This evening, Dartmouth accepted 1,173 members to the Class of 2027, drawing from 28,841 applications — the largest applicant pool in the College’s history and a 2% increase compared to the Class of 2026, the College announced in a Dartmouth News article. This cycle also marks the College’s third consecutive year with a 6% acceptance rate, and the third consecutive year with more than 28,000 applicants for its first-year class.
Newly admitted students will join the 578 students accepted through early decision and the 47 students matched with the College through the QuestBridge program — a national access program for high-achieving, low-income students — in December, according to past reporting by The Dartmouth.
According to the College’s announcement, this year’s cycle saw several improvements to financial aid, allowed by the Call to Lead campaign — including an increase to $149 million in aid for undergraduates next year, up from $135 million offered this year. Already, more than $51 million in scholarships have been awarded to admitted students, according to the announcement. The average scholarship totaled $65,411, with both figures representing record highs.
New policies also stipulated that the admissions process be universally need-blind, and that all financial aid packages omitted required loans. To date, Dartmouth is one of only seven institutions in the country — along with Amherst College, Bowdoin College, Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University and Yale University — to follow a need-blind process and meet 100% of demonstrated need for all students, regardless of citizenship. The College also eliminated the required parent contribution for families with earnings and typical assets less than $65,000.
The Class of 2027 was also the first to apply with full access to resources such as on-campus tours, information sessions and admissions officer visits to high schools around the world since 2019, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the announcement, Lee Coffin, vice provost for enrollment and dean of admissions and financial aid, wrote that relaxed restrictions helped prospective students connect with Dartmouth.
“As we reopened, people could once again experience the Dartmouth story in person, and that makes a big difference,” Coffin wrote. “The applicant pool included a remarkable number of students whose academic interests were terrifically aligned with our liberal arts program and its points of excellence.”
According to the announcement, the accepted students come from a record high number of different countries.
“Accepted students hail from all 50 U.S. states, as well as the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. They also represent 75 other countries, a record high, and 56% of those admitted attend a public or charter high school.”
Coffin specified that admissions focused on kindness and empathy when looking at this year’s applications.
“We were looking for people who will look out for each other. In the digital world we’re in, sometimes kindness can slip away,” Coffin wrote. “Seeing representations of collaboration, of good citizenship, of an openness to people who don’t think, look or believe the same way you might is valuable as a community like the Class of 2027 begins to come together.”
