, group, and what was at stake
80–110 wordsWhat you did + what changed because of you (visible, concrete effect)
50–70 wordsThe pattern — this is how you consistently show up in communities
30–50 wordsForward to Dartmouth — how this contribution continues in a close, collaborative setting
3
~250 words
~250 words
There are many ways to share who you are with us. Please use this space to share something important about yourself that isn't addressed elsewhere in your application — perhaps an aspect of your background, your identity, or your lived experience.
What to include
- Start with a specific environment or moment — not "I grew up in…" but a scene
- What you experienced: what you navigated, what was demanded of you
- What it built in you: a specific shift in perspective, a behavioral outcome
- How it shows up now — in how you think, how you treat people, how you operate
- Warm and grounded tone: sincere, not over-polished or performative
Avoid
- Generic identity with no behavioral consequence: "I am X, therefore I value Y"
- Describing the environment without showing what it changed in you
- No connection to how you act now — Dartmouth reads for behavioral continuity
- Over-polished writing that sounds like it was edited into someone else's voice
Structure (~250 words)
40–60 wordsSpecific environment or defining moment — drop into it concretely
80–100 wordsWhat you experienced + what it demanded of you
60–80 wordsWhat it built: a specific perspective shift or behavioral outcome
30–50 wordsHow it shows up now — and how it will at Dartmouth
Writing Tips
What Dartmouth Reads for That Other Ivies Don't
Dartmouth is the smallest and most community-oriented of the Ivy League schools. Their readers check for three things that are unique to Dartmouth's culture.
Presence Over Prestige
Dartmouth doesn't care about your most impressive achievement. They care whether you show up, stay engaged, and make the people around you better. An essay about a small, sustained contribution to a tight community beats a list of major accomplishments with no human texture every time.
Warm but Grounded — Not Polished
Dartmouth's tone is sincere and human — not performatively intellectual. If your essay sounds like it was edited into someone else's voice, it reads as inauthentic. The best Dartmouth essays sound like a real person talking directly to a reader they respect. Write the way you'd tell a mentor.
People Must Be in the Essay
All three Dartmouth essays should contain other people — not just you. The contribution essay needs a group and a visible effect on them. The identity essay needs the environment that shaped you and the people in it. If you write 250 words with no one else in the story, revise.
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3 Essays to Show Dartmouth You'll Show Up.
Dartmouth's essays are shorter than most — but they test something harder: whether you're a person who actively makes communities better, not just someone who joins them. Let's build essays that prove exactly that.
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