Center for Professional Development associate director Monica Wilson said the policy is out of respect for students' and recruiters' time and schedules.
"We want each visit to be productive for both students and employers," Wilson said.
Unlike the College, the University of Pennsylvania and Boston College do not restrict the number of on-campus visits by potential employers.
"Personally, I would have to have a good reason to have a limitation on anything," Boston College's employer relations associate director Louis Gaglini said. "I'm not sure what that reason would be."
Wilson said the choice to restrict visits was made with students' best interests in mind and that Dartmouth is willing to make exceptions when students show increased interest in a company or field. Harvard University also limits employers to one information session per "fall networking" and "intern networking" period. In addition to the cap on the number of visits per term, the Center for Professional Development, formerly called Career Services, also charges fees to nonprofits and for-profit companies, a common practice among universities. Dartmouth charges $150 for the first interview room, $85 for each additional room, $350 for on-campus information sessions and $100 per order of email invitation service for marketing and outreach.
Peer institutions have comparable fees, with Harvard charging $150 per interview room and $100 per job posting for for-profit companies, but waives the fee for nonprofits. Brown University's rates for campus recruiting are slightly higher, at $200 for full-time jobs, but the cost per interview room is lower at $50.
Unlike Penn and other institutions, Dartmouth allows employers to hold information sessions in the winter, spring and summer terms but does not hold any sessions in the fall term.
"In the fall, we have the employer fair, instead of information sessions, because otherwise we'd be doing over 100 information sessions, and there isn't enough time to do that plus interviewing," Wilson said.
Eric Nelsen '87, a partner at Oliver Wyman who interviewed candidates on Monday, said that despite the strict policies, he considers Dartmouth recruiting easier than at other institutions.
"The people are very prepared, very much understand what they're getting themselves into, and so we believe that Dartmouth's a great place to come and recruit," he said.
Based on internal analyses on the performance of past Dartmouth students, Nelsen said the firm found that students from Dartmouth tend to do better at the company than those from other schools.
Nelsen said Oliver Wyman conducts visits to other Ivy League schools more frequently, but cited the proximity of the company's main offices to these campuses as a reason rather than Dartmouth's cap on the number of visits per term.
Wilson added that the Center for Professional Development strives to address student feedback and concerns about recruiting on campus.
"We do hear from students who are looking for employers who represent a wider array of industries, and geographical locations, and we are working really hard on that," she said.
