Dartmouth College
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Dartmouth College鈥檚 2024-25 Essay Prompts
Why This College Short Response
As you seek admission to Dartmouth鈥檚 Class of 2029, what aspects of the college鈥檚 academic program, community, and/or campus environment attract your interest? How is Dartmouth a good fit for you?*
Select-A-Prompt Short Response
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
鈥淏e yourself,鈥� Oscar Wilde advised. 鈥淓veryone else is taken.鈥� Introduce yourself.
Select-A-Prompt Short Response
Required of all applicants, please respond to one of the following prompts in 250 words or fewer:
Option 1
What excites you?
Option 2
Labor leader and civil rights activist Dolores Huerta recommended a life of purpose. 鈥淲e must use our lives to make the world a better place to live, not just to acquire things,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hat is what we are put on the earth for.鈥� In what ways do you hope to make鈥攐r are you already making鈥攁n impact? Why? How?
Option 3
In 鈥淥h, The Places You鈥檒l Go,鈥� Dr. Seuss invites us to 鈥淭hink and wonder. Wonder and think.鈥� Imagine your anticipated academic major: How does that course of study sync with Dr. Seuss鈥檚 advice to you?
Option 4
The social and family interactions of wild chimpanzees have been the focus of Dame Jane Goodall鈥檚 research for decades. Her understanding of animal behavior prompted the English primatologist to see a lesson for human communities as well: 鈥淐hange happens by listening and then starting a dialogue with the people who are doing something you don鈥檛 believe is right.鈥� 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?
Option 5
Celebrate your nerdy side.
Option 6
"It鈥檚 not easy being green鈥︹�� 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?
Option 7
Buddy Teevens 鈥�79 was a legendary and much beloved coach at Dartmouth. He often told parents: 鈥淵our son will be a great football player when it鈥檚 football time, a great student when it鈥檚 academic time, and a great person all of the time.鈥� If Coach Teevens had said that to you, what would it mean to be 鈥渁 great person鈥�?
