Supplemental essays · 2026–27 application
Dartmouth College supplemental essays.
All 9 essay questions Dartmouth College asks this year, word for word, with the word limits and how to approach each one.
Checked against admissions.dartmouth.edu on October 17, 2026
What you write: Answer question 1, one of the two 2 prompts, and one of the six 3 prompts.
Some prompts open with a quote; where it's someone else's words, we describe it and you can read it on Dartmouth's page.
Why Dartmouth
As you seek admission to Dartmouth's Class of 2031, what aspects of the college's academic program, community, and/or campus environment attract your interest? How is Dartmouth a good fit for you?
How to approach it
- Name things you could only find at this college: a class, a professor, a program, a tradition.
- Tie every detail to something true about you.
- Swap test: if another college’s name fits your sentence, it’s too general.
Where you were raised
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.
Pick 2A or 2B.
How to approach it
- Say plainly what the community is.
- Show your place in it with one real scene.
- End with what you’d bring to campus.
Introduce yourself
"Be yourself," Oscar Wilde advised. "Everyone else is taken." Introduce yourself.
Pick 2A or 2B.
How to approach it
- Pick one moment and stay there. Readers remember a scene, not a summary.
- Spend at least a third of the essay on what you thought and how you changed.
- Read it out loud. If a line doesn’t sound like you, it isn’t done yet.
What excites you
What excites you?
Pick one of 3A to 3F.
How to approach it
- Take the question seriously enough to play with it.
- Let your answer show how you think.
- Keep it honest under the fun.
Making an impact
(The prompt opens with labor leader and civil rights activist Dolores Huerta on living a life of purpose and making the world better.) In what ways do you hope to make—or are you already making—an impact? Why? How?
Pick one of 3A to 3F.
How to approach it
- Say plainly what the community is.
- Show your place in it with one real scene.
- End with what you’d bring to campus.
What reading taught you
(The prompt opens with author Matt Haig on how novels let us imagine other lives.) How have you experienced such insight from reading? What did you read and how did it alter the way you understand yourself and others?
Pick one of 3A to 3F.
How to approach it
- Pick one moment and stay there. Readers remember a scene, not a summary.
- Spend at least a third of the essay on what you thought and how you changed.
- Read it out loud. If a line doesn’t sound like you, it isn’t done yet.
A difficult conversation
(The prompt opens with Jane Goodall on listening and starting a dialogue with people you disagree with.) 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?
Pick one of 3A to 3F.
How to approach it
- Pick one moment and stay there. Readers remember a scene, not a summary.
- Spend at least a third of the essay on what you thought and how you changed.
- Read it out loud. If a line doesn’t sound like you, it isn’t done yet.
Your nerdy side
Celebrate your nerdy side.
Pick one of 3A to 3F.
How to approach it
- Take the question seriously enough to play with it.
- Let your answer show how you think.
- Keep it honest under the fun.
Difference
(The prompt opens with Kermit the Frog's well-known line about how hard it is to be green.) 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?
Pick one of 3A to 3F.
How to approach it
- Say plainly what the community is.
- Show your place in it with one real scene.
- End with what you’d bring to campus.
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