What You'll Actually Pay
Price after grants
$41 to $52,036 a year, depending on income.
College Scorecard 2024 estimate
See the price at your income ↑Sticker price
Full cost before aid: $87,793 a year. Average need-based aid package: $75,301.Aid and debt
47.9%
receive need-based grants
$24,255
average debt at graduation
Not reported by this school: merit aid.
Getting In
Admit rates
6%
admitted overall
21.6%
admitted Early Decision
3.8%
admitted Regular Decision
Early Decision
Early Decision applicants were admitted at more than 6x the Regular Decision rate, and Early Decision is binding: you commit to attend if admitted.
MoreLess
Some of that gap reflects who applies early (recruited athletes, legacy applicants and highly committed students concentrate in that pool), so it isn't proof that applying early would raise any one student's own odds.
Key dates
Test scores
SAT, middle 50% of those who submitted: 1440–1550 · 69% of the class submitted
ACT, middle 50% of those who submitted: 32–35 · 33% of the class submitted
96% were in the top 10% of their high school class.
What they value
- Very important
- Course rigor (AP/IB)
- Class rank
- GPA
- SAT/ACT scores
- Personal essay
- Recommendations
- Extracurriculars
- Character
- Important
- Special talent
- Considered
- First-gen status
- Legacy status
- Where you're from
- Volunteer work
- Work experience
- Demonstrated interest
- Not considered
- In-state residency
What this means for you
Dartmouth rates four things you can work on as Very Important: course rigor, your essay, your recommendations, and your activities.
MoreLess
Rigor means AP, IB, and dual enrollment carry real weight — make sure your mix of AP or IB courses is strong. The essay is weighted like your GPA. Choose recommenders who can be specific about you, not just confirm your transcript. And depth in a few activities beats a long list.
Dartmouth rates demonstrated interest 'Considered' — it can tip a close decision, without being decisive.
Source: Common Data Set 2025–26, Section C7 (admissions factors)
Dartmouth just showed you what it values in an application. Use that to write a Why-Dartmouth essay that's actually about you — not a template.
Get sourced starting points for your essayStudent Life
61.3% of Dartmouth classes have fewer than 20 students.
61.3%
under 20 students
32.7%
20 to 49
6%
50 or more
Every class section counts, labs and seminars included; first-year courses tend to be larger. Dartmouth CDS 2025–26, I-3.
8:1
student:faculty ratio
Campus life
85%
first-years from out of state
85%
live on campus
26%
of men in fraternities
29%
of women in sororities
Who attends
- White43.8%
- Asian12.5%
- Hispanic9.2%
- Multiracial7.5%
- Unknown / other6.2%
- Black5.2%
Enrolled undergraduates; international students are counted separately and not included. Dartmouth CDS 2025–26, B2.
Popular majors
Will They Graduate?
78.5% of Dartmouth students graduate in 4 years.
78.5%
finish in 4 years
Entered fall 2019
95%
finish in 6 years
Entered fall 2019
98%
return after first year
Finishing late means paying for extra semesters, so the 4-year rate is the one that shows the cost.
Students with Pell Grants
92% finish in 6 years, against 95% of all students.
A 3-point gap: Pell Grant students finish less often than students overall.
City & Culture
Beyond the data — what it's actually like to spend four years in Hanover.
Dartmouth sits on the Connecticut River in Hanover, a small New Hampshire town where the college is the town's economic and social center.
MoreLess
Norwich, Vermont is a five-minute walk across the river, and the White Mountains and Green Mountains are both within reach. The nearest city of any size is a two-hour-plus drive south, so campus life is largely self-contained.
The City
College town
Hanover, NH
Best For
Notable alumni
Notable Alumni
Nelson Rockefeller
41st Vice President of the United States and a four-term Governor of New York. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in economics.
Class of 1930
Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss)
Wrote and illustrated nearly 60 children's books under the pen name Dr. Seuss. He edited the campus humor magazine Jack-O-Lantern as an undergraduate, and Dartmouth's medical school now carries his and his wife's name.
Class of 1925
C. Everett Koop
Served as U.S. Surgeon General from 1982 to 1989, becoming one of the most recognized public health officials in American history. He majored in zoology.
Class of 1937
Shonda Rhimes
Created Grey's Anatomy, Scandal and Bridgerton, and built Shondaland into one of television's most prominent production companies. She majored in English and later gave Dartmouth's 2014 commencement address.
Class of 1991
Alumni selected for name recognition and range of fields. Not from the Common Data Set.
Traditions
Traditions
Homecoming Bonfire
The first-year class runs laps around a towering bonfire built on the Green, traditionally one lap per graduating year, while upperclassmen heckle from the sidelines — a tradition that traces back to celebratory bonfires in the 1890s and the run-around-the-fire custom that began in 1904.
Winter Carnival
Held every February since 1911, when the Dartmouth Outing Club's winter field day added social events and took the Winter Carnival name. It still centers on a student-built snow sculpture on the Green and a weekend of ski and snow events.
Green Key
The college's spring “big weekend,” tracing back to a dance organized by the sophomore Green Key Society in the 1920s. It has grown into a campus-wide weekend of concerts and outdoor gatherings marking the approach of the end of the year.
Weekend escapes from Hanover
Weekend Escapes
Within driving distance from Hanover
Quechee Gorge and Woodstock, VT
About 30 minutesVermont's deepest gorge, cut by the Ottauquechee River, sits just outside the postcard Vermont town of Woodstock — the standard short trip out of Hanover.
Mount Moosilauke and the White Mountains
About 1 hourDartmouth owns and operates the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge at the base of the mountain, and the wider White Mountain National Forest is the Dartmouth Outing Club's home turf for hiking and skiing.
Boston
About 2 hoursThe nearest real city, and the standard trip for students who want a weekend somewhere bigger than the Upper Valley.
Getting there and game days
Getting There & Game Days
Nearest airport
Lebanon Municipal Airport (LEB)
About 10 minutes from campus
For international flights: Boston Logan International (BOS) — about 2 hours 15 minutes by road.
Pro sports nearby
- New Hampshire Fisher Cats MiLBAbout 1 hour 30 minutes away
- Boston Celtics NBAAbout 2 hours 15 minutes away
- Boston Red Sox MLBAbout 2 hours 15 minutes away
Internships and jobs nearby
Career Proximity
Hanover has no corporate cluster of its own — the D-Plan's off-terms send Dartmouth students to Boston, New York and beyond for the internships a rural campus can't offer locally.
Top Industries Nearby
Major Employers
- Goldman Sachs
- McKinsey & Company
- Bain & Company
- Amazon
- Dartmouth Health
Boston, about 2 hours south by road
Who thrives here
Who Thrives Here
Dartmouth admits 6.0% of applicants overall and 21.6% through early decision, and requires the SAT or ACT — a score is part of the application here, not an option. It has the smallest undergraduate enrollment in the Ivy League: 4,715 students, 8 per faculty member, and 61.3% of classes under 20. The defining structure is the D-Plan: instead of two fixed semesters, Dartmouth runs a year-round trimester calendar and expects most students to spend one or more terms away from Hanover — studying abroad, on an internship, or simply off — rather than following four straight years on campus. Social life splits between Greek houses (26% of men, 29% of women) and the 85% of undergraduates in college housing. The aid holds up: 100% of demonstrated need is met, 47.9% of undergraduates receive need-based aid, and graduates who borrow leave owing $24,255 on average. The trade-off shows up in the timeline the D-Plan produces: only 78.5% graduate in four years, well behind the 95.0% who finish within six — a wider gap than most peer Ivies, and a direct consequence of a calendar built around leaving campus.