Dartmouth Supplemental Essay Prompts for 2025-2026
You’ve probably pictured it already: the Green in autumn, a hike through the White Mountains, professors who know your name. But now senior year is here, and the application isn’t about imagining Dartmouth — it’s about showing why you belong there.
The supplement has three parts: one short “Why Dartmouth” response, and two longer essays where you’ll choose from a range of prompts. Each is designed to show how you think, what matters to you, and what you’ll bring into a close-knit community.
1) Why Dartmouth? (100 words)
With so little space, you need to be sharp. Instead of broad claims like “I value community,” point to one or two academic or cultural aspects that actually line up with your values. Maybe it’s the flexibility of the D-Plan, a lab where you’d test an idea you’ve already started, or a tradition that resonates with how you lead.
Think structure: your guiding value → the Dartmouth match → what you’ll do with it.
2) Identity and Voice (250 words)
You’ll pick from prompts like “Let your life speak” or “Be yourself.” Both are really asking: what shaped you, and how does that show up in your choices today? Anchor your response in a specific environment, moment, or influence. Show not just what you value, but how it plays out — in the way you study, lead, or contribute. The more grounded the example, the more your voice will stand out.
3) Curiosity, Purpose, or Perspective (250 words)
This final essay lets you choose from a wide range:
If you choose “What excites you,” don’t catalogue interests; pick the one you return to when no one’s watching. Name the spark and then prove it with receipts—what you built, read, measured, or changed—and end with how that energy will travel with you to Hanover rather than a neat moral.
If you take Dolores Huerta’s “life of purpose,” ground it in a single concrete action, not a mission statement. Explain the problem as you see it, the choice you made, the tradeoffs you accepted, and the next step you’re already testing. Impact is a verb here.
For Matt Haig’s reading prompt, name one book or story and make it do work. Two moves matter: the “before/after” in how you now understand people, and a moment where that new lens changed your behavior. Avoid plot; prioritize consequence.
Channeling Dame Jane Goodall, resist the temptation to win the argument. Show how you listened, where your view shifted (or didn’t) and why, and how you left the other person with dignity. Intellectual humility reads as strength.
“Celebrate your nerdy side” succeeds when you zoom into a quirk only you could write. Let the texture in—vocabulary, rituals, the way time disappears—and connect it to how you learn with others.
On “being green,” link difference to practice: how it shapes what you notice, the roles you take in groups, the questions you ask in class. Identity without application feels static.
For Mindy Kaling’s “from bad to good,” narrate the messy middle. Name the failure, isolate the variable you changed, and show the iteration loop. Close with the durable skill you carry now, not triumph.
Keep it specific, unfinished in the best way, and unmistakably yours.
Dartmouth’s prompts may look short, but they’re built to reveal a lot: how you think, what you value, and how you’ll fit into an intimate campus community. The strongest essays aren’t staged or forced — they’re specific, credible, and in a voice that sounds like you.
At Ivy Link, we work with students to strike that balance: shaping broad prompts into essays that sound like you while meeting the expectations of selective admissions. From brainstorming ideas to final polish, we guide every step so your responses are sharp, credible, and true to your voice.
If Dartmouth is your dream — or if you’re applying across multiple Ivies — we’re here to help you approach the process with confidence and clarity.
