Discover the big questions you’ll explore this year—and how innovation can supercharge your answers.

Dartmouth College.
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Dartmouth Supplemental Essays
— The Class of 2026 Guide —

  • Start your Supplemental Essay Success below by previewing this guide’s three sections:

    Information ⋄ Inspiration ⋄ Innovation

    Discover strategies designed by an Ivy Alum and over three hundred success stories!

  • — Dartmouth College —

    Explore The Three Sections
    Inside This Upgraded Guide

    — Preview The Guide —

  • — Information —

    In this section, explore all of this college’s most recent supplemental essay prompts—along with helpful supplemental essay information just for Class of 2026 High School Students!

    — 1 of 3 —

  • — Inspiration —

    In this section, read successful supplemental essays from our own Accepted Alumni! See the ideas, values, and missions that stand out to admissions at even the most selective colleges.

    — 2 of 3 —

  • — Innovation —

    In this section, learn success-proven methods to streamline your application and essay-building process. Discover methods designed by an Ivy alum with over 300 student success stories!

    — 3 of 3 —

  • — The Dartmouth Guide —

    Find aligned inspiration,
    discover time-saving innovation,
    and build inspiring supplemental essays.
    Ready to start your success story?

    — Scroll Down To Explore —

  • — Supplemental Essay Prompts —

    Through Guide Section 1 of 3—Information—explore each of this college’s most recent Supplemental Essay Prompts. See insider information on the supplemental process for Class of 2026 Applicants!

Supplemental Length


100 Word Maximum

Supplemental Style


College & Curriculum

Supplemental Essay Prompt 1


— Dartmouth College —

  • — Dartmouth College Prompt 1 —

    Required of all applicants. Please respond in 100 words or fewer: As you seek admission to Dartmouth's Class of 2029, what aspects of the college's academic program, community, and/or campus environment attract your interest? How is Dartmouth a good fit for you?

    — 100 Word Maximum —

Supplemental Length


250 Word Maximum

Supplemental Style


Unique & Uncommon

Supplemental Essay Prompt 2


— Dartmouth College —

  • — Dartmouth College Prompt 2 —

    Required of all applicants. Please respond to one of the following prompts in 250 words or fewer:

    Option 1. 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.

    Option 2. "Be yourself," Oscar Wilde advised. "Everyone else is taken." Introduce yourself.

    — 250 Word Maximum —

Supplemental Length


250 Word Maximum

Supplemental Style


Unique & Uncommon

Supplemental Essay Prompt 3


— Dartmouth College —

  • — Dartmouth College Prompt 3 —

    Please choose one of the following prompts and respond in 250 words or fewer:

    — Prompt Option 1 —

    What excites you?

    — Prompt Option 2 —

    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?

    — Prompt Option 3 —

    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?

    — Prompt Option 4 —

    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?

    — Prompt Option 5 —

    Celebrate your nerdy side.

    — Prompt Option 6 —

    "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?

    — Prompt Option 7 —

    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.

    — 250 Word Maximum —

Supplemental Essay Information


— Dartmouth College —

Supplemental Strategy


Class of 2026 Applicants

Supplemental Essay


Insider Information

  • — Supplemental Essay Strategy —

    Streamline your supplemental essay process with our Supplemental Strategy—and bring Dartmouth within your reach!

    Throughout our Supplemental Essay Guides, we provide clarity through our Supplemental Essay Styles. The Styles streamline the entire supplemental essay-building process—and create more success stories.

    Streamline your application process with the Supplemental Style Strategy—upgraded for Class of 2026 Students who dream of studying at Dartmouth College!— Upgraded Class of 2026 Essentials —

  • — Supplemental Essay Examples —

    Through Guide Section 2 of 3—Inspiration—read Successful Supplemental Essays from our Accepted Alumni! Discover ideas that stand out to admissions at Dartmouth, and find inspiration for your own success story.

Accepted Alumni


Essay Example

Supplemental Style


Major & Missions

Supplemental Essay Example


— Dartmouth College —

  • Featured Supplemental Essay Prompt For Dartmouth College Applicants:

    Dartmouth celebrates the ways in which its profound sense of place informs its profound sense of purpose. As you seek admission to Dartmouth's Class of 2027, what aspects of the College's academic program, community, or campus environment attract your interest? In short, Why Dartmouth?

    Successful Supplemental Essay Example From Our Accepted Alumni Student:

    From bleary-eyed robotics work sessions, to collective team efforts on urgent EMT calls, I’ve realized that problem-solving is rarely an independent pursuit—true solutions require community. That sense of community undeniably draws me to Dartmouth.

    At Dartmouth, I can collaboratively explore neuroscientific and pre-medical insights—while also addressing pressing concerns: systemic inequities, community-specific needs, and more. With LISTEN Community Services and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Hospital, I’d work to promote community health, nutrition access, and mental health support. With Health Disparities, I’d unite with peers—grappling with injustice, seeking solutions. From Cognitive Neuroscience to Senior Design, I’d grow through the action-oriented community that uniquely defines Dartmouth.

  • — Supplemental Essay Strategy —

    Through Guide Section 3 of 3—Innovation—learn success-proven methods to streamline your entire supplemental essay process. Our methods are designed by an Ivy Alum and 300+ student success stories!

Dartmouth College.
The
upgraded way.