Dartmouth Acceptance Dates

If you are interested in attending an Ivy League school but also feel that a liberal arts style of education is the best fit for your learning style, then there is little doubt that Dartmouth College is going to end up near or at the very top of your list.

After all, Dartmouth is the sole true liberal arts college in the entire Ivy League. Because of that, some things that are done at Dartmouth – both in terms of the admissions process, and the actual educational experience -are quite different than that of the other Ivies.

One thing that is not different, however, is that school has both a regular decision Dartmouth acceptance date and a Dartmouth Early Decision date. What this means, essentially, is that there are two different application timelines that students get to choose from when they are deciding to apply to Dartmouth.

If you have already made up your mind and absolutely plan to apply to this fantastic school when your classes’ application cycle comes about, then you are definitely going to want to do everything that you can to learn about the school’s admissions practices, what kinds of students tend to get in and much more.

That is where AdmissionSight can come in to help! As one of the premier admissions consultant groups in the industry, we know exactly what it takes for students to get into Ivy League schools and other top 10 schools in the United States.

The tools, strategies and experience that our admissions consultants bring to the table have proven to be quite invaluable when it comes to helping students overcome the historically low acceptance rates at these schools and earn a spot in the incoming graduating class.

In fact, 75.0 percent of the students that we have worked with have gone on to get into either an Ivy League school like Dartmouth, Brown or Columbia or a top 10 school that is not in the Ivy League such as MIT, Caltech or UChicago.

While learning about the Dartmouth acceptance date may not seem like a crucial thing for a student to learn in order to improve their chances of getting in, consider the fact that by learning about the acceptance date, students will also learn about the school’s overall application timeline and, subsequently, the school’s Early Decision and Regular Decision deadlines.

This information will not only help a student determine which application option may be best for them, but it will also help them prepare for when they should start their application in order to ensure that they give themselves the best chance possible of actually getting into the school.

When it comes to college and university admissions in the United States, there is no doubt that knowledge is power. That is where we can come in and help!

If you are curious to learn more about how Dartmouth admissions work, what the Dartmouth acceptance date is and more, then you have absolutely come to the right place. Let’s get started on breaking all that important information down.

If you are curious to learn more about how Brown admissions work, what the Brown acceptance date is and more, then you have absolutely come to the right place. Let’s get started on breaking all that important information down.

Dartmouth Acceptance Rate

Before we get into the very important information regarding the Dartmouth acceptance date, we thought that it would be wise to quickly go over the current state of the Dartmouth acceptance rate.

Of course, the acceptance rate of any school reflects the number of students that are ultimately offered an admissions spot compared to the total number of students that applied in a given application cycle.

In the application cycle of the 2021-22 school year, a total of 28,336 students made up the total pool of students that applied to Dartmouth College. It was a decrease of just 21 students from the previous cycle’s pool, and it sustained the historic 33.0 percent increase from the 2019-20 application cycle.

Of those students, a total of 1,767 were offered an admissions spot at the school. Of those students, a total of 1,207 were applicants from the Regular Decision round and 560 were applicants from the Early Decision round. That’s good for an overall acceptance rate of just 6.2 percent.

Peeling those numbers just a bit further, however, it is important to note that while only 2,270 students applied to Dartmouth via early admissions, a much larger number of 26,066 applied via regular admissions.

So, while the overall acceptance rate was 6.2 percent, the regular admissions acceptance rate was just 4.6 percent, the early admissions acceptance rate was a whopping 24.6 percent! That is certainly something to keep in mind, and something that we will break down in further detail in a little while.

Now, it’s time to start breaking down the Dartmouth acceptance date.

Important Dartmouth acceptance dates

Now that you have a good idea of what the current statistics are in relation to the Dartmouth acceptance rate, we can start breaking down the important dates related to the Dartmouth admissions timeline. At Dartmouth, there are two different admissions timelines based on how students choose to apply.

As you may already know, the two ways in which students can apply is either through the Early Decision application option or the Regular Decision option.

One final thing that students who are interested in applying to Dartmouth should know is that there are no Dartmouth Early Decision 2 application options at Dartmouth, so there is no such date or timeline to keep in mind. With that out of the way, here are the important Dartmouth application and acceptance dates to keep in mind:

Dartmouth Early Acceptance dates

November 1

Early Decision Application due

November 1

Financial Aid application materials are due

November 1

Application Fee or Fee Waiver due

Early November

Last date for testing. Dartmouth College is a test-optional for the Class of 2027.

Mid-November

Respond to (optional) Alumni Interview invitation

Late November

Quarter grades/progress reports that include grades from the senior year due

Mid-December

Early Decision admission notification. Financial aid tentative award notification for admitted financial aid applicants.

Late December

Intent to enroll deadline

January to February

Mid-Year Report is due.

Early Decision deferred applicants should submit a brief update regarding recent notable academic, extracurricular, and/or personal accomplishments; some applicants may wish to submit other material, such as new standardized exam scores and/or an additional letter of recommendation.

On or before April 1

Admission notification for Early Decision deferred applicants. Financial aid award notification for admitted financial aid applicants.

April

Admitted financial aid applicants review and appeal financial aid packages (if necessary).

May 2

Intent to enroll deadline for recently admitted Early Decision applicants

June

Final Secondary School Report and transcript due

Deadline to request a Gap Year

Dartmouth Regular Acceptance dates

December

Last date for testing. Dartmouth College is a test optional for the Class of 2027.

January 3

Regular Decision Application due

January 3

Application Fee or Fee Waiver due

January through February

Mid-Year Report due
Respond to (optional) Alumni Interview invitation

February 1

Financial Aid application materials due

Late March or Early April

Regular Decision admission notification. Financial aid award notification for admitted financial aid applicants.

April

Admitted financial aid applicants review and appeal financial aid packages (if necessary).

May 2

Intent to enroll deadline

June

Final secondary school report and transcript are due

June 1

Deadline to request a Gap Year

So there you have it! There is all the important information that you should make sure to have a solid grasp on if you are really focused on applying to and getting into Dartmouth. The truth is that it is pretty simple information to digest, and knowing it can really help you map out the way in which you want to apply to the school.

Perhaps most importantly, what you now know about Dartmouth (and all the Ivy League schools for that matter) is that there are two separate application deadlines and two separate Dartmouth acceptance dates that you will have to choose from. But how do students end up making that choice?

As you already know, students that applied to Dartmouth via early admissions had a much better statistical chance of getting into the school. In fact, they had nearly six-times better chances of getting in! But what are the reasons for that incredible disparity and how can students make sure that they are applying to Dartmouth in the right way?

We’ve taken the time to break down the major considerations that every student should make. When it comes to considering the option of applying to Dartmouth via Early Decision, it is important to know the key facts. Here is what Dartmouth has to say about its own process and commitment to Early Decision students:

• If Dartmouth is your clear first choice, you are welcome to submit a binding Early Decision application for admission. The early process will enable you to receive a decision in mid-December and, if admitted, enable you to conclude your college search process without having to submit additional applications to other schools.
• ​Early Decision applicants are required to sign the Early Decision Agreement, which commits the applicant to enroll at Dartmouth if admitted. In other words, the agreement is binding.
• Applicants may apply to other schools through non-restricted and non-binding application processes, but are prohibited from submitting binding early applications to other colleges. If admitted early to Dartmouth and another school, the applicant will be expected to enroll at Dartmouth and decline any other offer of admission.
• Applicants admitted early to Dartmouth are required to withdraw any pending applications to other schools and may not initiate any new applications to other schools.
• Dartmouth guarantees to meet 100% of the demonstrated financial need of  all admitted students and provides admitted early applicants with estimated financial aid rewards. In the event that an aid award is not sufficient, families are encouraged to contact the Financial Aid Office with any concerns they may have. In the unlikely event that the Financial Aid Office and the family cannot reach an agreement regarding appropriate aid, the College will release the admitted student from their commitment to enroll.

Chances are good that you already have heard the term “binding” as it pertains to early admissions and undergraduate students, but if this is the first time you have heard it, we want to make sure you understand fully what it means. Basically, schools that offer binding early admissions options require students to enroll in the school in the event that they do end up getting in.

This is essentially meant to root out students who are not fully committed to going to Dartmouth. Of course, students who have interest in Dartmouth are still fully encouraged to apply, the only difference is that they are encouraged to apply strictly through regular admissions. There are no restrictions on regular admissions at any school.

So, if you are not only thinking of applying to Dartmouth because you have some interest, but instead are positive that you want to apply and will enroll if you are offered a spot, you should absolutely consider applying early!

Does applying to Dartmouth Early Decision boost your chances of getting in?

This is a question that we get from a lot of our students prior to the application process. After all, the students that we work with are typically trying to get into the most competitive and prestigious schools in not only the United States, but also the entire world. Many of them are interested in learning about any and all strategies that they can utilize to get a leg up on the competition and boost their chances of getting in.

But does simply applying early to Dartmouth or Harvard or Yale boost a student’s chances of getting in on its own? The truth is that this question cannot really be answered with a simple “yes” or “no.” Overall, there is a widely held belief that students who apply early are given a slight priority over students that do not. That may be especially true for schools that offer binding early admissions. However, there are other important reasons that students should be aware of when it comes to the dramatic difference in acceptance rates between Early Decision applicants and Regular Decision applicants at Dartmouth.

Here are some of the most important factors to keep in mind:

• Students who apply to Dartmouth – or any school for that matter – tend to be something of a self-selecting group in the sense that students that are taking the admissions process this seriously tend to have more impressive academic records, extracurriculars, letters of recommendation and more. A lot of schools maintain the status that students who apply via early admissions would have been accepted regardless of how they chose to apply based on merit alone.
• Secondly, students who apply via Early Decision are competing against a much smaller pool of students compared to those that are applying via Regular Decision. Early applicants basically get the first whack at a spot in the incoming graduating class, and that can absolutely help improve a student’s chances of getting in. In the 2021-22 cycle, early applicants were competing against just over 2,000 students whereas regular applicants were competing against not only all of the other regular applicants, but also any of the early applicants that were waitlisted. Quite simply, there are less students competing for more spots when you’re an early applicant.
• Finally, even if there is not an official boost that Early Decision applicants get, there is one thing that cannot be ignored. Elite schools want to feel wanted by the students that apply, and they want to have some sense of confidence that if a student applies, they will end up enrolling at the school. At Dartmouth, that confidence is essentially 100 percent for early applicants thanks to the fact that it is a binding application agreement. For that reason, an early applicant’s application profile does get the boost of being that much more attractive in the eyes of the admissions officers and admissions committee.

So there you have it! While students who want to apply to Dartmouth early do have to contend with the earlier deadline for the applications and related material, they also do stand to benefit from these points, and likely many other benefits as well!

We’ll help you track Dartmouth acceptance dates

Getting into the top schools in the country is hard, but that does not mean you are not up to the challenge. Perhaps the best place to start when it comes to improving your chances is learning as much as you can about the school itself and its admissions practices. We hope that this quick breakdown of the Dartmouth acceptance date has helped you start off that important process.

If you are interested in learning more about this fantastic school and what it takes to get in, contact us at AdmissionSight today to set up a free consultation.