How to Write the Dartmouth College Essays

The key to answering 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. Remember that you want to convince 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)! It’s only 100 words, so it’s important to make efficient use of the little space provided.

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.”

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 have come from some quirky, one-of-a-kind community or had some extraordinary upbringing. 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 how well you can reflect on both yourself and how you operate in the world around you, 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.

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 here, 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?

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.

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! Get creative and try to convey your unique personality.

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. As part of their response, students should clarify how a Dartmouth education (and therefore Dartmouth values) will set the foundation for this 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!

This prompt invites you to showcase your intellectual curiosity—note that it is not just about your intended major, but how that course of study will encourage you to “think and wonder” about topics you are interested in. One way to tackle this prompt is to consider what initially sparked your curiosity about your subject of interest. Did a project from high school first pique your interest? Did a book change your thinking about the topic? You can use an experience of this nature as a starting point for your essay.

The job is not done after that, though! Don’t forget to answer the second part of the prompt, which calls back to the Dr. Seuss quote about the invitation to “think and wonder.” This question is hinting at Dartmouth’s desire for intellectually curious students. How will this academic major at Dartmouth nurture your sense of wonder? How will you continue to be an intellectually curious person at Dartmouth? The key to answering this question is to lean into what genuinely excites you. In this way, the prompt is similar to Prompts A and E, but this one must directly connect to the academic major you want to pursue at Dartmouth.

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.

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.

We at Command Education call this a “Nerd Out” prompt. Simply put, Dartmouth 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.

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.

This question is prompting you to truly reflect on how you live out morals and values. Colleges are not just accepting students, musicians, athletes, and scientists—they are accepting humans. Who are you at your core, beyond your performance in the classroom, on the field, or on stage? What important qualities make up your character? Describing what makes “a great person” can quickly become vague or theoretical, so make sure to have some sort of anecdote that grounds your reflection in the concrete and specific. Finally, connect these values to the type of person you would be at Dartmouth and what you would contribute to their community.