Prompt database · 2026-27 cycle
Dartmouth College
Deadlines
source| Early Decision | November 1, 2026 |
|---|---|
| Regular Decision | January 1, 2027 |
Essay prompts (10)
- why us2026-27100 words
Applies to: All first-year applicants (required)
Required of all applicants. Please respond in 100 words or fewer: As you seek admission to Dartmouth's Class of 2030, what aspects of the college's academic program, community, and/or campus environment attract your interest? How is Dartmouth a good fit for you?
This is the 2025-26 wording, carried over: Dartmouth College has not republished this prompt for 2026-27 yet. Schools usually post updates around the Common App opening on August 1; we re-check after that and change this text only against an official source.
- identity2026-27250 words
Applies to: All first-year applicants (choose one of two)
Required of all applicants, please respond to one of the following prompts in 250 words or fewer: 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.
This is the 2025-26 wording, carried over: Dartmouth College has not republished this prompt for 2026-27 yet. Schools usually post updates around the Common App opening on August 1; we re-check after that and change this text only against an official source.
- identity2026-27250 words
Applies to: All first-year applicants (choose one of two)
Required of all applicants, please respond to one of the following prompts in 250 words or fewer: "Be yourself," Oscar Wilde advised. "Everyone else is taken." Introduce yourself.
This is the 2025-26 wording, carried over: Dartmouth College has not republished this prompt for 2026-27 yet. Schools usually post updates around the Common App opening on August 1; we re-check after that and change this text only against an official source.
- other2026-27250 words
Applies to: All first-year applicants (choose one of seven)
Required of all applicants, please respond to one of the following prompts in 250 words or fewer: What excites you?
This is the 2025-26 wording, carried over: Dartmouth College has not republished this prompt for 2026-27 yet. Schools usually post updates around the Common App opening on August 1; we re-check after that and change this text only against an official source.
- community2026-27250 words
Applies to: All first-year applicants (choose one of seven)
Required of all applicants, please respond to one of the following prompts in 250 words or fewer: 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?
This is the 2025-26 wording, carried over: Dartmouth College has not republished this prompt for 2026-27 yet. Schools usually post updates around the Common App opening on August 1; we re-check after that and change this text only against an official source.
- academic interest2026-27250 words
Applies to: All first-year applicants (choose one of seven)
Required of all applicants, please respond to one of the following prompts in 250 words or fewer: 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?
This is the 2025-26 wording, carried over: Dartmouth College has not republished this prompt for 2026-27 yet. Schools usually post updates around the Common App opening on August 1; we re-check after that and change this text only against an official source.
- community2026-27250 words
Applies to: All first-year applicants (choose one of seven)
Required of all applicants, please respond to one of the following prompts in 250 words or fewer: 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?
This is the 2025-26 wording, carried over: Dartmouth College has not republished this prompt for 2026-27 yet. Schools usually post updates around the Common App opening on August 1; we re-check after that and change this text only against an official source.
- weird2026-27250 words
Applies to: All first-year applicants (choose one of seven)
Required of all applicants, please respond to one of the following prompts in 250 words or fewer: Celebrate your nerdy side.
This is the 2025-26 wording, carried over: Dartmouth College has not republished this prompt for 2026-27 yet. Schools usually post updates around the Common App opening on August 1; we re-check after that and change this text only against an official source.
- identity2026-27250 words
Applies to: All first-year applicants (choose one of seven)
Required of all applicants, please respond to one of the following prompts in 250 words or fewer: "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?
This is the 2025-26 wording, carried over: Dartmouth College has not republished this prompt for 2026-27 yet. Schools usually post updates around the Common App opening on August 1; we re-check after that and change this text only against an official source.
- other2026-27250 words
Applies to: All first-year applicants (choose one of seven)
Required of all applicants, please respond to one of the following prompts in 250 words or fewer: 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.
This is the 2025-26 wording, carried over: Dartmouth College has not republished this prompt for 2026-27 yet. Schools usually post updates around the Common App opening on August 1; we re-check after that and change this text only against an official source.
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