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If you want to learn more about how to get into one of America’s top medical schools, read on!
The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth produces leaders in education, health delivery, and research. This guide will go over all the admission requirements and statistics to teach you how to get into Dartmouth Medical School to join its long list of accomplished alumni.
The Geisel School of Medicine’s world-class faculty, low faculty-to-student ratio, and innovative curricula make it one of the best medical schools in the nation. Depending on where you are in your medical journey, there are several robust programs for you to choose from:
Students in these programs can participate in clerkships and electives nationwide and globally. As an Ivy League school, students work closely with outstanding medical educators using the most advanced technology.
The Geisel School of Medicine is exceptionally competitive, with an acceptance rate of approximately 1.2%! All medical schools are challenging, so the selection process involves several factors predicting which students will become the best physicians.
Please note that this is an approximate acceptance rate and refers to the percentage of matriculants and deferred students compared to verified applications. Medical schools often don’t release data pertaining to accepted applicants and verified applications.
Don’t let this acceptance rate discourage you from applying to Dartmouth! Gaining an education from such a high-ranking medical school will give you unparalleled opportunities that will set you up for a prosperous medical career.
While it may seem impossible, you can enter the selective pool of applicants offered admission to this medical school. The first step is to focus on your numbers:
The average GPA at the Geisel School of Medicine is 3.83. Students with a GPA of 3.9 or higher would be considered strong candidates.
Medical school will be demanding. You will be expected to complete extensive courses to learn the foundations of medicine and participate in clinical practicums to apply your knowledge. Dartmouth uses your GPA to assess your academic potential to ensure you can handle these demands.
While your GPA gives the admissions committee a general sense of your academic performance, your MCAT score will provide them with more specific insight into how well you’ll do in medical school and the field of medicine in general.
Dartmouth requires students to have an MCAT score of at least 503 to be eligible for consideration. However, the average MCAT of admitted students is 515.8. You should aim for 516 to be considered a competitive applicant.
Receiving this score will not be easy. You must create a comprehensive study schedule using the best resources and tools!
Your scores aren’t everything. Several other components make up your Dartmouth application. Here is a complete list of Dartmouth’s application requirements:
To apply to Dartmouth, students must complete an undergraduate degree at an accredited university. While the exact major you choose doesn’t matter, you will be expected to complete the following prerequisites before enrollment:
Students are required to be proficient in written and spoken English. You should pursue writing-intensive courses to develop these skills. Students are also recommended to seek independent investigations in their undergraduate field.
Applicants should have completed at least three years of college-level education at a U.S. or Canadian institution, hold a bachelor’s degree, and have taken a mix of science and humanities courses that build a strong foundation in medicine and the social sciences.
Students are encouraged to major in a subject they’re passionate about and to conduct independent research if possible.
Students are also required to submit letters of evaluation with their application. You may submit a composite letter from your pre-medical undergraduate office or three to five individual letters.
Professors should write the majority of these letters. Other mentors, such as clinical employers or volunteer coordinators, can write one or two.
On your secondary application, you must list and explain the most meaningful extracurriculars and activities you pursued during your undergrad.
Students must submit a personal statement to answer the question, “Why medicine?”
This essay should be around two double-spaced pages and include relevant experiences describing your reason for pursuing medicine. This statement will help bring color to your application as it lets your unique voice shine! It should help the admissions committee learn more about your personality and character.
Part of getting into Dartmouth Medical School is knowing how to write well. You’ll be asked to write several supplemental essays with your application, besides your personal statement. More on the exact topics you can expect to see!
Students will also be assessed on the following five basic competencies required to join the medical field:
All of these skills are mandatory to get into Dartmouth Medical School.
Submitting a stellar application past the deadline will make it a subpar application. To avoid all of your hard work going to waste, mark your calendars with these dates:
Students will only receive a secondary application if they meet Dartmouth’s minimum academic expectations. The cost to complete these secondary applications is $130.
Here are the exact essay prompts you can expect to see on your secondary application:
1. Please indicate your plans for the 2025-2026 academic year. If in school, please list your courses. If working, let us know something about the nature of your job. If your plans or courses change subsequently, please inform the Admissions Office by email at Geisel.Admissions@dartmouth.edu (no word limit)
2. Please reflect on your primary application and share something not addressed elsewhere that would be helpful to the Admissions Committee as we review your file. (no word limit)
3. Please tell us specifically why you are interested in Geisel. (no word limit)
4. Geisel School of Medicine values social justice and diversity in all its forms. Reflect on a situation where you were the “other.” (250 words)
Prompts one to three have no word limit, but you should keep your answer as clear and concise as possible. Just because there is no word limit doesn’t mean you should write a 5,000-word essay. Stay on topic, edit out any unnecessary sentences or phrases, and use language within your skill set.
Dartmouth lists the following requirements for writing an excellent essay to assist in your essay-writing process.
Before you start writing, you should spend considerable time reflecting on your meaningful extracurriculars, academic and life experiences, and the influential people. You should also consider how your perspectives have developed and how you’ve grown professionally and personally.
Ensure all of these experiences and accomplishments relate to your goal of attending medical school.
You need to give yourself adequate time to write your essays. Do not leave it to the last minute or write an answer that isn’t carefully thought out. These essays give the admissions committee a glimpse into your personal story, so you don’t want to present them with anything less than your best self!
While the content of your essay will determine how compelling it is, it’s essential that your writing is also polished, so your message gets across as intended. To do this, implement the following tips into your writing:
Students often overlook the final tip made by Dartmouth. Getting your essays to the standards Dartmouth expects will take time, effort, and multiple drafts. Don’t be afraid to start over if your essays don’t accurately capture who you are and who you want to become!
Now that you know how difficult Dartmouth is to get into, you may be wondering how to differentiate your application to ensure it impresses the admissions board.
Implement these three tips in your application to maximize your chances of admission:
One of the qualities Dartmouth looks for in its students is the distance they’ve traveled. While they mean this figuratively in terms of your development as a student and person, they also mean it literally.
Students who experience different cultures, regions, and populations have more perspectives and are more likely to become equitable practitioners. Consider gaining volunteer experience abroad to demonstrate your cultural intelligence and competence!
Talk about memorable experiences you had abroad in your essays, personal statement, or interview. Expand on the significance of this experience and the importance of gaining diverse perspectives on the world as a healthcare provider.
Regardless of your major, you’re strongly encouraged to pursue independent investigations. As an undergraduate student, the best way to do this is to work on outside projects, enter competitions, or participate in research with a professor.
You should have some research experience on your application. One of the pillars of good medical practice is discovery! If you want to make significant changes to healthcare, as Dartmouth has, you should begin honing your research skills during your undergrad. Around 98% of admitted students had considerable research experience.
Do your best to be part of any publications on the research you’re involved in! This experience will strengthen your application and prove you’re ready for the scholarly discussion and investigation that Dartmouth is so well known for!
Aside from the distance you’ve traveled and your curiosity for discovery, there are specific traits that Dartmouth looks for in its applicants. To be a successful applicant, you should demonstrate each of the following characteristics in multiple ways:
All of these traits are considered to be in line with Dartmouth’s tight-knit, stimulating environment. Participate in practical courses, extracurriculars, and activities to help you develop and portray these qualities!
You should also mention them in your essays and during your interview to assure the committee that you have what it takes to succeed at Dartmouth.
Knowing that practice makes perfect, having clinical experience on your application can convince the committee you’re prepared for medical school.
You should also shadow a physician. It’s challenging to know the rigors of the medical field until you’re in it! By shadowing a physician, you’ll gain this knowledge before medical school. Use this experience to prove you have a realistic understanding of what it means to be a physician and are still motivated to become one!
Dartmouth acknowledges that students may have their own reasons for joining the medical field. As such, they urge students not to get too caught up trying to come up with a unique answer to essay or interview questions asking why they want to pursue medicine.
Just answer sincerely! The experiences that influenced you, how you developed your motivation, and the skills required to succeed in this field will make your narrative unique. Focus on these to supplement any parts of your story similar to other students’ answers.
Dartmouth’s tuition reflects its prestige. At $72,570 a year, attending this medical school will be an investment! On top of your other expenses as a medical student, you can expect to pay over $100,000 a year to attend Dartmouth.
Geisel School of Medicine is committed to affordability, with over 85% of students receiving financial aid and about 60% obtaining need-based scholarships. However, it does not offer merit-based scholarships, and full tuition coverage is not guaranteed for all students. Financial aid packages are tailored to individual financial needs, often combining loans and scholarships to make medical education more accessible.
In case students require more financial assistance, there are also several external scholarships to consider applying to.
The final admissions step you should know about when exploring getting into Dartmouth medical school is the interviews. Only a select few individuals are granted interviews with Dartmouth.
The interview is designed to get to know Dartmouth better, so prepare a few insightful questions to ask your interviewer. All interviews for the upcoming admissions cycle will be conducted virtually:
Ensure you dress to impress for this interview, prepare answers to common medical school interview questions, be mindful of your body language, and remain calm! Even if you’re hit with a surprise interview question, asking your interviewer for time to think about your answer is perfectly acceptable.
In this guide, we’ve covered the overarching topic of how to get into Dartmouth Medical School. We’ve honed in on the admission requirements, costs, and best tips to submit a stellar application.
In case we missed any of your inquiries, here are the answers to frequently asked questions about this medical school.
Getting into Dartmouth Medical School will be challenging. This renowned medical school is considered one of the best in the nation, so it’s highly selective about who it lets represent it. Accordingly, they only admit the brightest and most promising students, typically approximately 1.2% of their applicants.
Students should aim for a GPA of 3.9 or higher to increase their chances of acceptance at Dartmouth Medical School.
Students must have an MCAT score of at least 503 to be considered for admission. Students with MCAT scores of 502 or lower will automatically be rejected and will not receive a secondary application.
However, students should aim for a higher score than this target to get into Dartmouth. The average MCAT score at the Geisel School of Medicine is 515.8.
Yes, Dartmouth is one of the nation’s leading medical schools. It offers students the best and most updated resources to facilitate their learning, challenging and comprehensive programs that ensure they’re practice-ready, and robust clinical experiences to develop their skills and resumes.
Students place Dartmouth Medical School at the top of their lists because it’s an Ivy League school. Not only does this make Dartmouth graduates highly sought after, but it also allows them to join a network of successful professionals who can help them advance their careers.
Ivy League schools also offer unparalleled resources that students will have difficulty finding elsewhere. As Dartmouth claims, these resources are used to produce complete physicians who excel in the basic sciences, deliver outstanding patient care, discover and share knowledge, and work to improve all systems of health care.
Dartmouth Medical School’s tuition alone is over $72,570 a year. Add personal expenses, housing, textbooks, and transportation; students can expect to pay over $100,000 to attend Dartmouth.
As a school known for firsts, let Dartmouth be the first step into your future! With its abundant resources, unrivalled curricula, and interdisciplinary courses, you can attain even your most ambitious aspirations at Dartmouth!
Dr. Akhil Katakam was the original author of this article. Snippets of his work may remain.
Reviewed by:
Dermatology Resident Physician, The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences
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