Dartmouth Prompt 1: Required
Required of all applicants. Please respond in 100 words or fewer:
As you seek admission to Dartmouth’s Class of 2030, what aspects of the college’s academic program, community, and/or campus environment attract your interest? How is Dartmouth a good fit for you?
Explanation:
This question has two components—first, your essay should convey to the admissions committee why you want to attend Dartmouth; then, illustrate why the school is an ideal fit for you. The key to answering the first portion of this question is research: spend time perusing the department page for your intended major on the Dartmouth website. Which resources or extracurricular programs interest you? Are there generous research or study abroad opportunities? An eminent professor whose work you’ve examined in school already? A state of the art facility? A Dartmouth tradition that resonates with you or excites you? Specificity is key when writing this essay. Including specific details will show that you’ve taken the time to thoroughly understand Dartmouth’s culture and envision yourself on campus.
From there, you should illustrate to application readers that Dartmouth specifically is a good fit for you—so you should not be able to repurpose this essay as a response for another college)! This portion of the essay should both connect the unique aspects of the Dartmouth experience you’ve highlighted with your goals and aspirations and it should indicate the unique value you will bring to the campus as well. It’s only 100 words, so it’s important to make efficient use of the little space provided.
Sample:
When imagining Dartmouth, I think of “firsts.” Before the academic term, I will witness the Upper Valley’s beauty while bonding with the staggering 90 percent of my class who attend First-Year Trips. I will meet aspiring presidential candidates flocking to New Hampshire every four years to plead their cases to constituents voting in the first-in-the-nation primary. To make my own impact in politics, I can pursue the First-Year Fellows program to intern on Capitol Hill. From Dartmouth opportunities like its unique undergraduate public policy school to its setting in bucolic Hanover, there’s no better place to experience my collegiate “firsts.”
Dartmouth Prompt 2: Choose 1
Required of all applicants, please respond to one of the following prompts in 250 words or fewer:
A. There is a Quaker saying: Let your life speak. Describe the environment in which you were raised and the impact it has had on the person you are today.
B. “Be yourself,” Oscar Wilde advised. “Everyone else is taken.” Introduce yourself.
Explanation: A
As you brainstorm your answer to this question, consider questions like: Where are you from? What was your upbringing like (the people, the place, or the things you grew up with)? What communities have been the most formative in shaping who you are today. How has the community or environment where you were raised affected how you see the world?
Note that you don’t have to come from some quirky, one-of-a-kind community or boast some extraordinary upbringing in order to craft a compelling and unique answer. Some of the best essays find the excitement or beauty in the mundane and the nuance in the seemingly ordinary. All that matters is how you frame it. The admissions committee wants to see that you can reflect on yourself, your values, and your background in a mature way, so taking the time to reflect will help you demonstrate your self-awareness and confidence in who you are. A key piece to this essay is to tie in how you hope to then shape the community at Dartmouth if you were an admitted student, so be sure to tie your past experiences to your future goals.
Explanation: B
While this is a fairly standard “who are you” question, note that the creative framing invites you to respond in a similarly creative way. Consider the different ways that people make introductions—Embrace creativity and showcase your unique voice and personality through your writing. In drafting your response, make yourself shine by sharing your eccentricity and writing about the idiosyncrasies that make you unique. What values are the most important to you and how do you live by them? What are your defining qualities? If your friends were to describe you, what words would come to their minds? What makes you stand out from your peers?
Sample:
Hearing the train’s horn signal its impending departure, I scramble down the seemingly infinite linoleum stairs of the Tokyo Metro in a vain attempt to reach the train in time. I notice no one left on the platform shared in my struggle to hurriedly board the train before it left, instead patiently awaiting the next train. During the wait, I feel like a mannequin being analyzed by window shoppers while talking on the phone to my parents — another subway faux pas. As I’m stared down like the new kid in a first-grade class, I realize my six-foot, two-inch stature is also contributing to me looking like a circus attraction.
Having lived as an expatriate, I understand how it can feel to be an outsider (or gaijin, as the Japanese say) in a relatively uniform society. Unwritten rules passed down for generations dictate the terms of engagement, and late arrivers almost never receive a full orientation. Some customs don’t even seem fair—at my boarding school, a proctor wearing pastel chinos told me to change out of my T.J. Maxx cargo shorts because he would not be “caught dead wearing” them. My experiences as a cultural outsider have forged my desire to always recognize and extend a helping hand to the neophytes around me. As a proctor myself now, I constantly check in with my new floormates to ensure their questions are being answered and they feel just as much a part of the school community as the next student.
Dartmouth Prompt 3: Choose 1
Required of all applicants, please respond to one of the following prompts in 250 words or fewer:
A. What excites you?
Explanation:
Given its intentionally broad scope, you should think of this prompt as a backup if none of the others speak to you. That being said, ensure your deep passion for your topic of choice shines through if you choose to answer this prompt. Feel free to interpret the prompt liberally; you could write about an idea, a subject, a natural phenomenon, a person, a book, a historical movement—anything really! All that matters is that you use the space to talk about a passion or interest that you have not written about elsewhere in your application. Get creative and try to convey your unique personality.
B. Labor leader and civil rights activist Dolores Huerta recommended a life of purpose. “We must use our lives to make the world a better place to live, not just to acquire things,” she said. “That is what we are put on the earth for.” In what ways do you hope to make—or are you already making—an impact? Why? How?
Explanation:
Huerta’s quote calls for individuals to consider the big picture, and accordingly, students responding to this prompt should aim to clarify how they plan to make a difference in the world. The best way to show how you will change the world is by pointing to how you have already participated in making change within your community.
Finally, as part of their response, students should clarify how a Dartmouth education (and therefore Dartmouth values) will lay the foundation for future impact. Most importantly, this explanation should not be purely theoretical—you should offer concrete examples of your current pursuits that demonstrate your commitment to this impact area. It is important to show and not just tell. In other words, make clear to the admissions committee that you are a student who practices what you preach!
C. In an Instagram post, best-selling British author Matt Haig cheered the impact of reading. “A good novel is the best invention humans have ever created for imagining other lives,” he wrote. How have you experienced such insight from reading? What did you read and how did it alter the way you understand yourself and others?
Explanation:
Given Dartmouth’s emphasis on the liberal arts, this question is an opportunity for you to not only reveal deeper insights about yourself, but also to illustrate how you align with the values and mission of Dartmouth. When selecting a book to write about, embrace authenticity—don’t choose a Dickens novel just because you think it will impress admissions officers. Instead, choose something that conveys your interests, personality, or curiosity. Keep in mind that the prompt is not asking for a description of the book, but about your experience of reading. Rather than narrating the plot, try to focus on a character, favorite passage, or poignant metaphor. What was it like to inhabit a character’s perspective? How did the language or imagery impact you? What did the book make you feel? As you discuss the deeper significance of the book for your perspective, avoid vague generalizations such as “it taught me everyone’s life is different” or “I learned that the best lessons come from failure” and try to share something more personal, creative, and unique to you.
D. The social and family interactions of wild chimpanzees have been the focus of Dame Jane Goodall’s research for decades. Her understanding of animal behavior prompted the English primatologist to see a lesson for human communities as well: “Change happens by listening and then starting a dialogue with the people who are doing something you don’t believe is right.” Channel Dame Goodall: Tell us about a moment when you engaged in a difficult conversation or encountered someone with an opinion or perspective that was different from your own. How did you find common ground?
Explanation:
This is a particularly creative version of the common “disagreement question.” During your college years, you will encounter people with different backgrounds, perspectives, and convictions. This prompt is all about demonstrating to Dartmouth that you are open to diversity of thought and that you don’t just speak, but you also listen. Being able to have uncomfortable yet important discussions displays a type of maturity and respect that colleges look for.
In order to demonstrate this quality, first select an engaging anecdote that illustrates your willingness to dialogue. Detail how you actively listened, showing genuine curiosity about the other person’s perspective. Instead of simply explaining the resolution, delve into how you navigated the emotional landscape—did you use humor to diffuse tension? Did you find common ground through shared experiences or unexpected connections? By offering a nuanced and introspective narrative, you’ll demonstrate your capacity for deep engagement and growth, qualities that align with Dartmouth’s values.
Finally, reflect on how the experience altered your perception of conflict and enriched your understanding of human interactions. Share how this experience has influenced your approach to new challenges and dialogues, making you more adaptable and empathetic.
Sample:
I want to be a fortune teller.
No, I do not need a crystal ball; my computer will suffice. Nonetheless, I want the ability to forecast impending events that others might not foresee. Dartmouth’s Quantitative Social Sciences major excites me in its ability to prepare me to make such predictions. By combining theories of social science disciplines like economics or sociology with an analytic lens, I believe this unique Dartmouth program could uniquely help me to quantify the seemingly unquantifiable.
In high school, I worked with my economics teacher to develop an independent study in econometrics where I attempt to predict the unpredictable. While my project is specifically about discovering the determinants of success in the Major League Baseball playoffs, what it really seeks to understand is how to better measure labor performance — in this case, that of professional athletes — which may be overlooked. Sports, specifically baseball, are a terrific sampling ground for labor analysis, and prejudice regarding labor. In baseball, scouts historically value simplistic factors like the win-loss records or 40-yard dash times of players; however, the Moneyball revolution helped teams to discover that there are players who struggle in traditional aspects of evaluation but possess undetected, often incredible, traits with their own inherent value. By studying QSS at Dartmouth, I hope to develop the analytical capabilities that would allow me to eschew orthodoxy in favor of identifying the “diamonds in the rough” using data-driven approaches.
E. Celebrate your nerdy side.
Explanation:
We at Command Education call this a “nerd out” prompt. Simply put, Dartmouth admissions officers should read your response and clearly understand how passionately you care about a certain topic, subject, or other intellectual pursuit. Whether a research interest or a hobby that you’ve dedicated hours to, your love for this endeavor should be dripping down the page. A successful essay would also demonstrate how you’ve pursued this interest in your own life—and maybe how you would even continue to do so on campus at Dartmouth.
F. “It’s not easy being green…” was the frequent refrain of Kermit the Frog. How has difference been a part of your life, and how have you embraced it as part of your identity, outlook, or sense of purpose?
Explanation:
All students are unique, but many students exist in spaces where they are in the minority due to some characteristic difference that is plainly evident or even imperceptible. This essay offers the space for students to not only share those differences but also explain how their lived experiences with those differences has led them to be the person they are today and the person they will be on their future college campus. As you select your topic, note that the prompt is asking specifically for a difference that you have actively embraced. There are plenty of unique qualities that are intrinsic to us but do not necessarily shape our actions in a meaningful or demonstrable way—this prompt requires you to choose an aspect of your identity that you have taken ownership of, and your essay should demonstrate your deliberate engagement with that quality.
G. The Mindy Kaling Theater Lab will be an exciting new addition to Dartmouth’s Hopkins Center for the Arts. “It’s a place where you can fail,” the actor/producer and Dartmouth alumna said when her gift was announced. “You can try things out, fail, and then revamp and rework things… A thing can be bad on its journey to becoming good.” Share a story of failure, trial runs, revamping, reworking, or journeying from bad to good.
Explanation:
College is all about trying new things, and that often comes with failures and frustrations along the way. This prompt is asking you to tell a story of growth through imperfection, which can go a long way in showing admissions officers how you will take risks, adapt, and be open to learning through trial and error as a student on their campus. As you respond to this prompt, avoid simply recounting the failure and jumping to the happy ending; allow yourself to get uncomfortable and share honestly about the process of reworking, problem solving, and development. Show—don’t just tell—admissions officers that you can persist when things don’t go your way, remain open to constructive criticism, and approach challenges with creativity.