Dartmouth has an extremely high Early Decision acceptance rate for an Ivy League school. In 2021, 21% of ED applicants were accepted. And yet, that number can be misleading. To make it a little simpler why the 21% number is more complicated than it looks, we’ll break down the stat.
Of every 100 people who applied to Dartmouth ED, 21 got in. Of those 21, 4.62 (fractions of humans are weird, we know, so round to 5 if it makes you less squeamish) were recruited athletes. An additional 2.73 were the children of former Dartmouth students, also known as legacies. So, of the 21 who got in ED, only 13.65 were not legacies or hand-picked collegiate athletes.
This means that the realistic ED acceptance rate is actually under 14%.
Dartmouth hasn’t published how many of the 86%+ of students who didn’t get in were accepted or rejected, but we do know that Dartmouth reports that 5-10% of deferred students will eventually get in. That’s not an unusually low number, but it also isn’t a number to get excited about if you’re one of those deferred students.
If you’re deferred from Dartmouth, you need to act if you want to be let in.
What About an Update Letter?
Unlike many other top universities, Dartmouth says that they “welcome brief updates on recent notable academic, extracurricular, and personal accomplishments uploaded via your portal.” Don’t get too excited about “updates” being plural, though. They definitely don’t want you to be sending them a note every three days. If you’re going to send them something, it needs to be concise, clear, and wildly impressive. We write really great letters of continued interest with our students.
Dartmouth also allows you to submit new test scores. If you haven’t taken the SAT or ACT since you originally sent your scores to Dartmouth, or you have but your scores haven’t gone up, don’t worry about resending them. If you do have higher scores you could send, this would be a great opportunity to amp up your Dartmouth application by submitting them.
Give Your College List a Look
As you work on your Dartmouth update, you need to also be looking at your overall college list to make sure that you are setting yourself up for success. As we said, Dartmouth only lets 5-10% of deferred applicants in during the Regular Decision cycle, which shouldn’t make you super optimistic. You’re still in the game, but you need to be actively pursuing other options. Review your list, and get to work.
Keep Working Hard
The easiest way to sabotage your chances of getting into Dartmouth is to let your grades drop…so don’t do it. During the college application process, many students get distracted by essays, supplements, and standardized tests. In the meantime, they lose track of the day-to-day of school life, causing their grades to drop. This is not acceptable. You need to keep your grades up, and you need to keep working hard.
Take care of yourself
At the same time, you also need to give yourself some breaks. This period of time is tough, and you need to be able to find time to relax. Read a book that isn’t assigned, go for a hike, walk your dog, or play with your little brother. Do Tik Tok dances if that’s what makes you feel at peace, although we can’t say we understand. If you want to be able to show your best self to schools, you need to give yourself the time and space to breathe. It’ll all be ok. You’ve got this.
If you aren’t sure how to update Dartmouth, send us an email. We help students like you bounce back from deferrals by crafting compelling applications.